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I’m getting to where I’ve tried more than a few pu’ers now, and I feel like it’s a getting a little redundant to say one tastes “earthy” because, well, every pu’er I’ve had has held that characteristic. It’s like saying peppermint tea tastes minty. Pu’er experts of steepster, is this an accurate judgement?

But this one, under the obvious earthiness, holds some note I’m not sure I’ve tasted before… I kind of want to say.. mineral, maybe? It reminds me of what water might taste like if I was taking a hike in the woods and stopped to drink from a stream… just very fresh and cool and yet… rugged and natural, outdoorsy, like fresh air. I know those aren’t generally words used to describe tea, but I’m trying here.

In my, still admittedly novice, experiences with pu’er, between shu and sheng, shu is growing on me much faster. Maybe it’s just that dark earthiness… shu seems more… soil and fall leaves to me, whilst sheng tastes more like spring saplings, still earthy, but more woody and less soil-y. And I just really dig that “forest floor” quality in all of the shu that I’ve tried.

I know, it sounds like I’m talking about drinking trees, but trust me when I say I mean this in the best way possible.

I’m looking at the leaves now and noticing that these are some resilient little nuggets. I’m about 7-8 post-rinse steeps in and they’re still clinging together in their little clusters. Some of them are significantly darker than others— I wonder why this is? Maybe some of them were on the outside of the piles while they were aging while others were at the center? I have so much to learn about pu’er (and so little money!)

Mmm, I’ll also note that the “river water” note as I’m now calling it, seems to emerge best when the water is at it’s hottest— I just reboiled the water and that bright, clean note is now stronger than ever. I really love it. I just wish my tea-vocabulary could describe it.

Ooh, just caught a berry note. Delightful. This is now a hike-in-the-woods-and-drink-from-a-stream-and-eat-a-handful-of-wild-blackberries tea. All the adventure, none of the risk of snakebites, bee stings, or stumbling over a root and spraining an ankle.

I’m noticing the darker nuggets seem to be much more stubborn to open and separate than the lighter colored ones. Maybe the darker ones are more compact? At least they’ve all sunk now; for the longest time one of the darkest nuggets insisted on floating on the surface of the water as it steeped.

I’ve just now come up with a new term for that river-water taste/feel: rocky. Or maybe going back to mineral would be more accurate. I can’t say I’ve ever picked up a rock and sucked on it, not since I was a child at least, but I expect water rushing over lots of little river-pebbles might tasted something like this.

I love how shu just seems to last forever and ever. The only downside to that is that I can’t just have a quick morning session before work without feeling like I’m wasting several steepings. This is definitely a slow, unwinding evening sort of tea. I really would love more evenings like this.

I feel the need to revisit (and re-rate) this tea after having received brewing advice on it. It seems my love for packing the gaiwan doesn’t have the best results when it comes to teas like this!

So I scaled back from 4g/90ml to 2.3g (well, I planned on trying 2g, but the leaves were in this nice little 2.3g chunk and I wasn’t sure how I was going to break that apart without damaging the leaves, so I went with it).

I can certainly say that with the lesser leaf, the sharp astringency that put me off last time is pretty much gone. I have to compensate with slightly longer steep times, which took me a bit to adjust to, but the results are very pleasing.

I will start by saying that I don’t know what this is, but this incredibly relaxing “tea-high” mental fog seems to come especially strong with this tea— I noted it was especially strong last time I tried it too. Not sure if it’s coincidence or something special in this particular tea, but it’s a factor I can’t ignore.

Nuttiness is a factor I’ve really come to love in teas, as well as this woody/earthiness I’ve only just been introduced to since wading around in the shores of pu’er (okay, that’s a strange mental image). I get a bit of a spicy aftertaste now that I didn’t get before; that’s really very pleasing. The later steeps still remind me a lot of Cream of Wheat (I was totally obsessed with that stuff when I was a kid). Overall I think it’s a very nice comfort tea.

I just went to Verdant Tea’s site to check the pricing on this stuff, and it’s 13.50 an ounce, ouch. Good as this stuff is, I’m not sure the experience is worth that much to me, personally. Although an ounce would go a long way, especially using 2g per session, I would rather spend on something I haven’t tried already.

It’s funny how I am much more than willing to pay a lot for samples of tea I have never tried than for larger amounts of tea I already know I like. Maybe that’s just the sign of a greener tea-drinker; maybe years later after I’ve got a pretty good handle on what most teas from major growing regions taste like, I’ll settle a little and be more than happy to buy entire cakes of stuff like this. But right now, the prospect of a brand new tea experience is worth more of my tea-budget than a repeat of something I know I love.

But back on the topic of the actual tea, I want to thank Geoffrey for the brewing suggestion; go easy on the leaf amount, especially if you’re super-sensitive to astringency as I am, heh. It really improved my enjoyment of this tea!

So this stuff makes a pretty good ice-pop!

Brewed this up pretty strong (20g to 4 cups) and sweetened with 1/4c sugar, froze into some ice-pop molds… very satisfying and refreshing. Might brew it stronger next time though, since the tastebuds tend to numb when eating frozen treats. I also don’t like super-sweet stuff, so if you want to try it, you might find yourself adding more sugar. I’m thinking of cutting it back further next time.

Not the conventional way to enjoy tea, but hey, it’s July in central Texas; some days hot tea is not going to cut it! I wonder what other teas might be good frozen?

I need to write more. Boo.

So after the leaves from a mystery-origin (Protip: don’t label tea tins with post-its) TKY were spent, I brewed up some of this, and in contrast to the TKY, this tasted much bolder and very fruity….the fruitiness especially got my attention… golden raisins and white peaches come to mind. I actually enjoyed it more than the TKY, which I found strange, since this tea is much older and lower-quality than the TKY I was drinking. This leads me to a few possible conclusions:

- The mystery TKY I was enjoying before this is actually older/lower grade than I believed, and was just a bad comparison. I’ll be honest in that I was very passively enjoying the TKY while working on a project and wasn’t especially paying a lot of attention to it.
- I have had so much TKY lately that I am burned out on it or it just tastes standard to me, and it was nice to have something different in an oolong.
- This tea has been sitting around so long (seriously, I think I’ve had this little tin for three years) that it magically developed new flavor characteristics with time. Kind of unlikely, I think (at least, I don’t think I’ve ever heard of green oolongs aging well), but I won’t rule it out.

I mean, I’ll be honest, I never thought of this as an amazing tea. I’m pretty sure that this is leftover from a sampler from years ago when I was beginning my tea-tasting journey; I guess in that early phase of trying every tea possible this one fell by the wayside in that awkward category of, “good, but there are better”. So it became a “mixer,” something I would occasionally add a few leaves of to my morning mug-worthy blacks for some extra richness, but not something I considered taking the time to gaiwan-brew. Once I lumped it into that category, it kind of stayed there for years, and I think my tastes have since changed. Honestly, the only reason I decided to brew it is because I only had a tiny bit left, and I’m trying to finish off all my little bits. But this tea really surprised me. I’m a little sad it’s gone.

I don’t think I will order this again (I might, just to settle the nagging theory that it was the age that brought out the best of it), sadly the flavor faded after only a few short steeps but I definitely want to investigate other huang jin oolongs now.

When I was first exploring the tea-world, I guess I latched onto TKY as “BEST OOLONG EVER” and made the mistake of shunning other perfectly good oolongs such as this. Discoveries like this kind of make me kick myself over missed opportunities, but at the same time are pretty exciting; I feel like a tea-newbie all over again!

I will start this out by saying that I absolutely hate hot hibiscus-based tea. Just, ew.

But iced? That’s another story. This tea has become a summertime staple for my household; it’s tart and sweet and fruity and all around perfect for quickly-approaching summertime afternoons. And it doesn’t need added sugar, so it’s pretty guilt-free as far as refreshing cold drinks go. We just reordered another pound of it (it’s very affordable too, huge plus).

My throat is killing me again. I seem to come down with really bad, persistent sore throats on at least a quarterly basis since moving to Texas. I’m not sure if it’s just the air or the fact that I’m living in very close quarters with five other people or if my immune system is just shot due to having absolutely no sleep cycle, 4am shifts alternated with 8pm shifts, but whatever the cause, it usually results in my drinking tea around the clock.

This stuff is absolutely hitting the spot today, I was so excited to have some warm liquid soothing my throat that I unfortunately burned my tongue on the first steeping. That might affect my perceptions a bit, but I am loving it all the same.

I find that I really like just looking at this tea in my cup. The liquor is this lovely solar yellowish-orange, and contrasted against the white of the porcelain cup, it reminds me very much of a runny egg yolk setting in a perfectly cooked white. And I am reminded that it’s been far too long since I’ve had eggs, but now I’m just completely derailing what’s supposed to be a tea review.

I’m really feeling that tea-high fog now though. I had it pretty strong the last time I tried a sheng too.. I’ll have to keep tracking it to see if the pattern persists.

Getting this really nice, almost fruity sweetness in the back of my throat with this. The woody/earthiness early on has actually mellowed out a lot in these later steepings, it’s reminding me a lot more of a white tea now.

I have been seriously contemplating investing in some bricks/cakes of pu’er lately. I just know I would get such a joy out of seeing how a tea changes over the years, and since I expect I’ll still be enjoying tea late into my years, I figure if I buy now, I’ll have something really special by that time.

But I still know next to nothing about buying pu’er, what characteristics to look for that will develop over time, not to mention I’m not in a living situation that allows for me to construct any kind of fancy storage for them. And then there’s every tea-drinker’s greatest fear of developing some kind of caffeine intolerance later in life, essentially throwing the investment out the window.

Ooh, I just got this really nice cracked pepper note. And that teahigh fog grows ever stronger. I forget what steeping I’m on now… I’ve refilled my little water pot twice, so probably around… 10-12? It’s sort of got this cooling mint-like sensation too, without actually tasting minty. Really nice on my sore throat.

Another tea-expense I’ve been contemplating is yixing pots. Right now my trusty gaiwan is serving me faithfully, but as my little tea-habit becomes more serious, I continue to wonder what could make my experience better. At the same time though, I know I should probably wait until I’m in a less-crowded living situation to collect more material objects, especially ones that could be easily broken by housemates.

But something else on my long tea-wishlist is a few clay animals or “tea pets” to include in my little ceremonies. As an animal-lover as well as a mythical-creature enthusiast, I would really get a lot of enjoyment out of incorporating these symbolic guests into my tea-rituals. Problem is, I’m rather picky about them and I’ve only seen a few that I really like, most of which are of unfortunate expense.

I also find it a little difficult to spend money on something which seemingly won’t directly enhance the tea itself, but a recent article on Verdant Tea’s Tea Discovery blog about Tea Ceremony really has me re-evaluating the importance and benefit of the ritual, regardless of the quality of the tea (or occasionally, regardless of it there is any actual tea present at all!)

Oh look, I’ve gone way, way off topic again. I blame this tea-high fog. I feel so relaxed right now and the pain in my throat has almost completely subsided for now. Pretty happy with this stuff.

It’s September, and high school’s been in session for a month now… that initial excitement and drive I get at the beginning of the year is quickly waning. I’m sitting in chemistry absent-mindedly nibbling on the end of a drawing pencil, half paying attention to what the teacher is saying, half-heartedly doodling dragons and other fantastical creatures in the margins of my notes, squinting at them, thinking someday, I’ll draw better, I just have to practice more. Maybe when I get home.. I don’t have that much homework so far, after all.

But then it hits me… it’s Wednesday and that means it’s my turn to rake the leaves before dinner. I briefly look out the window and to the sky, wondering what my chances are that a downpour will get me out of this chore. Not likely, it seems; the few clouds up there are fluffy and white, and a heavy wind seems to be blowing even them away, not to mention even more multi-colored leaves off the trees. But despite the wind’s efforts to make my afternoon tasks harder for me, I wish we could open the window so I could feel that breeze through this stuffy classroom.

When I get home, I reluctantly change into my work clothes, finding the pants with the huge pockets that I can fit my portable CD player in. The wind tried to work in my favor after all, and the sky is overcast by now, but no rain means I still have to sacrifice my drawing practice for the cosmetic appearance of our backyard. Sighing, I put on my work gloves, grab the old splintery rake, and step outside.

Fall weather is almost as intoxicating to the senses as spring weather, the harsh heat ebbing away, the cooling breezes stripping the trees of their dead to make way for new life, playing with their colors and shapes, guiding them, dancing and spinning gently to the earth, where the life-forms below take their role of consuming them, feeding themselves and the soil, making it fertile and ready for the far-off spring. I can almost taste it on the wind, the ancient annual rituals of the earth as it prepares itself before a wintry hibernation.

The work is never as painful as I think it will be, and I relax into the rhythm of the raking, synchronized with the sounds of the drum and didgeridoo playing in my ears through my cheap dollar-store headphones. Very deep and earthy rhythms; so full of mystery, one could believe they mimic the heartbeat of the planet itself.

The work is over faster than I expect, yet the sun is going down and I know I’ve been out here a while. The heaping pile of leaves I’ve raked to the curb is just too inviting though, and without even checking around for a scolding parent, I leap right in, ignoring my CD player’s protests as it skips on impact, burying myself in the soft crackles and crunches, inhaling deeply. I don’t care if I’m barely a kid anymore, this is still the best part of autumn.

But finally I’m drawn out of my leafy haven by another inviting scent, one coming from inside the house, something warm and spicy, sweet and dark… someone is baking gingersnaps. I let out a laugh of sheer bliss as I brush the leaves off my jacket and head back inside. Drawing practice can wait. Days like this don’t come often enough.

…Anyway, that’s what this tea reminds me of.

You know what’s absolutely amazing with this tea?

Monkey bread. Seriously. I know that’s probably tea-blasphemy or something but it seriously works together in an I NEVER WANT THIS TO END sort of way.