Alright, so I’ve got this little single-serve tuo cha, this tea was under Treasure Green’s green tea section, and the pu’erh section, obviously it being xiaguan tea factory, it’s some kind of pu’erh but it’s different, I don’t really get how but .. anyways,
At first, it tastes very green, light, thick, sweet, but also very reminiscent of a young sheng in its lightness and a hint of sweet smoke, even leather-like, or wet cardboard..? With bitterness which is quite pleasant, and astringency, it has a strong kick of bitterness but there’s a sort of smoothness to it too, and lots of mintiness in the aftertaste, sweet grass, grapefruit, blood-orange, bitterness grows stronger with each successive brew. Pine needles, spearmint raspberry, dry earth.
It’s like everything I like about young shengs, the sweet pleasant bitterness, but with so much more depth and character.
I love how fruity it is in later steeps: So much orange, grapefruit, and like.. blue-raspberry, it’s very soothing and hydrating, but there’s quite a sense of power to the tea, and enough complexity to suit anyone. Verry bitter though, so if you dislike bitterness, then probably stay away from this one, also this one’s really durable, it lasts like at least 15 steeps here, and fades out really slowly, so it depends on your tastes really :)
Olivia, the tea master at Treasure green, just gave me this tuocha to “play with” after me and my best friend sat at her tea bar and tried 3 or 4 different teas over like 2 hours, (including this one) she was really generous, and it was a lot of fun. (Don’t worry, we both bought some tea), I probably wouldn’t have written a review for this, because 1) reviewing pu’erh seems incredibly difficult to me, and 2) I feel like pu’erh should be something that I have to myself, where I don’t need to worry about the analytics, but anyways, I really, really like this company and wanted to give them some exposure, however small, so if you’re ever in Vancouver, do yourself a favour and check it out! :)
Flavors: Bitter, Blood Orange, Cardboard, Earth, Fruity, Grapefruit, Green, Leather, Mint, Orange, Pine, Raspberry, Smoke, Spearmint, Sweet, Thick
