2010 Tong Qing Hao Black Puer Tea Cake

First I’d like to say that I’m not sure if this was the exact tea I tried but it looks pretty close. When my aunt heard I was in a tea class she brought me a puer tea her friend gave her as a souvenir. She didn’t know if there was a fancy way to prepare it so had just been holding onto it for years. This, like a similar puer tea I tried in class a week or so before is definitely not my favorite. It has an earthy flavor that isn’t the most appealing to me. It’s like dirt honestly.

It has been a long time since I have had this puerh. The last time I had it was so long ago it was before I was brewing gongfu style. This is a really good tea with a sweet note from the beginning and little bitterness. A slight bitterness crept in in about the third steep after the tea had opened up. Only lasted about two steeps. There was a fair amount of fermentation flavor to this tea. It needs another five or six years of aging in truth. The fermentation taste was not unpleasant or fishy in nature. If I had to describe the sweet notes to this tea in one word it would be dates but it really is more than that. The sweet note changed over time. I am glad I bought three or four of these teas when they were only $65. Now it goes for $100. Still I think for any big fan of ripe puerh it is worth the cost. Aside from ripe teas that purepuer gets $400 or $550 for this is probably their best ripe. I really should drink it more often. I am tempted to buy another one to compare my storage with Larry’s storage at purepuer. I find myself wondering if the one stored in California has lost more of it’s fermentation taste. Overall, this is one of my favorite puerhs. Larry at www.purepuer.com doesn’t have the largest selection of teas but I have found has teas range from excellent to phenomenal. This one I think qualifies as phenomenal. I steeped this twelve times and if I wanted to go back for more I am sure, judging by the color of the tea in the twelfth steep that I could get at least four more steeps out of it. And I may do just that.

I steeped this twelve times in a 160ml Solid Silver teapot with 14.6g leaf and boiling water. I gave it a 10 second rinse. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, 30 sec, 45 sec, 1 min, 1.5 min, and 2 min.