#puerh

wip

a very interesting sheng puerh, 2024 white swan from white2tea. wet leaves have a strong smell of wet iron, almost like blood. not too much astringency for a young sheng, and a very fruity profile, like apricot jam; a bit of smokiness coming through in later steeps. i might be on my way to becoming a sheng lover.

small batch shou puerh from 2020. i've previously mentioned i like to brew my shous dark and this one does not disappoint, look at that colour after only a short steep 🖤

Another round of teapots done firing!

2023 en passant, a shou puerh from white2tea. a pleasant shou, but not a particular standout to me; i didn't push it too hard because i got some bitterness in the early steeps, and so proceeded with caution afterwards, but even so it lost steam rather quickly.

941 sheng puerh from white2tea. this is pretty approachable as far as sheng goes. i've previously stuggled with bitterness in sheng, but i read that leaving the tea in the covered gaiwan for 5 minutes after the rinse helps, and after trying it i agree. i still wouldn't rank it above a good oolong, white, or black tea, and i think i'm more team shou than sheng, but i feel like i'm closer to 'getting it'. that's just my pedestrian opinion, though.

2018 smoove cocoa: thick, strong liquour, as illustrated by that mid-pour photo. a nice rounded shou. i didn't pay as much attention to it as i might've because i was helping my dad prepare his food technology class about tea, incidentally. ended up down a rabbit hole about mycotoxins in puerh that kind of made me wish i still did biochem/microbiology research so i could pursue that line of investigation further.

It doesn't taste bad I just didn't expect it.