~60ml porcelain gaiwan. 1 10-15sec rinse, let leaves sit a few minutes. steeps 5s, 2s, 2s, 5s, 5s, 5s, 10s, …

first steep — smell inside gaiwan lid sharp and bitter? with some fruit, perhaps. tea still light, but with a little buttery vegetal-ness, and some soft sweetness. very light hint of smoke.
second steep — smell inside gaiwan lid becoming that warm spicy vanilla(?)-y smell of sheng (at least, in my head that’s what it is), with a hint of barnyard. tea a little stronger, mild fresh-woody aftertaste, very light perhaps-smoke.
third steep — not much different, but with a stronger&longer aftertaste. should’ve probably given it a longer steep. aftertaste almost grassy? with dry-mouth feel. there is probably a name for that. interesting about the lid smells — half of the lid smells of warm spices, with maybe some tobacco; the other half smells thoroughly barnyardy. interesting that it’s split by (probably) which half contacted the tea on the pour.
fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh steeps — more tobacco-y, to me, and a bit bitter in back of mouth. or just… bitter everywhere. whoah. it’s like it’s climbing around the edges of the back of my tongue, even after the liquid is gone. almost a chewy sort of thing.

It seems to pretty much continue in that vein, with the bitterness becoming the primary. I’ve not until now had a tea like this; it’s very interesting.

Flavors: Bitter, Grass, Smoke

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 4 g 2 OZ / 60 ML
Garret

Purple leaf! A whole different ball game when it comes to younger shenf pu’er. Many of our customers enjoy the ye sheng cha with cooler temps for the 1st few years. I usually brew it at boiling and do much shorter steeps, by the time I get to 6 or 7 steeps, the sweeter side of the leaf comes out. These teas mellow quite a bit after 3 to 5 yrs, so if the astringency is too much, just you wait :) The complexity that comes to it after a bit of aging always intrigues me. Purple leaf is different leaf, after all, than the regular raw pu’er leaf. Enjoy!

Thanks for writing up your thoughts and experience!

Grateful,
Garret

twinofmunin

“A whole different ball game” describes well my experience! Thanks for the tips on brew parameters; I look forward to playing with it more. :)

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Garret

Purple leaf! A whole different ball game when it comes to younger shenf pu’er. Many of our customers enjoy the ye sheng cha with cooler temps for the 1st few years. I usually brew it at boiling and do much shorter steeps, by the time I get to 6 or 7 steeps, the sweeter side of the leaf comes out. These teas mellow quite a bit after 3 to 5 yrs, so if the astringency is too much, just you wait :) The complexity that comes to it after a bit of aging always intrigues me. Purple leaf is different leaf, after all, than the regular raw pu’er leaf. Enjoy!

Thanks for writing up your thoughts and experience!

Grateful,
Garret

twinofmunin

“A whole different ball game” describes well my experience! Thanks for the tips on brew parameters; I look forward to playing with it more. :)

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