Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Pu-erh
Where to Buy: White Two Tea
Tea Description:
The 2000 Chocolate Mini Shu Puer bricks are so named for their small shape, rather than their flavor, which is more of a fruity sweetness. Each tin contains 100 grams of tea, which brews up dark and smooth. We recommend breaking the bricks apart and giving them a rinse, as some still have very tight compression and take awhile to open up.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
These little Mini tea cakes do look a little bit like a square of chocolate! They don’t really smell like it though. Dry, the aroma is earthy. The brewed liquid has a softer scent, still earthy but the aroma is not quite as strong.
To brew this, I grabbed my gaiwan! I broke the brick off into layers with a knife – this is a very tightly compressed brick! Using 195°F water, I did a 15 second rinse and discarded the liquid, and then I filled the gaiwan with more hot water and let it steep for 30 seconds. Ordinarily, I would steep it for 45 seconds but after 30 seconds, the liquid was quite dark so I decided to go ahead and strain off the tea at 30 seconds.
And I’m glad I did! This first infusion was perfect!
The flavor is sweet! Just as the description above suggests, the flavor has a fruity sweetness. I taste notes of sweet plum and even a hint of peach. The sweetness is profound, with notes of molasses along with the sweet fruit tones.
The flavor isn’t really chocolate-y. There are notes of earth – but they are far more subtle than the aroma of the dry leaf and even than the brewed tea might lead you to think. It’s a gentle earthiness that evokes thoughts of mushroom. It’s a very smooth tasting tea with no astringency or bitterness. It has a pleasant mouthfeel.
It’s a really enjoyable pu-erh.
And of course, with a pu-erh, I’m treated to many wonderful infusions! The second infusion I steeped for just 30 seconds as well, and it was a very deep, full taste. Very mellow! In later infusions, the earthy flavors developed and I started to pick up on some woodsy flavors that evoked thoughts of the damp wooded areas up here in the Pacific Northwest.
The plum and peach notes seemed to subside a little bit, or maybe I should say that the fruit flavors developed into more of a date and fig flavor with notes of dark raisin. I liked the way these sweeter fruit flavors tasted with the notes of molasses. It was quite an enjoyable experience.
A really nice tea with which to spend an afternoon!
2007 White2Tea Repave Pu-erh Tea from White Two tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Pu-erh
Where to Buy: White Two Tea
Tea Description:
Repave was made with aged puer tea material from 2007, which was stored in Menghai for 7 1/2 years prior to being pressed in November of 2014. The soup is already a dark bronze color, sweet and soft. The material is from Hekai. This is the second and final pressing of this material. Some of the wrappers were stamped incorrectly as 2006.
Learn more about this tea here.
Learn more about White Two Tea’s Tea Club Subscription here.
Taster’s Review:
Smooth! Really, really smooth and mellow!
That’s my first impression of this tea.
To brew this pu-erh, I grabbed my gaiwan and heated the water to 190°F. Then I eyeballed a measurement of leaves – what looked like about a bamboo scoop of leaves – and put them into the bowl of the gaiwan. The leaves of this sample have been cut from a cake that probably looked like the cake in the photograph above. Some of the leaf pieces are individual leaves, but most of them are chunks of several leaves that I pried apart carefully with a knife.
Then I poured enough of the hot water into the gaiwan to cover the leaves and I steeped it for 15 seconds. Then I strained off the liquid and discarded it. This is the “rinse.”
I’ve found that this simple ‘rinse’ procedure is the big difference between a cup of pu-erh that I can enjoy drinking versus a cup of pu-erh that I would rather discard. So, if you find pu-erh to be too earthy or just off-putting, I recommend trying the rinse! It really does make a HUGE difference!
Then I filled the gaiwan with more water and this time, I steeped the tea for 45 seconds and strained the liquid into my favorite “little” teacup. It holds one gaiwan-full of tea. How much is that? I don’t know. I’ve never actually measured it.
My first cup is SMOOTH. Mellow. It has a lovely sweetness that is somewhere between a deep molasses and a buttery caramel. It’s earthy – but it isn’t an off-putting or overwhelmingly strong earthy flavor. It’s beautifully mellow at this stage. There are distant mineral-y notes. This first cup disappeared quickly because … I really enjoyed it!
The second cup is just as smooth as the first. The flavor is deeper this time. Still very sweet and that sweetness is still very molasses-y/buttery caramel. I taste less of the earthy notes that I tasted in the first cup now, but the distant mineral notes are still there. This cup seems to be all about the sweet and that’s quite alright by me.
This tea just seems to keep on getting sweeter with each infusion! The third cup is even sweeter than the first two. With this cup, I am picking up very little earthiness (an occasional earthy tone here and there) and the aforementioned mineral notes are softer now. This is just SWEET.
Later infusions offered the same sweet, molasses-y taste, and I liked that the earthiness mellowed out significantly by the fourth cup. I don’t know if it’s that my palate has become more acclimated with the sweetness of this tea or that the flavors are just now emerging, but I am starting to discover some soft floral notes.
A truly lovely pu-erh – this is one you’ll fall in love with!
1997 Light Green 7582 Private Order Pu-erh Tea from White Two Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Pu-erh
Where to Buy: White Two Tea
Tea Description:
This cake is made from the Menghai factory recipe 7582, composed of many larger leaves. This production was made on private order at a smaller factory between 1995-1999, we decided to take the median of the age and list it as 1997, though we can not pinpoint an exact year. The tea is already smooth and easy to drink. There is some humidity that still shows up in early steeps.
Learn more about this tea here.
Learn more about White Two Tea’s Tea Club Subscription here.
Taster’s Review:
Nice!
The aroma of the dry leaf is delicate and earthy. It’s not a strong fragrance which I sometimes find in an aged tea. I’m glad the earthy notes are rather subtle here because it’s usually that really strong, earthy scent that I find off-putting. This is not off-putting at all.
To brew it, I grabbed my gaiwan. I eyeballed a measurement of leaf (the sampling I received from White Two Tea had been broken off the cake) and placed it in my gaiwan. After having brewed cake pu-erh enough times, I’ve gotten to the point where I can recognize by sight how much tea is “the right amount.”
As I said, the sampling had already been broken off the cake, but a couple of the pieces were a little thicker, so I took a knife and I split the leaves apart so that I’d get a proper infusion.
I brought the water in my kettle to 185° and I poured enough water into my gaiwan to cover the leaves. Then I let that steep for 15 seconds and strained off the liquid, discarding it. This is a “rinse” or a reawakening of the leaves. I find this step is crucial for the best tasting cup of tea.
Then I filled the gaiwan with more water (same temperature) and let it steep for 45 seconds and strained it into my little teacup.
Ah … this is lovely! It’s sweet and mellow. The earthiness is perhaps the most pleasant earthiness I’ve yet to taste from a pu-erh. There have been times when the earthy qualities are just not pleasant at all. They taste a bit more like earth than they do earthy, if you get what I’m saying. But, this is more like the flavor of a mushroom. That’s the kind of earthy I like.
It’s not brine-y. It doesn’t taste fishy. It’s remarkably smooth with no astringency and no bitterness. It’s a really lovely cup of tea. And since it’s a pu-erh, I can take this for several infusions (and by several infusions – when it comes to pu-erh – I mean more than 3 or 4!)
The second infusion presented a slightly deeper flavor than the first. Earthy, and I’m starting to pick up on the development of a caramel-y like flavor. Very pleasant. Mild. Smooth. A hint of a vegetative flavor that complements the aforementioned mushroom note.
The flavor kept getting deeper with each subsequent infusion. It remained very mellow, smooth and sweet. The sweetness develops from a caramel-y note to more of a dark molasses-y type of flavor.
I picked up on notes of raw cacao in later infusions. I’m also picking up on a mineral-y quality and a slight ‘tangy’ note to it. Not astringent tangy, but as if someone had squeezed a lime on my tongue but without the distinct lime note.
I really enjoyed this tea – the first that I’ve tried from this new-to-me company! I found this experience to be quite encouraging of what is to come!
Fengqing Zhuan Cha Raw Puerh Brick Tea 2005 from Teavivre
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Pu-erh
Where to Buy: Teavivre
Tea Description:
The Fengqing Zhuan Cha Ripened Puerh Brick Tea 2005 is small but has full weight of 240g. The brick is in the size of 13.5 cm long, 9 cm wide and 1.5 cm high, which makes the tea easy to store. Brick tea is a kind of compressed pu-erh tea. This Raw Pu-erh Brick Tea has yellow and bright liquid, stronger flavor than ripened brick with strong astringent taste. Yet the bitter taste differs from other teas’. A strong sweet aftertaste comes after the liquid fills in your mouth, as well as the long-lasting mellow flavor promoting the secretion of saliva. The sweet aftertaste still remains even half a minute later. This Raw Pu-erh Brick is picked in 2005’s spring and summer, and pressed in the same year. Aged Pu-erh Brick teas will become more profound after years of store. It is regarded as an eatable antique in China.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Although I’m not always enthusiastic to try a pu-erh, after having tried a good number of pu-erh teas from Teavivre without disappointment, I found myself actually looking forward to trying this 2005 Fengqing Zhuan Cha Raw Puerh Brick Tea.
After a quick rinse (15 seconds), I infused my first cup for just 45 seconds and achieved a very strong, deep flavor with notes of mineral and a somewhat salty/savory note. The description above suggests “promoting the secretion of saliva” and that’s what I’m experiencing from this tea. The salty note from the tea encourages my mouth to begin watering.
This is earthy but not in the same way that a ripened pu-erh would taste. This is more earthy/vegetative sort of taste. I note hints of kelp. By mid-cup, I start to notice some bitter/tart notes that brighten the overall flavor.
I steeped this tea eight times before I was ready to move on to something else – but I do suspect that this tea would have kept going strong for at least two or more infusions! With each infusion, I noticed a deeper flavor than with the previous cup. The flavor keeps developing.
I’ve often used the word mellow to describe a pu-erh but I don’t think that word applies to this tea. The savory/bitter notes are very unique to me. I don’t consider myself an expert when it comes to pu-erh, in fact, I think of myself as just the opposite. Pu-erh is the tea that I feel least knowledgeable about, and with each new experience, I feel as though I’m learning something new and after each experience, I feel as though I’ve so much more to learn!
That said, I can’t recall a tea quite like this one before. It has a brine-like flavor to it … but not a fishy-brine taste. The brine here reminds me more of a vinegar-ish type of taste, the savory/bitter/salty notes you might experience from vinegar. The earthy notes here are very mushroom-y.
A very intriguing tea!
Fengqing Raw Pu-erh Cake Tea 2006 from Teavivre
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Pu-erh
Where to Buy: Teavivre
Tea Description:
This Raw Pu-erh Cake Teavivre choose is from the representative Pu-erh production area Fengqing. Fengqing is the original place of the world-wide famous Dian Hong Tea. And it is also a classic place of Yunnan Pu-erh. It is a place in Lingcang which is one of the four famous Pu-erh production areas. The taste of Fengqing Pu-erh is mellow and sweet, deeper than Pu-erh in other production area. And it usually has the flowery flavor of Dian Hong Tea.
This Raw Puerh Cake is special for the two seasons resource from the same Arbor Tea Trees. Some are picked on March which we called “Ming Qian” or “Chun Jian” leaves. This is the best tea leaves in Spring Tea because it contains more nutrition and tastes mellow. Some are picked on September which we called “Gu Hua” or “Paddy Flower”. This is the best leaves for Autumn Tea because the aroma is stronger lasting longer. The Autumn Tea (Paddy Flower Tea) also has special flower fragrance. This Raw Puerh Cake is made by the two kinds of tea resource which were carefully blended by certain proportion.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I know I’ve never made any secret about my first disappointing experiences with pu-erh but since those early days, I have learned the way to brew the tea for the best flavor and I find that I now enjoy an afternoon now and then sipping on pu-erh tea. And I’m really enjoying this Fengqing Raw Pu-erh Cake Tea 2006 from Teavivre.
The dry cake has an earthy scent to it, but I found the aroma to have more of a vegetal scent than an earthy one. But the reverse is true for the brewed tea: I’m finding the fragrance of the brewed liquid to smell more earthy than vegetative.
The flavor is both vegetative and earthy. The first infusion (following a 15 second rinse) tasted light and slightly dry. Earthy tones, yes, with hints of vegetation. It is quite mellow with a slight brine-like taste to it … I can almost taste a hint of salt, and I think that’s where I’m getting the aforementioned dryness from. Overall, I found my first cup to be lightly sweet and pleasant, with a mild, soothing taste.
I noticed more earthy notes begin to emerge with the second infusion, and a slight mushroom-y sort of flavor. The brine-y note from the first cup was no longer present, however, the dryness remained (although it was significantly less noticeable in this cup). Still mellow, the flavor deepened with this infusion, and it is still sweet and enjoyable.
With subsequent infusions, the earthy notes began to subside a little, making way for a more well-rounded flavor that I found to be both sweet and savory, with it leaning more toward the sweet than the savory.
I enjoyed the mild character of this tea. It was soothing and relaxing to sip, and especially nice after eating something spicy (wings!) … I found that it helped calm my belly after that meal. A very pleasing pu-erh!