King Tea (berylleb on eBay)

March Sipdown Prompt – your tea with the longest name

Sipdown!

I have had four steeps and put the leaves in a pitcher in the fridge for a cold steep. There was such a small piece but once it got truly saturated, wow, did it ever swell. There was a lot more leaf than I thought.

The dry leaf looked very dark and smelled of old cardboard and mustiness. Not too much farmyard aroma here.

Because it was so tightly packed, I did do a rinse to start opening it up, but even with that the first steep was rather light at 60 seconds. Second steep at 90 seconds was medium orange/red, and the third and fourth steeps were instantly a deep, rich color.

No manure, no fish, pure mushroom. I am looking forward to a couple of days enjoying the cold steep from these same leaves. Cold puerh is so refreshing to me. No sweetener is ever added to cold puerh here.

This is a sample that came with my first order from berylleb. I feel sure there will be future orders – probably soon.

The chunk that I received is deep black in color with a golden brown leaf here and there. It broke apart pretty easily and I may have underleafed in my zeal to get two complete sessions out of the sample. But it was no matter as it turned out. The small amount I placed in the pot was quite enough.

The first impression in the aroma was a dark and earthy mustiness. When I poured a cup for my daughter, she inhaled and said, “This is SO earthy. Literally smells like freshly turned dirt.”

Earth was the predominant flavor to me, also. No mushroom, no horse tack. No cedar or pecan leaves. Rich earth. The first steep even gave a fleeting sense of some spice, like a hint of tingly cinnamon that vanished quickly and I didn’t note it again.

It had nice body and is a likable enough puerh that I would feel confident enough serving it at a family gathering.

We are big geosmin fans so we really enjoyed our late night pu’er session with this, and I look forward to the next. The second chunk is bigger so perhaps we will find the next session a bit more complex.