2015 Organic Raw Pu'er. One Family. One Farm. One Tea.

I just received this puerh cake, so it is probably a little flat because of the lower humidity and temp during shipping. I have it in my pumidor and will write a more extensive review after a couple weeks in better conditions. The dry tea smells very minty and sweet, almost like a mint tisane mixed in with the puerh. Once brewed it keeps the minty smell but loses the sweetness. It is very smooth and moistens the mouth. It is lacking a little thickness and staying power but that may be because of the shipping flatness. It has a deep tobacco and mushroom flavor, without the smokiness and bitterness of other young puerhs (making it seem a couple years older than it really is) I can’t wait to see how this progresses, and overall it’s a very good tea

Having a lovely run with this tea again.

Oddly, each steep seems to be very light and buttery ending with a fantastic floral / cherry / apricot that lingers after sip. Last time I got much more flavor out of this tea.

Then it hit me. It was my flavor sucking yixing pot! I had seasoned it the other day and this one came out the best I think as the pot is scented strongly of the sheng pu’er I used. Oh well, need to put more time into the yixing pot so it’ll give back!

First of all I want to thank Nicholas for this generous offering. Secondly please accept my apology for being so late in reviewing it. This is the autumn selection of the 2012 Yiwu. And I again I apologize for adding it on here. Quite frankly, if you blindfolded me and told me it was the spring harvest I would agree. The dried leaves are beautiful and I can see this is a superior tea. My first steeping yields a beautiful, fruity nectar with a wonderful mouthfeel. The next steeping I allow it more time to in Yixing to see where it goes. I still have the fruitiness but with an intensity that goes to my brow and chest. I am going to stop here because it is the afternoon here and I can see this tea ruining my day in a very wonderful way. I will let it ruin my night when I am able to sit and ponder life and all its beauty….

Thank you Nicholas & Misty Peaks for this wonderful cup of Yum!

Although this is a young sheng, it lacks the wild & brash unruliness of so many of the shengs I’ve tried. This is perfectly delicious & refined tea, with a sweet smooth fruity taste. I’ve been drinking it for a couple of hours, & it really is a delicious nectar. I’m probably gonna have to add some of this to my collection too.

I received this sample in the mail and immediately began brewing it. I’ve been curious about Misty Peak Teas for quite some time and this was the perfect opportunity to try some of their pu’er.

The dry tea smelled sorta herbacious and a bit earthy. I was also getting a bit of a tobacco-like smell in there. It was interesting to say the least. I experimented with the steep time a little bit as I usually so the first time brewing. I found my sweet spot at about the 9th steep at 3 minutes but each steep was amazing.

1st Steep-30 sec
Slightly grassy. Very fruity. Apple or pear. I can’t place it right now. Lightly smoky. Kinda like walking into a room where a match had been lit. You get whisps of it. The smoke is not in every sip but you catch a bit of it here and there.

2nd Steep-45 sec
I’m getting a little bit more of the smoke. Not overpowering. Still very fruity. Definitely apple this time. A bit of spice…sometimes nutmeg, sometimes clove.

3rd Steep-1 minute
Tastes almost exactly like apricot jam. I am not even kidding. This pu’er is so gentle yet flavorful.

4th Steep-1.30 minutes
Still tastes like apricot jam but with a bit more astringency. Seems like it pops up in later brews. There is also something minty going on.

5th Steep-2 minutes
A little bit more astringent. Not in an overpowering way and nothing close to what I expect from a young sheng but just enough that you notice it. Still tastes like apricot but it’s getting sweeter.

6th, 7th, 8th Steeps-2.30 minutes
Very mellow steeps. All of a sudden, the apricots are gone and replaced by pears and honey. Very very surprising.

9th Steep-3 minutes
When I brew a tea for the first time, especially a pu’er, I experiment with different brew times to find the sweet spot—sometimes I get a bit crazy. I think 3 minutes is this tea’s sweet spot. At least for me. This steep reminds me of roasted pears with a caramel sauce and spices. It tastes like the holidays.

10th Steep-5 minutes
Steeped at 5 minutes just to see if I could without getting kicked in the face with astringency. And I didn’t. So smooth and it tastes like apples, pears and a spicy cinnamon.

11th Steep-10 minutes
If you’re going to push it far why not push it farther? So I did and steeped for 10 minutes. It’s ridiculous and bordering on tea abuse but it worked well. I probably wouldn’t do this earlier but in later steeps, why not? It was a bit astringent but not the unpleasant sort. Kind of minty actually.

12th Steep-Overnight
In my defense, I’m all allergied up and I fell asleep while brewing. But it was still good in the morning when I did drink it. It tasted like pears and molasses. Not bad.

Overall, this is one of the best sheng pu’ers I have ever tried. It’s young but it’s gentle and flavorful. I’m considering buying a cake because I can only imagine how lovely this tea will be with some age on it.

Thank you to Misty Peak Teas for the generous sample.

Got this as a free sample directly from Misty Peak, woo hoo. My first pu erh (I bought a box of it for cheap at an asian grocery store years and years ago, but never actually opened it, oops). I had some trepidation because a lot of the funkier, more esoteric but more fiercely beloved types of teas among aficionados—oolong and pu erh!—I still don’t seem too into due to what I perceive as a funky, seaweed-y, marshy element. But this was a really great introduction for me—I’m guessing it’s relatively mild as pu erhs go because dry and brewed it doesn’t smell that funky or marshy, and while there is some of that salty butteriness and a bit of vegetal, seaweed-like character in the flavor it’s not overpowering at all. There’s also a clean, sweet-like-fresh-water flavor I’m really digging. Impressed with the texture too; it has a medium body, just right (and more than I was expecting for some reason), with a luscious, silky mouthfeel. I like it! The copy is right in that this is a tea for contemplation, one to take your time with.

Probably one of the best Pu’ers I have had. The price was really fair and it came with very specific instructions on how to brew it, so I actually followed them! Go me.

The insctructions said to pour out the first 2-3 washes, but I was curious(why not) and drank them anyway. They were really good! Why am I dumping these out? I think it is a time when the leaves are opening up and cleaning them and whatnot.

I drank the tea in a very quite room, and the tea made the room quieter, but brighter and made me more aware. It calmed me down a lot. The first 3-5 brew were very cherry/apricot like and I brewed it all the way until the 12th or so pot. It got sweeter as time went by, but not sweet overall. A really complex tea: basically meaning it had a lot to it.

I loved it, yay!

PS- I made it in a gaiwan, and steeped it for up to a minute a few times to just try it out, but mostly its best around 10-15 seconds.

This tea is very nice.

I am newer to these kinds of teas and it is my first green puerh, but I have tried the black before and it is nothing like this.

The aging is wonderful, but I understand that most black puerhs are not aged, only processed to be black. This tea is going to be wonderful for aging as the tea is perfect now.

I bought two of the cakes, and will buy more in the future if they are still available. I do agree that Yiwu produces the better of the green puerh teas because I tried a different one recently that was not as complex or flavorful as this. The tea is a tea for all times of the day, so that makes me feel good! Haha. Hope this helps others.

Oh ya, don’t steep it for more than 30-40 seconds, as it is full leaves and has no need to be steeped that long! Held its flavor until the 10th or 11th steeping.

I am drinking this as a sample from the Puerh for Beginners TTB. I have been slow on trying the raw puerh’s from that box because of my stomach (Ulcerative Colitis) being in a rough spot over most of the winter and spring. But now, I am currently in a remission period so I am able to venture out into raws a little more.

I put my 4g sample into my 100 ml gaiwan but didn’t fill it up all the way due to a smaller amount of tea available. Set my kettle for 190F.

One rinse of about 5 seconds followed by a first steep of 15 seconds. Light straw color. Very light flavor… can’t quite place it yet as it seems a bit thin. Something is there though. Maybe a stone fruit note.

2nd steep, 15 seconds. Same color. Noticing a slight sweet note right along side an undertone of bitter. But not much. Almost not noticeable if you weren’t looking for it. I got a little drying effect as well. But there is a lingering sweetness after drinking.

3rd steep, 20 seconds. I think next steep I am going to make a steep jump in steep time. I keep getting a very similar flavor and mouth coating. It is not a bad thing but just fairly light and underhanded. Perhaps I am used to ripe and black tea with the over handed in your face flavor and this is just how raw puerh is supposed to be?

4th steep, 30 seconds. I am getting a little bit of a fruity floral after taste on this one though. It is pleasant.

I’m stepping away for a while now. There might be a slight stomach tinge that I am going to keep an eye on. Plus, I have things to go and do currently :)

To be continued!

The tea that arrived to me didnt look exactly like the photo because I ordered a sample…well, I got one for free for begging, haha.

The tea came in a silver foil bag that looked very unsuspecting. I read about this tea on a blog and had to try it, amongst many other teas. I immediately grabbed a knife and cut the bag and was hit immediatley with the aroma of freshhhh. It was as if I was somehow transported to the mountain this came from and blindfolded and asked to “smell now”.

The tea was very refreshing, much much much unlike other puerh teas I have had. It was not bitter or astringent, it was refreshing and smooth, I even noticed flavors of peaches, which I never get in other teas.

In the box was a little note that was from the owner I assume, and instructions on how to make the tea. They suggested 165 degrees which is really low, but I gave it a try and was actually surprised. So maybe try starting there as well.

Thank you for this tea. I hope on my next payday I can place an order.