dalril Send Message

The first steep was light and ‘barely there’. On the second steep the flavor woke up, and I am enjoying it. It has a light scent of apricot and cut grass. It’s very mild with little bitterness. Still learning to taste.

Having ordered a selection of young sheng to educate my palette, I’m finding the elements I enjoy in a pu-erh changing rapidly and drastically.

The third steep turned out nastily bitter because I accidentally over steeped. The forth turned out pleasant light and sweet with little bitterness.

Gongfu style: 20s rinse, 20s first steep, 15s second, ~20+ third, ~15 forth…

Sweet mild taste, flowery perfume and a muted bitterness. This is my first tasting. It seems counterproductive to rate a young pu-erh. Since the conditions for proper aging are not easy to replicate, it’s worth hording a couple of cakes only if you can also happily drink it as it is.
It will take a couple goes and an adjustment of steep times before I can say much about this cake. My first impression is positive.

Perfect. Jasmine can sometimes be overwhelming, here it’s just right. I usually do two infusions of this tea, the first a 2 min and the second at 2:30. I don’t check water temperature (180-190 F.) too closely because, unlike some greens this tea is very forgiving.

A surprise from the first sip. The scent of banana and mild citrus stands out. Tastes sweet and mellow, followed by a contrasting bitterness.
Gongfu style: rinse 10 sec, 1st steep 15 sec. …

Large loose leaves, very mild flavor, nice floral scent, yellow amber cup and no bitterness. Steeped gongfu: 10 sec rinse, 1st steep 20 sec, then 30, etc. Seems bland but I might need to alter the timings.
It’s not bad but I’m undecided about this tea.

I haven’t had that many ripe pu-erh, but I’m really liking this. It’s flavorful without being overwhelming.
Gongfu style, 10s rinse, 15s first steep.

Nice mouth filling amber cup, floral scent, smokiness and a bitter finish that increases with continued steeping. Gongfu style, 20 sec. rinse … still figuring out good steep times.

Water heated to 180 F and steeped continuously, just topping up the water when needed. Mild pleasing green flavor with some sweetness, not all that remarkable. The continuous steeping is an unusual convenience and the tea just visually pleasing (and odd).

Mildly grassy with a large dose of caramel. Steeped 4 min in water around 180, second steep 5 min.

This tea was a true surprise when I first got it. The tightly compressed brick wasn’t all that pretty and, of course, its young. But it brews up a mellow sweet amber cup with a hint of bitterness that keeps to the background. It also changes considerably through multiple steeps as the teas opens.

Cooked and vintage pu-erh gets a lot of attention, but there are young greens that can be enjoyed for what they are.

Gongfu style, 9g with 2 rinses at 15s, 5 steeps at 1m, 40s, 50s, 1m …