2015 Huron Te Ji Shou Pu-erh cake

I got this as part of their pu’er sampler. It came in one 14g chunk, easy to break up in two. It’s a medium fermented Menghai Te Ji Grade pu’er, “mostly pure bud with some larger leaves mixed in (technically between gong ting and grade 1).”

It’s a super dark reddish brown liquor with a heavy leather aroma after the first infusion of 5s. The taste wasn’t that heavy of leather (thankfully). It was earthy, mushrooms, wet wood, some leather… Fermentation flavors. As I went through the steeps, the aroma changed and I could smell sweetness, cocoa, still very earthy, some leather. The flavors of fruit came out… Black cherry? Plum? with the earth notes, leather notes, mushroom, and mineral notes. I have no idea what merlot tastes like so if it has those notes as the description says, I wouldn’t know :P. It is rich, and it has a creamy viscous mouthfeel while sipping, ending with a bite. It remained very earthy, mushrooms and hints of fruit throughout. It’s a daily drinker type.

Yixing gaiwan (specifically for shou), 7g, 110ml, rinse, 5s, 7s, 10s, 15s, 20s, 25s, 30s, 35s, 40s, 45s, 1m.

I got this as a sample, so 5g, ~100ml, 205F, w/ 5s wash.

The initial taste I would say is /kinda/ like seaweed and umami, but very little seaweed and a ton of umami. It is quite reminiscent with the other Shou Pu-erh cakes from whispering pines. What’s REALLY interesting is the after taste, it has a very strong cocoa flavour to it. This aftertaste is strong enough to overpower the actual initial flavour, a really surprising find on my end.

There is no astringent taste to it, that I would associate with other strong-flavoured shou pu-erhs. It has some great mineral notes, but nothing ‘rocky’ tasteing like wuyi oolongs.

Comparing this to two other pu-erh’s I had from WhisperingPines, I would classify this as not being as tasty as the 2012 Huron Gold Needle, but generally better than the 2015 Lord of the Lakes.

One thing to note, due to the constant cocoa you get per sip, the bitterness adds up over time, which can be one negative for this cake. Otherwise, it’s pretty decent.

The nose on this was what really got my attention, as it made me think of the aromas of a ramen restaurant with the vibrant umami aroma of nori (seaweed). The body seemed more medium while the lower-grade Ontario was full-bodied. Definitely a good-quality shou puerh, but I’ll need to come back to it and pay a bit more attention to the flavors.

For me this rich tea sample was notable for its red wine, cocoa, mushroom and clean mineral notes.

It is also quite warming. The memory of this tea grew on me, I may order a cake.

Edit: Several months later I did buy a cake.

Gongfu brewed in my shiboridashi. The Huron Te Ji in cake form is stronger than the loose leaf variety. I would say it has more of the medium range of how shou goes. The tea yields a rich mellow brew with a clean mineral taste to it. Highly recommended as this is the type of shou that deserves to be set aside for the times when you can relax and focus upon the tea and only the tea.