Tea Swap
“Raw Puerh from Dr. Puerh”
I started this tea later in the evening/early morning. I wanted to drink tea before bed—to help get me to sleep—so, I had randomly grabbed this from my tea sample/tea swap box. Unfortunately, I’m not sure which year this puerh was produced nor which puerh this is, exactly, but from the note on the bag, there’s the producer/tea type.
From looking at the leaf, it’s slightly greener, so I’m assuming it’s range is from 2014-2017. It’s tightly compressed (from a brick, maybe?), too.
Notes:
Rinse: Slight aromatics from the leaf. Still pretty compressed. Light-to-no color.
1st Steep: Light aromatics. Still “watery,” with hardly zero flavor.
2nd Steep: The leaf is still pretty compacted together. Light aromatics, very little flavor.
Pried the leaf apart with a pick.
3rd Steep: Slight bitterness in the mouth. Light notes of honey/floral. Smells like “sheng.” My assumption is that this is a newer year (2015-2017) due to the fragile state of the leaf w/temperature used (198 F).
4th Steep (3 hours after session began): Bitter, mouth drying, & burnt flowers.
5th Steep/Flash Steep/Final Steep (Decreased Temperature (180 F)): Bitter, bitter bitter.
5 or 6/10.
I will have to attempt to make the rest of this at a decreased temperature range. I normally brew sheng around 195-200 F, but it seems that this one may be better to start closer at green tea levels (160s-170s) and increase the temperature slightly. The leaf was pretty fragile. Upon looking at the leaves, post-session, I had noticed that they were simply “bits and pieces” of leaves, rather than a full leaf/bud. That may have had an affect of the tea, but I’m not 100% on my assumption.
