2013 Yiwu Peacock blend

Tea: TTB review: Tea Urchin 2013 Peacock

Prep: 100cc gaiwan, 6g. Longish steep to open her up, flash steep x2, 10s, 10s, 20s, 30s, etc.. Probably 12 steeps before it’s out.
Sessions with this tea: 4

The early steeps are a marine/salty bitterness with a green pepper bite with some returning sweetness. The sweetness then shifts more to the front and is a bit rounder, like the pepper was roasted a little bit. To me there’s still some salty note lingering about. The later steeps get hay-sweet.

Body: thick slurpy tea, very pleasant. Some drying of the roof of the mouth and then returning sweetness with salivation in the throat. Also somewhat cooling. Later steeps are saliva-inducing everywhere in the mouth, with a pleasing lingering after-taste. Energy seemed a bit lacking to me though. I didn’t really feel this much outside of my mouth and neck. Very nice mouthfeel but a little disappointed with the body.

Good blend, enjoyable tea. This is probably something that Westerners, who put a lot more focus on flavor, would really enjoy. Tea Urchin has a sizable catalog and I have been hesitant to begin wading through their teas. I may have to begin that soon, as this is a popular blend they make and it is enjoyable.

Puerh Tea TTB. This is I think a good sheng. It is also a bitter sheng. There was a sweet aftertaste to it though. The bitterness went away after a few steeps, not sure how many. The remaining taste was quite good. I have heard they are out of this one. This is probably for the better because I am not tempted to spend money.

I brewed this twelve times in a 75ml teapot with 5g leaf and boiling water. I gave it a 10 second rinse. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, 30 sec, 45 sec, 1 min, 1.5 min, and 2 minutes.

This company has some great puerh. I’ve always enjoyed a majority of their productions, and this pressing is no different. I’ve heard a lot of noise about this tea, and the tea gods smiled on me and some ended up in my gaiwan. The cake is heavily aromatic with a sweet floral character as well as some spice. A heavy dark wood note acts as a soft but stern base. I warmed my gaiwan up and prepared for brewing. The warmed cake becomes even better by giving off intense scents of plum, raisan, juicy blackberries, honey, and the same dark wood base. This tea has a lot to give and has some unique scents. I washed the leaves once and prepared for brewing. The tate begins light and very sweet. A thick oily mouth-feel followed by encompassing honey tones. The aftertaste is a long and lasting succlent taste with a slight bitterness. The tea carries a faint mesquite flavor in later steeping, and then morphs into an intense brown sugar note. Past that, a light floral note introduces itself, I beleive it to be lily or maybe even a subtle iris. The qi is spot on with an invigorating cooling sensation that begins at heart center as well as a good head buzz. The taste has a kicker huigan and slight kuwei. This is a solid blend, and I really enjoyed it. The only fallback is that the tea drops abrutly. The flavors, huigan, and sensations falter instantly while brewing. Nevertheless, this is still a great puerh. This is one of the teas that you go to the website to buy during the session; however, the tea is now sold out. That realization of a lost tea made me rather sad. I hear the 2016 blend is going to be released soon though…

Really like this sheng. Its fruity and pleasantly sour. With a slightly thick mouth. The strength of taste isnt too strong at first, and I have had three cups during extended lie-in butnow im buzzing. Its a bit too strong for me, as with other Tea Urchin teas I have tried they seem to hit me quite hard.

Slightly camphor nose & a comforting fruity & vegetal that I seem to like from Yiwu, although this one isnt as round as the snake blend, but there is something soft about it. I sometimes get creamy from this as well – its something like milk, not taste, but in its structure and feels in my mouth. Nice stuff, but im currently balancing on the edge of it falling into sourness, which isnt my preference with this milky-structured (to me) sheng.

I freally really dig the wrapper art as well :D

Used 7g with boiling water in a 100mL gaiwan. It was quite good, especially steeps 2-5 or so. Got some kind of creamy vegetal or hay notes. It got more and more drying as I went past steep five though, so I think next time I’ll try this with either 200 degree water or a bit less leaf. I suppose I could go and try it both ways. Also, after reading Tea Urchin’s description, I think I may have increased steep times a little bit too quickly. Definitely is good though :)

Talk about some amazing breakage. The sample of this that I was given looked like 100% loose leaf. Quite beautiful :)

This woke me up this morning quick quickly with the strength and bitter tones to it. I will say that it is always interesting to notice the difference in taste from 15s to 20s, there’s a lot that goes on within 5s. This is one that I have to almost flash brew to enjoy it’s liquid.

I’ve been finally working my way through the samples the Stephanie sent to me!
One of the many things I love about using a yixing pot is that every time I open the lid, the tea has grown. Its like opening a present over & over again. I know that probably sounds silly, but my inner child, little terri, loves it. It makes me smile.

So…what to say about this tea…the aroma is very sweet, almost syrupy, the liquor is a beautiful amber. The tea itself is a little tart at first, then sweet like apricot, but with a bitter edge on the tip of the tongue to balance it out. The tea buzz is very clarifying, and a real ‘feel good’ kind of energy. I like that.
There is a floral after taste, especially in the 4th & 5th steeps, which also taste of dried bell peppers. Weird, but true.
Thanks again for sharing Stephanie!

I got a sample of this from the lovely Stephanie

Quite nice. Sweet with an almost bitter finish.

It took me several infusions to figure out what it tastes like: bell pepper!

Yummy!

Beautiful leaf from 100+ year YiWu tea trees so I was anxious to try this one. First few steeps were very subtle – pleasant enough but little depth or complexity. For a moment I wondered if I should just move on to another tea but I decided to keep working with this Yiwu. After the fourth steep there was stronger flavor but certainly not overwhelming – sweet taste, coats the mouth and throat and lingers; enough subtle bitterness slips in to balance nicely. In general this is an easy to drink tea with beautiful high quality leaf. It won’t knock you over with its flavor but a good tea to keep on hand. I used 6.5 grams with a 5s rinse and a 30s idle followed by 10s, 10s, 15s, 20s, 25s, 30s, 40s steeps. Not my favorite YiWu but definitely worth owning. Note: fairly priced at $35 for a 357g cake.

This generous sample came to me from Stephanie – thank you so much.
5g 150ml gaiwan 195F
rinse/pause/5/5/5/10/10/15/15 etc
i think i had this tea over 4 days, still saved leaves,may try today.
beautiful long leaves. 1st steep was very nice mild, sweet and citrusy. nice mouthfeel,sweet peppers emerging
i decided to raise the temp to 200F
the color is dark yellow-orange. very juicy, sweet peppers and apricots. The following steeps were very sweet. eventually peppery notes disappeared and were just sweet and mild, some astringency (nothing major) and no bitterness ( or maybe it was just barely noticeable and i just got used to it). Anyway very nice and positive experience. Made me tea drunk ;)