I’m coming back to this one to try the same experiment I tried last night with the Mint Puerh. Since this one actually has green tea in it as well as pu erh, I’m wondering which version will come out better.
Two identical glass cups, roughly the same amount of water. One steeped green-tea like for 2 minutes at 175, the other steeped pu erh like for 3 minutes at boiling.
The longer steep, not surprisingly, resulted in a deeper color. But even the shorter steep is a deeper color than the mint of yesterday. They’re both orangy-brown and clear, the longer steep is browner while the shorter is more orange.
Interestingly, there is not nearly as much difference in the taste as there was with the mint, and as I expected here. The shorter steep is a lighter version of the longer, and I preferred the longer as the taste of the pu erh was more prevalent. This may have more to do with the water temperature than anything else.
The main difference is that the floral quality I described in my earlier tasting note is more present in the shorter/cooler steep. This makes me wonder whether it is really magnolia so much as the green tea influence on the flavor. While I preferred the taste of the longer/hotter steep generally, I was hoping for a more floral quality from this given its name. As it is, it really does seem like Emperor’s Lite. And I’d probably just drink the Emperor’s Pu erh if I was in the mood for that flavor.
