This is a sample sent by Teavivre for review. Many thanks, Angela and Teavivre!
I used my eight ounce pot and about half the sample. The dry leaves smell wonderful, and remind in appearance and scent of a nice white tea, one of the bolder ones like a shou mei.
I did rinse this and pour off the very pale liquid quickly. My first steep was thirty seconds. I have a bad habit of drinking all types of puerh too quickly, forgetting how much more I like them after they have cooled for a minute, so I used my thinnest cups. The heat on my fingers will remind me to wait until it is cooler so I can taste the full flavor profile better.
This is a nice golden color. The scent surprisingly has apple notes! I am thinking of Granny Smith apples with their tart juiciness. The scent of white tea is now mixed with the characteristic scent of raw puerh, or perhaps the scent of a brisk green tea.
The flavor is mild, slightly astringent and lending a tingle to the tongue, and has the delightful rising sweetness that occurs when drinking certain greens.
I raised the third steep to 45 seconds but it is more astringent here so I will be sticking to 30-35 seconds for this one henceforth.
There is still a fruity flavor now on the fourth steep, with a hint of smoke and a good bit of dryness. This is a very interesting tea, and I find it very drinkable even at this young age. My daughter is drinking this with me and didn’t know it was raw puerh. She was quite surprised when I told her because she had one at a tea festival that did not please her! She likes this one.
