Full disclosure: This review is based on a free sample provided to me by the distributor. If you suspect me of being the sort of person who can be bribed with free tea, now would be the time to disregard my opinions.
For a start, these are the most perfect looking tuocha I’ve ever seen. Perfect half spheres with a dimple, expertly wrapped in moisture wicking fabric paper. If you are into the aesthetics of your tea drinking, these are well worth looking at.
There is an enticing and unexpected sweetness to the smell of the dry leaf.
I’m always amazed at how quickly pu-erh steeps. 90 seconds and I have a cup that looks like coffee. Regular readers will know that I don’t go in for this business of “rinsing” pu erh teas. Given how fast it steeps it just seems to me like you’re throwing away the first good cup in the name of tradition.
The aroma off the cup is a reassuring swirling of damp soil, cave rock and rainy days.
But the flavor on the tongue brings that unexpected hint of sweetness again. Like someone was storing barrels of molasses in that cave, or perhaps the paper wrappers for the tuocha had been painted with caramel. But don’t worry. This isn’t like drinking vanilla strawberry roiboos or something. This is a soft, round, hint of a suggestion. Not even a wink and a nod, more like a knowing glance, at sweetness.
I tend to find the second and third steepings of a pu-erh to be the best, so I’ll be getting back to you shortly, I suspect.
