Thanks for the samples from a while ago, Teavivre! I love rice flavored pu-erh, so I had to give this one a try in the convenient teabags. The pu-erh consists of larger, great quality leaves, mixed with little green leaves that I think are the rice flavoring. Personally, the teabag doesn’t look like it contains as many leaves as I would usually steep… but I prefer a LOT of pu-erh sometimes (it’s not like pu-erh ever gets astringent because of too many leaves, so I don’t think it matters how many leaves are steeped). The flavor is a standard pu-erh, none of the offending, unlikeable pu-erh notes from this burgundy cup. Very sweet, smooth. The rice is present but very light… I’d love more rice flavor. This pu-erh is a perfect pairing with the rice. The strength does seem lighter, especially the later steeps, again probably because I usually steep more leaves. To be fair, I didn’t use the recommended (very long) steep time. I’ll try that next time. That’s the only negative thing I could say about this pu-erh — the inability to choose how many teaspoons of leaves to steep. Each teabag is probably the perfect amount of leaves for someone else though.
Steep #1 // 4 minutes after boiling // rinse // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 // 2 minutes after boiling // 3 min steep
Steep #3 // just boiled // 4-5 min