This is a sample from teavivre and I thought I’d give this one a go today. Feeling like a straight, or mostly straight tea right now. Pu-erh sounds good to start the new year in. On;y I did have some Harney and Sons Hot Cinnamon Spice earlier since I was cold.
Anyhow, dry observations…
It smelled very earthy, and the cake was pretty firm…only a little crumbling at the top. I do have to mention I had no rose bud whatsoever with this particular tuocha cake. Now, I don’t know about the others, though there was some confusion initially about which pu-erh tuocha I was getting from Angel. So take this last fact with a grain of salt when it comes to tasting notes. I can’t be 100% sure that I got the ripened rose instead of the plain.
Brewing and tasting…
The liquor turned dark dark dark! It looks very much like coffee or wine, or a mix of the two. I cannot pick up any rose notes specifically, though there is a floral note at the back of my tongue that is accentuated a bit more with the sugar I added. And I added the same amount of milk, roughly, that I usually do, and it is a dark brew still.
I taste a very full bodied tea here…even with the milk and sugar. It is earthy and warm and balanced. I don’t get any fishy taste, though I did faintly smell it when it was dry. To me, this is equivalent to a dark beer (though I don’t drink beer). It’s not for everybody. I think this is good for those who like coffee but want to transition to tea because it is such a hearty taste.
This all said, it isn’t my favourite, but I do like it as a straight tea. I think I prefer pu-erh blends like DAVIDs Oh Christmas Treat! Orange and chocolate are the perfect match for pu-erh.
I’ll see what my next steep is like on this. Oh, and for the record, I did break up the cake with my fingers into a few smaller chunks into my steeper, no rinsing, and I used boiling water and steeped about two minutes.
Happy New Years Steepsterites!
