TeaChat

My notes for this one aren't very detailed.

6 g in a 6 oz gaiwan.

One rinse.

The 1st few infusions were quickies; then 20s, 45s, 90s, 3 min. It held up for quite a few infusions (I lost count).

Very dark brew, reddish, mild, tasting faintly of potato peelings. A faint sweet note surfaced for a while, then disappeared in later infusions.

Overall impression: mild, unobjectionable, long-lasting.

6 g in 6 oz gaiwan, one rinse.
1st: 15-20 sec. Dark orange. Pleasant, smooth, mild hint of potato peelings.
2nd: ~30 sec. Very dark. Mildly smoky, hint of potato peelings, rather thin texture.
3rd & 4th: 15-20 sec. Dark. More earthy, but with a faintly sweet note.
5th: 1 min. Color lightening, flavor still mild, sweet, vaguely earthy.
6th: 2 min. Thicker, earthier, no sweetness. Still fairly mild. Followed by infusions of 5 min & 10 min: very mild, w/ the sweetness returning. A final infusion of 15 min.

I enjoyed this one enough to buy a tuocha; I may buy more.

Dizzwave wrote:2006 Changtai Banna Tuocha
This tuo breaks up very nicely and easily. I used my bare hands to break off a single good-sized chunk.. 5-7g I'm guessing.
Dry leaves in prewarmed gaiwan smell rich and chocolatey. After rinsing 2x

I tasted fruit, unrecognizable and sweetness. Not chocolate though. Barely detectable camphor flavor at the end.

Dizzwave wrote:I'm looking for Bears' sweet onion, but not finding it. Or am I? Come to think of it... Anyway, it's still thick and rich. I'm really liking this one.
4: ~17s. Losing a little of the richness, as expected, but still pretty durned good. I'm getting an interesting aftertaste, perhaps the herb that B3 mentioned. A touch of pucker-mouth astringency,

Maybe the "clean" taste I am describing is astringency? I couldn't find the sweet onion either! LOL hmmmm.

I wish that this had been my first Pu Ehr.

I picked up the 2003 Xiaguan Tuocha in one of my last orders (the day before all these samplers went up... doh!) I too found it quite off. It crumbled in my fingers which should have been a sign. I brewed it up and found it to be not far off my experience with the 2000 Bulk Mini Pu-erh Tea Brick, muddy merky and not pleasing.

The great thing is I emailed Pu Shop and they took the toucha back in return, no questions asked, no problems 1-2-3 done. I have to say that their response to taking this less than great tea back was a really solid move, but after having this tea I'm no longer going to look to their site for advice on what's a 'good pu erh'.

1 out of 5 stars

GeoffK wrote: I'm no longer going to look to their site for advice on what's a 'good pu erh'.

I have yet to find any vendor site the advice of which I put any stock in at all. I don't know what it is, but this applies to even my favorite, most frequented vendors. I have learned to let my eyes glaze over when I read the vendor description. A TeaBuddy's advice is worth infinitely more.

augie wrote: I tasted fruit, unrecognizable and sweetness. Not chocolate though. Barely detectable camphor flavor at the end.

I've had this a few more times since my review, and the chocolate hasn't come back much if at all. Maybe I should do what Bears does, and not review it until I've drunk it at least twice..

I wish I knew what camphor tasted like!
-dave

http://puerhfectcup.blogspot.com/2008/0 ... u-erh.html

I didn't actually buy the tasting kit, but sal sent me sample of this so I figured I would share

Nice review, Poly, thanks for sharing your thoughts.

I didn't get the tasting kit, but have had samples of all of them.

The Changtai Banna Toucha is worth it as a cheap pu, the rest are crap IMO.

The Yunmei isn't all that great now but the crisp clean bitter aftertaste gives me small hope (not enough to buy it, but enough to keep my sample out of curiosity). I wonder if a few more years might turn the bitter into better.

I'm finding these review threads more useful as a device to weed out the people smoking crack or who are just generally clueless than as advice on the pu. lol. Keep the reviews coming so I can know if you are full of it or not.

tenuki wrote:I'm finding these review threads more useful as a device to weed out the people smoking crack or who are just generally clueless than as advice on the pu. lol. Keep the reviews coming so I can know if you are full of it or not.

Am I full of it Tenuki? Am I just generally clueless, or just smoking crack? lol

PolyhymnianMuse wrote:Am I full of it Tenuki? Am I just generally clueless, or just smoking crack?

Well, I hope you are not smoking crack, but the other 2 alternatives are not very attractive either!

Salsero wrote:

PolyhymnianMuse wrote:Am I full of it Tenuki? Am I just generally clueless, or just smoking crack?

Well, I hope you are not smoking crack, but the other 2 alternatives are not very attractive either!

Yea sal your deff right, I should have put an "or other" in there haha.

The only one I know for sure is full of it is Tenuki. What an arrogant bastard.

tenuki wrote:The only one I know for sure is full of it is Tenuki. What an arrogant bastard.

I'm not gonna stand around and let you say terrible things like that about Tenuki!

Wanna fight?

Salsero wrote:

tenuki wrote:The only one I know for sure is full of it is Tenuki. What an arrogant bastard.

I'm not gonna stand around and let you say terrible things like that about Tenuki!

Wanna fight?