A while back, I ordered a puerh sample pack from Verdant. I used about 4-5 g. leaf for about 6 oz. water. (My kitchen scale is still missing.). Still can’t find my puerh pick, so I broke the leaves up with a longer rinse. It’s sort of mediocre, somewhere in between the Guevara shu and the much better Ethical Agriculture one I tried yesterday. Nothing offensive about it — it’s just bland and boring, with no noticeable lingering notes so far. I’ll say more if anything comes up in later steeps. Smells sweet like dried tobacco leaf, but I don’t really notice much sweetness in the flavor.
Added: Woodier than I’d like. Not a fan of heavily oaked wine, and this bothers me in the same way.
Now on the 6th or 7th steep, and it really doesn’t change much as I go. The Ethical Ag tea lost some of its earthy mineral flavor as I took it through additional steeps, but this one doesn’t. I do not like it.
So far, my palate is pretty simple. I like unflavored teas that are naturally sweet. A little bitterness doesn’t bother me, as long as there’s some sweetness. This doesn’t fit the bill.
Flavors: Earth, Hay, Mineral, Tobacco, Wet Earth, Wood
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If you like sweet, I’d recommend trying out some lao cha tou (shu nuggets that get formed during shu processing). From my experience they generally tend towards sweet and/or earthy and/or creamy. White2Tea’s laochatou tastes pretty sweet to me. I think their Chocolate Minis are also described as relatively sweet though it’s been a while since I’ve had them so I can’t actually remember myself.
Crimson Lotus Tea has a huangpian shu (the one in 250g bricks, not the Iron Forge which I haven’t tried yet) which has a ridiculously sweet aftertaste that I love. It might take a few tries to get it but it seems to work better/more consistently for me if I brew it in a mug with a steeping basket and somewhat longer steeps than gongfu.
I’m not good at remembering/associating certain tastes to regions, especially for shu (literally the only one I can nail consistently is Lincang shu which to me has a fruity-ish and full-flavoured but not exactly sweet sort of taste), but I want to say some Bulang shus I’ve had are relatively sweet.
Thanks. I’m writing these down.
I will second the Lao Cha. Shou with a couple of years on it is better than the younger stuff.
If you like sweet, I’d recommend trying out some lao cha tou (shu nuggets that get formed during shu processing). From my experience they generally tend towards sweet and/or earthy and/or creamy. White2Tea’s laochatou tastes pretty sweet to me. I think their Chocolate Minis are also described as relatively sweet though it’s been a while since I’ve had them so I can’t actually remember myself.
Crimson Lotus Tea has a huangpian shu (the one in 250g bricks, not the Iron Forge which I haven’t tried yet) which has a ridiculously sweet aftertaste that I love. It might take a few tries to get it but it seems to work better/more consistently for me if I brew it in a mug with a steeping basket and somewhat longer steeps than gongfu.
I’m not good at remembering/associating certain tastes to regions, especially for shu (literally the only one I can nail consistently is Lincang shu which to me has a fruity-ish and full-flavoured but not exactly sweet sort of taste), but I want to say some Bulang shus I’ve had are relatively sweet.
Thanks. I’m writing these down.
I will second the Lao Cha. Shou with a couple of years on it is better than the younger stuff.