I’ve had this tea for a while, and needed to review it. I’ve only had two cups of it so far and have not done a full fledged gong fu session which this tea deserves.
Here’s what I can say so far, however: after 20 seconds in about eight ounces from five grams, this was probably one of the better Pu-Erh blends I’ve had. Nuts and a smokey vanilla are what I taste in the first three steeps. I personally recommend NOT to rinse the tea to preserve the vanilla. After that, I’ve steeped the tea before with too much water making it into something close to an aged iced tea blend…my mistake.
Yet. In the same batch, I re-brewed a western cup in 3 minutes at 190 degrees F, I got a really sweet vanilla tea. There was a very subtle fruity date quality that CWarren called fig like. It is like a vanilla fig. I really don’t like to give tea ratings, but this one I’m rating high because a Pu-Erh has not given me a taste like that before. The earlier steeps were a lot like kitchen sink water with loaded vanilla, but that cup was actually CLEAN. A clean creamy Pu-Erh. Now I’m really impressed. I steeped that a little longer and then I got something that tasted close to a vanilla English breakfast. You could probably ignore that last note, but I added that just for information anyway.
Based on my reaction to this, I’m really excited for the Rummy Pu. I love the smell and thick taste of rum, and if a vanilla Pu-Erh can be this clean and sweet, then I’ll have high expectations for the following. Andrew’s Pu-Erh’s are some of the few that I’ve ever liked anyway.
