Tea Reviews | It's All About The Leaf

Posts Tagged ‘Pu Erh’

The dry tuo cha smells of a smooth, cooked pu-er, but after rinsing this mini tuo in my gaiwan, the aromas of rice start to come out. Using just-boiled water, I prepare the first steeping. Light, golden-brown, the liquor is a bit cloudy and mingles a faint hint of rice with tea. The taste of this first steeping is not a flavourful as the aroma would suggest.

The second steeping gives off a darker brown infusion. This time it is hard to distinguish whether the tea is just very smooth or whether it lacks a lot of flavour. I suspect this is on account of the intense rice flavour, which seems to camouflage a lot of the pu-er nuances. Hopefully the rice flavours will give way soon and let the tea itself shine through.

Finally, with this third steeping, I am getting more of the flavour of the shou pu on which this tea is built. It is good, though perhaps not as amazing as I had hoped. I go ahead and put this tea through a couple more infusions. It is good, but I am left with the impression that it is lacking something. On my personal enjoyment scale, I would give it a 75/100.

You can purchase the Rice Shou Pu-erh directly from the Tao Tea Leaf website.

When the average American first learns of tea, then tend to learn about black tea (often Lipton-eqsue types of black tea) or herbals. If they’re lucky enough to start to explore the genre of tea, then the worlds of greens, whites and oolongs come into focus, but the pu-erhs often remain uncharted territory. Of all types of tea, pu-erhs seem the most mis-understood and mysterious teas out there. I often see people new to tea mention that they are *scared* of them. And, that can be understandable; some of the adjectives often associated with pu-erhs are big, strong, bold words like “leathery,” “earthy,” and in worst case scenarios “fish-tank-y.” I don’t want to drink a fish tank. Ew!

Personally, I’ve only started to stratch the surface of pu-erhs. And even in this small sampling I’ve had some that I’ve spit out, and some that I’ve absolutely adored. So I went into this tea with a very open mind – this one could be anything. It came in cute little mini-cakes smelling vaguely of rose. But it wasn’t as scented as the name suggested – I was expecting more floral On brewing, it steeped at a rich carmely brown – a little lighter than I’d expected. And the flavor was very smooth with a hint of a sweet finish. Not as much of the earthy strong characteristics I’ve come to associate with pu-erhs, but rather a medium-bodied brew. And again, not much floral, either in the scent or the flavor.

This is a rich and soft brew. Don’t come to this tea expecting lots of rose. You won’t find it. But you will find a nice mellow pu-erh. This would be a good springboard pu-erh for those afraid or hesitant to try them.

You can purchase the Rose Scenter directly from the Chicago Tea Garden website.

My first visual impression of this compressed green pu-erh was the bottom of the leaf pile I raked to the curb two months ago that the city maintenance crew still hasn’t picked up. The first smell impression was a strong memory of Grandpa Jenkins’ damp cement-block garden shed resplendent with rusty spades and bins of stored potatoes. Which, lest you think otherwise, is not an unpleasant recollection.

Since my sample didn’t come with an instruction manual, I averaged the best advice I could find online and among acquaintances. Starting gingerly with a nugget the size of an unshelled almond, I gave it a quick rinse with hot kettle water. With water just underneath boiling, I steeped the first batch in a two-cup pot for a minute. The garden shed smell was still prominent, but the taste was lighter and mellower than the eau de potting soil I was bracing for. Almost maple-sugar sweet and leafy with a thickness on the tongue that I don’t generally associate with green teas.

The second steep, since I declared myself over my initial apprehension, was allowed to go a whopping extra 30 seconds. Color deepened just one tint from golden to dark amber, and the sweetness intensified equally.

I’ll end this narrative with Steep #3 (2 minutes, 30 seconds), which is still darker, still sweeter, and apparently still viable for several more steeps. As a newbie to the pu-erh spectrum, I think I should skipped Steeps 1 and 2 and just started here.  Thanks, Grand Tea, for providing an afternoon of entertainment and analysis, as well as proof that even an untutored and clumsy tea preparer can learn to appreciate the personality of this unusual variety.

You can purchase the Year 2000 – 7542 Green Pu-erh directly from the Grand Tea website.

This is a 8 year old pu-erh tea from the YiWu mountain area of China. A lot of people don’t know that pu-erh tea is made from leaves picked from tea trees usually wild-grown in the higher mountains and are not from the low-lying cultivated tea bushes. Pu-erh is tea-medicine. In France, medical experiments showed that with regular consumption of pu-erh, blood lipids (cholesterol levels) were lowered by 13% (3 cups/day over one month). Other benefits include cuts in fat consumption and aids in digestion and lymphatic secretions. Pu-erh also invigorates the spleen and dispels toxins.

Grand Tea has provided ample information about this tea. They comment that the Qing Yun Hao tea cake is suitable for long term storage. The cake is well compressed. In fact, I noticed the quality of this tea through the transparent sample pack before opening it. The producer of the tea has left fairly whole leaves despite compacting the tea into a cake. The blackened leaves are not crushed beyond recognition and but this manufacturer promises a good quality leaf.

I used ½ the sample, 5.5 grams in150 ml boiling water with my special Xishing tea pot used only for aged pu-erh. I poured of the first steep after 10 seconds and made additional steeps for 10 seconds there after. The liquor colour is a golden mahogany red, probably much like the tree bark. It is not opaque as the 12 year old sheng pu-erh can be. The liquor smell is a bit like turpentine. If you want to forgo the first 2 steeps, I’ll understand.

Grand Tea tells us the mouth feel is typical Yiwu, soft and gentle, with an aroma and woody taste characteristic of wild trees from 1500 m. high slopes. Indeed when you breath in, there is a cool minty, refreshing cold sensation, typical of high-grown tea. The liquor does have a mellowness to the feel. There is also a slight astringent quality. I was thinking medicinal but really, it is a flavour that is found with some pu-erhs – camphor. The camphor/eucalyptus taste lingers as the aftertaste then resolves pleasantly to “musty leaves in the forest”. There is a slight floral fragrance left in the cup.

Try not to miss the 2nd steep because you will only get about 5 good steeps from this tea unless you go up to 7 grams. Be sure to pour off after 10 seconds or you’ll not get more from the leaf in the later steeps and you don’t want to disappoint yourself.

Speaking about the leaf, the remains were examined. Here, you can see what the blend comprises. The wet leaves are dark-reddish from natural fermentation. I found the typical crinkle in the large leaf, typical of pu-erh. Speaking to the quality of this tea, there were many smaller leaves, some with no bud, and two two leaves on a short stem, leaving me to think the tips were taken from an early bloom (on or around Qing, the festival in early April). “Hao” by the way means good, but in this case, I think it would refer to “good quality”. I speculated that the 2nd and 3rd leaves of the stem may have been added to give some brightness in with some of the older larger leaves. I ended my tea session with a small milk chocolate candy from Pot ‘O Gold that had a bit of hazelnut. It felt like a perfect tea session.

So, “wow”. This tea is more than I expected. I would buy a cake and probably drink about ¼ of it and tuck the rest away for another year or two. Its pricey at $83 USD. for a cake at 343 g’s. However, 100 grams will make you lots of tea too – about 20 sessions using 5 grams of tea with a Xishing pot, or try 7 grams for a richer liquor.

You can purchase the 2003 Qing Yun Hao directly from the Grand Tea website.

To begin this review, I have to say that I’m a bit of a sucker for pu-erh sold in bird’s nest form, just because I think it looks really cool. However, I will attempt to not let this affect the bias of my review. Soooo, without further ado…

The dry tuocha smelled dark, dark and rich. Its very earthy scent had a touch of spicy notes to it as well. Wet, it had spicy and tobacco tones about it.

I chose to infuse this using multiple short infusions of about 30 seconds each.

First infusion: The liquor was still very bright and clear, a light brown in colour. It smelled faintly of the dry tuocha. The taste is very light, and I wonder if 30 seconds is not long enough. It certainly does taste earthy though. It is not as spicy as the smell led me to believe.

Second infusion: This time, the brown liquor deepened and darkened in colour, while maintaining its brightness. The scent is now very earthy, with almost a bit of fishy smell to it. Mmm, the taste has deepened. Full-bodied, the liquor tastes earthy and mellow. It goes down smooth, as though it barely brushes the tongue and throat.

Third infusion: The colour of the tea is now a deep brown, nearing dark chocolate in colour. The aroma has not changed much, but the flavour is much stronger and feels more mature. Very delicious at this point. I am quite enjoying this tea and I wonder how long this tuocha will last.

Fourth infusion: This cup was just as enjoyable as the third and had the same strength and characteristics. It seems as though this tea could certainly continue with more infusions. When I have more time, perhaps I will give one of these tuocha a test of how long it can last.

I loved being able to try this tea as it continued to grow and mature in taste and aroma. I truly cannot wait to drink it again. I rate it an 85/100 on my personal enjoyment scale!

You can purchase the Pu-Erh Tuocha directly from the Mark T. Wendall Tea Company website.