Tea Info
Type: Sheng Pu'erh Tuocha
Producer: Crimson Lotus Tea
Origin: Jingmai - Spring 2014
Brewing Parameters: 8g, 100°C, 30s up - Gongfu style
Appearance: Small-medium sized ball with some black/brown, dark green, and orange leaves
Rating: A | 93/100
# of Brews: 24
Tasting Notes and Thoughts
Surprise review! I bought a teapot, filter, tea pitcher, and cup from Teaware.house about a week or two ago and they finally came in the mail, so what better time to review one of my favorite teas? I was actually planning on saving/aging this tuocha ball and drinking it on graduation, but I can always buy another one from Crimson Lotus Tea. Anyway, I do need to relax since it's finals week (I've spend over 20 hours by now studying this week alone) and I'm only 2/3rds of the way done– tomorrow is AP Statistics and Honors Precalculus.
I believe this tea was my first sheng puerh, so it has a special place in my heart. Before brewing, I did 3 30 second steeps to open up the ball, before drinking. After this, I did one 30 second brew. I could already tell that this was going to taste much different than the last time I drank, which was only about a month or two ago. The liquid was a very bright yellow with a bit of sediment, and an aroma of very sweet, slightly fishy, and a bit like alcohol filled the air. The flavor was a bit bitter, vegetal, honeyed, and sour. It was surprisingly thick, coating my mouth and throat, leaving with that slightly sour aftertaste. However, it wasn't astringent or dry.
On the third brew (this tea is a long drink, and I plan to do it all in one sitting heh), I did only 20 seconds. I can't really describe the aroma– maybe it was a bit rubbery and sweet, but much less fishy. The color was understandably a bit lighter, and the flavor, like the aroma, lost the fishy taste. It was still vegetal and honeyed, but there were some metallic notes and it became slightly more astringent. At this point, my stomach had been feeling a bit, well, tingly, even though I ate before this review. A very sweet taste had also formed in the back of my throat.
For the sixth brew, I brewed for a full minute with freshly boiled water. The liquid was a nice golden color, and the aroma was now mainly sweet, vegetal, and a bit sour. The flavor was now a bit bitter once again, but also had gained a slight creaminess. The aftertaste was mainly sour, with a bit of a viscous texture left in the mouth (like after eating a banana). I think at this point I was feeling a bit tea drunk, which I felt when I walked around.
The ninth brew was brewed for 1 minute 45 seconds. The liquid was still golden, but not as bright three brews ago. The aroma was still relatively the same– it seems to be getting more sweet as time goes on, however. This brew was surprisingly sweet compared to previous brews. It began as a bitter taste, but on the second cup it had a pleasant sweetness.
The twelfth brew was brewed for 2 minutes 15 seconds (notice a pattern here? I'm going up by 15 seconds each brew). It actually smelled a lot like tropical fruit (or fruit punch), and was a golden yellow still. The flavor, once again, was bitter, but was now citrusy (lemon), citrusy, and still creamy. By now, I feel pretty tea drunk. I'm mostly just lying down, it's hard for me to get up, and my body feels pretty heavy when I move. It's nice.
Honestly, by this point, I'm not really focused on the review anymore because of the tea drunkenness.The fifteenth brew was much lighter than previous ones, with a pleasant fruity aroma. The flavor now had lost all sense of bitterness and was generally creamy and sweet; however, it was beginning to lose its strength.
I finally stopped after 24 brews. Overall, this is one of my favorite puerhs (despite the fact that I haven't tried that many), and I'll be picking up more to age later. Kind of dead right now, though, since I think this is the most tea I've drunk in 1 sitting (2-4 liters of water).
Other Notes
So, I really enjoy brewing with a teapot! The only issue I can really find with it is that since the lid isn't an exact fit, it drips a tiny bit when pouring (it might just be the way I pour, however). Having a large, cloth filter helps a lot too, and glass cups/pitchers are nice for examining the tea. 170 mls means I get three cups each brew (which is a bit much, but I think it gives me a good idea of how each brew tastes and it allows me to share with others), and the glass pitcher doesn't drip when pouring, unlike my other pitchers. I did notice, though, that with my clay cup, the tea was a lot sweeter– the glass cup was good at maintaining heat, however.
Other than that, I should get to studying for AP Stat. It's an easy class, so I'm not too worried, but I am worried of messing something up and getting a really bad score. See you guys next week!
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