Japanese Pu'Erh / Pink Tea

[jayinhk]

Tried the goishicha and whew! Serious umami. The range of flavors possible with tea is incredible. Goishicha would definitely work with congee, but it's not something I'd want to drink regularly on its own! Quite a pleasant flavor under the umami and savory notes, though, which makes this a very interesting tea!

[jayinhk]

Tried the battabatcha...not as earthy as I expected (some HK traditional storage stuff is much more earthy before airing out) and smells almost smokey. Like the goishicha, there was a distinct pleasant note under the fermentation flavors--in this case, there was a note that tasted like later infusions of high fire tieguanyin. Very strange. Again, not a tea I'd want to drink all the time, but I'm very glad to have had the opportunity to try it!

[Alucard]

Tried the goishicha and whew! Serious umami. The range of flavors possible with tea is incredible. Goishicha would definitely work with congee, but it's not something I'd want to drink regularly on its own! Quite a pleasant flavor under the umami and savory notes, though, which makes this a very interesting tea!

I got the sample pack today. Opened them up and smelled them. I will let them sit for a day or two before trying.

3 smell like a soft woodiness
Awa smells like olives
and then we get to Goishicha, wow. very dense smell. beef bullion cubes comes to mind

Can't wait to try them. How did you brew the Goishicha? Based on smell I'm going 0.5gr in 120ml gaiwan. Maybe even 0.25gr to start.

[jayinhk]

Tried the goishicha and whew! Serious umami. The range of flavors possible with tea is incredible. Goishicha would definitely work with congee, but it's not something I'd want to drink regularly on its own! Quite a pleasant flavor under the umami and savory notes, though, which makes this a very interesting tea!

I got the sample pack today. Opened them up and smelled them. I will let them sit for a day or two before trying.

3 smell like a soft woodiness
Awa smells like olives
and then we get to Goishicha, wow. very dense smell. beef bullion cubes comes to mind

Can't wait to try them. How did you brew the Goishicha? Based on smell I'm going 0.5gr in 120ml gaiwan. Maybe even 0.25gr to start.

Beef bouillon fits rather well actually. I used the full 0.5g and felt it was rather weak in a 150ml easy gaiwan. I'd suggest using the full 0.5g. I rinsed once. This tea is probably better boiled as suggested. I did what I could to keep the heat up but at 0.5g, each infusion was mild. That's probably a good thing.

I bet congee or even savory oatmeal made with that tea would be great!

[whatsinaname]

I bought a few of the Yunomi tasting sets.
I brewed all of these samples gongfu style in a porcelain gaiwan.

I loved the Tosa Bancha. It had the texture of very good tea, thick and oily. Reminded me of a roasted oolong, in a way. Lovely tea. 3 good steeps.

Batabatacha had that lovely forest floor aroma and flavor. Wonderfully odd and different, if you like funky tea. $250/kg. Yikes!

The Goishicha was wonderful as well, gently roasty and sweet. Another texture bomb, good tea quality. 3 excellent brews. $460/kg. Woah!

They sent me a sencha sample with two pyramid bags. Delicious green tea, but not my cuppa.

When did tea get so expensive?! Glad I have dozens of puerh cakes to drink into my twilight years.

Thanks for the chance to try these unique Japanese teas!