Misty Peak Teas

I ran into a review of this tea somewhere (not here on Steepster for once…) and though it sounded great. I ordered a cake from Misty Peak, but since Nicholas is an awesome dude, he sent me the cake AND a generously sized sample of the same stuff, so I wouldn’t have to break up the cake to taste the tea.

Anyway, the first steep was prepared as normal, generous leaf in a gaiwan, steeped for 15 seconds in near-boiling water. The resulting tea is really fantastic, with a delightful savory flavor that is very different from any young puerh I’ve ever had. There is none of the harshness that a lot of young sheng’s seem to have, and the tea tastes more like an oxidized tea. Finally, the aftertaste is very pleasant, but nothing too special, merely a normal puerh aftertaste. Regardless, his was a surprisingly good tea, especially when you consider it’s age, and I really can’t wait to see what else it has to offer.

The second steep was prepared with the same temperature water, but only a 7 second steep. The tea is a bit milder, but the big change is that the aftertaste remind me a lot of Verdant’s Mi Lan Xiang Dancong in that it’s really thirst-quenching. What a pleasant surprise, I wonder what else this tea has in store for me…

EDIT – Damng, my session got interryupted by a trek to the post office for a package, then dinner with friends, and now there’s no time left in the day. I’ll pick this up again tomorrow, it’s good enough to merit a few more cups :)

First of all I want to thank Nicholas for this generous offering. Secondly please accept my apology for being so late in reviewing it. This is the autumn selection of the 2012 Yiwu. And I again I apologize for adding it on here. Quite frankly, if you blindfolded me and told me it was the spring harvest I would agree. The dried leaves are beautiful and I can see this is a superior tea. My first steeping yields a beautiful, fruity nectar with a wonderful mouthfeel. The next steeping I allow it more time to in Yixing to see where it goes. I still have the fruitiness but with an intensity that goes to my brow and chest. I am going to stop here because it is the afternoon here and I can see this tea ruining my day in a very wonderful way. I will let it ruin my night when I am able to sit and ponder life and all its beauty….

When this tea arrived in the mail, the envelope smelled like diesel fuel. I’ve had a package or two in the past the smelled like it traveled under a truck rather than in one, so I wasn’t too surprised, but I was concerned about how this would affect the flavor of the tea. The envelope was not as well sealed as it could have been, leaving room for debris to potentially enter at the edges. I transferred this tea to another container and put off sampling it for a while because I was afraid of how it might be after such a journey.

I used all 8g that I received and brewed in a gaiwan (I don’t have a yixing pot yet!)

Wet leaves after 10s rinse smell like spinach and dirt

1st infusion 10s: first cup brews golden yellow. Taste is vegetal (like spinach) and mineral; also bitter and astringent.

2nd infusion 15s: brews slightly darker than before. Smells more earthy and less vegetal. taste is more bitter and astringent than before, masking the other flavors. But not so much so to be unbearable. There is something citrus and possibly floral, but it could just be the tartness making it seem so.

3rd infusion 20s: So bitter! I hope it gets better as the other reviews have suggested.

4th infusion 25s: less bitter (thank goodness!) but mineral flavor dominates. I’m really not too fond of strong mineral flavor in my teas, so I’m not enjoying this too much so far. there is some other earthy flavor lingering in the aftertaste, but I can’t describe it precisely.

5th infusion 35s: more bitter again, still mineral flavor. I don’t know where the rest of you are getting the other flavor notes that you describe. Maybe my tea really was affected in transit. I just don’t feel much like steeping this one anymore.

I’ve had a couple other green pu-erhs and there were sweeter and not so bitter. Maybe this one is better suited for aging rather than immediate consumption.

EDIT:
Nicholas just sent me a rather novel-ish response to my review, concerned that my opinions will affect the reputation of his tea and asked that I might edit my review. While I appreciate his concern and the time taken to write and to answer previous questions of mine, I feel that his “concern” was unnecessarily accusatory. I realize that my novice tea brewing skills as well as the poor packaging of the tea affected my review of it, so I did not give this tea a numbered rating because I knew that wouldn’t be fair. I gave my honest opinion and I don’t see how I can ‘edit’ my personal experience with this tea other than to note his suggestions for improvement so that the rest of you won’t make my mistakes:

Water temperature: He suggested that I used the wrong temperature of water and said that he took an effort to instruct us how not to ruin the tea so that this wouldn’t happen. He said I should have used cooler water (I actually never said what temperature I used, so I don’t know how he should know). No where in the original instructions did it say so. this is quoted from the instructions: "The water temperature of 195 degrees (F) boiling, or just boiled, water is preferred. Unlike Green teas and other delicate tea leaves, Pu’er has the strength to endure boiling or very hot water. "

The reply I just got says “Spring water at about 180 degrees, not boiling, will be most suitable for a green pu’er”

Admittedly, I found it difficult at times to distinguish when the original instructions referred to sheng or shu or green puerh. It was not clear and even contradictory in a few places. Still, absolutely nowhere other than the quote above did it mention water temperature. Also, if this green puerh is to be treated like a green tea, then why did I receive such lengthy instructions on how to brew shu or aged puerh?

Water type: he says "As for the mineral taste, perhaps the water you used caused this. " I have a water filter attached to my faucet and if the tea should be so ruined by my filtered water, then I don’t know what else to do.

Steeping time: I am now told that: " Soaking the tea for more than a second or two its first steepings takes the good out of the tea and you end up with several steepings more of already-injured leaves." Original instructions: “The first wash should simply be 5 seconds or so. Whereas the second can be as much as 10.” so sure, I did more than 5, but the instructions also say “Steeping times: This is a wonderful example of when personal preference plays a role.” And I have always done my first pu-erh rinses this way and I liked them quite fine.

Amount of leaf: I learn now that “8 grams is far too much for one sitting of Pu’er, no matter how big your pot or what kind of preparations you are using. We usually recommend starting with 2 grams to 4-5 grams…anything more will only make an astringent tea”
Original instructions: “If fewer people, it is best to use around 5 to 9 grams, for many people 15 grams is perfect.”

I get the impression that the original instructions sent were generic. If there were different or special considerations to give this green pu-erh, they should have been noted and the superfluous information omitted.

UPDATE 5/24: All confusions have been cleared up and all is well between Misty Peak and myself. I am still not certain what was up with the original erroneous instruction, but hopefully those of you who haven’t brewed it yet will see this review and know how to get the best out of your samples.

First, thanks to Nicholas at Misty Peak Teas for the sample.

The leaves look decent enough considering their unprotected life in USPS shipping for a few days, with no barrier between the leaves and the envelope. Thankfully a 4g chunk of cake survived and enough loose leaves remained whole enough to get about 6g total leaf for a session. I notice that the cake must be made of quite the blend of materials: fuzzy buds, small fragments, small leaves, large leaves, leaves with stems, a large chunk of what appears to be bamboo (seriously), and other parts of the tea plant.

After a rinse, the wet leaves, minus the unusable material, turned out to be quite aromatic. The scent is thick and fruity and carries far from the gaiwan, turning highly herbaceous later on. I notice they are very green, oolong-like, and have a fair share of bruising. Unfortunately, the strength of aroma does not carry over to the soup, which is as weak in body as it is in coloration. Yet, with subsequent infusions, both of these aspects grow in depth, though the soup remains definitely yellow throughout. The extent of this increase is not large, however. This tea is very slow to start, not really granting a full experience until the fourth or fifth infusion. This would normally not be much of an issue, but soon after this mark, it is quick to die out, or grants more fullness at the expense of too much roughness with long steep times.

Given this shengpu’s youth, it seems to have not had much time to develop any textural intrigue nor qi. I found the both to be quite lacking, though the tea did seem to have a decent bit of caffeine to it. While it had some good flavors to it, its form, which is what I am most interested in with pu’ercha, was weak.

Each sip opens quite undramatically, soft in body and faint in taste besides an introductory sweetness. There is a faint buttery aspect that I commonly find in very young sheng pu’er. It gets better in the development, though the duration is short and seems to peak at a medium intensity. Complexity is introduced at this point—a basic blend of fruity and floral spectrums. The sip quickly passes into the finish, which is drying and has some bitterness forward in the mouth. I’m left with a faint coolness in the throat, which is at least one promising aspect of this tea.

During later brews, the development’s intensity increases and the duration is extended to a small extent. The textural components are not aided by the longer steeps, instead increasing in the forward bitterness and astringency. The aftertaste was tasty flavor-wise, but again, lacking in mouthfeel. I found the aroma in the cup after the soup was drained to be suggestive of quality, though. It was thick, floral and fruity, with the dark sweetness of caramel.

I would rather not speculate on this tea’s aging potential, but from what I’ve heard the average Yiwu cake does okay over the years. I would say this is probably close to one of those averages, but it’s really too young for me to tell. However, I find its lack of strength (I would have even liked to have seen more power in the bitter department) given its extreme youth to be concerning. The proportion of junk to leaves in the small sample received is also concerning, and seems to indicate a lack of care during processing, as does the fair quantity of red-hued leaves.

Thanks to Misty Peak Teas for a sample, from a pu’erh novice!

Review is based on infusions 1-7. Prepared with a gaiwan. Rinsed after 10 seconds. First infusion lasted 10 seconds; the second, 15; subsequent infusion times increased by three seconds.

I would have liked to experience the aroma of the dry leaf; it unfortunately faded while the tea traveled in the mail, but through inhaling deeply I was able to smell earth and minerals. The wet leaf’s aroma strengthened as the leaves (whose color ranged from dark green to brown) continued to unfold with each infusion. A combination of musk and meat had emerged.

The liquor was consistently a clear pastel yellow.

The flavor was medium-bodied, flavorful, soft and smooth. Infusions 1-3 were sour and astringent. After swallowing, I felt a prickly sensation on my tongue, and the aftertaste was slightly spicy. The spiciness began disappearing after the fourth infusion and completely faded away during the sixth. By the seventh infusion, the flavor was totally musky and forest-like with a hint of apricot (and still a bit prickly and astringent).

Two days without tea, had to get my palate right. Brewing this tea two ways. Both will be with spring water. First brew 200ml yixing pot. Aroma almost flower like, clear yellow brew, taste a lemony sweetness with no major bitterness or overpowering smokiness as found in some sheng. Very light vegetal taste with a good amount of “qui”. This really cots the inside of your mouth with a slightly tart taste. Easy to drink and this cup won’t last long. Very warming and enjoyable to drink. Leaves look to hand rolled almost gongting size. Wow this is stout! I think tea drunk for now. I will have to do the gaiwan later as I believe this will keep me going for a while. strong enough to make you sweat! Used boiling water with a 10 second wash and then a 10 second steep.

Probably one of the best Pu’ers I have had. The price was really fair and it came with very specific instructions on how to brew it, so I actually followed them! Go me.

The insctructions said to pour out the first 2-3 washes, but I was curious(why not) and drank them anyway. They were really good! Why am I dumping these out? I think it is a time when the leaves are opening up and cleaning them and whatnot.

I drank the tea in a very quite room, and the tea made the room quieter, but brighter and made me more aware. It calmed me down a lot. The first 3-5 brew were very cherry/apricot like and I brewed it all the way until the 12th or so pot. It got sweeter as time went by, but not sweet overall. A really complex tea: basically meaning it had a lot to it.

I loved it, yay!

PS- I made it in a gaiwan, and steeped it for up to a minute a few times to just try it out, but mostly its best around 10-15 seconds.

This tea arrived about a week and a half ago and has been sitting in my pumidor since then. The cake was darker than I expected for being a 2013 cake and had a deep, sweet scent. It is not as thick as I expected based on the scent but it is very, very smooth. There is no dryness or roughness. When the tea first entered my mouth it had a very strong yiwu and youle soapiness. For a 2013 puerh it is quite dark and has almost no green tea flavor. This puerh is definitely in the savory not sweet category. It has a punch with a strong flavor and huigan. The aftertaste is a long, dark savory puerh flavor. It moistens the mouth while swallowing and has almost a cocoa taste. There is a woody, cork like flavor after about the 8th steeping that starts to dominate the flavor profile. Based on the deep, savory flavors while it is so young I believe it is a tea that will age well, but it is hard to tell at such a young age. Overall it is quite good, and I believe it will only get better in the coming years.

Wow guys, looking back I reviewed this 2015 tea 3 years ago. Freaking magic, yo.

Having a lovely run with this tea again.

Oddly, each steep seems to be very light and buttery ending with a fantastic floral / cherry / apricot that lingers after sip. Last time I got much more flavor out of this tea.

Then it hit me. It was my flavor sucking yixing pot! I had seasoned it the other day and this one came out the best I think as the pot is scented strongly of the sheng pu’er I used. Oh well, need to put more time into the yixing pot so it’ll give back!

Very lovely sheng!

The flavor just gets better and better each infusion, peaking around 6 to 9th infusion. Great notes of cherry, sweet apricot, mineral and a little smoke. Later infusions I really enjoyed as there was a fantastic unami savory thing going on!

Full review on my blog, The Oolong Owl http://oolongowl.wordpress.com/2013/06/03/2012-autumn-yiwu-sheng-puer-from-misty-peak-teas-tea-review/

Are pu’er picks safe for owls?

This tea arrived about a week and a half ago and has been sitting in my pumidor since then. The cake was darker than I expected for being a 2013 cake and had a deep, sweet scent. It is not as thick as I expected based on the scent but it is very, very smooth. There is no dryness or roughness. When the tea first entered my mouth it had a very strong yiwu and youle soapiness. For a 2013 puerh it is quite dark and has almost no green tea flavor. This puerh is definitely in the savory not sweet category. It has a punch with a strong flavor and huigan. The aftertaste is a long, dark savory puerh flavor. It moistens the mouth while swallowing and has almost a cocoa taste. There is a woody, cork like flavor after about the 8th steeping that starts to dominate the flavor profile. Based on the deep, savory flavors while it is so young I believe it is a tea that will age well, but it is hard to tell at such a young age. Overall it is quite good, and I believe it will only get better in the coming years.

I received this sample in the mail and immediately began brewing it. I’ve been curious about Misty Peak Teas for quite some time and this was the perfect opportunity to try some of their pu’er.

The dry tea smelled sorta herbacious and a bit earthy. I was also getting a bit of a tobacco-like smell in there. It was interesting to say the least. I experimented with the steep time a little bit as I usually so the first time brewing. I found my sweet spot at about the 9th steep at 3 minutes but each steep was amazing.

1st Steep-30 sec
Slightly grassy. Very fruity. Apple or pear. I can’t place it right now. Lightly smoky. Kinda like walking into a room where a match had been lit. You get whisps of it. The smoke is not in every sip but you catch a bit of it here and there.

2nd Steep-45 sec
I’m getting a little bit more of the smoke. Not overpowering. Still very fruity. Definitely apple this time. A bit of spice…sometimes nutmeg, sometimes clove.

3rd Steep-1 minute
Tastes almost exactly like apricot jam. I am not even kidding. This pu’er is so gentle yet flavorful.

4th Steep-1.30 minutes
Still tastes like apricot jam but with a bit more astringency. Seems like it pops up in later brews. There is also something minty going on.

5th Steep-2 minutes
A little bit more astringent. Not in an overpowering way and nothing close to what I expect from a young sheng but just enough that you notice it. Still tastes like apricot but it’s getting sweeter.

6th, 7th, 8th Steeps-2.30 minutes
Very mellow steeps. All of a sudden, the apricots are gone and replaced by pears and honey. Very very surprising.

9th Steep-3 minutes
When I brew a tea for the first time, especially a pu’er, I experiment with different brew times to find the sweet spot—sometimes I get a bit crazy. I think 3 minutes is this tea’s sweet spot. At least for me. This steep reminds me of roasted pears with a caramel sauce and spices. It tastes like the holidays.

10th Steep-5 minutes
Steeped at 5 minutes just to see if I could without getting kicked in the face with astringency. And I didn’t. So smooth and it tastes like apples, pears and a spicy cinnamon.

11th Steep-10 minutes
If you’re going to push it far why not push it farther? So I did and steeped for 10 minutes. It’s ridiculous and bordering on tea abuse but it worked well. I probably wouldn’t do this earlier but in later steeps, why not? It was a bit astringent but not the unpleasant sort. Kind of minty actually.

12th Steep-Overnight
In my defense, I’m all allergied up and I fell asleep while brewing. But it was still good in the morning when I did drink it. It tasted like pears and molasses. Not bad.

Overall, this is one of the best sheng pu’ers I have ever tried. It’s young but it’s gentle and flavorful. I’m considering buying a cake because I can only imagine how lovely this tea will be with some age on it.

Thank you to Misty Peak Teas for the generous sample.

I am only six cups into this so far. I will post a better review after I take this several cups further. My notes are so closely paralleling Awkward Soul’s wonderful review on her website, that it amazed me. I do not have a clay pot. I did decide to make-shift gaiwan steep it using a tiny Corelle cup, and a Finum basket with lid. Each steep is between 3-4 ounces.

Young sheng takes some getting used to. I happen to like sheng and found this to be really nice even as young as it is. If I had the self control to age pu’er, I believe this would be a good one.

Awkward Souls’s rating is correct for what this is now. I raised it a bit for potential.
-—————
Edit

I took this on through 10 cups. The leaf still has more to give but I have run out of day. As the flavor starts to diminish and the astringency increases around the 8th cup, adding a tiny amount of sweetener brings this to life in a very good way.

I enjoyed my day with this one. Thanks Misty Peak Teas for the sample.

TY to Misty Peak Teas for the sample!

Whoa, 2013? That’s pretty new! Lots of interesting complexities with this sheng – smooth, creamy, earthy, pear, apricot, persimmon, floral, savory, copper mineral, clean and woodsy.

I wasn’t a fan of the astringency that got stronger in later infusions, but I figure with some aging time it’ll even out. With that said, the astringency was very different, a textured dry sensation.

Full review on my blog, The Oolong Owl http://oolongowl.wordpress.com/2013/05/16/2013-yiwu-spring-sheng-puer-from-misty-peak-teas-tea-review/

Got this as a free sample directly from Misty Peak, woo hoo. My first pu erh (I bought a box of it for cheap at an asian grocery store years and years ago, but never actually opened it, oops). I had some trepidation because a lot of the funkier, more esoteric but more fiercely beloved types of teas among aficionados—oolong and pu erh!—I still don’t seem too into due to what I perceive as a funky, seaweed-y, marshy element. But this was a really great introduction for me—I’m guessing it’s relatively mild as pu erhs go because dry and brewed it doesn’t smell that funky or marshy, and while there is some of that salty butteriness and a bit of vegetal, seaweed-like character in the flavor it’s not overpowering at all. There’s also a clean, sweet-like-fresh-water flavor I’m really digging. Impressed with the texture too; it has a medium body, just right (and more than I was expecting for some reason), with a luscious, silky mouthfeel. I like it! The copy is right in that this is a tea for contemplation, one to take your time with.

After 2 and a half weeks in 70% humidity I am going to reevaluate this tea. It is still very smooth and moist in your mouth and when you swallow. It has gained a little thickness since I received it. There is a little bit of mushroom flavor, but overall the flavor is very mild. I usually like meaty, in your face puerh and this seems to be a much lighter puerh. I think it has the potential to age into a nice mouthfeel puerh with good qi. It is also good for someone that wants a milder tea to drink immediately. There is still an interesting minty flavor to the tea, but it has a new musty smell on top. As I keep doing more brews, due to the lack of kuwei and strength, I am starting to do longer steeps. There is an interesting, smooth waxy feeling that coats the mouth with longer steeps.

(Sorry for the mix mash of thoughts, I was writing this as I brewed and noticing things which leaded to a very scattered post)

Previous review: I just received this puerh cake, so it is probably a little flat because of the lower humidity and temp during shipping. I have it in my pumidor and will write a more extensive review after a couple weeks in better conditions. The dry tea smells very minty and sweet, almost like a mint tisane mixed in with the puerh. Once brewed it keeps the minty smell but loses the sweetness. It is very smooth and moistens the mouth. It is lacking a little thickness and staying power but that may be because of the shipping flatness. It has a deep tobacco and mushroom flavor, without the smokiness and bitterness of other young puerhs (making it seem a couple years older than it really is) I can’t wait to see how this progresses, and overall it’s a very good tea

I just received this puerh cake, so it is probably a little flat because of the lower humidity and temp during shipping. I have it in my pumidor and will write a more extensive review after a couple weeks in better conditions. The dry tea smells very minty and sweet, almost like a mint tisane mixed in with the puerh. Once brewed it keeps the minty smell but loses the sweetness. It is very smooth and moistens the mouth. It is lacking a little thickness and staying power but that may be because of the shipping flatness. It has a deep tobacco and mushroom flavor, without the smokiness and bitterness of other young puerhs (making it seem a couple years older than it really is) I can’t wait to see how this progresses, and overall it’s a very good tea

Got a sample of this tea and really loved it.

Not sure if I made it right, but it was fun to drink and really, REALLY calming. I felt like I was going to drift away.

Nice subtle flavors.