So, Puerh #2 on my list… After a pretty good start with the lovely Canton Loose Puerh, I thought I’d give this a go! It’s pretty chilly here today, so there was a definite appeal to an entire teapot of rich, dark-ish tea.
The little tuo, on unwrapping, didn’t smell terribly strong – it was certainly milder than the loose leaves of the other one I’ve tried. Still, there was no fishiness, a complaint I often read levelled against mini tuo cha, so that was a good sign.
After a quick rinse in my little cup (total volume ~100ml or so), I drained the cup and transferred the still largely intact tuo into my 600ml tea pot (I did, of course, give them a good smell beforehand – a lovely, quite sweet aroma. Kinda wet-forest-y, like some others have said, and also somewhat vanilla like. Lovely!) I filled to near the top and left it to steep, as suggested.
I gave it a try after 7 mins; it was lovely and smooth, with a pleasant sweetness, but still a little mild – I finished the cup that I’d poured and then just left it for a little longer. After ~10 mins, the liquor was nice and dark and delightful to drink – sweet, smooth and pretty full-bodied. I got plenty of sweet notes, along with (amazingly) the Black Pepper note that someone else mentioned – it’s true! That’s also what the aroma of the leaves kinda reminds me of. It was also somewhat creamy. There was no bitterness or astringency.
As I was only taking small cup fulls, the tea in the pot continued to brew – it just became really tasty and nice and strong, but the end. It left a lingering after-taste that was kind of sweet – almost like a roasted marshmallow sweetness!
Anyway, that’s two puerhs tried, now, and both have been delicious. I still won’t score this (not yet, anyway) as it is still a tea I’m not very familiar with. But I’d definitely recommend it. This tea, I imagine, would also be great to drink grandpa style – I resteeped my leaves, and they were totally fine (though obviously, with the nest fully opened, it got stronger faster) and still produced lovely tea. And the leaves, though quite short (presumably these mini-tuo were made up of the smaller bits of leaf, as I think is common), sat nicely at the bottom of the cup when they escaped, so there was no risk of me drinking them.
Flavors: Black Pepper, Forest Floor, Marshmallow, Vanilla
