Organic Pu-erh

Thanks for this one a while back, Ost! I say “a while back” a lot, even though I have an e-mail draft list for teas I haven’t written tasting notes for, so it should be easier to try new-to-me teas! A standard pu-erh here – I used 2 1/2 teaspoons to use up the sample. I like a ton of leaves in my pu-erh anyway. These leaves look quite dusty and medium sized for a pu-erh. In the picture for the tea, the leaves do look quite dusty! After the rinse, the brew is deep and dark and perfectly acceptable when you want a cup (or three) of ripened pu-erh. I can’t really give many flavor notes for this one – nothing really stands out other than the usual tasty pu-erh flavors – dusky and deep. Glad I used 2 1/2 teaspoons. The darker the pu-erh the better — I’d probably do that with black teas if they didn’t get bitter.
Steep #1 // 2 1/2 tsps. // rinse // just boiled // 1 minute steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 2-3 min
Steep #3 // just boiled // 3-4 min

This tea was not for me. It was so flat and uninteresting. I even rinsed this twice. By the fifth steep it got a bit better, a smooth bread-y quality made itself known. But it wasn’t enough to keep me interested.

Working my way through the Tea at Sea samples. :)
I steeped this western style because I didn’t want to use up the whole sample in one go! So 2.5g, washed once for about 10 seconds, then steeped in 8oz of just-off-boiling water for 3min. I love the rich red-brown colour of this tea! It smells and tastes earthy, like walking through a shaded forest after a rain.

The leaf is a mix of light brown and dark brown twisties. Smells like most puerhs: wet earth and pond water.

The directions on the website seemed way too different from what I usually do for puerhs so I just went with my usual 10s rinse, 10s rinse, 20,25,45,60 with the whole sample (4-5g?) and ~4-5oz water.

I actually saved the rinses in a cup, and sweetened it’s not bad (yes I sweeten my blacks and puerhs usually. I find it pulls out the notes I like and softens any I don’t). Very dark and strong, but palatable. I only drank about half, because. Like I said, it’s strong.

The first actual steep is smoother and sweeter than the rinses. This is very earthy. I can definitely believe mushrooms, and even moss. The taste remains constant the out the second steep, and mellows a little by the third steep.

The forth steep is even more mellow, but still enjoyable. This could probably go another couple of rounds, maybe later. This pretty good, and I wonder why they only sell the sample size on the site?

When I placed my order with Tea at Sea they generously gave me some more samples free. This is one I looked forward to trying. In the package it smelled so rich, almost chocolatey. I brewed it up and was drinking from the first infusion when I read on their website to discard the first infusion. Don’t know why. It was tasting pretty good but strong. So i followed their directions, discarded it and did a 2nd infusion. More of the mushroomy taste comes through in the 2nd infusion and the bark/woody flavor is just a little less strong. It’s still a pretty strong tea but sooo earthy and rich. MMMMM I’ve just slurped the last sip down.