65

Okay, finally trying my puerh sample from Teavivre. Thank you Angel! I have only encountered puerh a few times before and I didn’t like it – the aroma was always fishy and I couldn’t get over it. I understand that to mean that the puerh was of low quality and lately I’ve been wanting to try some better stuff, so here I am. I also have one from Peony Tea that I hope to try soon. The tuocha (henceforth to be known as the bird’s nest) is adorable and has an aroma that reminds me of hamster cages – not pee or poo but sawdust and maybe the grains that I used to feed Jake. (We had a hamster who died a few years ago, he has a very fond place in my heart. The smell of this actually makes me miss him).

I did a thirty second rinse to awaken the leaves, and hopefully rinse away anything that I might find particularly yucky. :) Surprisingly, the bird’s nest basically crumbled. My gaiwan is full of small pieces of tea leaves, it almost looks like ground coffee. I didn’t really expect that.

First official steep went for 1 minute and yielded a DARK liquor. It truly puts me in mind of coffee, that is not something I’ve had in tea before. I am predominantly a black tea drinker and puerh seemed like the next step for me. My tea pet (a pair of feet) are getting a really good bath today! Anyway, the first steep smells like a barn to me, old wet wood and damp hay/sawdust. It smells like cows and horses coming in from the rain with damp hides – while this description may sound unappealing, there is something comforting about it too. I don’t necessarily want to drink it, but the aroma is very familiar. There is no fish at all, but just damp nature – wood, earth, animals, cloth. Interesting. The taste matches the smell astonishingly closely. Still no fish, but strong earthiness, very natural and organic. Strong without being bitter, and not like any tea I have had before. I like this, but it’s way out of my comfort zone. It doesn’t even taste like tea as I know it. I would like a bit of sweetness here, a honey note to offset the earthiness. I don’t even know if puerh HAS honey notes!

Second steep went for 1.5 minutes, yielding an even darker brew than the first time. it’s almost black! Are we sure this isn’t coffee? The leaves are so small that a bunch escaped the lid of my gaiwan. It may be silly, but I hate leaves in my cup. The aroma this time is very similar than the first. Initially it seemed a bit muted but then I got a strong hit of leather, like I’m in a shop filled with freshly worked boots. While I LOVE the smell of leather (I was a biker baby, I had leather jacket, chaps, all that good stuff) I feel a little weird about drinking it. Bravely, I persevere and am rewarded with a better brew than before. The taste is very similar to the first steep but more palatable. The edga has been taken off the earthiness and I am getting something more like the tea I know and love. There is some sweetness here that I appreciate, though there is also a hint of bitterness. It’s strange that both of those notes can be present where they weren’t before. I’ll finish this one quickly, I fear it may be becoming bitter because of the leaves that slipped into my cup. I almost expect a bit of spice, cinnamon or nutmeg but I get nothing like that. This remains very organic, tasting entirely of the earth. This is definitely better than the first, for me.

Third steep went for 2.5 minutes (whoops!) and yielded a much lighter cup. This time I am enjoying a deep amber. maybe the extra time was a wise accident. The aroma has gone back to hamster cage, wet sawdust and maybe even garden mulch. As I’ve said before, very earthy. The taste is a muted version of the aroma, no bitterness but not any sweetness either. I think I am getting close to the end of my run with this bird’s nest. The beau says this one is by far the best, while I am not sure. The boldness of the second steep was remarkable, but this one comes across as drinkable. I am starting to get a cumulative hint of bitterness which is clouding my judgment of this one.

I’m going for a fourth steep of 3 minutes. I’m too lazy to get up and re-heat the water so it has probably cooled quite a bit at this point, but the extra time seems to balance that out. This liquor is considerably lighter than the others and has very little aroma. There is a whiff of barn animals, but that’s about it. The flavour is similarly weakened. I’ve reached the end, I think. I do prefer my pu a little lighter (for now) so the second and third steeps were the best for me, but they were all enjoyable.

All in all, puerh is definitely not an everyday tea for me, but this bird’s nest has taken away a lot of my fear. There is hope for me in the world of pu! : ) As for the rating, since I have little experience with puerh, I will just go with how drinkable it is for me and perhaps adjust up or down as I try more. Since previous puerh blends were undrinkable for me, this rating is actually really high!

Bonnie

You’ve turned down the right road for sure, but the longish steeps might have been a bit much. I mostly stick to 30 second to 1 minute steeps myself now although after 5 or 6 steeps I’ll let it sit for awhile. The coffee analogy wasn’t lost on me either. I used to be a big coffee drinker. Sometimes I make a pu-erh latte with sweetening (never honey though) and half and half. Usually the pu-erh makes a caramel tasting latte. If you’re game, drink it straight, sweeten then add milk and see how you like it.

Uniquity

I also thought the times seemed long as well, but I was working off of Teavivre’s suggestions and then adding for each infusion. I still have three more nests, perhaps I’ll do the next for 30 second and then add 15 seconds per steep (or so) and see how it goes. I’m just so happy to not have any fishiness! Thanks for the advice Bonnie, it’s much appreciated!

Bonnie

I’ve learned a lot from other people and from playing with the pu-erh without being afraid of it. One collector told me he always steeped 30 seconds and when I tried that, it seemed to work for me most of the time. I watched the video on Verdant too and sometimes, poke my pu-erh with something small like a toothpick if it’s hard to get it started…breaking it up.

Uniquity

I actually expected it to be hard to break up because of things I’ve seen from Verdant, but the little nest just fell apart. Likely because it is smaller, the water got in the cracks more easily. Despite not loving puerh (yet) I frequently want to buy a cake from Verdant. I may have a problem. :)

K S

I greatly enjoyed reading your review of this tea. I have had this one before and understood just what you meant every step of the way. Do you also have the rose toucha? You can’t – or at least I can’t – taste the rose exactly but it takes that sharp edge off the cup. How can something described as hamster cage and damp horse barn keep you wanting to try it again? As you said there is something comforting about it – exactly.

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Comments

Bonnie

You’ve turned down the right road for sure, but the longish steeps might have been a bit much. I mostly stick to 30 second to 1 minute steeps myself now although after 5 or 6 steeps I’ll let it sit for awhile. The coffee analogy wasn’t lost on me either. I used to be a big coffee drinker. Sometimes I make a pu-erh latte with sweetening (never honey though) and half and half. Usually the pu-erh makes a caramel tasting latte. If you’re game, drink it straight, sweeten then add milk and see how you like it.

Uniquity

I also thought the times seemed long as well, but I was working off of Teavivre’s suggestions and then adding for each infusion. I still have three more nests, perhaps I’ll do the next for 30 second and then add 15 seconds per steep (or so) and see how it goes. I’m just so happy to not have any fishiness! Thanks for the advice Bonnie, it’s much appreciated!

Bonnie

I’ve learned a lot from other people and from playing with the pu-erh without being afraid of it. One collector told me he always steeped 30 seconds and when I tried that, it seemed to work for me most of the time. I watched the video on Verdant too and sometimes, poke my pu-erh with something small like a toothpick if it’s hard to get it started…breaking it up.

Uniquity

I actually expected it to be hard to break up because of things I’ve seen from Verdant, but the little nest just fell apart. Likely because it is smaller, the water got in the cracks more easily. Despite not loving puerh (yet) I frequently want to buy a cake from Verdant. I may have a problem. :)

K S

I greatly enjoyed reading your review of this tea. I have had this one before and understood just what you meant every step of the way. Do you also have the rose toucha? You can’t – or at least I can’t – taste the rose exactly but it takes that sharp edge off the cup. How can something described as hamster cage and damp horse barn keep you wanting to try it again? As you said there is something comforting about it – exactly.

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Bio

I’ve been drinking loose tea since 2010 and my tastes have changed a lot over those years. For the last few, I’ve been a fan of unflavoured Chinese blacks and shu puerh. I still drink other things, but that’s where I am.

I live in a rural area with my husband, cat, and soon to be firstborn. I love tea, reading, doctor who, knitting, crosswords, board games, the marvel universe, and lots of other things.

I’m not often rating teas numerically any more but I want to leave this to explain my past ratings:
I try to only log teas once or twice because I drink a lot of the same ones repeatedly. My rating is based on my perception of the tea at first tasting and is adjusted if anything notable occurs in subsequent cups. I may also factor in the price and customer service but try to note that when I can.

81 – 100: These are great teas, I love them, regularly stock them or savour them as unique treats.
71 – 80: These are solid. I drink them, I like them, I may or may not keep them on hand regularly. This is still good stuff.
61 – 70: Just okay. I can drink it, but it doesn’t stand out to me. Might be lower quality, not to my taste, or outside my comfort zone.
41 – 60: Not likely to keep drinking…hoping hubby will enjoy!
0 – 40: No thank you, please. Take it away and don’t make me finish the cup.

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Canada

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