2022 'Heresy' Raw Pu-Erh Tea

I’m very excited to see this Kuura and White2tea collaboration with “Heresy”, a spring 2022 raw pu’er cake. These are two of my favourite tea dealers and they take quite a similar approach to their craft. I finally had some dedicated time to try it out today.

The description provided on both vendors’ sites is identical and even more scant on details than usual for them (which is really saying something).

I scanned the QR code on the wrapper, which took me to a Soundcloud page with a 2 hour soundtrack that I fired up to listen to during the session. There’s quite a range of different and enjoyable but mellow music on there, I assume curated by both Ayden and Paul. (I could be wrong but it seems to be a mix of American and Australian artists, and at least one Chinese.)

The initial steeps are very sweet and the fairness cup smells like fairy floss/cotton candy. It wasn’t too thick though.

The sweetness eases off a bit in the mid steeps and astringency rises, but bitterness remains very low. The taste remains really nice through the whole session, with the late long steeps sweetening up more again and giving rise to that plummy/raisin kind of taste that I really enjoy but don’t often find (especially in such young material).

However most notable was the body-feel. I found this tea to be incredibly doping/relaxing from the mid steeps onwards, to the point where I don’t think it’d be safe to drive.

This tea is a great representation of what these two vendors stand for and bring to the table. Save it for when you have time for a long session (and don’t have to drive anywhere immediately after).

I’d love to hear other folks’s experience with this tea as well. Happy holidays!