Ripened Aged Loose Pu-erh Tea

Third Review.

This is one of the Teavivre tea’s that I decided to purchase in bulk for daily use. Why?

Originally this pu-erh wasn’t even part of the sample program that many of us have enjoyed receiving from Teavivre.
During the sample mailings I noticed that there was this one lonely
pu-erh with no reviews so I asked Angel if I could have some so that a review could go up on Steepster.
She sent me the sample and..I ended up liking this tea.

But what made me purchase it for daily use? I looked for four things flavor, quality, the company and cost.

I have more expensive pu-erhs than this one, jewels that have exceptional flavor which I drink on special occasions and some just once a week.
My daily pu-erhs tend to fit a flavor profile that I don’t get tired of. This is of good quality from a company that I love doing business with and at a price I can afford. (I am living on a fixed income!)

The tea is a little bit salty and bready which is something I find appealing. The earthiness is not too strong and there is great richness and body that stands up to sweetening and milk if I want a morning latte.

( Please, Rinse the dry leaves 20 seconds)
I recommend Western Style brewing because the Brew takes a good amount of tea leaves (3-4 teaspoons per 8oz) and a short (1-2 minute) Steep.
I have done this method over and over successfully with a rich and dark liquor each time.
I wouldn’t suggest using a gaiwan unless you were cutting the leaf to a minimal amount for 4oz.

Resteeping produces great results!
The price is very good $9.90 for 100 grams.

With a liquor as dark as wine, you’d think that the tea would have a similarly intense presence. As it turns out, not so much. It’s an understated fellow, this one. You get a mouth full of smoke that sits even more heavily on the tongue than the Lapsang Souchong, leaving an ashy residue feeling, however it’s not overpowering. This tea could be the shy guy at the corner of the D&D table. His character’s stats aren’t amazing, but he’s got steady luck on the dice, and you aren’t creeped out by his silence–in fact, you’re a little curious if he’s got more to say. For the tea, this means trying out further infusions and seeing how the underlying flavors develop. Admittedly the fishiness is still there on the initial sip, but it doesn’t leave an aftertaste; only the smoke does. This gives us a slow-to-show richness and depth to the tea–meaty, even.

Alright, it’s a steak in a cup. Carnivores, full review here: http://snooteablog.com/2013/05/25/snooty-tea-review-teavivre/

Deep breath…Here goes my first puerh!! I am excited! Thanks to Teavivre for the sample!

I snip open the sample packet and take a deep whiff. Very surprising! I was greeted by a wonderful savory, mushroomy, brothy aroma. The anticipation is really building now, I absolutely love mushrooms!
I measure out 4 teaspoons for my 12 oz glass cup and set the water to boil. I rinse for 15 seconds; pour off and steep for one minute.
The liquor smells much like the dry leaves. It is a very dark reddish brown. My mouth is watering!
I take a sip. And another. Right now it’s so hot I can barely stand to sip it but I can’t stop myself. It tastes like it smells- like buttery mushrooms. Actually reminds me of the mushroom onion soup they serve at Japanese Hibachi restaurants. Without the onion.
As it cools I am getting less sautéed mushroom and more earthy mushroom. This is my first earthy tea. Interesting! The more I sip, I like.
Whoa..the next sip the broth factor really amped up. It is salty and nummy! Holy carp, and there’s a savory juiciness that stands up as the aftertaste.
This tea really reminds me of something and I can’t pinpoint it! It reminds me of home, i think. Home cooking in Minnesota..visiting Grandpa and Grandma at the northwest angle..eating Grandpas amazing food outside next to Lake of the Woods..I think I have it. It tastes like my Grandparents’ log cabin smells. And it really reminds me of a wonderful fish soup a Laotian friend made me once. The liquor isn’t fishy tasting, but for some reason it brings me there. I think it’s the saltiness.
2nd steep: 1:45 seconds. It’s pretty similar to the first steep ( which is good) so I am going to try an experiment with sweetener and milk. Which is unusual for me, I almost always drink my tea plain nowadays. …I like it with a bit of raw sugar, the sweetness is more in the aftertaste. Now for the milk..and it’s delicious.
Well, I’m pretty happy. I won’t rate it until I have had the opportunity to try more puerhs. But if you’ve never had puerh before, and you like mushrooms, try this!

This is actually my first tea this weekend. I’ve been drinking hot apple cider and apple juice a lot. It kinda tastes like a more mild breakfast tea. Though that could just be a sign I need to try more pu erh.
Anyway, it’s good to have on a windy Autumn day.

I was already quite familiar with Teavivre’s pu-erh tea via their Ripened Aged Pu-erh Mini Tuocha (bird’s nest-shaped little tea cake) selection, my absolute favorite pu-erh tea. I liked it so much that I sent away for seven ounces of the product from Teavivre in China a few months ago. When I received the order, the ample amount in the package made me think that I would be tuocha-sufficient through the end of the year. However, I brewed through all of the little birds’ nests in about three weeks! Since I try to maintain Teavivre’s pu-erh and a few of their black varieties in my stash of staple teas, I immediately hit their website to order more pu-erh. This time, I thought I would give their loose leaf Ripened Aged Loose Pu-erh tea a shot, hoping that it would just approach the great quality of the tuochas.

When I opened the package, the strongest pu-erh aroma that I have ever experienced burst forth from the bag. It was a potent, earthy, and leathery smell that screamed pu-erh in several different languages. The long tea leaves looked like shredded landscaping mulch and were a milk chocolate color.

I was surprised (and a little concerned) when I saw that the instructions recommended three to four teaspoons of the leaves for each eight-ounce cup. I was afraid that I would empty the entire package twice as fast as with the tuochas. However, Teavivre’s instructions always seem to suit my taste buds, so I used their recommended amount (three tablespoons), temperature (212 degrees), and brewing time (two minutes).

The steeped brew was a deep dark brown. A fragrant medium-strength pu-erh tea aroma arose from the pot.

The flavor of the tea was absolutely, thoroughly, and incredibly delicious. It was rich, powerful, smooth, and exploding with flavor. The taste was fresh and earthy with a full-bodied leather quality. Bitterness was not in this tea’s vocabulary. The aftertaste lingered blissfully without annoyance.

I would give this tea a rating of 200 if that choice were available. I will do my best to make sure that this tea is NEVER missing from my daily stash.

1st smell out of the package: smokey. I have to admit that smell made me nervous given my reaction to the Lapsang Souchong. (Which I have not tried the 2nd steeping idea yet.)
Wet smell: Earthy. Slightly leathery aroma, (Which I’ve been told is a good thing with Pu-erh.)
1st taste without sugar: (Yes the 1st taste was with the 1st steeping. GAG. lol) So I pitched it and started boiling water for the 2nd steeping. I steeped it for 1 minute and roughly 30 seconds. Automatically added 4 packets of Apriva sweetener, (Kroger brand of Splenda.) It worked.

I taste an almost creaminess to the tea, I can see how others have gotten a caramel-ish taste in it. I am not wowed at all in this tea, however not about to judge all pu erh by it. I plan on trying out some other ones, (though not willing to yet try the ones with other flavors mixed in, like from Teavana’s)

I would not refuse a cup of this if offered from a friend, though. And now that I finished my cup, I feel mixed, because even though it didn’t wow me, I liked drinking it. How weird is that?! Maybe my palate is changing. That would be great, because I really would love to enjoy traditional teas, though I do not want to give up on my crazy love for flavored tea combos from stores such as Teavana….I don’t think my budget could afford that anyways. Heh.

Water: 8oz boiled 30s rinse

Leaves: tiny tea leaves

Steep: 2m

Aroma: Earthy

Color: Very dark brown

Taste: This is only my second Pureh tea so i wasn’t sure what to expect. I made sure to give it a 30s rinse before brewing. Then followed a 2 minute steeping the aroma is quite strong deep earthy scent. As for the taste it was burnt & bitter.

This was the most disappointing part of my order. I guess I am not sure what I expected, I know they are not a puer specialty store, and they offer quite a limited selection.

The leaves were fine visually, but the tea was lifeless. I loaded up my yixing with about 10g (usually I am more near 5 or 6, as it is a small pot) and still couldn’t get much flavor out of it. Overall I was pretty disappointed.

Steepings were between 20-45 seconds. I was trying anything to breathe life into this tea, but to no avail

My first pu-erh tea. I’ve never tasted something like this before (I’m new to loose leaf tea btw). The moment I tasted this tea, I remembered the vacation place from my childhood. I couldn’t understood why. I think it was because of the wooden taste which took my time to figure out. I enjoyed the tea. It was strong and has different notes to discover.

A recent tasting note I read said Raspberry Puerh so I immediately recreated this amazing combination the next day.  Half a sample of this with my amazing Maya Raspberry black tea (one heaping teaspoon).  I figure whenever I combine any puerh with another tea, it should be a loose puerh, as it will already have a headstart on unraveling with the other tea, rather than it being a cake of puerh that needs time to unravel.  Somehow the raspberry tea is so flavorful I can hardly taste the puerh here in any of the three steeps… I’m only tasting raspberry black.  So maybe adjusting leaf amounts should happen.  But this is an amazing idea that I need to keep trying with other ripe puerhs.  I guess I liked this puerh too much in the past to overpower it with another flavor. At least the raspberry was full of flavor for three steeps.