This was my wildcard tea of the order. A supposedly lost for 300 year Chinese tea that has recently resurfaced and is being made again. I hadn't paid much attention to the description beyond a quick glance and I was mainly intrigued by the similarity to Puer but without the earthyness. I went into it without re-reading the description and what was kind of neat was that my tasting notes matched almost exactly with the description once I went back and fully read it all... I went back because my notes were so odd. My exact notes: Puer. Tobacco. Sour. That last one was the oddball, but I had no other word to describe what I was smelling. To my surprise when I went to the website "sour" was referenced! Crazy. The actual flavor is like a slightly over-ripe fruit that has taken on a kind of "punky" beginning stages of spoiling flavor. I know this probably doesn't sound appetizing at all, but it is actually a pretty unique and interesting flavor. One I have never encountered in a tea before. It grows on you, it also softens in subsequent brewings which is nice. Certainly complex and a little strange, I'm glad I tried this one.
It actually comes in packets which have about 2-3g in them of loose tea which is also something I haven't seen before. This is a foreign experience from beginning to end. I haven't written a full post on it yet but I had to share because it was just so different.
- Dominic