2016 King of Pu-erh

I received this tea as a free sample from The Tea Guy (many thanks!) and am finally getting around to trying it. The aroma of the dry leaf is subtle enough that I’m not sure what to expect, so I go into the first steep blind. I skip the wash, wanting to get as much of a sense of the tea as I can (plus, it’s loose leaf, so doesn’t need to break apart), and I let it steep just long enough to get dark.

There is a bit of storage flavor in the first infusion, and it’s got both a creamy mouthfeel and a hint of creamy flavor notes. The finish—especially by the time I’m downing the last of the first steep—is like a milky coffee with a bit of earth at the back of the throat. The flavor also coats the mouth and lingers for quite a bit.

Oddly enough, I think I taste the storage more in the second infusion than the first. As I sip, I visualize barrels being rained upon in the garden, a blend of wet wood and petrichor dominating the aroma.

Flavor evens out into a stable blend of lightly woody, creamy and sweet. Overall, an easy to drink shou with more complexity than I was expecting. That could very well be attributable to the fact that it does seem to have a bit of wet storage flavor to it, which I am a fan of. I may try going warrior style on this one since I’ve still got a good bit of sample left.

Received this with some free samples from The Tea Guy, thanks. As to the name of this tea, it conjures up what should in my imagination be the best puerh I have ever tasted. I cannot say that it was. It was also certainly not the worst. This was over the course of twelve steeps fairly nice. I did start off with a note of wet storage. Surprising for a tea from December of 2016 but it was there. It was not overly strong but it did persist for about six steeps. So did the fermentation flavor too. I think this tea actually had a little less fermentation taste than I was expecting. A nice sweet note did develop, at first masked by the wet storage taste, then very noticeable. Even in the end there was a little bit left of the wet storage taste so it is hard to pin down the sweet note. I have decided not to give this tea a numerical rating because I don’t want to be unfair and give one too low or do the opposite and give one higher than it deserves because I got the sample for free. I did really enjoy the tea. That is the truth. Once the wet storage was gone it was quite nice. I should also note that there was no bitterness to this tea.

I brewed this tea twelve times in a 150ml gaiwan with 10.8g leaf and boiling water. I gave it a 10 second rinse. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec,10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, 30 sec, 45 sec, 1 min, 1.5 min, and 2 minutes.