A sample with my Teavivre order! Their article on pu-erh helped me figure some pu-erh stuff out, and I wish I had seen it before I ordered, because I probably would have requested a ripened sample rather than a raw. Ah well, I will try this anyway! Though this is supposed to be a cake, the leaves have already fell apart in the sample bag… they are long, black and dusty. The leaves actually smell like spinach which I just happened to have for lunch today. Teavivre’s instructions:
10 grams for 8 ounces of water – 212 degrees – rinse, 30 sec, 1, 2,3,4 min
Steep #1 // a few minutes after boiling // rinse, 1 min
I went with half my sample package. The brew is light.. a lighter brown. I expect raw pu-erh to have this color now which means I love the others – the dark color of the ripened pu-erh, and the flavor. The flavor of this one is a hint of spinach and also like cedar, which is probably why I dislike them more. I don’t like the woodchip flavor. Maybe a bit like apple and/or chamomile is here too.
Steep #2 // just boiled // 2 min
This steep seems a bit overdone – a little too tangy and astringent for me. But the flavor isn’t my favorite anyway. I wonder if everyone willing to sip pu-erh has a preference to either ripe or raw pu-erh. This reminds me of Fengqing Paddy Flavor Raw Pu-erh Cake Tea 2006, but I prefer the flavor of that one better, unless the steep on this one was just terrible on my part. This isn’t a terrible pu-erh, but I know that if I bought any pu-erh for my cupboard, it would certainly be ripened. It’s just to my taste better! I appreciate that I could try it though!
