Fengqing Raw Pu-erh Cake Tea 2006

In an effort to trying and actually get through some of my puerh samples, i figured i should try to have 1-2 today, since my day is pretty much shot thanks to work stuff. I like this one, for much of the same reason i really love wild Monk from mandala…that smokey taste in the background of a smooth tasting brew. I’m not going to wax poetic about this one, but it’s one that i could see picking up a cake of, in the future when we have a proper place for me to have mountains of puerh!

Thanks for sharing this one with me Cavocorax

Method: 6g, 6oz, 195 degrees, rinse-10-15, sheng yixing

Aroma: I wish I could smell the chocolate others described. This smelled like very lightly smoked apricots.

Flavor: I like to give my shengs a 10 second rinse, then let the leaves rest for a minute or 2 before brewing. The leaves seem more open this way, and I get stronger flavors sooner, usually. This tea was different. The first 2 steeps tasted good, but the flavor was weak. This tea has less sweetness and tastes more brothy, so I wanted to really taste those flavors

I did a 3rd and 4th steep at 15 and 20 seconds. These were better! There’s a light bitterness. Not much. It’s enough to give a little kick at the end of the sip! Thanks to Angel at TeaVivre for the sample!

Thank you Teavivre, from this sample!

Not using a rating because I’m inexperienced with sheng pu’erh and don’t have the proper palate. Gongfu method with 4oz gaiwan. 10 second rise. Steepings time were 10, 15, 3, 30, 45, 60…

The dry leaf aroma consists of mushrooms, smoke, sweet spices, and peppercorns. After the rinse, the aroma was savory. I picked out sauteed mushrooms, BBQ’d London broil (medium rare), honey, and honey mustard BBQ sauce. I thought I felt my stomach rumble…

The liquor has a pale peach color and is clear and full-bodied. The first infusion was earthy and sour and had a hint of mushroom. At the second infusion, the aroma resembled cherries and the texture became creamy. Still could only taste earth and sourness. The texture went back to being clear for the third. Sourness waned a little, fruity note appeared. I could have probably gone for more infusions for the sake of the review, but I had to stop at the fifth. The flavor notes – earth, sour – pretty much remained the same. I tried my darndest detect flavors beyond what I was already tasting. Props to me for smelling those weird notes in the aromas (I have a crave now).

Sample sipdown!

I decided to brew it gongfu style because I have a teensy Japanese soy sauce dispenser that holds 3 oz.

As per their website for the paddy flavoured tea (because this one is no longer)…
Dry, the tea smells really sweet and carby.
2 rinses – A bit smoky, as well as sweet and carby (like cooked potatoes or pasta or something).
20s – Umm. Huh. I don’t like this at all. It smells sweet and carby with a tinge of smoke, but it tastes extremely astringent and bitter, a bit fishy, and just. No. Like a green darjeeling that’s been boiled and oversteeped.
30s – Even stronger and more astringent and bitter.
40s 5s – Nope.

Ok, I’m calling it quits. This is not a tea for me, the flavours are not good. I don’t know if I’m doing something wrong (entirely possible!), but I do not like. It was my first raw puerh, too. I have a couple others that I’ll eventually get to. :)

I had this tea two days ago and never left a review. I definitely picked up the chocolate notes in the dry and brewed. It did have that slightly smokey pu-erh taste. Somehow nothing stood out with the taste but I’m still new to pu-erh teas. I think this tea deserves another chance before I rate it as I was pretty distracted on the day I had it and never noticed if there was any change in my cha qi either.

This tea provided a pleasant accompaniment to my afternoon.

The dry leaf smelled of a powdery chocolate smell with a hint of sugar and raisin as well as a hint of sweet aging straw. The tea never developed the sweetness apparent in the smell.

I brewed this tea 12 times after the rinse and used half a sample packet. ( 10, 20, 25, 30,35,40,45,50,60,80,120,180s). The broth was a brownish red tinged gold.

In middle steeps the leather and bitter greens slowly dissipated and the wood developed a charred aged cedar tone. Honey became apparent underneath the fruit. Tones of sultana and licorice appeared briefly among the cocoa, charred wood, fruit and cream.

The later steeps were dominated by plum charred cedar, cocoa, honey and hints of vanilla orchid.
The tea produced a bright tingling at the front of the mouth and a warmth in the throat.

Thanks Angel I enjoyed this tea very much and appreciate the opportunity to really begin my education in puerh teas!

Once again thanks to the ever generous TeaVivre for their generous samples.

Thank you Angel for sending me this (and other ) samples! (192)

I haven’t had a lot of experience drinking pure puerh so I was hesitant to try this, yet excited. It’s complicated. I steeped it for 3 minutes as a play-it-safe way to start. I figure I can always re-steep it for longer if I get brave enough!

And so I sip! And it’s quite nice! It’s not OMG It’s lightly earthy and slightly sweet and there’s just a little bit of smoke too. Am I imagining that? Interesting! I’m starting to get used to puerhs!

Backlog:

Hey, Sil! Guess what? I’m getting closer to getting caught up!

A really enjoyable Puerh. My first cup was dry and light, with vegetative notes. Mellow with notes of brine … slightly salty. Not so much “fishy” kind of briny taste, more like the salty kind of briny, like a liquid you might marinate a piece of meat in.

I notice an earthy, mushroom-y sort of flavor to this … a barely there note. In subsequent infusions, the earthiness begins to subside and there is more vegetal notes instead. A mellow, well rounded taste that is both savory and sweet.

Here’s my full-length review: http://sororiteasisters.com/2014/01/06/fengqing-raw-pu-erh-cake-tea-2006-teavivre/