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Equusfell drank Wild Purple Buds Puerh by Butiki Teas

122 tasting notes

I have never tried a Puerh, and got this sample with my first and last order from Butiki teas in late summer.
I tried to look up how to brew it, since my brewing skills are so rudimentary, and got some information that it is forgiving, and can be brewed many times or even left in the pot, so I opted for the second version and decided to taste it at intervals while the leaves sat in my cup.
I did not get up the gumption to taste in the first two minutes, because it smelled like an asian grocery store with a large fish department. Not pleasant. My first sip was of that smell, plus cardboard, but with a decent mouthfeel.
After a few minutes, the tea got a little deeper golden in color, and the flavor started to be pleasantly minerally, with a silky mouthfeel and a sweetness like good well water. Not very tea like, for sure!
As the steeping progressed (like, maybe ten minutes, it was just barely warm), I started getting a smokiness on top of the minerals, followed by the minerals getting strong enough to almost taste like a fresh green bean.
Now, probably 15 minutes in, it taste like someone dipped a sweaty saddle into my previously nice and fresh oolong. It’s getting smokier and smokier, with a stronger green tea-like vegetal flavor, and a bit of drying in the back of my throat too.
This was a very interesting and complex experience, and I understand why connoisseurs really get into it, but the coin-i-ness is no longer leaving my tongue, and now that the tea has cooled completely, the fishy smell is back. My rating reflects the flavors from about 3-12 minutes of steeping, when it was like a very nice green tea. I still am not a huge fan, and I would not purchase this regularly

Flavors: Green Beans, Leather, Mineral

Preparation

205 °F / 96 °C 8 min or more 1 tsp 4 OZ / 118 ML

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Bio

I started drinking something other than Sleepytime in my first year of grad school, 2011. Enabled by a few decent local tea shops in a big city, I amassed a small cupboard of teas that I now find harsh and bad (haha, I’m getting in too deep!). With my move back to the US and subsequent geographic isolation from tea shops, I recently discovered the world of online tea vendors.
My cupboard is slowly growing but still small. Regardless I am interested in swaps, if you find something in my collection that you would like to try, ask away! I just can’t guarantee yet that I have a lot of it!
I’m very into Jade oolongs and anything that has a floral character (especially jasmine, rose, violet, and lychee scented things!). Most green teas, excepting the extremely bitter, are good in my book, and again I seek sweeter, fresher, greener types, though nutty/savory teas have their place (as long as they don’t tip over into salty!). I then to shy away from smokey or overly roasted teas and for this reason and the fact that I am not a fan of chocolate, everyone’s favorite blacks and wuyi oolongs tend to fall flat for me. White teas are alright but I don’t tend to reach for them unless they are floral scented. I rarely drink herbals, chamomile and I do not get along, but a basic vanilla rooibos, or some flavored green rooibos’ can be interesting.
In general, it could be said that I tend toward floral and sweet oolong, sheng (as well as moonlight whites and yabaos), matcha, and green teas.

As of now my rating system follows the school grading scale in terms of how well the tea performs and how well I like it (100-90 A, 89-80 B, etc.). Anything above 90 will eventually end up in my cupboard, though it’s fine to keep a B student around for daily drinkers!

Location

Athens, Ohio

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