218/365
It’s colder today than it has been recently, so I pulled out a pu’erh coin to try instead of making up an iced tea. I’ve been curious about this one for a while, so it seemed like the ideal opportunity. I haven’t tried a lot of chenpi; maybe only one or two at most prior to this one. Orange is a flavour that works really well with pu’erh in my book, though. I’m brewing this one western-style in my infuser, and I’ll probably stick with it most of the day.
Initially, it’s simply classic pu’erh; damp earth and wet wood. It’s so smooth, though, with the kind of texture that coats your mouth and really lingers – in the best possible way. There are some pithy orange notes from the third steep onwards, starting off fairly mild and building in intensity with successive steeps. It’s very much an orange rind kind of flavour, particularly to begin with, rather than softer, jucier orange flesh. It’s perhaps a little waxy-tasting at times, but I’ve no real complaints.
There isn’t too much variation with this one; it’s a solid performer through many, many steeps. I got tired of it before it got tired! I have another of these in my cupboard, but I’d not hesitate to purchase more in the future – maybe even a cake. Having said that, I rather like the coins for convenience, and they’d be great to travel with. Whatever works, I guess!
