Country of Origin: China
Leaf Appearance: dark, tightly compressed
Ingredients: puerh tea
Steep time: 30 seconds
Water Temperature: 212 degrees
Preparation Method: porcelain gaiwan
Liquor: very dark, almost black
You all know how much I love raw puerh. Shu has never really been my thing, mostly because a lot of what is out there simply isn’t good tea. +Crimson Lotus Tea threw a sample of this in with my recent order and I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised. It was the first really cold day of fall and a darker tea just felt more appropriate. After a quick rinse it brewed up incredibly dark, so much so that it was almost opaque. The taste was much more complex than I would have expected. It was sweet and earthy with notes of molasses and just a hint of a smoke in the background. The leaves went on forever too. I drank this one all night and it never seemed to loose steam. It’s rare to see a shu puerh that is made from gushu leaves but the difference in quality really shows. The main reason for placing my order was that I had fallen in love with the adorable piggy tea pets they had. I’ll be holding a contest soon to name the happy little fellow.
2012 Bulang Gushu “Ancient Tree” Ripe Puerh sample received with order from Crimson Lotus Tea.