Xingyang 2006 KT988 Shu Tuocha

20 second rinse. I am following Verdant’s recommendation of a lower water temperature (190 F) and a longer steep time (starting at 1 minute, adding 30 seconds each time).

The first steep is pretty boring, though I did not have a long enough rinse to break apart the tuocha. It tastes primarily of hay, slightly sweet.

Second steeping: The tea has turned dramatically darker, now more of a reddish amber color than the first steeping. It is a little more bitter than the first steeping. It has a much thicker mouthfeel now. It tastes like hay still, but also a little of sweet char, like you get on grilled fruits.

Third steeping: No interesting new developments, but I’m kind of digging these long but frequent steepings. It inspires me to wash my dishes while I wait.

Fourth steeping: This has lost its thick mouthfeel but tastes pretty much the same.

Fifth steeping: The tea is starting to fade. It is more mineral tasting and much thinner. The color has also lightened up.

Overall, it’s fine.

At long last I return, and not only that, but I bring all of you Steepsterites a review of sketchy Verdant pu-erh. Me and Verdant pu have a turbulent relationship at best. I know it’s bad for me and I know not to believe anything about it, but I just can’t leave it behind. In other words, I know better than to believe the marketing and I know I can get better tea elsewhere, yet I still have to dip my toes into the murk and try some of their offerings every now and then. Sometimes I’m pleasantly surprised by the experience and other times I’m bitterly disappointed. Fortunately, this proved to be one of my better Verdant pu experiences.

I gongfued this tea. After a 20 second rinse, I steeped approximately 9 grams of compressed tea leaves in 5 ounces of 205 F water for 10 seconds. This infusion was chased by 18 subsequent infusions. Steep times for these infusions were as follows: 12 seconds, 12 seconds, 16 seconds, 20 seconds, 25 seconds, 30 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute 15 seconds, 1 minute 30 seconds, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, 5 minutes, 7 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, and 20 minutes.

Prior to the rinse, the dry leaves emitted very mild aromas of old books, must, moist earth, cedar, and straw. After the rinse, I found new cream, butter, and yeast roll aromas. The first proper infusion then brought out a scent of moss on the nose. In the mouth, I noted flavors of earth, cedar, straw, cream, butter, yeast roll, must, and moss underscored by brown sugar sweetness. Subsequent infusions introduced malty impressions and hints of sticky rice to the nose. In the mouth, I began to find notes of malt, caramel, sticky rice, roasted almond, candied orange peel, lotus, cocoa, custard, minerals, and plum to go with stronger notes of brown sugar. There was something of a spicy, grainy note as well. Verdant described it as tatami, and I can see it, so I’m calling it that. In a few places, I also found some subtle impressions of black cherry. The later infusions offered notes of minerals, malt, moist earth, cream, and moss backed by lingering traces of must, straw, plum, sticky rice, and brown sugar.

As mentioned above, I enjoyed this ripe pu-erh. I tend to be a fan of gongting shu, and I am especially fond of the mini tuocha form, so it should not come as much of a surprise that I was willing to open myself up to this tea. This reminded me a great deal of some of the better shu mini tuos I have tried to this point; specifically, those produced by Haiwan kept coming to mind. Overall, this tea was worth trying, and since it was so smooth and approachable (no real fish pond funkiness), I think it would make a near perfect introduction to shu pu-erh for those who are curious.

i might have brewed this wrong, i used one nugget for a 145 mil pot. so the steeps got weak very fast, however it is an straight forward Tuo, mellow, woody notes smooth and not bitter.

OK, let’s do this right today:

Dry leaf: very little aroma, as I find to be typical of tuocha as they get packed so tightly.

Wet leaf: There is a surprising dry sharpness here. An almost sandy, beach bleached drift wood kind of thing happening. I don’t know as I’ve ever caught that aroma in a tea before.

And to be clear, when I say sand here, and below, I am not referring to sediment or cloudiness in the cup. The steeps are surprisingly clean and clear for a tuocha.

Long rinse to open the tuocha. They have completely fallen apart by the end of the first steep.

First steep was dark amber in color and was full of a light, round caramel sweetness.

Second steep was much darker, almost molasses in color, and the flavor opened up dramatically to include wet wood and a sandy finish.

Third steep is so dark I can’t see the bottom of the cup (wider than it is deep, so this is really saying something) and the flavor softens again, still intense, but not sharp or dry. Hui gan begins strongly at the back of the throat. So much so it is almost like a post nasal drip symptom.

Fourth steep, the color lightens a bit, no longer at all red, purely a chocolate brown, now. The flavor opens up to old leather and puffed rice.

Fifth steep is still chocolate in color, with the flavor remaining strong, however the sweetness is giving way to a kind of tangy quality.

Sixth is a longer steep time and we’re back to dark amber and those sandy notes again.

Seventh – everything beginning to soften. I’ll get a few more steeps out of this to enjoy, but I think we’ve hit the limit of anything interesting going to happen here.

(Context, I started a new role two weeks ago in a different division of a company I’ve worked at for nearly a decade. The day I started, the office my new boss works out of was hit with a surprise FDA audit which lasted two weeks. So, I barely got five minutes of his time in an environment where I have a lot to learn, and need to hit the ground running. By the time I did my previous review of this tea, I was kind of losing my mind with panic as it felt like there must be something huge I should be doing that I didn’t know I should be doing.

All is well now, and all should remain well.)