2013 Zheng Pin Gu Cha "Purple Impression" Raw

My first purple and my first Pu-erh, so I wasn’t totally sure what to expect on this one. I bought a cheap-o set with a tray, fairness cup, gaiwan, strainer, and small cups, and watched several videos on gongfu preparation. So… that’s how I made it.

On opening it, there wasn’t much to really write home about. I opted for a sample pack, so it was already taken from the compressed cake. There were a couple of big chunks in there, and I used a scale to weigh out about 5 grams for a ~100ml gaiwan.

Did a quick wash, and a first steep of 10 seconds. Seemed kind of meh, to be honest. Overall color was darker than a brand-name American lager, but only slightly. But it smelled heavily of honey with some floral notes.

Second steep, and I let it go 15 seconds. This time I really started to get it. More of an amber color, and I felt like the flavors were opening up. Earthy, but not like dirt. Sweet, but not sugary. Dense, but not “thick”. And my goodness, was it ever smooth!

Third steep, and the honey notes took a back seat to something more woodsy after pushing the steep time to 25 seconds. Not like “nondescript forest stuff” but like actual wood. Not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing, but it was an intriguing thing.

Fourth steep, and the magic was kind of gone. Had a new kettle of water boiling, but used a little bit less. Let it go for just over 30 seconds, and while it was fine, that’s about all I could say. “It’s fine.” If that was the initial experience, I would have felt a bit like I was wasting time on a pretentious tea ceremony for one. But by now, I figured I probably could have prolonged the session if I had used a bit more tea, and this was probably a good first tryout on pu-erh. Overall, not a moment wasted.

That said, it IS a good first tryout. And I’m definitely going to come back to this one once I have more experience with other pu-erhs, and hopefully improve my method.