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“At first, I thought that this was going to be a transformational pu erh experience. But it fell somewhat short. The cake smelled a tad fishy and a lot leathery, and broke apart quite easily. I put...” Read full tasting note
“The third steeping came out very weak. This has been sitting on my shelf with one serving left for a while. I thought that it produced many steepings with other cups. Maybe it was was weak because...” Read full tasting note
Origin: Organic, fair trade pu-erh tea from Mannong and Manmai Villages, Yunnan, China.
Flavor Profile: This tea is dark, dark, dark with vigorous notes of molasses, peat moss, lots of dark soil and cedar. The aroma is that of a wet old growth forest – earthy, sweet and filled with felled hardwoods and wild mushrooms.
A medium body and thick, consommé-like mouth-feel leave behind a steadfast aftertaste of sweet, rich earth, sawdust and cedar.Tea Story: Shu Enso Maiden is our first cake-style pu-erh.
Hand-plucked leaves from ancient tea trees are compressed with a custom press that we created by combining a modern steam-powered press with an antique stone press. The result is a miniature cake of about five inches in diameter, composed of small blue-black and toffee-brown leaves, and only touched by human hands, stone, paper and bamboo.
The dry cake is wrapped in handmade paper, and has the scent of musk, sawdust and cedar antiques. It brews to the color of dark coffee and (not coincidentally) makes an exceptional replacement for morning Joe.
Samovarian Poetry: Dark as the night. Purifying as the dawn. Deep and enduring.
Food Pairings: Pu-erh is reputed to be a hangover remedy and a cholesterol-lowering finish to a salty, greasy meal; we love it with Sunday brunch and after a heavy dinner.
Pair with morning-after brunch foods like sun-dried tomato quiche, diner-style sunny side up eggs with heavily buttered toast or buckwheat pancakes with organic fruit jam, or substantial entrees like duck breast with sour cherry compote, yellow or green vegetable curry or garlic-stewed-white-bean puree on toasted, crusty white bread.
On indulgent days, drink it after a meal of dim sum or pork rillette on sliced baguette.
Samovar's is dedicated to preserving the simplicity and integrity of the tea traditions and inspiring people to practice peace through drinking tea.
At first, I thought that this was going to be a transformational pu erh experience. But it fell somewhat short.
The cake smelled a tad fishy and a lot leathery, and broke apart quite easily. I put a fair amount of leaf in the gaiwan given that I think I’ve been underleafing pu erhs to an extent.
Boiling. Rinse. Steeped at 10/10/20/30/40/60/120/240/300/360
The aroma of this is fantastic. It smells like molasses and brown sugar, without any fishiness at all, and it has that malty quality that I get from a lot of Samovar black teas that contain Yunnan. It steeped very dark and opaque until the last couple of steeps when it became a bit lighter and more the color of bourbon.
But. The promise of that aroma didn’t come through in the flavor. I kept waiting for the sweetness, the sugary note, but I never got it. It was more woodsy, and a little like coffee as the steeps progressed. And it was smooth, and had nothing ordinary or objectionable about it — I just wished it followed through on how it had smelled.
I have high expectations for Samovar teas in general, which may be why I felt a little disappointed. It’s very good, but I was hoping it would be out of this world.
Flavors: Brown Sugar, Coffee, Fishy, Leather, Malt, Molasses, Wood
