Fengqing Zhuan Cha Raw Puerh Brick Tea 2005

Sipdown! Finally starting to get organised after being away forever…budget figured out, work emails taken care of and now i can do laundry and clean..and more importantly, back up pictures, and add ALL the tea in my house in to my cupboard so i finally have an accurate picture of how bad it is (and then maybe place a small order…)

I’ve been sipping on this one most of the early afternoon, just enjoying how light and relaxing this one is. This is a tea i could drink every day without getting bored even after multiple steeps!

an amazing tea!

when i smell the leaves dry, they smell green and musty.

when i smell the leaves wet, i smell honey and spices.

when i smell the brewed tea, i smell honey and spices.

when i taste the brewed tea, i taste strong honey and strong spices.

the color of the brewed tea is a dark amber color.

i rate this a 99 because it’s missing one thing; Smokeyness.

many thanks to teavivre for selling me this amazing tea!

http://www.teavivre.com/raw-puerh-brick-tea-2005/

This is a sample I received a while ago, I’m just now getting around to sipping. Thanks again, Teavivre! Even though raw pu-erh is not my favorite type of tea, I wanted to try this one as it seems like a twin to it’s ripened pu-erh that is probably my FAVORITE pu-erh (the Fengqing Zhuan Cha Ripened 2006 – though it isn’t currently available for sale). The first steep of a raw pu-erh is always fine with me – after a longer rinse and a 30 second steep, this one is light, mellow, with almost a creamy quality to it – it’s a little surprising! This is a raw pu-erh I can like! As it cools, it’s slightly more fruity, maybe hints of apple or pear. I made sure to keep the other steeps at 30 seconds, as I’ve learned to do with raw pu-erh before it gets into bitter flavor territory I don’t like. The second cup isn’t as nice as the first (still haven’t mastered steeping raw pu-erh – maybe I should cool the water longer as steeps increase? That seems to be the one thing I haven’t tried yet.) The flavor deepens a LITTLE… luckily not bitter or like cedar chips but raw pu-erh is always tough for me to tell what that flavor actually is. I can’t describe it! But whatever this is, it’s very sweet! The third steep is also similar, it still has that creamy sweet mild fruit flavor. I think the rule I’ve learned with raw pu-erh is 30 second steeps. The pieces of pu-erh cake are barely unraveled so I think I could keep going with MANY more steeps with excellent flavor but it’s already after 11PM! Probably one of the best raw pu-erhs I’ve tried. This one has changed me into a fan of sheng! I wouldn’t mind buying a brick of this one. I’m just now noticing that Teavivre’s own description uses “mellow” and “sweet”.
Steep #1 // 2/3 of sample (probably 7 grams for 11 ounce mug) // 12 minutes after boiling // rinse // 30 second steep
Steep #2 // 10 minutes after boiling // 30 second steep
Steep #3 // 15 minutes after boiling // 30 seconds

This is an excellent start to brick pu-erh tea. Nicely priced, this 2005 raw pu-erh tastes excellent through many steepings. There is a dominant tobacco, hay, and earthy aroma; the liquor has a medium-full body, smoky taste, with a slightly dry finish. There are many intricate aromas & flavors that develop from each steep. Be sure to watch the video on Teavivre’s website before you begin to break into your brick—very helpful for someone that’s never done it. (Actually, all of their videos are useful.)

I am a puerh noob, particularly raw. I think I like it, but it is an interesting flavor. It is a bit sweet but also a bit bitter. There is a quality I was having trouble describing, but seeing the other flavors listed here as including menthol, and it makes perfect sense now. I steeped this four times, then got tired of it and wanted to move on to new things. I think that is my biggest challenge with puerh. I love that it can give and give…but I like too much variety to stick with one thing all day. Perhaps I just need more steepers. Hmm…

Amber in color with a leathery aroma. This tea has a sweet and savory flavor with a bit of astringent taste in the background. The flavor I get is a mix of plum and wood with a little bit of vegetal notes. Overall quite a pleasant tea.

This is third time I write this since my computer is one butt.
When Teavivre had their pu erh sale it was really hard for me to decide if I buy this or 2006 tuocha that I had tasted before as a sample. I bought the tuocha and got sample of this.
Dry leaves smell sweet and woody with hint of hay. Wet leaves have kinda same aroma.
Tea itself has golden colour and veery smoky aroma, smokiest tea I have ever tasted. It’s not a bad thing though. Smokiness fades after couple steeps and makes room for sweet, maybe floral and woody taste. I really like this, I might get some more of this too. I start to get addicted into sheng pu erh.

I had this last night and forgot to review it so please forgive my lack of a full review for this tea. It’s my fault for getting the drawers mixed up, I have one for Teavivre samples I have not tried and one for Teavivre samples that I have tried, in my sleepy state I got this Puerh from the wrong drawer.

The leaves (from what I remember) were wonderful and musky smelling, very earthy and wooden. Dull-ish dark green and twig like in form compressed to a small piece.

I served this in my 200ml glass Gongfu teapot over three steeps (1 min, 2 min, 3 min).

The resulting flavour was more or less identical for the first two steeps, it had a deep, earthy flavour that reminded me of damp wood. Very musky and musty type of feel from it with some smoke. In a sense it tasted like rain from a forest, at least that is what my tired mind thought at the time. It might not sound nice to some people (musty and damp are not usually flavours I personally like) but it was very pure and that made it nice, it wasn’t too much or too thick. Well until I got to the third steep which was very thick and had to be watered down a little, it became too strong and almost unpalatable.

I enjoyed it as did my husband but it was not a favourite of mine.

Thank you to Teavivre for for this free sample, and my apologies that I am totally behind on reviewing the teas I was sent. Still, only one left to try. That will be today’s project.

So, I drank this a while back but have not managed to write it up before now. I made it in an yixing pot and managed to get a good few steeps from it. The dry leaf had a strong hay aroma with a slight floral edge. The liquor brewed up yellow with some honey, hay and floral notes. The tea is smoky with vegetal notes. It is sweet and has a lasting aftertaste. There is some puckering of the tongue from the astringency that is quite pleasant. As I resteeped the tea, the flavour deepened and mellowed. I liked the way the tea developed and the flavours became more pronounced for the first half dozen steeps.

One thing I did find a bit odd was the recommendation to brew with boiling water. I normally brew sheng at 85-90 degrees C. With this tea I tried both. I found that I had to wait for it to cool before I could taste anything when I brewed it with boiling water while the cooler brew did not impair the flavour at all. I am still undecided about which is better but probably prefer the cooler brew. Perhaps I need to get some more to experiment a bit.

Having this one courtesy of Angel at TeaVivre.
I was graciously gifted with this tea recently from her.
The pack I opened contained 10 grams which is perfect for my brewing as this is the usual amount I brew in.
This sample was from a brick and I broke it up a bit more and it came apart in a sheet just like the other bricks I have. I gave this a double rinse and let it set in the Yixing for about 10 minutes to open up. I did a 15 second steep and away I went.
It has a nice golden color that teas of this age should exhibit.
It has a bit of smoke in the aroma and taste that gets erased by a bit of woodiness and a touch of bitter on the side of the tongue. It puts a touch of numb briefly on the sides of the tongue and and turns into a nice “steamed” vegetable taste with a touch of astringency briefly and a lingering tastes that activates the saliva on the sides of your tongue. It has some bits of floral in the aftertaste and a sweetness that comes in a bit later.
A gentle calm comes in as I finish this first session with this tea.
Many thanks to Angel for the chance to try this tea.