Tea Information:

Leaf Type:  Pu-erh

Where to Buy:  Verdant Tea

Tea Description:

Beautifully complex, this young pu’er is creamy with citrus notes and a floral finish. Steep small and short infusions up to 10 times and experience this tea transforming on your tastebuds. Starting sweet, this brand new pu’er develops woody and nut characteristics. Enjoy the bright astringency of this tea as it layers over each steeping.

Learn more about this tea here.

Learn more about subscribing to Amoda’s Monthly Tea Tasting Box here.

Taster’s Review:

Yeah, I’m really behind on the February teas from my Amoda Tea Tasting Box!  I’ve already received my box for March, and I haven’t finished sampling the teas from February!  This Pu-er Tea from Verdant Tea – Master Han’s 2013 Sheng – is the last from my February box.

I guess it just goes to show how I tend to procrastinate when it comes to pu-erh teas.  And I really shouldn’t, because I have enjoyed most of the pu-erh teas that I’ve tried in the last couple of years.  After learning the proper way (or at least the proper way for ME) to brew a pu-erh, I’ve come to appreciate a good pu-erh.  And this one from Verdant is a good one!

Then again, I can’t think of a time when I’ve been disappointed by Verdant Tea!

This pu-erh is quite special.  The aroma is not at all what I’d expect from a pu-erh.  Usually, I detect some earthy notes – even from a young Sheng – but, all I smell here is a strong vegetative note that falls somewhere between kelp and steamed spinach.

After a quick rinse, the first infusion was steeped for 1 minute.  Normally, I would go for just 30 – 45 minutes, but, I got distracted and it steeped for a full minute.  This cup was light and refreshing!  Sweet!  It has a creaminess to it that I don’t recall ever experiencing with a pu-erh tea.  There is a distant nutty tone to this, and a crisp, bright citrus note.

My second cup (also infused for 1 minute) has a stronger flavor.  There is a slight floral note to this cup – again, not a flavor I’d usually associate with a pu-erh – and it is somewhat sharp.  This cup is less creamy and delicate than the first was.  I can also taste the woodsy notes start to develop and the distant nutty tone start to emerge.

Subsequent infusions brought those woodsy notes forward, and the warm, sweet nutty flavors were more pronounced.  The citrus notes were still present in the third cup, but by the fourth cup, I couldn’t find them without really focusing on the flavors swirling around on the palate.  The fruit notes seem to have melded with the other notes.  The same is true of the creamy notes that I noticed in the first two cups.

Most of the flavors started to taste more mellow and unified with the third cup and this seemed to continue with the infusions that would follow.  The floral notes were delicate in the third cup, but I really enjoyed their presence.  I liked the slight sharpness and the contrast it brought to the cup.

Despite my misgivings about having a Pu-erh in my Amoda Tea box for February … I really enjoyed this.  I shouldn’t have been so apprehensive – it is, after all, a tea from Verdant Tea!