89
drank Pu-erh by Golden Moon Tea
2037 tasting notes

Golden Moon sample No. 22 of 31. Fate determined Friday would be pu-erh day!

The package says it contains aged Chinese tea from the last century. Which sounds really special and exotic until you consider the last century only ended about 10 years ago. ;-P Still, 10 years is probably older than most tea I’ve tried except for the Celestial Seasonings mystery tea bags I found in the back of the pantry from years and years ago. So this should be interesting.

This is my first non-Samovar loose pu-erh, and I now know that all pu-erh leaves are not tiny and cute. These are fairly big, and chunky. They look like fragments of brown tree bark. They have a mellow, chocolate earth smell.

The tea’s aroma is really yummy, though it doesn’t have the smell I associated with pu- erhs. There’s not even a small amount of leather in this one. It smells sweet and (to me anyway) chocolatey. Like the middle-to-high chocolate notes in fresh baked brownies (just not the dark fudgy ones). The color is medium to dark brown, not as dark as the Palace Pu-erh, not as light as most black teas.

Wow, very tasty. Interestingly, it’s not like the other pu-erhs I’ve had. I really don’t get a lot of earthiness. It’s more like a very dense and flavorful black tea, smooth, sweet, some malt, and a character that verges on chewy and biscuity. Its not so much a taste as it is a connection, but I feel a strong cocoa association, maybe a little of the mocha-java as well.

I’m liking this one quite a bit. Some day when my experience has increased sufficiently I’ll have to get more scientific about my pu erh ratings. For now, I’m giving this a mark commensurate with my enjoyment from this tasting.

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 0 sec
malomorgen

i just ordered those samples today :D

__Morgana__

Great, you’re going to have so much fun with them! I’ll be sad when mine are gone.

Jim Marks

It sounds like it might be a sheng instead of a shou.

__Morgana__

Could be. Doesn’t identify itself.

Rabs

Still, 10 years is probably older than most tea I’ve tried except for the Celestial Seasonings mystery tea bags I found in the back of the pantry from years and years ago.

ROFL!!!!!

__Morgana__

@Rabs, hahaha, true story. Plus I found the nursing tea I got when I had my first baby in 2004, which wasn’t all that delicious to begin with. Out it went. BTW, big shoutout to Pam Caldwell and Herblore if you ever find yourself needing help to lactate enough to keep up with demand! Fenugreek FTW!

Ricky

Pu-erh friday! I haven’t done that in a while. I still have a few pu-erh samplers from Bana Tea Company left to finish.

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Comments

malomorgen

i just ordered those samples today :D

__Morgana__

Great, you’re going to have so much fun with them! I’ll be sad when mine are gone.

Jim Marks

It sounds like it might be a sheng instead of a shou.

__Morgana__

Could be. Doesn’t identify itself.

Rabs

Still, 10 years is probably older than most tea I’ve tried except for the Celestial Seasonings mystery tea bags I found in the back of the pantry from years and years ago.

ROFL!!!!!

__Morgana__

@Rabs, hahaha, true story. Plus I found the nursing tea I got when I had my first baby in 2004, which wasn’t all that delicious to begin with. Out it went. BTW, big shoutout to Pam Caldwell and Herblore if you ever find yourself needing help to lactate enough to keep up with demand! Fenugreek FTW!

Ricky

Pu-erh friday! I haven’t done that in a while. I still have a few pu-erh samplers from Bana Tea Company left to finish.

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Bio

I got obsessed with tea in 2010 for a while, then other things intruded, then I cycled back to it. I seem to be continuing that in for a while, out for a while cycle. I have a short attention span, but no shortage of tea.

I’m a mom, writer, gamer, lawyer, reader, runner, traveler, and enjoyer of life, literature, art, music, thought and kindness, in no particular order. I write fantasy and science fiction under the name J. J. Roth.

Personal biases: I drink tea without additives. If a tea needs milk or sugar to improve its flavor, its unlikely I’ll rate it high. The exception is chai, which I drink with milk/sugar or substitute. Rooibos and honeybush were my gateway drugs, but as my tastes developed they became less appealing — I still enjoy nicely done blends. I do not mix well with tulsi or yerba mate, and savory teas are more often a miss than a hit with me. I used to hate hibiscus, but I’ve turned that corner. Licorice, not so much.

Since I find others’ rating legends helpful, I added my own. But I don’t really find myself hating most things I try.

I try to rate teas in relation to others of the same type, for example, Earl Greys against other Earl Greys. But if a tea rates very high with me, it’s a stand out against all other teas I’ve tried.

95-100 A once in a lifetime experience; the best there is

90-94 Excellent; first rate; top notch; really terrific; will definitely buy more

80-89 Very good; will likely buy more

70-79 Good; would enjoy again, might buy again

60-69 Okay; wouldn’t pass up if offered, but likely won’t buy again

Below 60 Meh, so-so, iffy, or ick. The lower the number, the closer to ick.

I don’t swap. It’s nothing personal, it’s just that I have way more tea than any one person needs and am not lacking for new things to try. Also, I have way too much going on already in daily life and the additional commitment to get packages to people adds to my already high stress level. (Maybe it shouldn’t, but it does.)

That said, I enjoy reading folks’ notes, talking about what I drink, and getting to “know” people virtually here on Steepster so I can get ideas of other things I might want to try if I can ever again justify buying more tea. I also like keeping track of what I drink and what I thought about it.

My current process for tea note generation is described in my note on this tea: https://steepster.com/teas/mariage-freres/6990-the-des-impressionnistes

Location

Bay Area, California

Website

http://www.jjroth.net

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