15: first taste is a dark sort of musky mud/soil. Fishiness that is barely discernable. The orange presents in the center of the tongue as dark heavier round taste than I’m used to in citrus pu-erh. There a light-fishy-yellow flavor that develops after it cools some. During this all, the citrus is transforming into a tiny zing that grows in size and shape til it is almost a burn that settles in that same center tongue area but also the very front inside lips and center roof of the mouth.
That zing/burn is not unpleasant, just of a sort of tea sensation I’ve never had before at all. It’s oddly unique.
The ginger develops in clarity at the point where the tea sips become cold. Until then it just develops that feeling described above with the orange. The citrus leads the way with the ginger being it’s support, unnoticed and hidden until the temperature drops. Then it shows itself clearly.
Another weird one for me these past couple days.
The fishy isn’t strong but just a tone to that musky/muddy.
I’m not a fan of the strong fishiness some pu-erh has so that rocks.
First steep is nifty.
10 sec: fishy mud is stronger but not very much, still, and ginger zing is more and more cleanly ginger. Orange rind is very strong and black and surrounds the outside edges of the back of the mouth…a range of over the tongue, up the insides of the cheeks, and then nestles into the back of the top throat, that gap that goes slightly upward behind the roof of the mouth stops and the throat extends a bit (maybe where others still have there adenoids?).
As it cools is all blends together into a more balanced taste, something whole rather than a ton of separate experiences. It’s somewhat thick and round in texture with a flowing sense to it.
Darker and more complex steep, unsurprisingly.
10: this one seems almost like water except the ginger hits the mouth a moderate amount. Totally worthless one to me.
I tend to only report on three steeps, so it may develop more as I do more and up the time now, but that’s where I stop writing today beyond to say that the pu-erh flavor isn’t clear or defining in this tea. It’s a meh item for me, but I might change my mind. So far lackluster.
Flavors: Citrus, Earth, Fishy, Ginger, Mud, Peppercorn, Round, Thick, Wet Earth