My friend’s father died yesterday and I invited her over for tea and some down time between making funeral arrangements. Pulled this pu-erh out and it seems to have done a good job calming the nerves, or at least providing something else to focus on.
We used boiling water with 8 grams of tea in a 140ml teapot. 20 second wash was followed by short brews leading up to 1 minute long.
This tea is so lovely. The first thing we noticed was the aroma from the pot, very sweet and grape-like with deeper floral undertones. There’s a type of realistic gummy grape candy from Japan that actually tastes a lot like the aroma from this tea!
Even with the first pot or two the soup is a gorgeous dark caramel colour, you can just tell it will keep on giving with each brew. The mouth feel and smoothness in general is just awesome, viscous and creamy! Considering this was picked in 2007 I think it’s aged very nicely indeed. Mellow is the word. Hardly any astringency is present. I think it was stored very well as it seems to be incredibly clean. Didn’t notice much dust or sediment or weird tastes.
I think the flavour profile is quite rich and complex. Compared with the wet leaf aroma, you can taste the age of the tea significantly more. The grape mixes with notes of leather, honey, and sweet grass, and perhaps other fruit. It reminds me of drinking sangria actually. Strangely the floral notes seem to fade into the background which doesn’t bother me.
Overall I’m extremely impressed and pleased with this tea. My friend also loved it! I’ll have to buy a full cake as this was just a sample I purchased. I think it’s worth the price.
Flavors: Flowers, Fruity, Grapes, Honey, Leather, Sweet, Warm Grass
And a good friend you are as well. Tea can be very comforting.
Aw thank you! Tea is usually my go-to no matter how big or small the problem is.