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My first class was canceled today, which means morning teatime! More samples from the generous LiquidProust. This one I was a little dubious about, since I had the ripe version of this Lao Cang toucha in a Portland tea shop last summer, for $24/100g!! Jesus, talk about a markup. Luckily, I only bought one ounce before I realized it wasn’t for me.

Anyway, the first steep of this tea is awesome! Sweet, and delicious rice aroma and flavors coming out the gaiwan and cup. If it stayed like this, it’d be a 100. Sadly, it does fade—later steeps are more musty and less sweet, and betray the less-than-stellar sheng underneath the flavoring. If I were to drink this again, I’d steep it western to distribute that first steep over the entire session.

Still, that first steep kind of makes the whole session worth it! Mm, sticky rice…

I was excited to try these tous ever since I got them in a swap with Matu, but never really got around to it until today. I’m sort of a sucker for cute pressings—I was won over by Nan Jian’s 2011 Mushroom just because it’s a mushroom. Anyway, what I’m trying to say is that I was excited to try these things, primarily because they’re so cute.

I knew something was up when I dropped one of these into my gaiwan and saw a bunch of tea dust fall off. Not promising…but I hit it with a double-rinse and started brewing.

I don’t know how to say it nicely—this tea is gross. Bitter, astringent, with no fruit, hay, or interesting notes I’ve come to like from other puer. Sort of thick, I guess? But mostly just bitter all the way. I’d say avoid—they’re cute, but taste like puer instant coffee.

Update 2: After god knows how many steeps, this tea is starting to fade. I’m now getting my beloved apricot notes, although the butter flavor seems to have disappeared. Funny how flavors can kind of poke their heads up for a steep or two and then just disappear. Astringency has remained high although bitterness is fading. The vice on my head is also loosening. It’s been an interesting afternoon for sure.

Update: Jesus Christ, I’m on steep like 18 and the tea is still strong as ever. The qi on this stuff is insane. Starting to wonder if the leaves are laced with cocaine or something… Anyway, taste is getting better, more mild and with some buttery flavors creeping in. I’m gonna keep steeping—I’m determined to finish these leaves, even if it puts me in a coma.

Original Review: Got a sample of this from LiquidProust (so many samples! so generous!). I picked this tea to brew up because it has some absolutely gorgeous maocha—long, unbroken, fluffy leaves with a deep green color. The smell out of the bag was also really nice. Apricots and grass.

So it’s safe to say I started brewing this up with high expectations. Did it deliver? Er, well…

See it’s not bad. It’s just really not my thing. It’s pretty bitter and strong, with a little sweetness here and there. Very vegetal in early steeps. It sort of reminded me of drinking cheap-o green tea bags, which is something I get with really strong raw puerh. Could be I used too much leaf, I suppose.

Also side note—as I’m writing this the qi is hitting hard. It’s getting strangely hard to type, and my head is getting that floaty feeling…yikes.

All right, this is getting rambly but I take back what I said about cheap green tea—this tea doesn’t deserve that. It’s definitely getting sweeter, and less bitter. Maybe the last steeps will be softer…only time will tell.

Drinking this on a lazy friday afternoon. I got way tea drunk on this stuff, to the point where my sense of perspective is definitely a little funny. I’m still not the biggest fan of the flavor, but going in with an open mind and letting it air out helped. This time I’m picking up less smoke—it’s more a smoky mineral taste. Reminds me of rocks out in the Mojave, baked by the sun, and how they tend to get that earthy-smoky smell. A little vegetal as well, and not super sweet. Also steeps forever—I’ve actually run out of water in my kettle, and I started with 1.5 liters!

Anyway, I’m feeling pretty good at the moment thanks to this little tea. Nice pairing for a misty afternoon

I got back from my shift at the school letterpress covered with ink and bruises (fiddling around with stiff old iron machinery), and wanted something comforting. I’m now drinking some mysterious maocha from LiquidProust—used 3.5 grams in a 100ml gaiwan and it’s a very mild, sweet brew. Hints of apricot and a tiny bit of smoke, and a nice sweetness. I’m noticing I really love fruity flavors in my tea—especially raw and ripes. Gonna keep this going and see how it turns out.

Decided to break this out today since it’s gotten hot and muggy in Ohio. Thanks to LiquidProust for the generous chunk of puerh!

Anyway, I decided to go a little light on the leaf (5g) and ended up with a very mild, smooth brew. Initial steeps were sweet with a bit of a sour note, and gave way to sweet, thick steeps with very mild sourness. Last time I brewed this I got hit with a delicious apricot taste, which I don’t taste as much this time around. Could be part of the sourness. I think the sour taste is a signature of purple tea, since I’ve gotten the same thing with the purple buds I have. As far as qi, I feel awake and I’m feeling the forehead sweat hard. The room feels about ten degrees warmer. Maybe I’ll go for a walk…

After a few days of cold, spring has apparently returned to Ohio. To celebrate, I broke out some lighter teas—this one and a sample of W2T’s Huang Pian Basics.

So yeah, this tea and I didn’t get along so well before. This time I decided to go light on the tea (maybe 3.5 grams) and with cool water (160 degrees). The result? Delicious! The sour notes I hated so much are still there, but they sort of coat my throat this time with a nice thickness, instead of drying it out. The sour turns into this great hay sweetness, as well as that raw-puer-y sweet flavor I can’t really describe.

All in all, a great spring tea!

So I was drinking this tea, thinking it tasted like a pretty decent white tea. Nothing special, just a more malty silver needle. Then I let my friend have a sip.

“It tastes like froot loops,” he said.

And bam, that’s all I can taste now. It’s like a curse or something—I can’t help but taste froot loops every time I sip this tea. Which isn’t a bad thing, it’s a pretty great cereal. And I can still taste the other notes—hay, malt, fruit—it just mostly tastes like breakfast cereal.

Tried this again with cooler water and shorter steeps, and it was much better. Still sort of bitter on the tail but I can appreciate the taste without having my mouth totally dry out.

I still don’t love this tea, but I think that’s because I’m not as big a fan of black teas as I used to be. It’s got some good notes—malty and sweet for sure—but it’s just not very interesting taste-wise. It doesn’t have the fruity notes I really like, or much chocolate. Just a pretty good daily-drinking tea.