I had a little side-by-side of the paper tong and bamboo tong versions of this cake. Paper tong carries more easy sweetness, pastry or dough qualities, and brightness. Hoo, that bamboo tong… I know it’s supposed to be the less desirable, but I loved it. More earthy, it tasted of wetter storage (not sure how much of that can be pawned off on the tong material versus actual storage), thicker tobacco, fuller mouthfeel. Paper tong felt like I was tasting the clean tea notes; bamboo felt like opening the door to the beauty of processing and all the layers each decision and year can add to an already gorgeous bunch of leaves.
My paper tong sample was the last little nugget I had from derk (thank you again!). The compression was quite tight compared to the bamboo tong chunks from LP. I’m looking forward to finally digging into my paper tong cake and having another sit down with these two.
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Have you tried mrmopar’s recommendation of doing a rinse of puerh, especially a tightly compressed one, and then letting it rest in the steam of the lidded pot for a out ten minutes before making your first steep? I thought of that a few days ago when you talking about a really tightly compressed cake that wouldn’t break up.
Yes, thanks for the mention! I have pretty well standardized a long (15-30 second, depending on compression) rinse followed by a long (10-15 minute) steam rest for all my puerh. Just so much more rewarding when it has that steam time.
That little bugger the other day, though… no amount of water bashing would do it. Had to get my mitts in there!
Wow, that really was an iron cake, I guess!
Have you tried mrmopar’s recommendation of doing a rinse of puerh, especially a tightly compressed one, and then letting it rest in the steam of the lidded pot for a out ten minutes before making your first steep? I thought of that a few days ago when you talking about a really tightly compressed cake that wouldn’t break up.
Yes, thanks for the mention! I have pretty well standardized a long (15-30 second, depending on compression) rinse followed by a long (10-15 minute) steam rest for all my puerh. Just so much more rewarding when it has that steam time.
That little bugger the other day, though… no amount of water bashing would do it. Had to get my mitts in there!
Wow, that really was an iron cake, I guess!