Pu-erh Classic

This is one of my staple black pu-erhs and is really the tea through which i came to like pu-erh tea after initially thinking it tasted like a mixture of mold, seaweed, and dirt. It is similar to Imperial Pu-erh from Silk Road Tea. Both of these are great dinner and after-dinner teas. I tend to drink pu-erh teas in the evening.

Did someone put cream in my tea? No, it’s still as black as night.

Super smooth and creamy in the mouth. Nice, but not overpowering, earthiness. Really great.

pu-erh-fect!

Pu-erh = happy face :)

Does anyone else like to drink this only as iced tea? When I first bought some I made it hot and I couldn’t stand the taste. My next batch was made as sun tea and it was really good. Like it was a whole new taste.

http://landofmeg.blogspot.com/2008/08/pu-erh.html

I was going to taste this yesterday but ran into a time crunch so it was a natural candidate for today.

I rinsed, and did a tour in the gaiwan at boiling: 10/10/20/30/40/60/120/240/300/360

I have had enough shus at this point to think of this one as a sort of usual one. Not really anything special. This doesn’t mean it’s bad, just that it isn’t at the top of my list.

But other than that, it was the typical mushroom/leather notes in both aroma and flavor (no fish, thankfully) and didn’t change much from steep to steep. In steep 3 I thought I detected a hint of cocoa, but there was no surge of sweetness in the middle steeps like some others, which would have been welcome.

Mushrooms and damp attics. Dark as coffee and similar strength, too. Taste is smoother than the scent but still extremely earthy. I couldn’t separate it from vegetation in my brain so though I finished the cup I don’t think it’s one I’ll drink often. It definitely fills all the check boxes for a standard Pu-erh though.

Recent lot/blend (9/2017). Short brews. Seems to brew dark, not opaque but 15 seconds was plenty of time to get good extraction for the first couple pours. Starts woody, flavors of potting soil, loam, fresh tree bark, with some sappyness, not sweet but rich, with a thick liquor. A lot of forest floor wo dui but not the smoke aspect that loose leaf commodity shu can have. Cert. Organic which is nice. Neither the best nor the worst, a totally acceptable, pleasant, prototypical tea. As others have noted, this is not the single best vintage stored in the absolute best conditions, that is out there if you want it, but if you are open to trying teas, learning brands, experiencing tea as it is, this is a good shu for the money. Great shu for meals.

I am schocked to see the low score this tea has.

I drink it every morning on an empty stomach.

An entirely drinkable work horse pu.