I received a generous ~7.5g sample of this from Liquid Proust( :) ). It looks pretty compressed in the bag, and when I break it up I notice I’m going to be drinking from the beenghole! Or tuo hole? Yeah, I think it’s a tuo hole. The rinse is a dark amber and the gaiwan lid smells like damp earth. A bit mulchy, too. I think it’s going to take a while for the compression to open up.
First flash steep looks like a red tea already. The taste is sweet damp earth and the smell reminds me of leaf decomposition, but not in a bad way. Reminds me a bit of a shou puer without any of the funky qualities I dislike in shou. Continuing the flash steepings, the tea isn’t changing much if at all. Maybe it’s a bit thicker. It’s pretty pleasant and I can tell it’s going to last for plenty of steeps. Definitely not a complex tea, but it’s warming and feels good to drink. There is absolutely no astringency or bitterness left in these leaves. It’s medium bodied but satisfying.
Looking at the store page on Beautiful Taiwan Tea’s website, I see that this tuo is still available for $24.50/200g. This is not an amazing tea but that’s a nice price if you like this flavor profile enough to buy a whole cake.
Edit: I’m coming back to this review to note that I actually get some pretty significant feels from this tea. It’s very relaxing. I can feel the tea in my chest and face.
Flavors: Autumn Leaf Pile, Sweet, Wet Earth
