Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Pu-erh
Where to Buy: Teavivre
Tea Description:
This Ripe Pu-erh Cake Teavivre choose is from the representative Pu-erh production area Fengqing. Fengqing is the original place of the world-wide famous Dian Hong Tea. And it is also a classic place of Yunnan Pu-erh. It is a place in Lingcang which is one of the four famous Pu-erh production areas. The taste of Fengqing Pu-erh is mellow and sweet, deeper than Pu-erh in other production area. And it usually has the flowery flavor of Dian Hong Tea. The tea leaves used to make this Ripened Tribute Pu-erh Cake Tea are all pure leaves hand-picked from 50 to 100 years old Large-leaf Arbor Tea Trees.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This Fengqing Ripened Tribute Pu-erh Cake Tea from Teavivre is a really lovely pu-erh. It’s a delightfully mild tea – very smooth and sweet!
To brew this tea, I grabbed my gaiwan. I broke pieces of the cake off into my gaiwan with a knife and eyeballed the measurement until it looked like about a bamboo scoop of tea. Then I poured enough hot water (180°F) to cover the leaves and let it steep for 15 seconds and then I strained off the liquid and discarded it. (The rinse!) Then I filled the gaiwan with more water and let it steep for 45 seconds.
The aroma is a little loam-y but I’m not getting a strong earthy flavor, which I’m very happy about. What little earthiness I taste is more like a mushroom than it is like ‘earth.’ Yay! The flavor is sweet, like dates and honey. I’m also getting an interesting contrast to the sweetness, it almost tastes ‘salty’ but without tasting briny or fish-like, it’s almost as if someone might have sprinkled a couple of grains of salt into my cup.
It’s a remarkably smooth tea with no indication of astringency or bitterness. As I continue to sip, I pick up on notes of leather.
Before I knew it, that first cup was gone!
The second cup was a bit more earthy in flavor than the first, tasting a bit more like the loam notes that I smell. Still pleasantly sweet, I notice the notes of leather starting to develop, and I’m also picking up on notes of raw bittersweet cacao. I’m not getting any of that contrasting salt note that I noticed in the first cup. The flavor has deepened and intensified from the first – it’s as if they’re two totally different teas!
Later infusions were less earthy, it seemed like that second cup was the earthiest of the bunch and then after that cup, the earthy notes began to wane. I think the third and fourth cups were my favorite, the flavors were deep yet mellow with notes of dark chocolate, dates, and honey. I picked up on a mid-note of leather with an undertone of mushroom.
A very pleasant cup … oh-so-smooth!
Fengqing Raw Pu-erh Cake Tea 2006 from Teavivre
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Pu-erh
Where to Buy: Teavivre
Tea Description:
This Raw Pu-erh Cake Teavivre choose is from the representative Pu-erh production area Fengqing. Fengqing is the original place of the world-wide famous Dian Hong Tea. And it is also a classic place of Yunnan Pu-erh. It is a place in Lingcang which is one of the four famous Pu-erh production areas. The taste of Fengqing Pu-erh is mellow and sweet, deeper than Pu-erh in other production area. And it usually has the flowery flavor of Dian Hong Tea.
This Raw Puerh Cake is special for the two seasons resource from the same Arbor Tea Trees. Some are picked on March which we called “Ming Qian” or “Chun Jian” leaves. This is the best tea leaves in Spring Tea because it contains more nutrition and tastes mellow. Some are picked on September which we called “Gu Hua” or “Paddy Flower”. This is the best leaves for Autumn Tea because the aroma is stronger lasting longer. The Autumn Tea (Paddy Flower Tea) also has special flower fragrance. This Raw Puerh Cake is made by the two kinds of tea resource which were carefully blended by certain proportion.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I know I’ve never made any secret about my first disappointing experiences with pu-erh but since those early days, I have learned the way to brew the tea for the best flavor and I find that I now enjoy an afternoon now and then sipping on pu-erh tea. And I’m really enjoying this Fengqing Raw Pu-erh Cake Tea 2006 from Teavivre.
The dry cake has an earthy scent to it, but I found the aroma to have more of a vegetal scent than an earthy one. But the reverse is true for the brewed tea: I’m finding the fragrance of the brewed liquid to smell more earthy than vegetative.
The flavor is both vegetative and earthy. The first infusion (following a 15 second rinse) tasted light and slightly dry. Earthy tones, yes, with hints of vegetation. It is quite mellow with a slight brine-like taste to it … I can almost taste a hint of salt, and I think that’s where I’m getting the aforementioned dryness from. Overall, I found my first cup to be lightly sweet and pleasant, with a mild, soothing taste.
I noticed more earthy notes begin to emerge with the second infusion, and a slight mushroom-y sort of flavor. The brine-y note from the first cup was no longer present, however, the dryness remained (although it was significantly less noticeable in this cup). Still mellow, the flavor deepened with this infusion, and it is still sweet and enjoyable.
With subsequent infusions, the earthy notes began to subside a little, making way for a more well-rounded flavor that I found to be both sweet and savory, with it leaning more toward the sweet than the savory.
I enjoyed the mild character of this tea. It was soothing and relaxing to sip, and especially nice after eating something spicy (wings!) … I found that it helped calm my belly after that meal. A very pleasing pu-erh!