Ancient Shu Pu-erh Tuo Cha

First, my apologies for my crabby note earlier! But I also want to say that Momo would be proud of me if she saw me zipping up that right hand lane when everyone else managed to move over & there was a quarter mile open until the lane ended! That probably saved me another 15 – 20 minutes of wait time!

I drank this Tuo Cha much earlier in the day, right after my cup of english breakfast. The only word I can use to describe it was Smooth! It will show up in a future review, & I suspect that it’s a tasty one. I didn’t detect any saltiness, just a very smooth earthy feel, which is what I wanted.

One interesting aspect of being sick & not being able to taste & smell is that it brings the focus more to mouth feel, kind of like the way being blind brings the focus more to the other senses, only obviously, not really the same thing at all, but I’m sure you get the idea. In some ways, I’d like to sample some of the really awesome teas, the ones with tingly & creamy characteristics, just to see how much more noticeable they’d be. But, that’s probably just feverish folly!

So I just read over the tasting notes for this tea. Should sales people from tea companies even be allowed to rate their competitor’s teas: I don’t know. It seems a bit tacky to me personally.

In any event I bought a big bag of these a few months ago in 2011. I gave some away and I only have a few left which I will save to see if and how aging changes them.

This tea benefits from a quick rinse in boiling water. They recommend steeping it for 3-4 minutes which seems like a bit extreme to me. I did mine for around 2 minutes. It’s a very dark, earthy and rich brew, no bitterness at all. OK, it does smell a tad bit fishy according to the BF but I never noticed that before. I associated it with shiitake mushrooms, coffee, chocolate and broth. Curious. I’d much rather have this than camphor any day of the week. I first started drinking tea like this when I quit drinking coffee. I was told that pu-erh has the lowest acidity of any tea. It does seem like it’s easy on my stomach. I think this is a nice little shu.

My second steep was only for around 30 seconds and it is still very flavorful. I would definitely recommend shorter steeping times with this one…

Thank You oOTeaOo for this sampling. This is my first offering from Rishi. There are some tea companies that I have not tried because I usually find a sale from another company that side tracks me(Tea ADD). Or I the fact that sometimes I’m cheap and don’t want to pay ten dollars for shipping. So I’m excited try this one. Now if you have read my tasting notes than you may know that I love Pu-Erh teas. The earthier the better in my opinion. I switched up the way I brew for this one. Normally I am not one to rinse Pu-Erh. Some may say that is wrong but normally I don’t. I did however rinse this one for 30 seconds. There is a benefit I have found for rinsing. I also usually brew for 3-4 minutes. However I found that in the 30 second rinse it prepares the tuocha for steeps to come, and I have up to 4 steeps so far at 2 minutes per steep. Each as dark and smooth as the first. So I may have to experiment more into shorter steeps with this. Of course I have been enjoying it in my Yixing cup that I have dedicated to unflavored Pu-Erhs. This is a fabulous tuocha. Had left overs for lunch today and they have been sitting heavy since. So this has definitely been helping. This one is very dark smooth and lovely. Very much like my favorite Imperial Pu-Erh or other tuocha’s

I love the mossy, inky taste of of this tea. I brew it longer than usual, then re-brew. Sometimes, I add a little rum. Does that degrade me in the eyes of the true steepsters?

This is the tea that I am using to try to get to know pu-erh… it’s going ok now that I’ve learned to rise the leaves for about 20-30 seconds. That gets rid of the flavors that were creeping me out.
So… I’m still learning about pu-erh but the thing that I find most interesting is how thick the tea is. Physically thick. It’s strange when you aren’t used to tea being… coffee textured.
After the rinsing, the flavor of this tea is coming across very muted. You know when you get really drunk and everything feels fuzzy? That’s what this flavor reminds me of. Soft… and blurry.
Is that normal for pu-erhs?

This past Saturday I made this my afternoon tea. It had been years since I had Tou Cha, and for some reason I thought the “teabowl” stayed intact. So I put it in a porcelain cup without a strainer, added nearly boiling water and POOF the tea leaves scattered. What were they afraid of?? Surely not hot water!

I had wanted to brew shorter steeps, but after rescuing my tea leaves with my glass press, the first steep was around 1.5 minutes. Dark color & a muddy, earthy, mushroom aroma greeted me. There was also a sweetness in the aroma. Full mouth feel, full of earthy mushroom sweetness I really enjoyed. At 1.5 minutes the 2nd cup was dark and deeper in flavor. Flavors and aromas waned in the 3rd cup (5 min), but it was still sweet, dark, earthy, and quite enjoyable. Always a smooth cup, and one more Tuo Cha for a future brew.

For lunch today I decided to steep my last Tuo Cha longer to intensify more of the flavors. My first steep was 3 min at 205 degrees. Cup was extremely dark, almost black; in fact, around the edges where the tea meets the cup, the tea seemed to have a purple hue. All aromas & flavors were intensified with the longer steep. More earth, mushrooms, and sweetness with no bitterness!

I forgot my second cup and let it steep for 7 minutes at 212 degrees. Flavors were still intensified-although less so than the previous cup. The sweetness in the second cup surprised me. I knew it would be there, but I said, “WOAH”, and couldn’t believe the sweetness that hit my tongue. This was the sweetest of all the cups I drank!

I find this Tuo Cha extremely drinkable, smooth, yet full flavored, sweet and delicious! Its unique qualities make it special. I’m going to experiment with more Tuo Cha teas in the future. Thank you kind Amy for this great sample. :))

Cupped: Saturday & Tuesday, 12-03 & 06-2011. Reviewed: Tue, 12-06-2011.

I’m not very experienced with pu-erhs and this is the first cake-style one I’ve ever tried. I got three of those little cakes (cakelets?) courtesy of oOTeaOo, but I forgot about them for awhile and they got lost in the back of my cupboard and only resurfaced now when I did a major cleaning-out.

The cakes are surprisingly hard – I tried to break one in my hand and found I couldn’t. It smelled very earthy and rather pungent – a bit like manure maybe, or soil enriched with manure.

I gave it a 40 second rinse like I’ve seen people recommend to clean off the tea and open the cake up. Despite the rinse, the brewed tea was still super dark like a cup of dark roasted coffee without milk. I didn’t steep it for very long – only one minute and the result was a flavour that was surprisingly light when compared to its appearance. It has a distinctive earthy flavour with some mildly bitter, tannic notes – it actually seems to intensify a bit after I swallow each sip.

More steeps to come. :)

I am brewing this up in the Yixing. I gave it a quick rinse. The first brew of about a minute was strong. This liquid is a purple red. The flavors intense and complex. It is a treat. Thank you Amy Oh for your kindness.

I’ve been holding these for two years, and I used a weird brewing process today (3 of these in a 32 oz teapot, three infusions) so this review might not generalize well. I rinsed these twice before brewing.

Musky and soil-like, with some coffee overtones and a hint of dark chocolate. The aftertaste is mild, with more dirt and a faint hint of caramel. Noticeably bitter, but at the same time it does have some of the pu-erh sweetness. As it sits and cools (or maybe as I get used to it,) the bitterness is subsiding and the sweetness is becoming more pronounced.

I’ve been experimenting with different brew settings for some time; today’s experiment was good but not the best. Similar settings once yielded a wonderful dark chocolate flavor — one the best pu-erh experiences I’ve had — but I haven’t been able to repeat it.

I’m normally a fan of oolong, but find myself compelled to explore – especially Pu-erh. Oolongs can have such varied and complex flavors and from what I’ve tasted so far, so can Pu-erh.

I have several older cakes I’d purchased a couple of years ago. One tastes fishy and the other like mushrooms. I love the one that tastes like mushrooms! Is it dorky if it reminds me of sitting in a dewy forest under mushroom umbrellas! (Shhh …) In looking for more similar to that, I purchased some of this Pu-erh Tuo Cha by Rishi.

The Pu-erh Tuo Cha cakes are dark and fairly hard. If I score with a knife I can break one in half with my fingers. The brew is inky dark with a little red. The taste is smooth, deep and almost smokey with a few notes of mocha. Not bitter, but it gets strong quickly.

If I search with my taste buds I can find just a hint of that mushroom taste. Perhaps this batch has a lot more aging to do. I think this is fairly “fresh” as it was purchased in Rishi’s new boxes instead of their old tins. I rather miss the tins, but understand. The box is 3.21 oz (91g) and contained about 12 cakes.

I didn’t feel a need to rinse first, but I’ll try that next time. Good for multiple infusions. Steep times varied with second and third steeping. I want to explore more Pu-erh!

As I read through earlier reviews some adjectives that others were using pretty much sum up this tea. People describing it as – fishy, seaweedy, murky and the like. I’ve tried this cake several times Gong Fu Cha and with different parameters to try to hone it in. It’s just a bit unruly for my liking. It really is murky and thick. I think it depends what you’re looking for in Pu’er. Fishy and murky generally don’t suit my tastes. This one takes several steepings to even start getting to something interesting and classic tasting.

Like it’s Sheng contemporary offered by Rishi I would be interested in seeing how this one ages but there really isn’t any reason to drink it right now in my opinion. With so many good and affordable alternatives out there I think this is one that I would maybe try once a year to see if it’s changed favorably. Nothing too special.

It had been a while since I had made our current lot. I had forgotten how great this batch is. This lot is made from many grades including some pu-erh palace. It has great complexity and very nice body. The leaf size is very small because it is made up of higher grades but delicious. I will put away my 2005 lot and enjoy this lot, now!

This is my first real foray into the world of pu-erh!

I rinsed the puck with hot water for 10-15 seconds, and then steeped for about 30 seconds. For some reason, I didn’t expect the puck to fall apart so quickly. After a short amount of time, the tea was already dark like soy sauce, and I won’t lie, it smelled like fish.

The taste was malty, smooth, savory, and yes, a little bit like fish. The fishy taste subsided after the second infusion, and each subsequent brew was a little bit lighter and sweeter. I increased brew time slightly, but by the last infusion, I still only brewed for about 1 minute. Even the 6th cup was still a rich reddish mahogany color, but by then, the tea was losing its flavor and intensity.

Although my description might not sound too appealing, there is something mysterious and alluring about the smell and taste of this tea, and I enjoyed every sip. I loved smelling the earthy, savory aroma of the leaves between infusions. Drinking this tea is something to plan to do periodically throughout a whole day, as you have to do it justice by brewing at least 5 cups (even the 7th or 8th infusion would probably be pleasant). Other than that, I look forward to my next pu-erh day.

Tried this tea this evening with Madison, so far so good, I have some more to try for myself in the upcoming days, but definitely have to say that this changes the pu-erh game, if you will.

I have had bad experiences with pu-erh, I have had one great experience, and one “meh” (if you know what I mean) experience. I feel this can be another great experience if I give it a few finishing touches. Will try again and repost/report/update.

i am just starting to get into pu-erh and I figured this would be a good segway into it. At first, which steeping this tea smelled like kitty litter that was infused with caramel pieces. But, after it was done steeping, it just smelled earthy,keeping the caramel. My first infusion I made a little too weak- I think i added too much water in my teapot by accident. Oh well, live and learn, right? The liquor is a really dark amber color, almost coffee like. The tast was a bit bitter and earthy but the sweet overtones of dark chocolate and caramel worked nicely together on my palette. Overall, I like this tea, it isn’t super earthy, which is what I was expecting, I am pleasantly surprised with it.

I love Pu-erhs like this. Very creamy and earthy. Good for multiple steepings. Don’t use too much water at any one time to get everything out of this.

Great earthy smell. Full-bodied and lots of deep earthy flavors! This is probably the darkest tea I have seen. Looks like a cup of coffee. If placed next to drip coffee I wouldn’t be able to tell the difference. A very excellent puerh tea. I would definitely buy this one again.

I really like thick, dark teas. I really, reaaaallly like thick, dark teas. The first sencha I ever tasted was the Organic Miyazaki Sakimidori from o-cha.com, a positively stunning experience from the thick cloudiness of resultant brew to the amazing grassy flavors to the absolute euphoria following, and solely responsible for inspiring my love of tea.

I had held off on trying Pu Erh for quite a while, not quite understanding how I would brew it or why it came in little blocks, but having tried all other main varieties of tea from white to black, I decided it was finally time to introduce myself to post fermented teas.

The smell of the dry leaves was funny, not quite like anything I’d ever smelt before and definitely containing some of those fishy notes I’d heard of. I first broke off a little bit of one of the little bundles and infused it for 30 seconds. I probably should have rinsed the leaves first, but regardless I was immediately impressed by the first infusion – dark as coffee, thick mouthfeel and very surprising lack of astringency. I like this tea. The flavor is very earthy, almost like a counterpart to the grassiness of the Miyazaki sencha but one layer closer to the center of the earth. I was left with a powerful envigoration after one cup, noticeably heightened with the second, and more so than I experience from black tea. Perfect after a large meal.

Definitely happy about my first experience with post fermented tea, and I will definitely consider getting more.

this was my first pu-erh. I saw it at Whole Foods, and figured i would give it a try. i liked it. it is earthy. I like that it as a strong flavor. It is nice to have them as little discs. When i am at work (or at home) and i do not want to measure out a teaspoon of tea, it is nice to put this out and know you have the correct amount of tea.

As fall moves into winter, I usually go heavier on coffee than tea. However, the richness of this pu-erh is really drawing me in as an warm respite from the harsh Minnesota winter!