Ripened Rose Pu-erh Mini Tuocha

Big thanks to CHAroma for this sample! wow, it is amaaaazing.
Ok, well more like the third and fourth cups were that good. First one was just ok, second I had with milk and sugar which made it super tasty…
Third was really salty so I added some sugar to balance it out. Almost a salty paste. Imagine a really salty hummus, but without the hummus. I know that makes no sense but there you have it.
There was a leathery note as well that I loved in later steepings, along with another note that I am having trouble defining.
It was very smooth, velvet even. It was as if someone took very soft leather and translated that into a flavour, but deeper.
And was that a hint of rose in the third infusion? just barely, but yes, it was there!
Ahhhh, to be tea-high once again. It’s a glorious feeling :D
Thanks again CHAroma!!

Thank you to Angel and Teavivre for this sample. I bought a pack of mixed tuocha anyway before tasting them which is a little crazy but I think I’m going to love them.

My sample pack comes with 2 tuocha pieces that look so pretty and delicate. The Pu Erh is nice and darkly brown and the rose petals are notable on the top. In smell they have a slight sweet rose scent which mixes well with the woody Pu Erh.

Brewing in my gongfu with Teavivre’s instructions. I have been told to continue 30 second steeps though instead if it’s too strong. I will see what happens.
Tea:2 pieces 4 steeps:30s,1m,2m,3m 100ºC/212ºF

Steep 1 – 30 seconds
Golden brown and almost treacle like in colour with a strong Pu Erh scent with only a subtle touch of floral sweetness. The taste is smooth with a woody and malty smokiness that is finished with a gentle kiss of sweet rose. The rose seems to be keeping it lighter than usual.

Steep 2 – 1 minute
Colour is now very dark brown almost black. Also now the tuocha have broken up. Considering the colour has changed quite significantly the taste is still very similar. It’s a little richer but still mellow and with only a slight floral sweetness. There is also a leather like charm about it which I am seeing as being a positive thing (despite being vegetarian).

Steep 3 – 2 minutes
Even after a 2 minute steep it remains mellow and refreshing. The rose has blended in a little more but at the same time the Pu Erh has toned down ever so slightly to keep it at a fair strength. I’m still picking up that leather finish.

Steep 4 – 3 minutes
The flavours are very subtle now compared to the strongest steep (number 2). All that remains is the smooth wood finish that has been consistently mellow throughout.

Overall I really enjoyed this Pu Erh and it was exactly what I was after at this time. It was ripe yet mellow and so lightly sweet whilst keeping with the traditional Pu Erh flavours. As a whole this tea is: mellow, leather like, earthy, woody, floral, sweet, musky, rich and smooth. For me it’s perfect.

*Thanks to Angel & Teavivre for this lovely sample!

There are 2 of this adorable mini tuochas in the sample bag. They are wrapped in white paper, and opening one, I find a little birdnest, with a rose petals pressed into the bottom of it. The smell is similar to the other shu puerh’s I’ve tried thus far: earth, mineral, ocean.

I’m brewing the first tuocha americano style, in my cute little glass pot, so I can watch the tea fall apart & swim around, & really see the color. The disintegration is spectacular, with particles almost exploding in all directions! The tea was finely chopped before being tightly compressed, or so it seems, as the pieces are very small.

This made for a very dark & potent cup, & although I was hoping for a little more rose flavor & aroma (as I do like that), it isn’t really there. What is there is a deep, satisfying puerh that brings to mind an old, old forest with ancient trees & layer upon layer of decomposed leaves, acorns, wood, & moss. I have to leave the house for the afternoon, but when I return, I shall re-steep!

AmazonV was good enough to share some of this with me…thank you! I’ve been hitting the coffee every day this week. The reason being I’ve been staying up late at night prepping for vacation and general goofing around. Anyway, I had to remind myself why I stopped drinking coffee and opted to bring this to work with me instead.

Now we don’t have a proper kettle or anything like it here in the office. Just a water cooler with HOT water spout and a Keurig. So I worked with what I had with the hot water spout thing. I have to say it didn’t turn out too bad! I loved the little nest shape with the rose pressed into the bottom of the nest. This pu-erh smelled like others I have tried – earthy. But I love that about pu-erh. However, I can taste something extra as I sip this tea in my very quiet office..which I assume must be the rose. All in all it is a really nice tea and being a pu-erh I’ll get at least three more steeps out of it this morning. Why was I drinking coffee again?

Thanks again, Angel!

This is a backlog from Saturday afternoon and……..I really, really, really hope I steeped this wrong. Truly. I don’t even want to put a note out yet, but feel it can pass as my cry for help. Because………..I couldn’t even stand to drink this. It definitely had that fishy smell and it tasted like that. It was just….not good.

I’m not rating or reviewing this until I know I have it right. So this is my call for help. HOW DO YOU MAKE THIS RIGHT?? Please. I’m begging. All of the other Teavivre teas have been awesome so far, and I don’t want to mess this up.

Of all the teas in Teavivre’s web store this is the one I was most curious about. I specifically requested it be included in the samples. I have only had one other rose tea and I did not like it at all, however rose and puerh together just sounds interesting.

The toucha comes wrapped in paper with four in the sample envelope. First brew per the instructions. The toucha bubbled the instant the water hit it and crumpled almost as fast. I don’t know if you are supposed to do a wash with these, so I did not. After two minutes in boiling water, the brew is very dark like burgundy wine. The leaf is almost powdery small with a bit of rose petal. The aroma is pure ripe puerh (you know that “Eeww, do I really want to drink this?” smell. To which you happily reply, “Well, yeah.”). There is only the slightest hint of rose.

The sip is not even close to what I expected. Not at all like the green puerhs I reviewed recently and definitely not nasty like the one canned cooked puerh I bought at the local international food mart. The rose is way in the background and may even reside only in my imagination. The main flavor is leather, makes me think of a horse saddle, with a bit of smoke and spice. As it cools, the smoke and spice subside but the leather remains.

Second steep, only 1 minute this time. This is the darkest cup of tea I have ever made. Dark as dark chocolate. Still that amazing leather taste and a touch of pepper. Third cup back to two minutes. Similar to the second, a little less pronounced. Fourth cup, three minutes, still flavorful but the leather is gone. Just warm and creamy now with the first real earthy notes. Still reasonably dark and flavorful. I may try to push this further later but I am pleased with today’s results. Pretty sure with real short steeps I could get a lot of cups from this but a few really intense cups just seems more appropriate.

I know puerh makes a lot of people nervous but I really like this. Interesting and complex. I kind of wish the rose came through more, but given my past experience maybe it is better this way.

First review and a huge thank you to TEAVIVRE and ANGEL for this beautiful sample! (sample is hardly correct…it is generous and wrapped in a way that honors the tea inside)
I made sure that my glass pot, glass mug, infuser…everything was sterile so that no sneeky flavor from past tea tastings would interfer with this one. This tasting is special. I love Pu-erh! The little Toucha is cute (I know cute is tacky) with the little rosebud on top of the small dome of aged Pu-erh. I poured the water over the tea and waited….watching the dome disolve…1,2.5 minutes (tasting along the way). Pulled the basket out and smelled the leaves…small and almost black like wet potting soil earthy. The scent is like sweet straw and a bit spicy. The liquid pour looks like light molasses in color. First sip is slightly sweet, not too earthy with a slight caramel cinnamon finish. I’m a sweet lover so I added a tad of sweetening…and it brought up the caramel flavor. Delicious and mello. Now a bit of creme…um…buttery caramel Pu-erh with a bit of earthiness and still good color and body. No fishiness and I did not rinse the Toucha. The rose did not have an effect for me. Maybe it was in the background and gave the spice or sweetness.
*Second steeping 2.5 minutes reveals a less caramel taste but still a beautifully mild earthy flavor and round tone perfect for adding what you want for a latte. I made an iced version just to see how it would taste…thinking of the 72 weather outside. This was wonderful iced! Bravo! No bitterness at all! Ice cubes, sweetening and milk or whatever you use…ice cream…and a Puerh smoothie that you can still taste as what it is! Fantastic! Purely as straight pour…or as you wish..tea is such luxury. I found that my first tasting this morning took my appitite away which was a nice bonus since I could lose a few.

I don’t know why, but I still get nervous about pu-erhs. I’ve actually never had a bad experience with one—actually just the opposite with one, which I love—but all the same I worry that I will really dislike them based on stories I’ve read. Angel Chen offered to send me the plain ripened pu-erh in a sample but I opted for this rose one instead because I love rose-flavored things and even if this isn’t very rose flavored it was less intimidating. I also don’t have any kind of gong-fu setup, which I feel like I would prefer for most pu-erhs.

Anyway, I’m trying this one today! The little tuocha is cute witha small rose bud set in the bottom of it, and it smells earthy and a tiny bit fishy. I gave it a quick rinse and then steeped to the specified instructions on the package. The tuocha almost completely fell apart in that time, though there is a little lump in the center of my strainer still. The liquor is exceedingly dark brown, and it smells really earthy like a carpet of dried pine needles in the woods.

The flavor I’m getting while still very hot is that oaky, woody, a little sawdusty flavor I tasted in one of the other pu-erhs I’ve tried before. I read K S’s tasting note for this one that says leather, and when I think about it, yeah, it is a bit leathery. Really it’s a flavor/aroma that is deeply ingrained in my olfactory memory, the smell of wood stalls and fresh shavings and leather equiptment that comes from spending most of your childhood in horse stables. That’s not to say that this pu-erh actually smells or tastes like a stable, but rather a few individual components… luckily they’re pretty innocuous ones. There’s also a light sweetness that plays on the tongue toward the end of the sip. No rose here. It’s an interesting flavor, and not one I would want all the time, but very drinkable without any of those off-putting flavors and aromas that can sometimes show up in pu-erhs.

Words cannot begin to describe how terrified I am. I’ve been filled with dread ever since I started researching pu’er/puer/pu-erh. What do they do to this tea?? In case you couldn’t guess, this is my first pu-erh experience. Okay, enough’s enough (as my boyfriend always says). Let’s move on to the tea review.

Man, when they said these are mini tuocha, they meant mini. These are itty, bitty, tiny, bite-sized cakes. I wasn’t expecting that. They’re actually pretty cute. I spent all day reading about pu-erh and how to break it apart. I don’t have a tea needle or an envelope opener, so I was contemplating using a metal chopstick. But as it turns out, all that knowledge is useless with these little things. At least it fits in my tea strainer! Problem one solved.

The dry leaves have a very faint, slightly fishy aroma. Of course, part of me only thinks it smells fishy because I’ve read reviews using that word. Now it’s stuck in my head, and I can’t think of another way to describe this. I really like KS’ review where he said, “The aroma is pure ripe puerh (you know that “Eeww, do I really want to drink this?” smell. To which you happily reply, “Well, yeah.”).”

That’s pretty much exactly what I thought when I smelled the brewed tea, except minus the enthusiasm. I’m still not sure how this is going to turn out. I only did a one minute steep because I was so afraid. Did I rinse it enough? Because I mean, I only poured boiling water over it for like two seconds. Oh, the dread!!! The anxiety!!

It smells…kinda’ gross…like mud-covered gym socks or like a musty, dust-covered wood cabin in the middle of the Adirondack mountains. I wish I could place the aroma because it actually smells somewhat familiar. It’s tickling my memory anyway, but I’m not coming up with anything. I definitely get the idea that this is cooked pu-erh as the word “cooked” readily comes to mind. Hmmm, dare I sip it? Oh come on! Why am I so afraid of this? Red rooibos put the fear of the unknown into me, let me tell you. Who’s afraid of tea? I mean really?

Okay, man up! First sip…I’m not sure what to make of this…It’s not 100% off-putting. Only slightly off-putting. It definitely still has that weird, hard-to-describe taste that’s in the aroma. Woodsy, I guess. It’s not bad, just really weird. I’m getting a little bit of leather, but not nice leather. It’s not like walking into a leather outlet or a horse stable. It’s more like riding in the rain and mud and then having to clean the saddle. Or leather cleaner maybe. It’s not entirely pleasant.

This is definitely what I would describe as an acquired taste. I wouldn’t expect the average tea drinker to enjoy this, especially one like me who has a passion for green, white, and oolong teas. But the flavor isn’t overtly in-your-face. I’m not getting any bitterness (or rose, but I wasn’t expecting to since this is my first pu-erh). It’s actually quite smooth. But I think four sips are enough for this first infusion. I can’t bring myself to finish the cup. Let’s see what happens with a second infusion! This one for two minutes.

Phew! This second cup is even more fragrant than the last one. I suppose if I had liked the first cup, this second cup would be better. But unfortunately, that quality I didn’t really like only got stronger. I gave the cup to my cat to sniff. He sniffed it for a good 10 seconds. He kind of perked up near the end, and I thought he might actually want to try it. Then he thought better of it. I made myself sip it, and it was actually sweeter than I expected. But I don’t think I can drink this tea. It’s just not my style.

To finish off the pu-erh night, I gave it to my boyfriend to try. He often likes things I don’t. He took a tentative sip, wrinkled his brow, and took another sip. Then he said, “It’s dry and it tastes like leaves.” “It’s called pu-erh,” I said. He replied, “More like just poo.” The boyfriend concurs; this is not for us.

But I’m sure my first pu-erh experience could have been a lot worse than this. I’m still convinced that this is high quality tea. If anyone would like to take the remaining three mini tuochas off my hands, send me a message!

I finally decided that I’m not going to put it off any longer and that I really, really wanted a rose tea. Today is the day I’m trying the ripened rose pu-erh mini tuocha.

I did a few seconds rinse followed by a short one-minute steep with a two minute steep waiting for me in my little red tea pot.

First, the tea is so dark it looks like coffee in my tea cup! I didn’t realize how light the teas were that I had been drinking until this morning, but this settles it. If nobody knew better, they would think I was drinking black coffee. I also enjoyed watching the tuocha fall apart in my french press. The rose on top of it also grew as it steeped which was lovely to look at when I re-filled it for the second steep.

The first steep of this is really, really mellow. It isn’t very strong at all. Instead it is rich and very slightly earthy. Just enough there to remind you that it is a pu-erh. I think the rose might have lightened up the taste, but I don’t taste it yet. Just lovely and smooth pu-erh.

I think if I gave this cup to my Dad he would drink it without realizing that it wasn’t coffee because it kinda tastes similar to it. Less bold than the brand he drinks of course, but it could pass off as a nice morning cuppa to some coffee drinkers I know. And it is so smooth that they could drink it without milk or sugar.

I’m starting to taste a slight malt as I’m reaching the end of my cup. I only brewed enough for one cup with the first steep, so once it is gone it is gone. But I’m really liking this mysterious malty flavor that popped up. I wonder if it will show up in the second steep or not.

The second steep has to be even darker than the first steep. There would be no question about it. If somebody saw me drinking this, they would think I was drinking black coffee out of a china tea cup. I think I can smell a tiny bit of rose with this cup. Just a touch. Maybe the rose will be more present in this steep.

The second steep tastes a lot like the first, but I think I am picking up a floral taste. Everything is blended together so well that I am having a hard time separating one thing from the other. Complex indeed.

There is a slight bitter twang at the back of my throat, but it isn’t unpleasant at all. A very dark taste that lightens up and reminds me of roses. Ah ha! That is where the flower taste really is. I can taste the roses lightly in the sip, but that bitter twang lightens into that smooth floral rose.

The more I sip it now, the more apparent the rose in the back of my throat becomes. This is why you need to be patient when drinking tea and that why we need to slow down to really taste what we are eating. I think I might be in love and I am so glad that I get two little tuochas per pouch.

I might try a third steep later after I enjoy my little second steep pot full.

Thank you for letting me try this Angel and the Teavivre team. I never would have ordered this by myself and letting me sample this has opened up a new world of pu-erh beyond what Numi offers. And I think I like it even better now.

When I made the last Ripened Aged Mini Tuo Cha from Teavivre it took until the third steep for it to really break up. I often do not rinse my tea if they seem to steep to a deep color right away. I hate to waste any of the tea so I drink it and enjoy, but that one really did need the rinse to be strong enough. This one, however, disintegrated as soon as the water hit it. As I poured off the rinse, it was at first very light and then quite dark at the end of the tiny pot.

I then added more water and did a short steep. Delicious! Earth and leather! It takes me back to my childhood when I owned a pony. This is the scent of the field full of horses and my little fellow freshly saddled. (I had prayed every night for a pony and one day a lady asked me to sing “Take Me Home, Country Roads”. Another lady heard me, started crying, said she was from West Virginia and asked me if I wanted a pony. I was about ten years old. I said yes. I named him Sam.)

I do not have the most sensitive or educated palate in the world, but I am not finding the rose flavor. Like KS, I feel that it may be there or it may exist only in my imagination. It may be lending a ghost of a hint of sweetness. The rose bud is pretty and I think this will make a beautiful tea for my son to give his girlfriend for Valentines Day, but the bud is tiny and I just don’t find the flavor of it in my cup. I agree that it might be a good thing.

The bottom line: this puerh has no fishy or shrimpy aroma or taste. There is rich earth and also saddle leather. On the third and fourth steeps the liquor is still quite dark (it was inky black at first) and it is becoming rich, plowed farm soil in summer sun. This is one of the best puerh experiences ever. I may try to have their plain puerh again a little later today to compare and see which I want to put on my order. I definitely want to keep this around, and need to since three frequent visitors to my home have become hooked on it.

I thoroughly enjoyed the last Teavivre Pu-erh tea that I sampled so I was excited to try the mini tuocha rose injected version. I’m not a flowery tea enthusiast but Teavivre seems to do a great job in keeping the flower from running away with the flavor.

This tea did not disappoint me. It has a very deep, woodsy, earthen taste. The color is a dark rich brown, like molasses.

I had salmon for lunch yesterday and I guess it is still very much on my brain and tastebuds. With my first sip, I thought I detected a salmon-like flavor within this tea. Then, I came to my (tasting) senses and realized that this was just the subtle rose attribute peeking out from the other strong and dominant musky flavors.

It is fascinating to me that the flavors of this tea seem to contradict each other yet are in perfect harmony. The light and delicate rose flavor blends exquisitely with the rugged and powerful earthy taste.

This is a pleasing complex tea. Teavivre has once again proven to me that flowery teas do not have to taste like perfume.

Another offering from Teavivre that I have been excited to try. Tuocha happens to be one of my favorite forms of the glorious tea that is Pu-Erh. I can’t tell you how many times when everything seems to be cramming down on me that I make a cup of Pu-Erh and I don’t know why but Pu-Erh seems to have that Je ne sais quoi that relaxes me and brings me back an even keel. For some it’s a drink of an alcoholic nature however it’s Pu-Erh for me. Now I have tried the rose tuocha from Tao of Tea before and enjoyed it. Again I love the packaging from this company and love how for the shelf life this one says ongoing. First steep the tuocha crumbled almost instantly after a minute. A nice dark liquor was produced. I have noticed with rose teas that the first cup has a bit of bite to it. I don’t know if this is a characteristic of the rose or not. It doesn’t deter from the quality of the tea just a tad bitter. Second Steep lovely and smooth. Third: lighter and tastes more like mushroom water. All said I think this is another fine offering from teavivre. I am enjoying what they have to offer.

The tiny rose bud that was on the top of the tuocha was super cute plus this tea was on sale so how could I resist? I’m a big fan of tuocha format because it’s so convenient and I like to watch the nest shape to unfold.

The taste is sweet and smooth. The rose flavor is very faint, it’s rather floral notes in general that I can detect.

This is a sample from teavivre and I thought I’d give this one a go today. Feeling like a straight, or mostly straight tea right now. Pu-erh sounds good to start the new year in. On;y I did have some Harney and Sons Hot Cinnamon Spice earlier since I was cold.

Anyhow, dry observations…

It smelled very earthy, and the cake was pretty firm…only a little crumbling at the top. I do have to mention I had no rose bud whatsoever with this particular tuocha cake. Now, I don’t know about the others, though there was some confusion initially about which pu-erh tuocha I was getting from Angel. So take this last fact with a grain of salt when it comes to tasting notes. I can’t be 100% sure that I got the ripened rose instead of the plain.

Brewing and tasting…

The liquor turned dark dark dark! It looks very much like coffee or wine, or a mix of the two. I cannot pick up any rose notes specifically, though there is a floral note at the back of my tongue that is accentuated a bit more with the sugar I added. And I added the same amount of milk, roughly, that I usually do, and it is a dark brew still.

I taste a very full bodied tea here…even with the milk and sugar. It is earthy and warm and balanced. I don’t get any fishy taste, though I did faintly smell it when it was dry. To me, this is equivalent to a dark beer (though I don’t drink beer). It’s not for everybody. I think this is good for those who like coffee but want to transition to tea because it is such a hearty taste.

This all said, it isn’t my favourite, but I do like it as a straight tea. I think I prefer pu-erh blends like DAVIDs Oh Christmas Treat! Orange and chocolate are the perfect match for pu-erh.

I’ll see what my next steep is like on this. Oh, and for the record, I did break up the cake with my fingers into a few smaller chunks into my steeper, no rinsing, and I used boiling water and steeped about two minutes.

Happy New Years Steepsterites!

OK. I wrongly reviewed this under the other Teavivre tuocha. I let this steep for 2 to 3 minutes and it is a potent first tea of the day. Please see my other notes and multiply the flavor….

First of all, a big thank you to Angel and Teavivre for the free samples!
This tea took a few sips to get used to. The taste is kind of earthy and musty with a super(and I mean SUPER) light floral tone. I might have let this one steep a little too long and get a tiny bit bitter, but it’s still pretty tasty.
Overall, not my favorite pu-erh but I would definitely order it again :]

_{Tea sample provided by Teavivre for review}

For my first attempt at steeping the tuo cha I’ll be using short steeps. In another tasting entry I’ll try out the western style (long steep).

That being said, my first sip was everything I expected it to be. Dark, smooth, earthy, ripe puerh with no nasty chemical taste.

Of course the tuo cha didn’t break up in the first stage, but with a little pushing from the gaiwan lid it fully unfurled on the second steep. It was a little bitter at first, but I guess that’s because it unfurled. ;) Anyway, the rose flavour starts to come out here, it goes well with the earthy nature of puerh.

At the third and fourth steeps, the bitterness subsides and the rose stands out even more. I might resteep it some more, but I expect the same flavour to come through anyway. Ripe puerh is pretty a consistent resteeper after it breaks up.

100 ml gaiwan, 1 tuo cha, a rinse and 4 steeps

I found that timing instructions from the seller produce tea that is really too strong to be drinkable. Other than that, pretty average.

This… was not what I was expecting. I was really disappointed by this tea. I like puerhs, so I was excited for a nice change in pace with a touch of rose, but on the first couple infusions this tea was actually BITTER. Not the usual bitterness that you expect from tannins either, but bitterness like from okra or something. Very, very off putting… I hoped it was only one tuo cha that was like this, but both were. Oh yeah, and if there was any rose, it was covered up by the bitterness.