Oh hello, 2012 Huron Gold Needle. It has been a while. A couple of years even. I’ve taken a pretty substantial leave of absence from puerh so this is me jumping back in. I have a decent supply of high quality stuff from a few years ago that I should really get back into so here we go!
205F, 5 second rinse, 10 second steep- A nice golden brown color emerges. Almost like a brown ale but a bit lighter perhaps. The flavor is lighter as well which I appreciate. I’d rather my puerh have a lighter nuance than a heavy, almost basement-esque quality to it.
Second steep, 10 seconds- Whoa, talk about a difference in steep color. As soon as the water hit the leaves it went to a dark tawny port color. Much darker in one second than in the entire 10 seconds of the last steep. This has a tang in the back of the throat when drinking. Kind of like a juicy sour fruit leaves but without the fruity flavor. It isn’t a negative for me as it gives it some interesting texture and flavor. Yeah, whereas I find some teas drying this one generates a juicy well rounded mouthfeel. Fairly light overall.
You will have to forgive me for ending the review short. Two reasons for that. One, I always have to monitor my caffeine intake so I’m usually not going to be doing 7, 8, 9 steeps of something. And two, today is the first day of Christmas break and I have 3 kids, the youngest being 13 months old. As you can imagine, I don’t have a lot of time to just sit and type at my leisure without him getting into things or needing something, usually my attention. So, with that being said, I bid you farewell until next time.
