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oh man, I tried not to fall off the face of the earth, but I did anyway. I’m just a few days away from finishing school and have barely had time for tea!! A cup of this was perfect at the end of the day, now that things are winding down. My Tea Master appears to be broken :( (leaky) so this was perfect, just steeped for a few seconds. Ahh.

OMG smells SO GOOD. My nose is in the bag right now I can’t take it out!! All the fuzzy white hairs on the leaves make me excited! The leaves actually look like tiny string beans! This is the second of my spoils from Distinctly Tea, and despite my terrible experience with Teaopia’s White Pear, I am encouraged about delving into white teas again.

When steeped, the leaves float in a vertical orientation at the top, looking a lot like (and kind of creepily??) like string beans perfectly stacked and spaced on an invisible vine. Weird! I’ve never seen that in a tea before.

In taste, it reminds me of Darjeeling, but less nutty. Very light, a little bit buttery, but altogether very very nice. I can’t stop sipping! Yummy!

I am guilty of buying this tea for two very bad reasons: 1) I was trying to impress the manager of the tea store by buying a semi obscure tea in order to potentially woo her into hiring me at her super awesome tea shop, and 2) It was in a pretty bag. I was under the impression that Pu-Erh was distinctly Pu-Erh because it came in the characteristic packed-cake form, but I learned today that caked does not a Pu-Erh make. This Pu-Erh came in loose form, in a cute red bag with just enough Chinese lettering on it that I felt my tastes were exotic and traditional but also enough English that I knew what I was actually buying.

First steep was terrifying, because it was quite unpleasantly bitter, something my previous Pu-Erh experiences seemed immune to. I was horrified that my pretty sizable new bag of Pu-Erh was going to be a colossal mistake. But second steep, much to my surprise because it was much longer, had no bitterness to be found! Just Pu-Erhy goodness. Third steep proved the same. Phew!!

I’m pretty happy with my purchase :3 Hearts to Pu-Erh!

Absolutely perfect with milk and sugar on this cold, dreary, wet, depressing March day. Adore.

Squeee!! Am drinking this this morning out of my brand new shiny (ok, matte) Yixing mug!!! (looksie: http://tinyurl.com/yixing) Mmm Pu Erh. I must buy more of you.

I actually quite like this! The dry leaf smell is absolutely divine, and though the liquor’s aroma is decidedly much more subtle, I still quite like it. The leaves swell up to an alarming size, so make sure you have enough room in your vessel!! The flavour is wonderfully smooth, with a healthy astringency that reminds me of Chinese restaurants. Quite lovely at a slightly cooler temperature than normal just so you can appreciate the full flavour in your mouth. I might try it with a shorter steep time next time. Would buy again for sure.

Had this with breakfast! Delish.

Yawn. Teaopia often has this as one of their sample teas, and I can’t imagine why. It’s bland. I’m not getting anything like the delightful sweetness of Pomegranate Green. It is wholly unremarkable. Pass!

I blended this today with Teaopia’s Rise and Shine for my morning class, and not only was it super delicious, it kept me awake! Points! As a blending ingredient, I might recommend this!