This will be a long review and only partly about tea. Skip along.
I went into the city today, got a bit of spring fever even though it’s still cold and nowhere near spring. But it’s no longer -20C and it was SUNNY for the first time in many days. Browsed bookstores, people watched, and then stopped at one of Toronto’s best ramen places. Had this: http://instagram.com/p/lTEyr3nqbi/
It was great while I was eating it and then quite shortly after i finished I got the “oh god, why did I do that?” feeling. You can perhaps understand why on the drive home I thought to myself “pu’erh”. I’m gonna have pu’erh. Which to have? I needed this and I needed to make sure I was going to drink it so I took it easy on myself.
Previously, my sheng have been white. So I was surprised this is dark in dry form. Shows you what I know, right? :)
Although the notes here advise on a 15s steep, to me that’s water. So I disregarded. Especially since the advice for steep time fails to mention water or amount of tea. I did 1 minute, I broke off a thin piece maybe the size of a thumb. My thumb, not shrek’s. 8 oz glass gaiwan came out to play.
The dry leaf smelled faintly smokey to me and then once I steeped it and took the lid off I could smell smokiness on the wet leaf. If I smell the wet leaf now, cold and having been steeped twice, the smoke is gone.
The second steep was also one minute, it gets a little stronger (shit, I forgot to rinse when I started) and it is getting a little stronger and a little, just A LITTLE astringent. Also getting a faint stone fruit in the after taste of the later sips, as the cup has cooled. you know, I’m talking out of my arse here, but I definitely get peach aftertaste.
Getting ready to steep for the third time. I am loving this one. Really. Really! Thank you :)
