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tea-sipper drank Lao Cang Sticky Rice Raw Sheng mini tuo cha by Royal Tea Bay Co. Ltd.

4185 tasting notes

DigniTea sent me one of these tiny guys to sample. thank you so much! I’m on the lookout for rice scented pu-erh and I wanted to try this one today to see if I like the raw version. I love rice scented pu-erh. I thought if I had to banish one type of tea from my life it would be raw pu-erh, but this is certainly convincing me otherwise.

Steep #1 // rinse // 10 min after boiling // 1 min steep
Yes, I will always love the ripened pu-erh more than the raw, but this one works too. I love the dark flavor of the ripe pu-erh, and the sweet rice flavor just seems like it would go better with ripe. But maybe the flavor is able to shine better on the lighter raw leaves. The flavor here is so buttery. I’ve never had sticky rice, but to me the flavor screams kettle corn… which I’ve only had one time and loved. But the cup is mostly sweet, a hint of spicy with the aftertaste. I’m accustomed to raw teas being very tree-like, but it’s possible I was steeping them too long. Maybe even 30 seconds would have been enough like some oolongs.

Steep #2 // 8 min after boiling // 70 seconds
Oh boy, and here is where the bitterness starts. The rice flavor is still very apparent, but the bitter kind of ruins it. Maybe that’s why I like the ripened pu-erh better, it isn’t as sensitive.

Steep #3 // 10 min after boiling // 50 seconds
Still bitter, but so is the rice flavor. I liked the first cup though. I think the first cup was perfect, but this should really be steeped for maybe 30-40 seconds after the first steep. I think I’d rather stick with the ripened until I get better at not ruining the raw pu-erh. I still love the rice flavor. I’m ordering some of the ripened from puerhshop.com…

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4 comments

Ubacat
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I had a bit of trouble with this tea too. The sticky rice scent was way overpowering and I think there was some bitterness in the later steeps. I would suggest trying shorter steeps but I see you’ve only had one to try. I have quite a few of them on hand if you ever want to try it again.

tea-sipper
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thank you so much for the offer, but I think I’ll stick with the ripened from now on. :D

Ubacat
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I look forward to seeing your review on the sticky rice ripe pu-er. Maybe it will go better with the ripe. But don’t give up on the raw! Mandala is the best starting place for raw. All their teas were fabulous.