2018 Flapjacks Raw Puer

This is from Cameron B!  Thanks again!  I always wanted to try these little guys.  I was intrigued to see if the flavor was anything like pancakes, or just that the shape it’s in is like a tiny pancake.  I will say, it’s one of the sweeter raw pu-erhs I have tried… very agreeable… at least on the first steep… though not unraveled quite yet.  The second steep is also very sweet!  The third gets a typical “you’re-rushing-it” raw pu-erh harshness, but that is always my fault, every single time.  I always go too hot on subsequent steeps.   The fourth steep just seemed muted, which I guess is better than harsh.  The first and second steeps were the best.  I think I’m still ruining raw puerh by steeping them badly after ALLL these years.  I just don’t think sheng is made for western steeping, making them never really something I want to drink.  These steeps weren’t even a minute long!  So possibly on the next little flapjack I will try even shorter steep times.
Steep #1 // 35 minutes after boiling // 55 second steep
Steep #2 // 32 minutes after boiling // 45 second steep
Steep #3 // 22 minutes after boiling // 40 second steep
Steep #4 // 22 minutes after boiling // 45 second steep

The flavor here is quite mild, so I may have underleafed or understeeped it. The website didn’t have steeping instructions. At first, I got a light metallic flavor along with something else difficult to identify. Once I added milk, the flavor sort of reminded me of string cheese, but in a good way. There’s also a sort of almost spiced depth here. I enjoyed this one, it was just very mild due to my inexperience. I resteeped it for longer, and the flavor was pure metal, which wasn’t great. Another fun find from a recent tea box!

This is a solid Raw. It hits all the right notes. You best start off at the lower end of the temperature scale and work your way up. If you this right you can go for 10+ steepings.

It’s a handy tea that is packed in 7g mini bings. I would love to see a 357g or 200g variant of this tea, cuzz I’m extremely interested how this one is going to change over time.

This price is very sharp on this tea and is therefor an excellent starter tea for someone how wants to dip their toe in the tea soup that is raw pu-erh. You messed up? don’t worry next time better it’s not like you had to pay mountains of cash for this one.

Teafriend tea! From the lovely Kawaii433.

The most striking aspect of this sheng is the liquor color. I love when the tea soup has a tinge of pink that reminds me of champagne. It’s Initially oily and sweet with honey butter and syrup, nuttiness, some nondescript florality, green bean-grass undertones and a metallic quality. Citrus surprise in third steep like white pomelo. Rough tongue astringency is there along with bitterness which presents by the second steep and later lingers superficially on the back of the tongue, tonsils and throat. Peach-osmanthus aftertaste presents early and is very short-lived.

Overall, this tea has a standard young sheng profile. Probably good for people new to puerh but even then I’m apprehensive about recommending it in its current state. Maybe give this one some age and approach it as a daily drinker in the future.

Ohhhh I really like these small fellows
Great warm bread taste (yeast) and a bit of a punch without bitterness

A cute little stack of 7 flapjacks, each flap jack is roughly 7 grams.

This is an intense, very young raw pu erh. The first two quick infusions, it was pleasant with light floral with some fruit, maybe of stonefruits along with some dirt taste. On the 3rd infusion, the tight flapjack was completely opened and bitterness crept in, as well as some floral sweetness. On the 5th, it was a very strong bitter and the bitterness peaked out on the 6th steep. The sweetness became more intense, but so did the bitterness. Throughout the rest of the 10 steeps, the strong bitterness was always present with some grass, stonefruit, and floral notes. At the point that the leaves opened up fully, it became astringent as well which also seemed to increase on each steep.

If you like bitterness with a slight offset of floral sweetness, you’ll enjoy this tea. If you don’t like strong bitterness, this one is not for you. I’ll be setting this aside to try much further down the road. It’s not bad at all, it has some lovely notes… It’s just bitter and astringent. That’s how I would classify it anyway.