Temple Stairs Loose Ripe Pu'er

Sipdown 8 of 2015. Sample. Purchased 5/2014 – Finished 12/2015.

I have had a few Ripe Pu’er. Of the few that I have tried this is my favorite, but I am not sure I am going to be a ripe pu’er fan. I can’t get over the rubber taste I get out of it. For this one I did about 4 rinses and then started drinking it. What I did like about it was that it was creamy and it made me relaxed really relaxed. The flavor was slightly spicy/mint?

Despite the time of night, dinner was heavier than I usually eat, and I was craving some pu’erh upon my return home. Of all the pu’erh currently sitting on my countertop (inventory and organization time!), this one jumped out at me, since the description sounded a bit dessert-like.
This will not be a full review, just a record of happy stomach, happy Spencer, and happy tea.

Thanks, Garret, for the sample!

An initial rinse of these dark leaves reveals a very fresh, cool scent that smells like sweet dough and mineral. There’s also a nice scent of petrichor, the smell of the air when it rains. A very faint hint of vanilla whispers by.

The first infusion brings out more aromas, this time of sweet cocoa and hooka smoke. The infusion is a gorgeous dusty rose color. The flavor is very delicate and sweet. It doesn’t have the mustiness of a lot of ripe Puer teas. There’s a cooling sensation or hui-gan that stays in my mouth long after finishing the sip.

After the second infusion, not surprisingly, I’m getting rose on the nose. I felt something very “rosy” about this tea. Apparently it’s not just the color. By this infusion, the brew is a deeper color, reddish. The flavor is not as sweet this time. It’s got a bit of wood or leather quality to it now, but it is still very smooth and enjoyable. It really leaves a lasting taste in the mouth. There’s a very buttery flavor that coats the gums. You can lick it off of them and taste it very distinctly, an interesting quality I’ve never noticed in a tea before.

The third infusion is rich and again somewhat sweet. It’s mellow. This is the cleanest tasting ripe Puer I have tried.

I pushed my 4th infusion a little bit longer to see what this would taste like with a stronger brew. I’m not noticing anything different. It has consistently good flavor. In fact, I think it tasted better when brewed a bit more delicately.

This is a very enjoyable Puer tea and a milder one. Some ripe Puer tea I’ve had that was mellower tasted bland and uninteresting, but this one is truly relaxing and shines in its subtlety. This is exactly the right kind of tea I’d need to relax after a long day.

I have been drinking this tea all day and finished off the rest of my sample in the gaiwan. I had it in the morning, went shopping for a ton of house things (boxing day sales, hurrah!) had some in the afternoon, before dinner, and now I combined 3 steepings for a mug before bed. This tea has staying power! It is also delicious, woody and fresh, calming and good. Most pronounced is a woody flavor to me, with a tiny bit of caramel sweet coming out. Just a bit though. Mostly fresh, wet wood after the rain. I am digging this, and am very happy I still have some mini tu’s of this tea! Oh, and these last 3 steepings combined have led to a much more pronounced sweet flavor, smooth, mmmmm perfect for before bed.

Loving Mandala’s puerhs! If I ever let myself buy tea again (still working on sipping down teas/samples for the new year) I might add a bit of this to my order. Thanks Garret, for the free sample!!

First cup was much lighter in color than the second; maybe because the leaf rested in between.
Tastes smooth, sweet and like slightly leathery/earthy caramel, with aroma to match. There is a very gentle tart-like juiciness that lingers after drinking. Mellow and lovely.

Will save the leaves to steep again later.
I say this every time, but think this is my favorite ripe mandala pu’er sample so far – so gentle. :)

So this time I had this, it actually was the Loose version. (The tuocha version didn’t exist on here, and other reviews were for the tuocha, so I added my reviews here.)

Yum

Yum yum yum

It’s a nice energy, without too much of a buzz. A calm energy today.

So tasty.

I was sad when it faded.

Now that I can fully express my love of shous, I decided to brew this one up.

Method: rinse 10-10-10-15-20 and dump. Steep 20-25-30 and drink. 5 g, 4 oz, 200 degrees

I think I finally found a shou method that works for me!!!! SO EXCITED! I am seasoning my TeaVivre pot in this tea, so I decided to drink some also. I’m feeling all relaxed and mellow. Had a nice lunch with friends downtown. I have a pot of shou simmering with my yixing on the stovetop. All my pups are happy and spry today. Life is good!!!!!

This tastes like honey and caramel. I may not even needed quite so many rinses, but I was making some for the seasoning, and it all worked out. So happy!!!!

This is a sample from Sil, which she received as a sample from Garret.
It’s a sip down cheat, because I have more of this in my collection, but I think this is an older version, so I’m counting it!

Anyway, I haven’t drank any Pu for a LONG time, just because I was too busy to appreciate it. So FINALLY I get to drink some Shu, & it’s so nice to have the time to enjoy it! Rich, sweet, creamy. There’s a vanilla mouth feel, a deep richness, sorghum, cedar, leather…stuff like that!

Picked this one out this morning almost at random, it was the first puerh I came across today. This tea is incredible, end of statement. It is sweet and a little bit earthy. The fermentation flavor is just barely noticeable, barely. I would call the sweet note a dates note, but that is just an opinion..

I brewed this tea twice in an 18oz teapot with 6.3g leaf and boiling water. I steeped it for 30 sec, and 30 sec. The second steeping I put in a thermos to bring to work.

So I started a session with this one last night. And again the first thing I smelled on both the dry and wet leaf was pond water. I steeped this one up for the 30 seconds and holy darkness. For some reason I was expecting this one to be light. But it’s was almost black.

The liquor smelled just like the wet leaf, pond water, something I don’t remember Special Dark’s liquor smelling like. I’m thinking I definitely should have rinsed this. That first cup tasted similar to how it smelled, like pond water and mud. I ended up dumping half the cup. The next steep was a little better. Less pond and mud taste (I guess earthy in a wet way). Now I’m starting to get other notes, there’s a slight sweetness, and something not quite earthy but I’m not sure what it is.

The third steep, most of the pond scum smell and taste was completely gone and for the next three steeps the flavor continued to mellow and mingle and confuse but please my taste buds. My tongue is not refined enough to pick out flavors, but once I hit the third steeping I ha begun to relax into this puerh. It started to feel safe, like it was trying to show me a preview of could come if I continue down the rabbit hole that is puerh. Now I really think that a good rinse or maybe two would have eliminated those first two awkward cups and put me right into this sweet spot to begin with.

The 6th or 7th steep seemed a little bit weaker, and since by this point it was nearly 2am I decided to cold steep the last steep overnight. I strained and tried it first thing this morning, and detected a surprising note that I really wasn’t expecting and don’t know where it came from: grapes. This cold steeped and lightly sweetened taste like grapes and a tinge if cocoa, some of that almost earthiness, and I want to say browned sugar. The other notes were there in the hot cups but just seem more identifiable this time. But I don’t remember grapes last night, yet there they are this morning.

I still find it so amazing that a straight tea can have so many different notes, without adding any flavors.