Raw Pu-erh Mini Tuocha 2010

It is not a great raw pu-erh but not a bad one either. Does not easily turn bitter, pleasantly floral and coppery sour. It takes well to mindless sipping. After the 4th infusion in a gaiwan the tea is somewhat losing the appeal of the first ones and the subsequent steepings are kind of forgettable.

Pretty tasty for a young sheng. Full review to come soon.

This was another free sample from Teavivre for which I must thank the lovely Angel.

I broke the first tuo in half to use it and it broke down into teeny tiny pieces. Based on this experience, I left the second one whole. One of the things I like about these tuos is that they come wrapped individually in paper wrappers. The designs on these wrappers (and indeed for most puerhs) have a strong aesthetic appeal for me.

As mentioned, the tuo broke down into teeny tiny pieces when I picked it apart. As it brewed, it became clear that it was largely chopped leaf and that there were quite a few sticks in there too. I did not expect any whole leaf really, because it is a mini tuo.

The dry leaf is honey-sweet and woody. As it brews, a smokiness in the aroma comes to the fore, and the leaf proves to be green. The liquor is yellow-ish green. I found it a tad milky instead of being completely clear, even after a couple of washings.

I liked the lightness and creaminess of this tea. It has floral and vegetal notes to it with a slight astringency that could be ameliorated by shorter steeps. This gives it a thick mouthfeel that is refreshing at the same time. There’s honey in the aftertaste with a wee nip at the end of it. The empty cup smells strongly of honey after drinking too.

For a tuo this is pretty good, although not top of my list of shengs, but then I have been spoilt by tasting some really good shengs in the past!

Getting to another free sample from the lovely Angel at Teavivre! I am enjoying trying all these new teas this weekend :)

This one is so cute, my first mini tuocha! A small pressed cake, individually wrapped in paper, aweee I didn’t want to steep it even it was so cute lol. But I had to find out what it tasted like. I put it, the single tuocha, in my small teapot, who’s volume I’m guessing is around 10-14 oz or something, and steeped it with boiling water for 4 minutes. Oh, the dry smell was a slightly honeyed sheng smell, a bit woody and grassy.

The tuocha broke apart nicely with the 4 minute steep, and the liquor is quite light with barely any scent to it, a slight honey smell. Nothing like the grassy tobacco that was yesterdays sheng haha! This one is very light, much more to my tastes.

The flavor is also very light, but I am very much enjoying it. A slight woodiness, some mild grass, and a definite honey aftertaste. There is some grain-like, or hay notes in this one, but it’s very smooth and mellow. It hopefully is helping my poor lungs and throat, I was picking apples outside today and cleaning all weekend and stirring up every possible allergen, I broke down and had an allergy pill and am still not quite up to par, my throat is icky but improving due to the new air filter upstairs and a dehumidifier downstairs lol. Hurray for tea and air cleaners! Anyways, back to the tea haha…I am quite enjoying this. Smooth and mellow, a good end to a good day!

Overall, a very tasty and light sheng. This is much more my speed in the way of shengs, not sharp and not too green. I will have no trouble getting through my few more samples of this, and it definitely might be a reorder :D thanks again Teavivre for the opportunity to try this lovely tea!

I think I am in danger as I really enjoyed this introduction to Sheng. I loved the mix of exotic woods, spice, fruit, floral notes, leather, honey, vegetal notes and cream. I also loved the warming sensation it produced in my body. Can see why people can get addicted to this style of tea. It was also really long lasting I ended up getting 27 steeps out of one tuocha steeped in a 140 ml gaiwan. Thanks so much to TeaVivre for the chance to sample this tea. It has definitely left me with a desire to sample more.

I used short steeps and near boiling water for this tea.

10s rinse.

5s: slightly darker broth than my average green tea.

Sweet, straw like nnotes, honey, cocoa, cotton flower in the scent with flavours of cotton flower, straw, honey, cocoa, hint of ffruit, plum, and a touch of artichoke and leather. The tea had a creamy buttery texture and produced a slight tingling on the underside of the tongue.

7s deeper gold colour. With regards to the scent and taste, the leather note is stronger, with hints of aged cedar mixed with sandalwood, honey, floral notes and cocoa.
There are some vegetal green tea notes, with spinach, artichoke and spice, hint of frackensence. Plum. Creamyspicy woody, honeyed floral taste overlying some bitterness

9s frackensence, cedar, plum, floral notes, aged spicy woods, honey.
Cream, artichoke with spinach, exotic wood and spices, some honey, over some bitter tones. It presents a warming sensation in my body.

11s similar to above but a little sweeter and fruitier smelling.
Cream, spinach and artichoke frakinsence, aged cedar, allspice, honey, leather,plum, aftertaste of spice. Warming in the body, cooling in the mouth.

15s. Spice, plum, hint of spicy floral.

Cream, exotic woods and spices, indistinct savoury veg, hint of leather,

20s. Floral mixed with woody notes_ plum and artichoke.
Similar to above still spicy exotic woods, veg,plum, and honey over bitter notes, a little more drying in the mouth.

23s. Spice, cotton flower, plum, brighter than last steeps.

Even blending of above flavours exotic spices devolving into a spicy floral note cream, fruit. Gardenia.

26s similar to above but slightly more bitter and spicy floral notes are slightly biting.

30s tart intro to scent mix.
Cream honey ,veg note, gardenia, plum and a touch of exotic woods.

34s More honey and plum, bitter veg tone and gardenia mixed with exotic woods.

40s bright spice over letter, woods and greens, smell a little of perfume.
Frakinsence, cream, aged cedar, artichoke, plum.

46s. Cream, plum than other notes in succession.

54s. Plum, cream, woody notes, spice. Honey

62s same as above with some floral notes. Honey move forward with cream.

70s Much more intensely sweet with hints of licorice to the honey, plum, spice. A mild woody dryness and lots of warmth and heat produced in the. Front of the mouth yielding to a cooling.

80s similar to above but slightly creamier.

90s slightly stronger cedar, and spice notes, very warming.

120s. above mixed with bitter sweet greens

130s honey, spice, greens, cream.

140 s similar but a little weak.

160 s same.

180s. Licorice woody notes, spice, plum

3.30min plum, woody notes, licorice, spice.

5 min creamy soft with licorice appearing with spice and honey.

6 min. Honey, cream, sweet cooked greens, faint hint of spice.

Thanks again I really enjoyed it!