Return to Planet Pu erh.
This one has a rather singular smell in the packet. I would describe it as “dark” or maybe “hearty.” There’s no fishiness at all, and only a little leather. What I get is more deep and rich, like a really moist tobacco or, for some reason, a really concentrated butterscotch. Where that is coming from, don’t ask me — it may be more of an association than a flavor. If you’ve had those really dark, deep, rich butterscotches that make you understand where the “scotch” part comes from, that’s what I mean.
I rinsed and then steeped at boiling for 10/10/20/30/40/60/120/240/300/360
The tea starts out with an astonishingly bright orange colored liquor, but by the second steep it has become a dark, cognac color. I swear, I did not read the description that said cognac before I called it that — even more surprising because by steep 2, I get a cognac flavor (and again, I swear, I didn’t read the description first!)
Steep 1 is smooth, and a bit more earthy and mushroomy, but steep 2 is cognac, for sure.
The third steep is similar to the second, as is the third — but the fourth is a little less “round” and the fifth has a sweetness that I’m finding tends to come out in shus in the middle steeps. It must have something to do with the breakdown of the sugars in the leaves? The sweetness here isn’t like the brown sugar and molasses notes that I adored in the Life in Teacup, but it is very nice.
By the sixth, I start detecting a bit of a fade. The color becomes lighter though still reminiscent of brandy.
I enjoyed all 10 steeps. While I still think the Life in Teacup is the most stunning of those I’ve had recently, this is lovely. I had to bump up the Life In Teacup’s rating so I could rate this one high, but not as high as it.
Flavors: Brandy, Butterscotch, Earth, Mushrooms, Tobacco
