2007 Imperial Concubine Aroma Pu-erh Tea Cake

I dressed in my favorite bellydance cover-up, a flowing velvet affair with beads and gold embroidery, turned on an episode of Firefly (Trash) with a tea scene with Inara and then rinsed and steeped the Imperial Concubine tea and served it alongside two pieces of rose Turkish delight.

The tea begins with a musky sweet aroma with notes of honey and apricot and has a light, smooth taste. The second steeping adds a very slight smoky note with an apricot fragrance and taste. The third and fourth steeping develop the sweet apricot and honey taste further. It is a nice tea.

I began with a steeping time of 45 seconds and increased it over the period of re-steeps ending with the fourth steep of 2 minutes.

My 1st raw pu erh! Thanks to Carolyn:)

Parameters and Preparation:
>It came in a one cup serving (she gave me 2) and she said to make a 6oz cup, but since it weighs 5g I decided to make a 5oz cup.
>Rinsed it by pouring 5oz just shy of boiling water (Carolyn suggests boiling) over the leaves, letting it sit for 15sec, decanting, then dumping the water.
>1st infusion is 5oz just shy of boiling water steeped for 20 sec (Carolyn suggests boiling again).

Rinse water: I’m shocked at how light this is compared to the rinse water of my cooked pu erh experiences! Looks more like a white tea than the black I compared the cooked pu erh to.

1st infusion: Liquor is nearly identical to the rinse water. The aroma is earthy, but also light and sweet. Looks more like a white or green tea. There’s a lot going on in the flavor… the sweetness that showed up in later infusions of the cooked pu erh is present right away. It doesn’t taste anything like a black tea, more of a green. It’s light and sweet, yet a bit earthy… and even a little bit bitter. It reminds me of Kukicha.

Conclusions: Very different from cooked pu erhs, although I don’t like it any less or more. Just as complex as cooked pu erh even though it’s lighter. If cooked pu erh can be compared to a black tea, this can be compared to a white, green, or green oolong.