TGFOP Tea Reviews (c) Silverneedles est.2005

Puerhshop.com (review) cake sampler (outlink) $3.49. Shu pu, 2003.

Memorial Day Weekend. Interrupt bbq with some pu. Reach into T storage area grab something…

 Dry leaf:
 Leaf looks dark,
 smells not green,
 its not sheng,
 it must be shu !
Picture is of the entire sampler.

…someone unplugged my Tiger… waiting for water to boil…on the stove !
Method: boiling hot filtered water + the smaller piece seen in picture.

Taste:

30s no wash but drank: bit watery+ sort of a sweet feel tip of tongue + tree bark (woody). Oh i’m going to like this.
40s same
35s more woody bark
30s same
30s same but not feeling the sweetness very clear, seems tastebuds are now blocking this flavor. a little of dark-chocolate “astringency”. Kinda not feeling flavor concentrate enough, doing longer steep next
1m more developed, “denser” profile, more clear “dark-chocolate astringency“, very nice.

couldn’t drink everything at the same time so combined them all + another 2-3 more infusions(possibly could go longer but i got tired). left to cool down. drank later: very enjoyable, flavor as noted before + some sweetness in the aftertaste (not strong, but present. maybe there’s another way to infuse this for more sweetness but i don’t know how).

Wet leaf: brittle. (well cooked or from storage?)

Overall: this is the kind of flavor profile i like. Similar to Royal Pu’er Cha (Yun Nan Cha) .Zhong Guo Cha but this here puerh cake seems more …mellow? that royal puer was stronger in flavor and stronger “dark choco astringency” and developed more rapidly (being looseleaf, not compressed cake piece) but this 2003 has definitely sweet sensations on the tongue. No harshness, no unpleasant flavors(pond,dirt,etc), no strong distracting astringency/tannin … = YUMMM !

never been interested in the tuocha, so why not try it …
got this package from Whole Foods (while drinking a cup of the competition’s wuyi oolong)
12$ +tax

www.inpursuitoftea.com/Pu_erh_Tuocha_p/pc001.htm
says rich earthy flavor

open pkg, earthy/meds smell… hmmm…

the little tuocha wrapped in paper is kind of cute, so i throw it into a boiling pot of water (substitute pot with about 6oz, and boiling with ~200F)

4min: somewhat a dense, confusing flavor made of “earthy”-woody?-medicinal not strongly so but when i gave to wife, she goes: “are u trying to poison me?” …hmmm… is my taste changing? have i started to lose ability to detect medicinal tones of puerrrr? …anyway

subsequent 4min: more woody-medicinal now, flavor seems more defined. medicinal. ok there it is.

also get a very faint flavor that reminded of the lapsang souchong- sortof benzene-like.

astringency? not that i know of. but so there aint not much choco flavor neither.
aftertaste: not much.

liquor forms the haze on it. (what now looks to me like some sort of condensation… microclimate going on… like the smoke lingers above the liquor in a cloud-like fashion, if blow on it, disappears)

Compared it to Royal Pu’er Cha (Yun Nan Cha) .Zhong Guo Cha, and definitely i prefer the “royal pu” - there is no medicinal taste.

in conc: meh, is not good on me tongue, so am not planning on stock.

Zhong Guo Cha A-6-1-1 50g/$10.75 ($6.1/oz, 97.6/lb)

looseleaf puer.

200F 4 oz, no wait between re-infusions (strain liquor to new cup, immediately re-infuse leaf).

5 infusions (20oz total):

1-2 dense, strong flavor: wood, tree bark, a little ‘aged’? feel, dark chocolate aftertaste astringency. wouldnt say earthy (which i’d associate with the smell of wet soil), not old books, just woody. fine with me!

4-5 less dense, more watery. little dark chocolate aftertaste. i still enjoyed it.

very nice.
Im generally not a fan of puer (since i never had one to like…until now), i dont know why i like this one but i do.

had some pears, drank little leftover pu from yesterday, first 1/3 of tongue feels like yunnan black, back 1/2 tongue like puer , nice.

Jing Tea sample.

Info: from Yunnan, made form leaves picked from uncultivated wild trees.
description: “Outstanding autumn forest, sweet, syrupy mouth feel.“

1st infusion: a bit confusing, i think nutty, some woody? old books, mild sweetness.

3-4th infusion: mild sweetness, old books, tree bark yes thats it!, not so much woody as others i’ve tasted, no medicinal taste,
aftertaste: a mild sweetness i think tiny nutty as well that keeps me licking my palate.

~~~ complete ~~~

: tree bark nutty :

looseleaf puer.
wet leaf contains mostly shred up parts, darker parts seem to be stems (alot of them), a bit lighter brown being leaves (not that many). I guess most of the bark taste comes from those many stems.

~~~ stress test~~~

hack gongfu tea technique with 1 foot water drop

10sec wash: cloudy brown liquor, tree bark nutty,
20sec brew: cloudy brown liquor, tree bark nutty, 5min wait
“10sec” brew: cloudy darker brown liquor, tree bark nutty, astringency starts to appear, 10min wait
“10sec” brew: same.

~~~ initial taste~~~

dry leaf looks regular, smells mildly of tree bark.

infusion 1tsp 1cup 190F 4min

liquor dark brown tint of red

taste: flavor 4.5/7, good, pleasant, almost completely tree bark as i sensed it. maybe a little nutty. minor medicinal taste. not that earthy, no bitterness, low astringency. did not cause me too much anguish as my first pu.

will do some reinfusions later.

looseleaf puer.

Description: “Its large leaves brew a mellow cup with an earthy taste.“

…i didnt see any ‘large leaves’

Infusion in hot water. …Pooo-argh …well…. what can i say…didnt taste completely as the name might imply, but pretty interesting… has a strong smell and flavor. earthy & medicinal… definitely not my favorite.

pu erh is supposed to ferment for some time. hopefully you dont get any of the bad aspergillus sp. on that because we all know aflatoxin is not good for you. maybe aflatoxin is degraded at high temps…