It’s done, it’s done! I have tasted and written a note about all of the teas in my Steepster cupboard! Huzzah!
And I’m still on track to make my sipdown stretch goal for February. Now, of course, I do have about 16 pu erh samples left to taste and maybe one or two random others. But when I started this taste-everything-in-the-cupboard adventure, it seemed incredibly daunting. And now it’s done.
And this tea is an interesting note to end on. I didn’t have it listed in the cupboard until last weekend when I discovered I hadn’t put it in there. And there is precious little information available about it online.
I had thought it was a sheng because of the “greencake” reference, but then when I opened up the cake, I found a Menghai Tea Factory description of Yunnan Chitsu Pingcha inside. When I Googled that, I was pretty sure it was a shu.
The cake itself didn’t give away much when I sniffed it. It was sort of that chocolate tree thing, but not clearly so — and it could have been earthy mushroom just as easily. If I was more of a sophisticate with pu ehr, I probably would have gotten clued in through the leaves, which were big and broad and flaked off the cake easily.
But after rinsing at boiling and letting the leaves rest 15 minutes, I went ahead and did the first steep as a shu, at 10 seconds.
It was then pretty easy to figure out this was a sheng. Lighter colored liquor than the espresso color of shu, rather an orange-gold (apricot? amber?) color, and a definite rich, buttery, caramel-espresso note in the aroma.
The first steep was pretty intense because it was 10 seconds rather than 5. Thereafter, I backtracked, and did 5/5/7/7/10/20/30/40/60 in the gaiwan.
And now I believe I am experiencing what it is like to be a little tea-drunk. Tipsy, really. I’m a little light headed after 20 steeps of sheng between this and the last. A weird, but pleasant feeling.
This is a tasty tea — actually I find it very similar to the last one I had today in terms of flavor, but without the fruity note. It is also less astringent, and has a really nice sweet aftertaste, which is what the note inside the wrapping said it would have.
I think I’ve become a pu erh convert, though honestly, I think I am far less likely to be forgiving of a pu erh I don’t like than any other sort of tea. The ones I’ve enjoyed are really enjoyable. The ones I haven’t are…. well, among the worst tea experiences I have had.
Flavors: Butter, Caramel, Earth, Espresso, Mushrooms, Smoke, White Chocolate
CONGRATS now you can revisit your favorite teas. :D
Thank you! I can’t believe it’s done. LOL.
What a nice relief, great job!
Well done, Morgana!
Amazing! That’s not a goal I have any hope of achieving anytime soon, but it hopefully really puts things into perspective :)
Awesome! I doubt I will ever hit that level..
Congrats!