2007 Premium Calabash Shaped Tea 2 oz

The dry leaves have the aroma of steamed sticky rice when you first open the pot. This is not detected in the flavor until after you sip the tea, towards the top back of the throat. I really like how this taste of rice lingers.

After infusion, the smell of the wet leaves are much more similar to a spring bud green tea – certainly vegetal. There may be a real light cucumber undertone. It definitely evolves as you finish the first cup. There is this feeling in the mouth and stomach that leaves you full, as if you just had eaten a piece of sushi – California Roll, maybe?

Even-though there isn’t a noticeable sweetness with this tea, the liquid is smooth and no detection of bitterness. With what I see so far, I’m glad there are many more encounters to come!

Edit:

I want to give props to Tommy the Toad for pointing me to this tea! Great suggestion.

Smelling the dry leaf of this tea I thought it to be quite a bit less earthy or aquatic as other pu’erhs I’ve tried. The piece I recieved from Pu’erhshop was more compact than other pu’erhs as well. After rinsing I saw that the color was a strong yellow with a little green. The wet smell sweet. First taste also revealed a very sweet and minty flavor that actually subdued much of the warm earthy flavor that became more prevalent after a few steeps. The earth tone that was present came out more a sandelwood; leather mixed with cedar but less acidic. There was a hint of creaminess and little astringency to speak of, this however increased with cooling of the drink. Afterflavor is very pleasant and minty.
Second steep; astringency has backed off again allowing me to further enjoy the sweeter notes. The complexity has increased in that the warm earth feel tried to push it’s way forward, but the sweet wouldn’t yeild. Now I’m starting to taste the more common woodiness, say of acorns. The astringency rises with time as before, but the minty afterflavor helps to compensate for one who shys from dry drinks. Generally speaking I like this pu’erh, especially since there are no exaggerated complaints of ‘fish smell’ from the peanut gallery in my home. It’s not as good as some of the pu’erhs in my sampler, but I’m starting to see a gravitation toward pu’s.
Note; after a few more steeps the more common wet earth/aqautic flavor showed up,not that it’s a bad thing.

The saga of the sore throat continues. I put absolutely no thought into this tea selection; it was the first thing I pulled out of my pu’er box. I just needed something hot on the throat, no more. It satisfies that purpose well enough. The taste is pretty unremarkable though. It’s not bad; it just tastes like very standard sheng. It’s pretty docile though, doesn’t seem as dry as some other sheng (which is good, the last thing I want is any more dryness in my throat). It does get pretty repulsively sour if left oversteeped though. Ever since coming across that weird strong sourness in another pu’er I tried, I seem to be very aware of it in other sheng, and I really don’t think I like it. It’s not like lemon-sour, it’s a savory sour, like vinegar or curdled milk. I wonder if that’s just a standard sheng characteristic (and I’m odd in finding it unpleasant) or if it’s something that can be avoided. I need to go back and try some of my favorite sheng with this newly-developed palette and see if I can find the sourness in them.

On a random note, I went to the farmer’s market today and picked up some radishes. Really spicy radishes. So I find myself wondering, what kind of tea would pair well with radishes? Hmmmm..