Large Leaf from Old Trees Pu' erh

Got this as a sample from Chicago Tea Garden and it's nearly everything I like in a pu'erh.

The description:

"This pu-erh is made from the large leaves of old tea trees. It is aged in loose form, so there is no need to purchase a large cake. This tea is bold and earthy, with a smooth, sweet, lingering aftertaste. These leaves have been aging in a man-made pu-erh cave in the United States since the mid-90s."

It's got a strong earthy aroma and the brew, from the very first steep, has this rich, old flavor to match.

Took about half of the sample in a 160ml pot filled to ~100ml, think I'll see if it brews differently in a gaiwan for the latter half. Used water ranging from 205 to 195, the hotter producing stronger/shorter/darker brews, and poured into a ~140ml cup.

The only downfall was the longevity of the leaves, only about a day's worth of brewing and faster to require long steeps than other pu'erh I've encountered. Depending on your taste, there was a bit of dustiness to the first steep or so, even after having been rinsed. Also, I couldn't find any of the bitterness I've read about it in some reviews, and only ever got a little sweet around the fourth brew. Not sure if the lack of bitter is a pro or con for me, but the sweet was pleasant while it lasted.

Along with this and the Zealong Pure, I also received a sample of their Wu yu and the Camel's Breath Toucha. Have only gotten around to the Wu yu so far, but definitely enjoyed it. My first impression was that it tasted a little closer to a Japanese green than a Chinese, though as it progressed it grew more into that familiar Chinese green taste. Might order some eventually(newer harvest?), but for now my curiosity is sated.

Edit: Oh! And I've been repurposing decor/gardening things lately for my tea time. See: the candle stand that I found just the right size for a pot.

1990s Malaysian-Stored Raw Puerh Brick

OTTI at TeaChat stands of 'Official Tea-Tasting Initiative'. Having only participated in two(or three, one was a double), my understanding of it is that vendors donate tea, the moderator of the board, Chip, and his wife sort and split up the tea into as many reasonably size portions as possible and then people on the board sign up and pay to have a sample shipped to them. Then, generally, members share their impressions of it.

All-in-all it's a great way to find teas one otherwise might have never looked at or been too intimidated to get into on their own. For me, the latter describes my going into OTTI #9: 90s pu'erh.

While I'd had pu'erh before in different forms(toucha, orange-stored, loose, and cake from new to 10+ years old), overall I find all the numbers and years and whatnot intimidating, so when presented with a chance to have a few lined right up and explained to me, I was definitely on board.

That said, on to the first one(second one on the page). Aside from the time frame, the 90s, an underlying theme of this OTTI was the difference between wet-stored pu'erh and dry-stored. This one is supposedly dry-stored.

First impression was optimistic. The dry leaf smell wasn't as earthy as I was used to from pu'erh though I wasn't sure if this was a good or bad sign.

I'd been told before 'if you like the leaf smell, you'll like the tea'. Let me just say, that's a lie. Also, it really doesn't help when you're not sure what the leaf really smells like. It wasn't something that made me think 'oh, yum' but it wasn't bad. Not earthy, but it still made me think of bark and the forest. Good enough.

After heating my pot/cups(running boiling water over/in them) I loaded up my pot with the leaf, did a quick rinse, and steeped for ~30 seconds at 195 degrees. The first steep was weak, generally tasteless and disappointing. Hardly any color, though the scent had proved promising.

For the second steep, I did it about the same amount of time, though the color was better and by the third, the flavor had really started to develop.

Astringent, but not in the overpowering way of an oversteeped Chinese green or some black teas. It was almost pleasant and encouraged me to keep drinking. It continued to smell faintly of bark, never fading, and around the seventh steep there started to be a tiny hint of sweetness to it.

Yet, with keeping the water around 195 degrees, though starting the first steep after walking away for a few hours at 205, and the steeps no longer than a minute or two, it never proved particularly strong in taste as I've experienced with other pu'erh. Despite this, it lasted about three days of drinking it on and off, easily over 20 steeps, with the last few pushing about five to ten minutes in length.

Not something I'd buy, though I'm still happy to have experienced it.

[leaf before and after steeping]