Wild Purple Buds Puerh

Woah! A new tea experience! I’m very tea drunk right now. I was gonna write a proper review here but I can’t. I’m slurring my words. Reminds me of raw honeysuckle tea. It has a bunch of flavors and textures and stuff but um, I’ll tell you about them maybe some other time. I’m just gonna melt into my couch now.

Generous sample sent to me by Stacy along with my order – aim: to make me no longer fear the puerh, accomplished! Thank you, Stacy! I’m not going to be able to do a proper tasting note for this one, especially given the number of infusions I got before I had to leave it and do other, more boring things. (Like cleaning.) But briefly, some of the notes I got were tobacco (strongest in the first infusion), honey (ditto), oak, a peppery bite (didn’t taste like pepper, but had that kind of bite – strongest in 3rd and 4th infusions), and then back to a very smooth oaky smokey one, with that lasting through all subsequent infusions. I was trying to get the flavour of the ‘bite’, and it was driving me crazy, as I could not pin it down. And suddenly I got it – serendipity helped, because we’d just got some Amaretti biscuits, which I haven’t had in ages, and we’ve been eating at night with our rooibos. These are totally different tasting from the macaroons I’m more used to, although the package translates ‘Amaretti classici’ as ‘classic crunchy macaroons’. The ingredients are sugar, apricot kernels, almonds and egg white, in that order, and I don’t know if it’s the apricot kernels that give the bite, although other than very bitter almonds, it can’t be anything else? If it was just the baking longer to make them crunchy, they’d taste more of toasty almonds. Anyway, that’s the bite in the Puerh!

Very much enjoyed drinking this today, and still have enough for another session!

Drinking this today for a bit. Here’s hoping it goes better than last time! Especially now that I have a bit more experience with sheng.

Now my opinion is that it’s pretty light. There’s a neat thickness to it, and some smoke and leather, but it’s nicely mellowed. Yum. It’s a little bitter, a little sweet. Just what I was wanting, actually!

At this point in my taste evolution, I’d say I’d like more of this tea. LOL. Oh well.

This is my first time drinking raw puerh and I can tell by the smell of the liquid and the wet tea that it is going to be a new experience.

The directions call for 3 seconds and I did just over that due to the fact that the amount of tea per water that I used was slightly less. This produced a flat bronze gold color of liquid with a smell unlike any I have ever smelled before. Now for the taste…my first thought was “what the…?” with my next being similar. This is not what I was expecting and I just continue to drink it up! My hands seem to find the cup and not the keyboard so if I do not write something soon it will be gone. Focusing finally, the taste is definitely juicy, with a background of slightly earthy sweetness.

For the next steep I allowed the time to run a little longer, trying to establish the flavor more without making it bitter. It was a success and resulted in the delicious flavor being slightly more prominent, which makes my loss for words even more embarrassing!

This is a tea that I plan on buying again, and maybe then I will discover what else to write about this tea. For now I must conclude with the description of a beautiful mix of earthy sweetness that I could drink all day. I have no doubt that this tea could resteep until I am thoroughly fulfilled but as much as I would like, I am unable to sit around at the computer all day. However, I am content in the fact that I can take this tea around with me all day :)

Ok, I don’t have a lot of experience with puerh teas. This was the second one that has passed my tonsils. From what I’ve read, puerh teas tend to be really robust, earthy, smokey, and hearty. This one is definitely robust, but refined; which is the big difference between this one and the first one I tried. I don’t think puerhs will ever be my favorite tea but this one has made me much more open to adding them to the cupboard. I plan to experiment with this one some more. Worth drinking.

Woot, my first pu-erh!

Interested in seeing how this tastes! The dry leaves smell woody and floral. I can smell the oak smell like Butiki describes as well. I’m going to steep this according to Butiki instructions. 4oz of water, 3-5 seconds, 200-205 degree water.

The wet leaves smell very smokey and earthy. Like wood and alfalfa and sweet flowers and honey. This tea tastes a lot like it smells. There is a strong smokiness and earthy flavor. The heavy flavor is opposite the light mouth feel. Every drink makes my mouth feel juicy and wet. Avery interesting tea.

I’m on my 5th infusion and the taste and smell is remaining pretty consistent. There is a sweetness coming out that wasn’t there before. Still incredibly smooth and delicious.

9th infusion and still going strong. Butiki says you can get 20+ steeping out of this and I plan on it.

Cheers.

I don’t think I like this tea very much. It tastes to me like chewing on a piece of leather with a burnt kind of taste on top. Kind of like wood smoke. The steeped tea smells like ashes to me. Just not for me, though I’m sure for those who enjoy pu-erh teas they would like this.

Equusfell tried to foist this sample onto me after she disastrously steeped it grandpa-style (i.e., leave it in the cup forever, no rinse) quite a while ago when she was just starting to get into tea. I was going to just drink it, and then I decided it would be perfect to use in one of our gongfu sessions to really introduce her to what puerh is all about. I’m not the biggest puerh fan, but I appreciate its subtleties and understand it as a tea, and I was really happy that the session turned out very well.

I think I probably should have done two rinses instead of one, since the first steep was still a little overbearing. It’s been a while since I’ve had a puerh, and I admit I enjoyed “walking in the woods” once again. My first thought was, tastes like a sheng. The earliest steeps had some woody notes and autumn leaves. Then suddenly some really juicy apricot with hints of vanilla came to the forefront. As steeps progressed, it became more minerally and more smokey, with hints of leather.

Overall a fun tea to have a session with, and I think it was a good introduction to the wild and crazy world of sheng.

10 sec rinse
First: Smells like fish jerky in a leather jacket . From Jacob, who was overhearing our discussion of the notes for this steep: “Disappointment in the 50’s”. Tastes like old autumn leaves and earth. Jacob played us a song to go with our experience of this tea: “Dead leaves in the dirty ground- The White Stripes”. The theme song for shou puerh!
Second: Scent-Smokey, like old campfire on your clothes; Taste- sweet dirt on wet granite (like the base of a batholith in a Montana spring after you scraped away the rotting pine needles and leaves). Leaving a meaty aftertaste in my mouth.
Third: Smell- Lost a lot of the smoke. Fresher autumn leaves. Flavor like dried fruits that have been cooked in something savory; distinct minerally-ness; sweeter. Like a completely different tea! Rock dust aftertaste. Still smoke on the lid of gaiwan.
Fourth: Smell reminds me of Jones boot shop on the side of the highway in Kansas. Old leather goods, dusty display cases filled with buckles and spurs, flat carpet with a generation of ranch dust ground in. Taste of limestone rock dust, sweeter cherry-wood-smoke-like flavor on the back of the tongue.
Fifth: Cherry wood smoke dominating the flavor, scent as well, fruitier.
Sixth: Smoke is coming out strongly again. Flavor is a generic mix of previous steeps.
Seventh: Leather smell back. Flavor is thin and minerally.
Eighth: We got talking and forgot about it for two minutes! Much more minerally! The smokey flavors are taking a back seat in this steep, but I’m still getting a campfire-like aftertaste.
Overall an interesting experience! Not sure I need puerh in my life right now, but I can see why it is appreciated!

And why have I not tried this tea before? Because I’ve been stupid, that’s why!

Using 7g for medium gaiwan.

It’s such a beautiful leaf. A mix of pale green, gold, and dark purplish brown.

http://instagram.com/p/rc29iYwhy8/

Oh, that’s a big wow…I’ve been drinking it two days in a row. It’s probably one of the best pu’erh sheng I have drank so far.

It’s so sweet! Really, at one point during the session, it felt like I was drinking honey. It has none of the acidic astringency sometimes found in sheng.

It’s just a tad smokey, and that smoke seems to fade away as the tea gets sweeter. Cause yes, it keeps getting sweeter. I taste sweet corn…and buttered green beans.

it’s also a little woody, some cedar and fresh camphor notes at the end of the sip make my tongue tingle and my body warm. I love that feeling…

It’s so juicy, and it’s as if it sparkles in my mouth like fine champaign would.

20 + gongfu steeps and it keeps on giving…

Happy mouth. Happy soul. Happy fairy.

Pic of the brew:

http://instagram.com/p/rc3n6_whz6/