2004 Xiaguan Tibetan Flame Raw Pu-erh tea Brick

I was planning to brew this with my new charcoal stove for tea. But it seems that the charcoal that Chawangshop sold me is basically impossible to light using normal methods. They suggested I use the burner on my gas stove to light the charcoal then transfer it. However this sounds like a recipe for an apartment fire so I didn’t try that. I tried another method they suggested but to no avail. No amount of lighter fluid would make the olive pit charcoal catch. I don’t even know if it is possible to light the stuff. And I can’t buy a propane camping stove to use outside to start the coals because my apartment does not permit any propane tanks of any sort on the premises. So I brewed this tea indoors. This tea has a bit of a sweet note to it along with some leather and tobacco. It is a nice enough aged tea for the price. The tea liquid is very dark, as dark as any ripe tea really. I only steeped this eight times but I am sure it would go twelve steeps or even fourteen.

I brewed this tea eight times in a 150ml gaiwan with 9g leaves and boiling water. I gave it a 10 second rinse. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, and 30 sec.