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curlygc drank 2013 Daxue Five Century Raw Pu'erh by Mandala Tea

107 tasting notes

200 degrees. 4g of tea. Gongfu. Dry tea aroma reminds me of cigars (why do so many shengs smell like cigars to me?) 2 five second rinses. First steep ten seconds. Wondering if I didn’t use enough tea. Will try a longer steep next time. 20 secs. Flavor is very mild. No bitterness. 30 secs. Ugh. I may have to come back to this one and try it another day.

EDIT: I came back and tried it another day. This time I added a wee bit of brown sugar and you know what? I LOVE THIS TEA. I lost count how many steeps in I am. I could drink this all night. I’m going to have to try the 2007 Clouds and Fog again and see if sweetening it will increase my enjoyment of that tea as well. I am a happy girl.

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For many years I drank cheap asian market-bought oolongs because I really didn’t know what was out there. For the last year or so I’ve been educating myself and making a foray into better quality teas. During the course of my journey I have fallen hard down the puerh rabbit hole – it started with young sheng, but now there’s another even deeper hole in the aged category, and I may be careening down this particular rabbit hole forever. I do still find time for aged oolong, a good wuyi yancha, and the occasional aged white.

I stopped rating teas awhile ago. I guess the numbers stopping meaning anything after awhile. For a long time I was pretty good about keeping my cupboard up to date and reviewing teas, mostly to help me keep track and remember what I like. I’ve gotten lazy about that for the last several months.

The tea addiction has also spawned a new addiction to throwing pottery, and I have become mildly obsessed with making tea cups, shibos, and teapots.