I’m ambivalent about the idea of puerh in a bag. Plus one for convenience, but is there something of what makes this kind of tea special lost when it’s put in a bag and available in my grocery store? I suppose it’s just tea leaves, so why not? Anyway, it’s fun to see it at the grocery store and I had to try it.
The dry tea smells like black tea; I don’t notice peaty or loamy aromas others have mentioned.
During the steep, the color was a rose-brown for about 1.5 minutes. At this time, the leaves released their magic. The liquor started turning opaque brown in a flash. There are rose red colors where the top of the liquor meets the sides of the cup.
The aroma over the steeped cup has a strong leathery note and some faint hay smell, some fainter smoke.
The first sip has a smooth mouth feel. There are dry, powdery, leathery flavors and some back of the throat bitterness. The sip goes like this: first an up-front sweetness, then soft bitters along the side of the tongue, then smoky leather flavors, then a soft back of the throat bitterness, and anything left of these giving over to a strong and long lasting sweetness. There is drying astringency.
There are no vegetal or hay flavors, which I expected from the aroma. The leathery flavors recede and the sips get sweeter as I make my way to the bottom of the cup.
This was an unexpectedly complex cup of tea from a bag. What fun! I look forward to drinking more cups of this.
I think this must be shu?
