Pu Er 2005 Jingmai Mini Brick Organic

So I do NOT drink Pu Er tea. I am just not a fan because to me it tastes like dirt. However, I do try to taste everything that people send me which is a fact my tea twin, Roswell Strange knows. So, when I saw pu er in my tea and music package, I was not overly excited. In fact, I am so dumb in the ways of pu er that I managed to burn my hand trying to rinse this. Stupid me decided to hold the filter in one hand and pour the near boiling water with the other and of course there was splashing and missing and essentially just a lot of pain. So yeah, it was not a good start but not only did RS send this to me, she took the time to pair it with a song so I figured I will suck it up and see how it goes.

The song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0STmox8mIc

As far as pu er goes, this isn’t too bad tbh. I wonder if my taste is compromised since I have a bit of a cold and if that is playing a role here though usually when thats the case, I don’t taste anything at all and yet I am tasting stuff here. To me, its leather. So this is going to be a weird description and I have no idea why but this makes me think of a brown/tannish belt. Smooth and refined. The kind men wore in like the 60s. Somehow, the tea combined with the song is just creating that image. I honestly doubt that is why Roswell Strange paired them and I am thinking the cold meds might be messing with my head but that is honestly what I am coming away with. Do with that what you will :P

Thank you Roswell Strange for yet another share and yet another fun song and tea pairing.

And so begins the Pu’erh journey…

Over Christmas, one of the presents I got was $75 towards whatever I wanted on Camellia Sinensis (‘cause my family knows it’s one of my favourite tea companies, and they’re Canadian so no shitty exchange rates) and I fully took advantage of that to buy several different kinds of Pu’erh to further explore this complex and interesting tea type. And, on Tuesday that tea arrived! Actually, a lot of tea arrived – I received my orders from Red Leaf Tea, Teaware House, and Camellia Sinensis all in the same day! Well, I immediately had to try something so I brewed up one of the mini bricks in my new gaiwan from Teaware House!

Now, I don’t think I’ve ever had Jingmai before – and someone here on Steepster (who definitely knows more about Pu’erh than I do) told me it’s odd to see a Jingmai shou so I had weird/low expectations brewing this one up. I really, really enjoyed it though! I only did six infusions because it was after two in the morning and I was already starting to feel tea buzzed on top of just plain exhausted so I decided it was in my best interest to cut the session early and just go to bed before I was too wired/slap happy to sleep properly.

This was really smooth with a rich, thick mouthfeel and a sort of softness to it. Every sip was really round, and pleasant – I don’t know why I expected more ‘bite’ or astringency to this, but I didn’t find it nor did I really miss it. I could really ‘feel’ the tea on the roof of my mouth and middle/surface of my tongue.

The flavour was also delightful; it was much sweeter than I think I’ve experienced with a lot of pu’erh! Right from the start of the infusions this had really consistent notes of honey, molasses, earth, and a dark fruitiness. That fruitiness later became more intense and picked up a more distinct fig/date flavour as well as a dark cherry-like note in the last few infusions. I also found this had an almost ‘oat’ like flavour as well. Quaker sells a ‘Honey Oatmeal’ (or something close to that) flavour and that in particular is a little like what I thought this was tasting like. The last few infusions were definitely more woody, as well.

This was so tasty! And to be perfectly honest, I’m just so incredibly psyched for my next session with this one because it was so lovely! It just makes me all the more excited to try the rest of the different Pu’erh I picked up from Camellia Sinensis…