This was one of my Mother’s Day gifts from my daughter, Superanna. She didn’t know that the tuo cha were shaped like little hearts and wrapped in gold paper until I opened it, and she was delighted! As was I!
My experience with this tea was little different from the other two reviewers, but my opinion of the flavor was nearly the same.
I used my 21 ounce Kamjove with the 7 ounce steeper basket. I was a little worried the tea would be weak because the tuo cha are so small, I was definitely going to be combining a number of steeps, and I like my puerh fairly strong.
The tuo cha began breaking up almost instantly when the water hit it which meant it would steep pretty quickly. Six minutes? For reals? I gave it maybe two if we are generous. Then I resteeped for about five to seconds, over and over, and got a really dark brew. It was almost inky in fact.
I think I made a total of eight steeps and I could have gotten more. The first steeps had the strongest rice flavor and aroma and the latter steeps had a nice hint of it. The overall flavor was mushroom. This is a pretty full-bodied tea, giving the impression of being thick.
This does not taste a great deal like the Teavivre Rice Ripened Puerh, which has a lighter body and more of the rice water flavor, quite strong. I wish Teavivre sold theirs as a loose tea.
This is a nice puerh and so pretty it would great to repackage in little cellophane or tulle bags tied with ribbon to give as a gift, like wedding favors for puerh lovers! Or Valentine gifts!
