Noble Mark Ripe Pu'er Blend 2012

This is for the loose leaf version… I hope this is the right place to post this.

3/4 of a tsp into a timolino and I’ve been drinking it at work for the past three days. =) Yummy.

I received a sample of this tea with my Phatty Cake II from Mandala Tea a couple of weeks ago. I’ve been thoroughly enjoying my Phatty Cake II, hence why I waited to try this tea out.

Side not to this review: I have been under a lot of stress due to work, graduate school, and financial stuff. To top it off, my quality of sleep has been steadily decreasing, which only exacerbates the stress. The only things that have been keeping me sane are my wonderful girlfriend (who I am slowly getting hooked to tea!), and my new-found love of tea (which includes the amazing community of people that make up the tea world) .

Due to these factors, I woke up this morning feeling groggy, and achy. I needed something good and strong to kickstart my day, thus I decided to try out this tea sample. This ripe pu’er tasted very earthy, which I love, and slightly creamy. It was strong at first, but not as strong as I had hoped. However, this tea was interesting because it gradually got stronger and stronger in the following steepings (which were about 10-15 seconds each). It reminded me of hiking a mountain. It started off light, gradually became stronger, richer, and more intense, then smoothed out and I noticed more of the creaminess. All in all, this tea did an awesome job of waking me up, and brightened up my mood substantially. Super tasty stuff!!! Now that I’ve tried and loved a few different ripe pu’er teas, I need to try out some raw pu’er. I have been super intrigued by the Heart of the Old Tree from Mandala Tea, and I am hoping to get some soon!

One of the two samplers Garret sent to go with Heart of the Old Tree. Earthy flavour. Gives me a nice little tingly feeling in my nose with each sip. Taste-wise, even after 3 and a half minutes, there’s no astringency. It’s earthy. I’m also picking up some kind of… seafood? Can’t quite pin exactly what kind of seafood, either… but it’s not “fishy”. Kind of… shrimpy, or squiddy, or… can I suggest those as flavours?

I close my eyes and take a sip and it brings me to a seaside fiesta, where all the richness of the local community is laid out on a banquet table, ready to be eaten and celebrated. Lovely thoughts.

I guess I really still need to mature as a tea taster to best appreciate this. The flavours aren’t something I can readily identify as immediately as the Heart of Old Tree Shu (and even then, it’s “Sweet” rather than a specific kind of sweet). That said, I now know what kind of tea I want to have with my next seafood trip. And I LOVE seafood. :)

(On a sidenote, I did some scientific testing with my measuring cup, and it turns out my teapot is 350ml, NOT 500.)