CNNP (from PuerhShop.com)

Boychik sent this one my way a while back, and these days i’ve been trying to get through those sorts of samples. I have so much puerh in my cupboard and it’s sad when i don’t get to take time to drink it. So I’ve made a promise to myself to continue to make time for myself for my puerh and start trying to take back my life from work :) I drank this over the course of the morning, while booking our vacation! a month to go and we get some serious relaxation time. Spent a little more than i wanted to, but after the year that i’ve had – i need it.

This is a bold, rich puerh. It’s not for those who like wimpy teas. :) I love the colour of this tea…a deep red/burgandy like colour… was especially nice when i accidentally poured it all over the white floor haha.

Initial steepings of this were very woody, slightly leathery but with a bit of a sweetness to it? Later steeps the rougher edges that i didn’t realise were there, smoothed out and there was a hint of a tobaccos like flavour coming through.

I have to head out to meet up with my other half but i may drink more of this later.. it’s tasty! thanks boychik!!

I ordered a sample of this one with my last order from puerhshop. It is a fairly light shu, burgundy colored. It has some interesting flavors. It has a dryness that reminds me of a dry red wine. It has some peppery and cherry notes. If you’re wondering if shus can really taste like that, this is the most pronounced I’ve had with these flavors. Not one of my favorites, but a fun one to try. I don’t think i will drink it again, though.

Backlog from last week.
100ml 6g 212F
rinse 5/5/10/10/10/15/15/20 etc
this tea is rich bold satisfying, in other words everything I like in ripe Puerh.
Wet leaves smelled strongly of prunes.
1st steep produced clear burgundy color sweet tea. with the notes of leather, dried cherry and some wood. i also experienced some numbing of the tip of my tongue.
Later steeps were much darker but still clear. some other notes came along such as dried persimmon and faint tobacco. after several steeps I became sleepy – maybe tea drunk? I really enjoyed this tea, it was quite an experience.

I tried this twice so far in my gaiwan and was not impressed. The first time I used my normal starting point for an unknown shu of 6 grams to 100 ml water. The resulting tea had no off-flavors, but was rather mild. Two steeps in the middle of the 13 steep session rated medium body and my notes show “nice steep”, the remainder I rated decent, OK or just fair. I did pick up combinations of slight tastes of mushrooms, pepper, sweetness, minerals and citrus in these mild cups.

For the second session I increased the leaf to 8 grams. Although the cup was a little stronger, notes of earth (dirt) came out in all but two of the steeps. I gave up on steep seven when the earth taste did not go away.

I’m glad I only purchased a sample instead of a whole cake. Perhaps others will have a different experience, especially if they prefer a mild shu, but I made a note to not buy this again.