Sipdown! I’ve had this one for a bit, and decided today was the day for it. It’s a day off today, and I woke up with a bit of a headache and sinus congestion. Headache days often start with straight blacks for me, sometimes pu erhs specifically, though I love a good yunnan on those/these days. I have surprisingly little straight black, at the moment, aside from the summer blend from Verdant, which I’m intentionally holding off on til it warms up a bit more.
As I was rooting through my teas, I found this one that I had gotten a while back in a swap with CrowKettle at a group meet up. I also came across one from Teavivre, and Shiva Chai from Tealux. I almost picked the chai because of my sinuses, but I decided to stick to my guns and go straight black as planned. I’m glad I did that, because I read my initial tasting note on this after I made it, just before writing this, and noted that I wanted to try blending this with a chai. So maybe a follow up steep I will add some chai in…
Anyway, I opted for this one because of the smell, and also because I felt it might be a little lighter than the Teavivre one, which is what I wanted. This was to be a middle of the road between a straight black like a yunnan and a strong pu erh. So, I decided to use the rest of this packet, which was about 2 tsp or so, but do a short rinse, and a short steep for this. I think my rinse was 15-20 seconds, and my steep was more like a minute. I also shook my steeper basket in my mug to let the leaves move some. This is probably the closest to gong fu style that I can do.
The initial sips were warm and earthy, but not as strong and musty as some pu erhs I have had. This is slightly lighter. I did add milk and sugar to this because it is almost like a coffee tea to me. I think I picked right in that it is a lighter/milder pu erh as compared to the one I have from Teavivre and heavier than a straight black like a yunnan. I think this fit the bill. Will be adding a dash of chai to the leaves for a follow up steep at sometime, but I think I am gonna go lie back down again in my bed, and let my tummy digest my yummy breakfast (avocado on a toasted multi-grain bagel with freshly ground multi peppercorn blend pepper, Hawaiian garlic salt, and chia seeds along with Victoria style cottage cheese and fresh nectarine slices.)
