Last weekend when I had a terrible cough, I pretty much stayed in bed binge watching stuff all weekend. I did taste a couple of oolongs I hadn’t written notes about before, but I completely skipped the pu erhs.
Since I’m no longer pressuring myself to “get through all my teas a first time and write notes about them,” I almost skipped a pu erh today. But I wasn’t done with tea for the day so I forged ahead.
This one’s dry leaf has a deep, leather and whiskey smell. Not at all fishy, and not particularly earthy/mushroomy either.
I rinsed this at boiling and then steeped in the gaiwan at 10/10/20/30/40/60/120/240/300/360
The first few steeps were lovely. A deep flavor, sweet like molasses, with a smell and flavor of leather and whiskey and a cognac color.
The third steep brought out a earthy note, and the sweetness started to fade after this and a not quite cocoa note tried to appear.
By the sixth steep, both color and flavor were well on the wane. The seventh steep brought out a weak tobacco note.
It’s unfortunate that this didn’t have more staying power. If it had managed to keep its richness and flavor longer I might have rated it higher.
In the early steeps, I liked it as much or more than the Rose Tuocha from The Tao of Tea, which I rated higher than I’m inclined to rate this one. So I’m lowering the rating on that one.
Flavors: Leather, Molasses, Tobacco, Whiskey
