Being brave tonight and trying my first mini tuocha, courtesy of Amy oh and helpful advice from both her and Garret!
To begin with… I am in love with this rice-scented bit! Dry, there was a bit of an indication of what was to come, but once the boiling water hit the tuocha, my mouth started watering. It smells so good! So I’m very excited :D I can also smell a nice earthiness. I wish it would cool down faster so I could drink it….
I started with a ~15s rinse with boiling-ish water, and then a first infusion of about 30 seconds. The tea is pretty dark from just that short amount of time, so I’m glad I didn’t go with 45! The aroma is still earthy and rice-scented, yum.
…I’m too impatient to wait to try it. Hmm. I have no idea how to describe this flavour. A bit earthy, a bit rice-like, with a nice aftertaste/aroma of the scented rice. It’s really too hot for me to enjoy quite yet (although I’m sure people drink it this hot, I like my teas cooler.) It is actually a touch light on the flavour, so I might try 45 seconds with the other tuocha (but we’ll see).
Ok! It’s cool enough to try now, and it’s really lovely! Earthy but with a strong rice scent. I’m still getting used to the flavour of pu’erh, but this is quite nice and easy to drink, especially with the tasty flavouring.
I’ll try another couple infusions a bit later; time to head out for that run! Hopefully I don’t get a tummyache :D
ETA: Definitely got a tummyache while running. Unlikely caused by tea though, probably by the bag of cheese puffs (organic and gluten-free!) I ate alongside the tea :D Anyhow, second infusion for about 53 seconds once I finally drained all the water, is quite dark and has the same aroma as the previous infusion. I’m going to wait until it cools to try it out, but am anticipating the same yumminess as before :D Also, I noticed that the leaf is very interesting-looking! There’s green leaf pieces in there! Is that the flavouring herb?? (Also, glass teapot not the best idea for this pu’erh… my cup contains many floaties. I should have strained it through a secondary strainer, my bad.)
Ok, tea cool enough to drink. More earthy, less fragrant rice-y, but I still enjoy it. I think pu’erh is a taste I haven’t quite acquired yet, but I’d have to say that this one is pretty good for “beginners” because of the additional flavouring which helps to counteract that straight earthiness. (Also… I think pu’erh will be a much easier taste to acquire than either beer or coffee, neither of which I will EVER enjoy straight. Blech.)
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yay! you did it. I agree the rice element makes it fun to drink.
Yay! I’m glad you tried pu-erh. I finally got brave enough to order some. I think Mandela will be next on my list for my venture into pu-erh.
Beer is disgusting. I honestly don’t know how anyone enjoys it…
The green leaf that you see in with the ripened pu’er is indeed, the “rice scented leaf”, an herb that gives that special aroma. There is a woman who has an office across the street from our shop who only drinks this tea. The only time I can’t drink it is when I am fasting. Makes me think too much of the smell of basmati rice cooking :)
CHAroma – I entirely agree!
Garret – It definitely made me crave all things rice, so I can see why drinking it during fasting would be difficult!
yay! you did it. I agree the rice element makes it fun to drink.
Yay! I’m glad you tried pu-erh. I finally got brave enough to order some. I think Mandela will be next on my list for my venture into pu-erh.
Beer is disgusting. I honestly don’t know how anyone enjoys it…
The green leaf that you see in with the ripened pu’er is indeed, the “rice scented leaf”, an herb that gives that special aroma. There is a woman who has an office across the street from our shop who only drinks this tea. The only time I can’t drink it is when I am fasting. Makes me think too much of the smell of basmati rice cooking :)
CHAroma – I entirely agree!
Garret – It definitely made me crave all things rice, so I can see why drinking it during fasting would be difficult!