The dry leaves of this tea smell great like a box of Raisinetes on a wooden shelf of an old country store. I did two short rinses in a small clay pot. The rinse water had a pale rose color. That should have been the clue I needed to know to steep longer, but I only did about a 10 second steep, and the first infusion was a bit too weak. Wet leaves still had a touch of chocolate, but the earthy, composted leaf smell was the dominate aroma. It was hard to detect the raisin, sweet dried fruit aroma in the wet leaves. Second infusion, I went for 30 seconds. I think I could have gone longer with no bad consequences. Liquor became much darker, but still on the reddish-brown side and not that crimson black that some shous produce. If I could only use one word to describe this, I would say SMOOTH. This is a very smooth shou pu-erh. Zero bitterness. In the tasting notes, there is a sweetness to it. Earthy, mushroom, hint of cocoa, but I don’t taste any of the raisin that was so dominate in the dry leaves. Smooth and wet mouthfeel, lingering coating. I think I’m getting just a smidgen of sourness, but surely that can’t be right. This is well fermented tea. Maybe it is an unusual astringent quality. It only comes late after the finish and is present only near the front of my mouth.
Flavors: Autumn Leaf Pile, Chocolate, Earth, Mushrooms, Raisins, Sweet
