For my 2nd cup of the morning, I chose a puerh because of what I perceive as a strong grounding influence. It’s a very earthy variety of tea, & I need that earthiness as a balance.
The Tea Spot sells these in a sample size of 5 tuo chas (each re-brewable a couple of times), and as I continue to want to try new teas, I’m finding that buying samples is a great way to go, especially when the sample is big enough for more than one sampling.
It makes a deep coffee-looking cup of boldness! Very slight taste of salt, satisfying mouth-feel (satisfying is the only word I can think of to describe it, but it feels right).
The 2nd cup has a deep berry color & a buttery tingly quality to it. I’m really wanting to taste something, and since I know that I can taste ‘sweet’, I add a little stevia (which I wouldn’t normally do with a puerh…well, maybe occasionally). Ah, yes…I can taste something! Admittedly, I’m mostly tasting stevia, but combined with the ‘thick’ mouth-feel of the tea, it translates as chocolate, LOL.
Hopefully I’ll feel the effects of caffeine soon, as what I really want to do is go back to bed now.
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If the puerh is salty as you said I’m not surprised that adding stevia you had a chocolate or caramel flavor appear. Adding some milk of cream would make a nice latte.
I could probably live on samples, with maybe a handful of full-size orders as cupboard staples. There are so many teas to try out there and I find myself almost reluctant to brew something I’ve already had (unless it’s a favourite). That said, I agree that I want the sample to be sufficient for a few cups. It takes me a bit to find a tea’s sweet spot in the preparation, and it’s no fun not to have enough with which to experiment a bit.
@Bonnie – It wasn’t really very salty, it’s just that salt & sweet are the only tastes I can taste right now, so I picked up on it, but yeah, the stevia made it nice!
@Nik – You are my little brother from another mother!
If the puerh is salty as you said I’m not surprised that adding stevia you had a chocolate or caramel flavor appear. Adding some milk of cream would make a nice latte.
I could probably live on samples, with maybe a handful of full-size orders as cupboard staples. There are so many teas to try out there and I find myself almost reluctant to brew something I’ve already had (unless it’s a favourite). That said, I agree that I want the sample to be sufficient for a few cups. It takes me a bit to find a tea’s sweet spot in the preparation, and it’s no fun not to have enough with which to experiment a bit.
@Bonnie – It wasn’t really very salty, it’s just that salt & sweet are the only tastes I can taste right now, so I picked up on it, but yeah, the stevia made it nice!
@Nik – You are my little brother from another mother!