2018 "Idle Buffalo" Purple Myanmar Ripe Pu-erh Tea

Gongfu Sipdown (1546)!

This was from my tea swap with Togo and it’s really hitting the spot this morning. While not necessarily as thick and robust as I generally lean, the notes of syrupy raisins, leather, molasses, and baked quince that I’m getting from the early infusions are very inviting and almost playful. I read a couple reviews that described getting tastes of mead, and I don’t know if I necessarily agree because the sweetness level isn’t that high – but I can see the groundwork for the comparison. Later steeps are a bit more woody and lean harder into the baked/cooked fruit notes. It’s so different from my regular shou pu’erh and, while that obviously makes it really interesting to me, it’s making me really think if this would be the type of tea I would gravitate back towards were this not a single session worth tea sample and sipdown…

Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/CWgI2xxL0q8/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxRIJOyT4gw&ab_channel=EllenWinter

An unusual shou, but not one I would be too eager to recommend unfortunately. If you are looking for a shake up to your standard shou and like savoury notes, this is definitely a good option.

The aroma is maybe the most unique and funky. When dry, leaves exude scents of red cabbage, chestnut, and malt. After the rinse (or two), I get further notes of butter, cranberries, leather, red apples, and mead / dark honey.

The taste is sweet and savoury with a little bit sour and bitter aftertaste. There are flavours of dried fruit, yeast, bamboo, soybean, sugar, earth, and leather. The soup is generally very cloudy and the mouthfeel lighter and more airy than most shou. It does get somewhat creamy in the middle of the session and a bit chalky towards the end.