jogrebe wrote:lenny7 wrote:Have you tried any of the pu-erh at Indigo Tea in Burnsville? If so, is any of it even close? They list three kinds
here. I'm heading there today or tomorrow any will probably try some.
Yes I had them around a year ago. The Tuo Cha was the best than the other two and the organic one was the worse.
I stopped by Indigo Tea last Sunday and ordered a mug of the Tuo Cha. I don't think too many folks order it as the owner seemed pleasantly surprised when I did. I just ordered a mug of it but he told me that it would enough flavor for a whole pot. I nodded in the affirmative, expecting to pay for a pot, but he only charged me for a mug (which was $1.95, not the amount I earlier mentioned.). Not only that but he said I could get another great infusion out of it so he told me to come back up when I finished the first pot and he'd add water for a second pot, no extra charge. Ya gotta love that attitude. It paid off for him though, after I bought $30 worth of tea there.
I had read about many infusions when drinking puerh and was surprised when he told me how he did it. He broke the tuo cha in half, then started with a quick rinse with boiling water, followed by a 3 minute steep. For the second infusion he suggested 1 to 2 minutes.
Now I'm certainly not in any position to offer a review of the tea, considering this was my first puerh, but I can give my impressions.
My first impression was, "whoa...this is some funky stuff", and I didn't think that in a good way. It was a little pungent, a little off-smelling. I can't even describe the flavor. The second cup left me with the impression that, "I guess this isn't so bad, but one pot will be enough". By the third and final cup of the pot I was to the point of "Wow, this is starting to get pretty good" and I eagerly refilled the pot for the second infusion. The second pot wasn't quite as good as the first, losing some of the potency of the flavor, but still quite enjoyable.
The owner seemed to really enjoy talking to me about the pu-erh teas and the tuo chas and about the prevalence of counterfeit pu-erhs out there and how he thinks the price is a bit too high right now, and how wayback when they'd string the tuo cha's on string and use them as currency.
They sell the tuo cha's for 50¢ a tuo cha or $6.25 for 4 oz, which came out to 27 tuo's in the 4 oz I bought.
I look forward to comparing this with others I get a chance to try.