Ripened Cube Tuocha Pu-erh Mini Brick 2006

I found a sample of this one bit I am pretty sure i have a bag of cubes aging away nicely somewhere as well.

It is an unusually hot November, with just a cool down in the evenings. I made this as a morning cup first, and then resteeped so e for the fridge. It came out super dark even though the carafe was holding steeps 2 and 3. Then I tossed the leaves in another carafe and added water for it to cold steep in the fridge, so in all I have nearly 3/4 of a gallon of tea from one cube.

It is very earthy and good, just as shu ought to be. It really hangs in there for resteeps and keeps giving. This is more barn with musty breath of hay and not too much of the manure scent. It is a very nice shu. More like the scent after I water the shelves of plants in the east window. Petrichor.

This was actually the Ripe Pu-erh that got me to like Ripes!
Originally it was only my wife that liked Pu-erh, and I only begrudgingly drank it to keep her company. Once I tried this one, maybe with a more mature tea palate, I realized what there is to like. I still honestly don’t prefer the first few infusions, which have a much more woody and mulchy note to them… but then after the third or forth the sweetness and creaminess starts hitting. It’s long lasting too! I’ve been sipping on this particular session for probably 10 relatively large infusions and it still has some power.

Threw this in a Cinderella mug and did grandpa-style while working on a spreadsheet all afternoon. Started out thick and minerally, steadied down to a smooth, thick, earthiness with a bit of sweet on the finish and a lingering umami. Very easy and delightful to drink.

Pretty standard ripe pu’erh. Not something I need to purchase again, but perfectly fine.

Purchased from Teavivre on a whim as pu’erh is a variety of tea that’s fairly new to me. I used the gong fu method to brew. To start, I gathered one tuocha, rinsed it, and then proceeded to give it time to open up on the first steep. The toucha is dense with an earthy scent and tones to match. I was reminded of the fragrance of alfalfa. The taste starts surprisingly mellow with a color that quickly resembles caramel. On the second steep, the color was darker and it took on a brothier scent, with a significantly dryer mouthfeel. For the third steep, the liquor was increasingly darker. The fragrance proliferated the gaiwan and the mouthfeel transformed into what I can only consider to be a ‘warm hug’. An interesting progression to say the least. I will spare you the details of every steep, and leave you with one simple note….this is an easy drinking tea, great for a cold day when you may find yourself in an explorative mood.

Gong Fu Sipdown (627)!

Started a Gong Fu session a little while ago, more lax. I gave this one a nice, long rinse – was really surprised how easily the whole cube just came apart. Very clearly not tightly compressed. I don’t love the taste of this shou, but it’s not bad either. Has a little bit of a funk to it – but mostly just tastes like earth/clay/wet wood.

Got about four infusions in, though, and was just hit with an INTENSE wave of nausea. Like, instant cold sweats/tummy rumbling/dry heaving. So I’ve been sitting here at my tea table for like the last ten minutes waiting for it to pass. Not sure why I so spontaneously feel ill; I’m not drinking this one an empty stomach, and I haven’t had excessive amounts of caffeine today by any stretch. It’s just not going away though. I made a fifth infusion and have slowly sipped on that, but I think it’s making it worse.

Legit feel like I might throw up – and I swear it’s not commentary on the taste of the tea, because it’s not that bad (really, it’s just mediocre pu’erh). Something isn’t right though, and I don’t think I can keep brewing this session…

:/

I thought that Teavivre is a place to find just inexpensive passable puerh (with their core competency rather being green and red teas) but I was certainly wrong with this one. These little cubes are solid. The first steeps deliver a good balance of earthiness, mushrooms and sweetness. In later steeps sweetness becomes a dominant flavor. No hint of astringency, funkiness or any fishy flavor.

It comes out good with short light infusions and with longer deeper ones. The taste is not the most original or overly complex but there is enough going on to keep you interested. It also looks and smells right and generally presents itself as a quintessential solid ripe puerh. That combines with the ability to give you many quality resteeps and very affordable price.

I really liked this shou and, inspired by it, will certainly get samples of several more puerhs from Teavivre hoping to find more hidden gems there. Because their puer prices are certainly one of the cheapest I encountered so far.

I grabbed this from the drawer because I wanted some Pu-erh without having to break it off a cake. Probably around 7 grams or so per cake, and easy to handle.

I found it to be both pleasant and generous. Several rich mahogany infusions off the cube so far, and the latter seem to be a bit sweeter than the first, but all were very nice. Earthy, but sweet – like a light molasses. Only slightly musty, not at all unpleasant. Smells more like a barn at the feed end of the cow instead of the other…

I have several more of these cubes from a Teavivre Pu-erh sampler, and will definitely put this on my ever-growing reorder list.

First tasting of today is Ripened cube mini brick 2006 by teavivre and again they impress me. Using a 110 ml gaiwan I brewed this at just under boiling, probably 208. Doing 2 rinses because the brick was having trouble opening up, the first infusion produced a nice clear reddish liquor, that smelled faintly of smoke, caramel and wood. There was no hint of the fermentation smell that can sometimes happen with ripe, just smoke, wood and caramel which is wonderful in the morning.

The second steeping was very similar, after that it got much darker and produced a dark red going into black liquor, and the smoke and caramel went up a few notches,still pleasant but a tad strong. After that it mellowed slightly, and this was with flash infusing it too, pouring the water in and right out. And its got a nice little caffeine kick as well, Im awake now.

My recommendations for this are your best brews are going to be the ones around fourth or fifth where its opened up and either just before or just after the big dark infusion. And the price is very reasonable on this too, as you will get A LOT of infusions from this, and you get 4 bags of different mini cakes and about 200 total grams of tea.

Highly recommended, for the price you cant beat this.

A sample from Angel at Teavivre. I feel like I’ve said this a fair bit recently, but Pu’Erh is a variety of tea that’s very new to me, and which I’m still learning about. I’ve tried a good few different ones now, and some common characteristics have emerged – probably enough to know that it’ll never be my favourite type of tea, but by no means enough for me to rule it out completely. Some Pu’Erhs I’ve loved, some I’ve hated. In any case, the adventure continues!

This is the latest installment. I used one tuocha, discarded the first steep as a rinse, and then gave it approximately 3 minutes in fresh boiling water. 3 minutes sits right in the middle of the recommended parameters, so I figured it was a fair place to start. The scent is of earth with a slight hint of manure, and the resulting liquor is very dark brown (almost black), and I feared for a moment that the flavour would be far too intense for my tastes. Not so, apparently. This Pu’Erh is actually fairly mellow, with an initial soil-like earthiness (I’m thinking wet soil after a heavy rain shower), which intensifies a little towards the end of the sip and then fades away. A mild orchid note emerges in the aftertaste, lending this tea a fresh and fragrant profile. It just goes to show that a strong-looking dark liquor doesn’t necessarily equate to overpowering flavour, which was a useful lesson for me when it comes to Pu’Erh. Another small piece of my Pu’Erh fear has been dispelled! The thing I like most about this is its almost soft-tasting smoothness. It’s so silky and easy to drink – a real pleasure.

Second steep, again for 3 minutes in boiling water. The liquor is, again, a very dark (almost black) brown. While brewing, it took on a brothier scent (almost reminiscent of beef oxo, although obviously nowhere near as strong!) The underlying earth/manure scent is still present. The taste is much the same, although marginally milder – wet earth, a light orchid floral, but this time with a hint of nuttiness and a fleeting flash of caramel. The second steep is as smooth as the first, but with an even creamier mouthfeel. It’s absolutely delicious, and it’s not often you’ll hear me say that about a Pu’Erh!

Third steep, again for 3 minutes in boiling water. The liquor is a dark golden-ish brown this time, so noticeably paler than previous steeps.The scent while brewing is less pungent now as well – hardly there at all, in fact. The taste is very mellow, with hardly any earth/manure notes to be found. There’s a lot more orchid-like floral in the mid-sip, and an almost camphor like coolness in the aftertaste that I can feel at the back of my throat. An interesting progression from steeps one and two.

Fourth steep, again for 3 minutes in boiling water. The liquor is paler still at this stage, now a medium orange-brown. The scent is about level with the previous steep, barely there but still mildly earthy with a hint of manure. The taste is broadly similar to steep 3, although with stronger cooling notes. I’m thinking peppermint rather than camphor now, although very mild. The orchid note is still there in the aftertaste, although it’s fainter and less noticable overall.

Fifth steep, this time for 4 minutes in boiling water. The liquor is again noticeably paler – a medium red-orange with only mild notes of earth and no manure! The taste this time is really barely there. There’s still a coolness, although even that is less intense than previous steeps. The earth, manure and floral notes are all but gone as well, although there’s a mild nuttiness that sets this apart from just warm water. I’m impressed at how smooth this one has remained throughout all of my steeps, including this one. There’s absolutely no bitterness or astringency, even though the leaves have been dunked in boiling water for a combined total of 16 minutes.

I imagine this one could probably go on a bit longer, although I suspect it’d need much longer steeps to really eek out any flavour. This one tuocha has lasted me all day, though, so I’m happy to leave it here for now. There comes a point in the day when I really just want to drink something different, anyway! I’m impressed with this one, though. It’s a great quality tea, and the resteeps make it excellent value. There are very few Pu’Erhs that I can say outright that I enjoyed drinking, but this is one of them! Another excellent offering from Teavivre.