2003 Old Nugget Pu-erh Tea

I feel when it comes to ripe puerh that puerh nuggets are always a safe bet for your money as I have yet to have encountered bad quality among nuggets. This is a puerh that demands to be brewed strong to have a thicker texture otherwise it comes off as a mediocre puerh. It produces a dark color brew with a light silky texture that is not too thick with the expected sweet mellowness. Although what sets this one apart is that it also has a bit of a fresh crisp taste to it that I have not encountered before in a ripe puerh. I am not sure if this is a result of the ripe puerh being aged as at 7 years old it is also the oldest ripe puerh that I’ve had to date. Regardless while it is not the best puerh that I’ve had recently is clearly in the upper middle range when it comes to puerh.

Part of the huge puerh gift box from Rich, thanks!
Earthy and creamy and smooth. Maybe not the most complex, but certainly drinkable and not harsh. Not fishy or dirt tasting, just a standard ripe puerh, you won’t be disappointed if you don’t expect too much. A good candidate for mixing with peppermint.

Found an old sample of this tea in my cupboard this weekend, figured I might as well kill it. I used all three good nugs and some crumbs in my 130ml gaiwan. Gave it an aggressive rinse before letting the tea try it’s best to open up. The storage situation wasn’t the best for this sample, but I was still able to enjoy the thick silkiness of the broth anyway. There wasn’t too much complexity in this tea anymore, which was a little disappointing. I was able to get some subtle dark cherry and woody notes from each steep though, which felt redemptive. all in all it was unmemorable few steeps.

Not using a number rating for this review, simply because the age and storage of this lil sample. It’s had a hard life XD

Brewed this western style this morning and it is good. This is one of the best cha tou nugget teas I have drank. It has very little earthiness left to it. It has largely cleared. I would definitely buy more of this tea and might buy more in my next order to puerhshop, don’t know when that will be. This tea is sweet with fruity notes to it, no bitterness, no camphor, no smoke to it.

I brewed this once in an 16oz Teavana Glass Perfect Tea Maker/Gravity Steeper with 12g leaf and boiling water for 1 min.

This is a very easy and cost effective way to enjoy aged ripe puerh. I usually overleaf on nuggets because they are so tight and it takes awhile for these to loosen and allow steeping of all the leaves. The tea broth is a clear dark brown. Smooth, woody taste with a very pleasant aftertaste. I’m usually able to get 6-7 nice infusions out of this one.