Ripened Aged Pu-erh Mini Tuocha

My buddy Reqwer was kind to treat us with this tea at his place. I can’t say I felt every note of it’s taste, mostly because I was eating so much cookies and chocolates at the same time..But it went great with all the sweets and gave everything a warm earthy feeling. Not really my cup of tea (no pun intended at all), but I enjoyed it very much though.

Booklog:
Yes, Steepster isn’t a place for this, but I just wanted to keep it here, since books & teas go so well together :) I’ve just started reading The Black Company by Glen Cook. So far so good, we’ll see how violent will it get later, I sense a lot blood being spilled in the future.

(This sample was generously provide to me by Teavivre. Thank you Angel and the whole Teavivre Team.)
Dry Leaf: I get a old damp wood aroma.
Wet Leaf: Has a warm rich old damp wood aroma.
Liquor: Dark brown.
Taste: This has a rich and smooth earthy taste with a very gentle sweetness to it.
Overall Opinion: I give this tea a 88. I also noticed that I didn’t get as many steepings as you would usually get with a puerh. I tend to be more partial to puerh cakes but, for a on the go options this is a good option. You can easily take this with you to work,to school, or even a road trip.

TeaVivre provided me with a free sample of this tea. Thank you.

I’ve drank this few days ago, but forgot to write a note. I wanted my impressions settled, but if you look the other way, I just might be lazy at the moment. Anyways, let’s get started.

I received the package early-early to mid January that I ordered in mid December, and since it was my first time (to order from TeaVivre) I was so excited when I got a cardboard box. I got my four teas that I ordered (three grades of Keemun and 50 gr. of Organic Bai MuDan), plus three free samples. All teas were double packed, except this one. When I opened the sachet and stuck my nose into it and inhaled deeply (hey, don’t get the wrong idea) – it was amazing, earthy, dried plum-like, mellow scent awarded my months’ wait.

I waited for an opportunity to drink it with my girlfriend that has a knack to pinpoint an aroma. She doesn’t drink tea often, but when she does she can Identify numerous tastes and aromas.
So she came over for the weekend and I popped one Pu Erh ‘cookie’ (that’s how I call them) of my tea board, and she was like – does that smell like fish too? (We drank some Pu Erh not long ago and it had a smell of fish market) She was OK with it so I washed the tea and brewed 1st infusion…

1st infusion – 100 C – 150 ml – 10 s

First infusion was clear with violet-ish hue, had a mellow and light taste and seemed quite natural. Since it wasn’t as earthy as I used to I thought that water didn’t penetrate enough, so I added 10 seconds more…

2nd infusion – 100 C – 150 ml – 20s

And that’s how you get an espresso-like Pu Erh infusion, that was significantly darker, far from dark red hue that was expected. We drank it, it was quite delicious but a bit strong for my taste, buy I made a mistake, so blame it on me.
Some new notes came up, nutty, but my girlfriend pinpointed it to the sensation when you eat too much walnuts (how does she do that??). It was a bit bitter, but the good kind and we emptied our cups.

3rd infusion – 100 C – 150 ml – 15 s

This infusion yielded a more pleasing taste for my palate, if not the best for the session. It had all characteristics of previous infusion, only tuned to my enjoyment area. After we drank this one my girlfriend called it a night, and I went on brewing some more.

4th infusion – 100 C – 150 ml – 20 s

I enjoyed that one too, but I noticed that taste is starting to fade – which made me to think that I lost a good deal of it in 2nd infusion. After that one I made it to 7 or 8 in total, increasing for 15s, 20s … up to 2 minutes.

In conclusion, this is the best mini Tuo Cha I had a chance to sip.

(The awkward, funny part)
Tomorrow morning girlfriend said that I scared the hell out of her when I woke up in the middle of night and jumped, talking something about this tea. I guess I felt regrets for that 2nd infusion that it made up to my subconsciousness :)

Fantastic. So good, earthy, smooth. Not fishy at all.

Very earthy- wood, leather, dryness…sweetness, it has a rich feel like licorice or coffee. Feels medicinal and soothing.
[Free sample from teavivre.com, thank you!]

I received this and four other teas from TeaVivre for sampling, so I will use my faded journalistic integrity to provide a bias-free review ;)

Taking the advise of Jim Marks, I did not rinse this lovely little tuocha. 45 seconds for first steep in a 250ml gaiwan, there is a tiny bit of fishy smell emanating from my mug. I thought I would be turned off by it, but I don’t mind it actually. It’s really mellow and blends nicely with the additional scents of hay in this tea.

As this is my first tuocha, I didn’t want to steep it for very long during the first run. That turned out to be a good idea; this tastes smooth and light! There is a little bit of hay on the tip of the tongue, and I can tell there is going to be some additional sweetness in subsequent steeps.

Gonna play more Skyrim and have a few more cups of this!

EDIT: Second steep was 30 seconds, and it’s way darker than the first. Stronger, more pronounced flavours. Still quite nice!