Having defended my PhD thesis yesterday, I decided to treat myself with a special tea. This is a cake I bought blind this year and the first sniff I had of the tea back when it arrived blew me away. I never thought raw pu-erh could have such a pungent, feminine, room-filling aroma of honey and flowers emerge from a single cake. In any case, I haven’t tried it until today, as there wasn’t really the right occasion for it.
Since I’ve moved continents recently and haven’t had the time to figure out how to set up my storage after the move yet, my cakes are currently stored in bags without active humidification. That may be one of the reasons, why the aroma wasn’t quite as remarkable when I opened the pouch today. Also, after the rinse, the smell is quite weak and merely reminds me of some sweet grassy scent.
The first infusion is a pretty wild ride. It has medium body and a soft, bubbly, and mouth-watering texture. There is a mineral bitterness, strong umami, vegetal, sweet, sour as well as yeasty notes. I detected also flavours of mung beans, grass, and mint.
Second steep has a very unique mouthfeel that I am struggling to find the right description of, it felt kind of … wet? That’s a weird descriptor. Whenever I tried to focus on the textural sensation, it felt as if the liquor almost wasn’t there. I can’t recall ever having an experience quite like this one. The taste is once again sweet and sour with notes of olive oil and spring onion.
Third infusion is the thickest yet. I probably overbrewed it a bit, but I do like the added pungency and bitterness. Subsequent infusions continue in the vein of bitter florals coupled with the mineral profile Naka tea is known for, but they didn’t stick out to me as quite as interesting.
There is a sour umami aftertaste reminiscent of miso at times, wheat-like grainy note, lemon flavour (especially around steeps 8-10) and a lasting black pepper spiciness.
The cha qi had pretty subtle onset, but once it hit I found the feeling to be very relaxing. It’s a perfect tea to slow down.
Given the price it sells for, I am not quite sure if I would wholeheartedly recommend it. I will see how my future sessions are, but the OG Naka from BLT is a better deal I’d say.
Song pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iT5innrMz0k
Flavors: Beany, Bitter, Citrus, Floral, Grass, Lemon, Mineral, Mint, Olive Oil, Sour, Sweet, Umami, Vegetal, Wheat, Yeast
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Congrats on the defense. May I ask thesubject of your thesis?
Congrats! I still remember my defense from over 25 years ago! One hiccup but it otherwise went well. How did yours go?
Thanks :)
@derk, I was building a mathematical framework for describing concepts such as information, complexity, etc from the perspective of them being resources for particular tasks that one may be interested in achieving. It’s a kind of interdisciplinary work using mathematics to establish connections between physics, theoretical computer science and hopefully other fields (biology for example) in the future
@Rich, it went really well, neither of the committee members tried to give me a particularly hard time :)
Congratulations on your defense! It’s interesting that so many tea people seem to be involved with math/information systems in some way.
Awesome job and congrats on the defense.
Congrats on the defense! What a big step!
Congrats on defending your thesis! Is the abstract posted on line?
Congrats! I’m sure the feeling of concluding a long stretch of hard work further enhances the effect of a tea, but there is a point when a tea surpasses our expectations in which case the tea speaks for itself without our biases. It sounds like that was the case here. One day I’ll have to try a sample of this one. Maybe on my wife’s birthday morning?
@Leafhopper: True, but even in this community is a very niche hobby, let’s see if we can change that :)
@Michelle: It is now ;)
https://uwspace.uwaterloo.ca/handle/10012/17739
Congrats on the defense. May I ask thesubject of your thesis?
Congrats! I still remember my defense from over 25 years ago! One hiccup but it otherwise went well. How did yours go?
Thanks :)
@derk, I was building a mathematical framework for describing concepts such as information, complexity, etc from the perspective of them being resources for particular tasks that one may be interested in achieving. It’s a kind of interdisciplinary work using mathematics to establish connections between physics, theoretical computer science and hopefully other fields (biology for example) in the future
@Rich, it went really well, neither of the committee members tried to give me a particularly hard time :)
Congratulations on your defense! It’s interesting that so many tea people seem to be involved with math/information systems in some way.
Awesome job and congrats on the defense.
Congrats on the defense! What a big step!
Congrats on defending your thesis! Is the abstract posted on line?
Congrats! I’m sure the feeling of concluding a long stretch of hard work further enhances the effect of a tea, but there is a point when a tea surpasses our expectations in which case the tea speaks for itself without our biases. It sounds like that was the case here. One day I’ll have to try a sample of this one. Maybe on my wife’s birthday morning?
@Leafhopper: True, but even in this community is a very niche hobby, let’s see if we can change that :)
@Michelle: It is now ;)
https://uwspace.uwaterloo.ca/handle/10012/17739