Dr Jim Send Message

From the Sheng Olympics.

There’s been a lot of buzz lately about this tea, but after tasting it, I have to conclude that the buzz is mostly about the buzz. Sorry, I know this is steepster rather than punster but I couldn’t resist. The cha qi is amazing. I rate puerh according to taste and cha qi and this one got a 100 for cha qi. The taste, however, didn’t excite me.

The taste is mostly a mix of straw and leather, starting out mostly straw but ending with leather. In the middle steeps it began to be astringent, with a bit of ashes in the taste. By the 6th steep, the taste was dominated by the astringency, and 25 minutes after I finished, my mouth was still puckered. It was an interesting tea, but not one I would invest in, since I have a few other teas with comparable cha qi whose taste I enjoy more.

BTW: I liked the 2007 version much better, so it is possible this is just going through an awkward stage.

I started with several chunks rather than loose leaves, so the first steep was kind of weak. The taste started out as straw with a hint of leather but in the next few steeps the leather became much more prominent. It also became quite astringent. Chewy texture. Long finish, and I’m feeling some cha qi. Later steeps were sightly bitter and more astringent than I like, but with decent flavor. Not bad, but not my style.

From the Sheng Olympics

Initial steep: Rich nose is earthy and nutty. Surprisingly pale color. Taste is sweet and vegetative with hints of straw and leather. Excellent mouth-feel. Good finish. 2nd: Rich aroma. Excellent taste. This is the kind of rich, full-bodied, complex tea that I love. Taste is leather with hints of straw, vegetation, and earth. Finish is long, strong, and smooth. Some cha qi, but not overwhelming. Later steeps showed a bit of acid. I want to buy this, but have absolutely no need for more tea. Lucky for me the YS sale just ended.

I found this tea disappointing. The early steeps were extremely astringent, to the point where it was difficult to notice any other flavor. As the astringency faded, it became very acidic, with astringency lingering in the finish. Never felt any cha qi. Later steeps less objectionable but nothing special. It’s too bad, because there were interesting leather/earth flavors hiding behind the astringency, but they just weren’t able to overcome the handicap.

One of my first great discoveries when I joined steepster was Keemun tea. My first was from Teavivre, but I soon discovered that Harney made good Keemun as well. I haven’t drunk it much lately, since becoming totally assimilated by puerh. However, today I wanted a strong eye-opener, and still had a tin of this in the kitchen.

I’m really enjoying this. It is strong and smoky, with a flavor that isn’t quite chocolate, but a bit more nut-like. Just the thing for a morning I wish I could have slept in. It has an almost chewy texture, possibly because I just dumped a bunch of tea without weighing it, and it’s probably stronger than I would normally steep. I’m very content.

I keep telling people that I don’t like ripe puerh, so I suppose it is only fair to write up a review when I see a tea that challenges my prejudice. I’ve realized that I am just totally buried in samples of puerh. I’ve started just grabbing things at random and steeping them (with an emphasis on shou). This tea is from the second Puerh TTB: I stuck 4 grams in a baggie and threw it in a box about a year ago, so I’m past due time to try it.

The tea is really enjoyable. The best feature is a powerful wood/tobacco aroma with a bit of camphor and a bit of mustiness that reminds me of a dusty shelf. The flavors work really well together, being fairly complex and subtly different in each steep. The taste is similar, with the exception of the 1st steep, which was quite bitter. The bitterness was just about entirely gone in the second steep and beyond. I’m currently on my 5th steep and it is still going strong, with a bit more camphor and a bit less leather as it progresses. Sadly, it is a) out of stock; and b) fairly pricey, or I’d be buying shou for the first time in over a year.

This tea was also my grandson’s introduction to puerh. He’s 10 and has been mostly drinking dessert teas with me, but I figured he’s ready for the hard stuff. He loved it!

Matcha day today with the grandkids. The 8 and 10 year-olds surprised me by enjoying both plain and flavored matcha. They’re now making matcha ice cream. Lots of fun and I got to sip down my caramel matcha. Or, more accurately, “ice-cream down.”

From the Puerh TTB #3. Thanks to EoT for the samples.

1st steep (10 s): There is a bit of spice in the nose. The taste is quite strong for a 1st steep. Smooth and sweet, with a rich blend of straw, toast and floral hints. The finish is also good; silky smooth and long-lasting. I’m feeling a lot of cha qi, but this is my second sheng of the day so the effect may be cumulative. 2nd (10 s): The tea is a medium straw color. Smell is richer; a hint of smoke? Really big and rich and super finish that seems to just keep getting bigger. Too big for my head!? Partly I think it is a powerful cha qi taking over. Between the finish and the cha qi it is hard to actually taste the tea. It is richer than the first cup, with wood and caramel flavors replacing the floral note. Also not as smooth; there is a bit of tartness and tannin, especially at the finish. This is the sort of tea that I’m tempted to just pound down and enjoy the cha qi, but I want to set a good example and review the tea since it was a donation to the puerh TTB and I was the one that required tasting notes for the donated teas. I’ll take a break then come back.

3rd steep (20 s one hour later): Light straw aroma and flavor. Less nuanced. Sweet, with a hint of bitterness underneath. 4th (30s): More wood than straw. A dark richness that’s hard to identify; not quite earthy. spice? (another review suggested nutmeg, and that is close) Finish and cha qi still dominant. Later steeps were mellow and rich and slightly spicy.

I liked this tea a lot, at least in part because it presented so many different facets. After the first cup I was thinking approachable. After the second I was thinking tea drunk. The third and fourth suggested the need for more age, and I’m now on about the 7th cup and it’s just really pleasant. Smooth, full flavor in the mouth, a finish that is still going strong, and a nice buzz from the cha qi. What’s not to love?

From the Puerh TTB #2

I have a terrible habit of hoarding the last few grams of a tea, and when I participate in a TTB, that’s often all that I get. So I have a box of about 30 samples I’ve taken from the TTBs over the past year that I haven’t tried. Kind of dumb. Yesterday I polished off the last 2 grams of an EoT sample and enjoyed it so much I decided to try this tea today.

It started out really well with a sweet straw flavor with very long strong finish. Good mouth-feel. Hint of caramel. Strong cha qi. Very approachable, but fairly complex and interesting. The 2nd steep smelled a bit like damp ashes but that quickly went away. Mild taste builds power in the mouth leading to a big finish. Taste is damp straw with no sign of the caramel, but a hint of ashes. Becomes astringent as it cools. The 3rd steep again gave me a hint of ashes in the nose, but they again dissipated quickly. The taste is stronger, with wood as well as straw flavor. Astringent but not bitter; the astringency builds in the finish to the point that it is too much.

In both the second and third steeps, the finish is stronger than the taste, and the flavor increases dramatically if I aerate the tea while it’s in my mouth. If this were a wine, I would say that it is “closed-in” and together with the tannin I would suggest that it needs age to come together. I’m not sure if it works that way with tea, but suspect this is a tea that would age.

The fourth steep is ca return to the first steep: no ashes in the nose, but a rich clean flavor. Like it finally woke up. Shows a hint of tart bitterness at the finish. The cha qi is still very strong. Overall a good tea; I wish I could try it again in 10 years.

From the Puerh TTB #3

This tea had the most powerful cha qi I’ve ever experienced. So much so that it was difficult to take meaningful notes for this review. This is my second review. I took a 5 gram sample and split it into two parts, tasting one immediately and the other after it sat in a small zip-lock bag for a few months. This is the second review.

1st steep (10 s): Very strong for a 1st steep. I’m already feeling the cha qi. Flavor is leather with hints of spices and wood. The spice is especially obvious in the nose. Full-body cha qi. Unfortunately it also seems to be affecting my stomach. in the next few steeps, the spice became less prominent and the flavor became more smoked meat than spice. Rich and fairly strong. The taste is sharp and more tannic, with some bitterness. the 4th steep (30 s) started sweet and ended bitter. At this point I took a 1 hour break because I needed to clear my head. The next day I continued, and found good flavor though not terribly special.

Rating is difficult. The flavor is more bitter than I like, though I keep reading about “good bitterness,” I’m not really a fan. On the other hand, I love complexity in teas, and this one was very interesting. Each cup had multiple flavors and each cup was subtly different from the others. If I had to complain it would be that the powerful cha qi prevented me from fully appreciating the subtlety of flavor. I found myself just sitting and meditating for 5-10 minutes until the cha qi wore off sufficiently for me to brew the next cup.

In my internal notes, I rate separately for flavor and cha qi, both on a 100 point scale. I set the scale too low initially so had to give this tea the same cha qi rating as W2T’s Last Thoughts: 110 on a scale of 100. My highest rating.

Thanks again to Essence of Tea for contributing to the travelling tea box.