Monday, January 17, 2011

Shou Pu-erh, 2000





This tea is the second pu-erh I've blogged about so far this year. Both have been Shou Pu-erhs, which leads to the inevitable question: "What is a Shou Pu-erh?" This question will be answered in my next blog post. Until then I want to post my notes and thoughts from a wonderful pu-erh that I have been drinking and thoroughly enjoying through the past two days.

As given away in this blog postings title the tea I have been enjoying is a Shou Pu-erh, 2000. I recently placed an online order through Red Blossom Tea Company.

Amount of Tea: 2.5 grams of tea measured using my handy new gram scale.
Brewing device: White 4oz Gaiwan.
Water Temp: About 205°F
Steep Time: Basically Irrelevant


Tasting Notes: This tea was definitely a good experience. The dry leaf smelt slightly sweet with some cocoa notes, but was intensely earthy. I didn't get much more out of the dry leaf other than that. However, once steeped, the tea unveiled a wide array of aromas and tasting notes. I'm still trying to expand the description of what it is I am tasting. Therefore, I often explain taste experiences not solely by what's going on palate wise but how it makes me feel and experiences it reminds me of. This is what went on:
The first sip was "woodsy" and had a refreshing earthy taste to it. There were "fresh earth" notes with a slightly sweet after taste. The finish was most definitely thicker than most teas, which was very pleasant. It made it a rich tea.
This tea reminded me of walking through a heavily wooded forest during thick fog and misty dew. The aroma of wood was almost as if it the wood was soaking in fog gently buried in healthy earth and sweetly decomposing.
Does that sound weird? Well, that's my experience with this tea. Most definitely one of my favorite teas to date.
Personally, if I was going to rate this against the last Shou Pu-erh (1996) that I had I would rate this one higher. It seems to have more to offer. Yet, both were great. So far my experiences with Shou Pu-erhs have been a good one. I'll post about pu-erhs in my next post. No tasting notes but general tea info.
In the mean time I'd recommend you to go buy this tea: Red Blossom Tea Company's Shou Pu-erh, 2000.

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