Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Pu-erh
Where to Buy: Teavivre
Tea Description:
The Fengqing Zhuan Cha Ripened Puerh Brick Tea 2005 is small but has full weight of 240g. The brick is in the size of 13.5 cm long, 9 cm wide and 1.5 cm high, which makes the tea easy to store. Brick tea is a kind of compressed pu-erh tea. This Raw Pu-erh Brick Tea has yellow and bright liquid, stronger flavor than ripened brick with strong astringent taste. Yet the bitter taste differs from other teas’. A strong sweet aftertaste comes after the liquid fills in your mouth, as well as the long-lasting mellow flavor promoting the secretion of saliva. The sweet aftertaste still remains even half a minute later. This Raw Pu-erh Brick is picked in 2005’s spring and summer, and pressed in the same year. Aged Pu-erh Brick teas will become more profound after years of store. It is regarded as an eatable antique in China.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Although I’m not always enthusiastic to try a pu-erh, after having tried a good number of pu-erh teas from Teavivre without disappointment, I found myself actually looking forward to trying this 2005 Fengqing Zhuan Cha Raw Puerh Brick Tea.
After a quick rinse (15 seconds), I infused my first cup for just 45 seconds and achieved a very strong, deep flavor with notes of mineral and a somewhat salty/savory note. The description above suggests “promoting the secretion of saliva” and that’s what I’m experiencing from this tea. The salty note from the tea encourages my mouth to begin watering.
This is earthy but not in the same way that a ripened pu-erh would taste. This is more earthy/vegetative sort of taste. I note hints of kelp. By mid-cup, I start to notice some bitter/tart notes that brighten the overall flavor.
I steeped this tea eight times before I was ready to move on to something else – but I do suspect that this tea would have kept going strong for at least two or more infusions! With each infusion, I noticed a deeper flavor than with the previous cup. The flavor keeps developing.
I’ve often used the word mellow to describe a pu-erh but I don’t think that word applies to this tea. The savory/bitter notes are very unique to me. I don’t consider myself an expert when it comes to pu-erh, in fact, I think of myself as just the opposite. Pu-erh is the tea that I feel least knowledgeable about, and with each new experience, I feel as though I’m learning something new and after each experience, I feel as though I’ve so much more to learn!
That said, I can’t recall a tea quite like this one before. It has a brine-like flavor to it … but not a fishy-brine taste. The brine here reminds me more of a vinegar-ish type of taste, the savory/bitter/salty notes you might experience from vinegar. The earthy notes here are very mushroom-y.
A very intriguing tea!
