After heating the Gaiwan and adding the tea, and letting it warm up as the water was re-heating, I noticed the smell of sticky rice, perhaps fresh popcorn.
The wash was a reddish amber color, clear and mostly clean (no little bits of tea).
After the wash the Pu-erh smelled a bit like wet earth.
1st Steep was about 10 seconds or so. With a dark red, or brown color. It reminded me of dark honey.
It had a really mushroomy taste.
The second steep the tea was pretty well broken up. This steep the color was really dark almost purple. I was reminded of dark amber ale.
It was during this steep that I noticed the taste of the sticky rice herb took front stage! The Pu-erh taste was still there, albeit very muted in the background.
The tea tasted like a nice creamy mushroom soup. I was thinking the whole time of rice and mushrooms.
The 3rd steep I was thinking that there was a hint of tortilla chips. Weird I know.
The 4th through 8th steeps were mostly the same as the 2nd and 3rd. That’s to say the Pu-erh taste was mostly muted in the background.
This Pu-erh is not bad at all. It’s a bit of a change and to me seems more like a novelty item than a serious Pu head’s tea.
Flavors: Rice
