My $.02 on Changtai banna Toucha

[augie]

From Taste of Mellowness sample @ Pu Ehr Shop:


Seeing Triox's Noritake cup inspired me to get my Blue Rose out of it's padded storage and use it! I tried out the 2006 Bhangtai Banna toucha from the Taste of Mellowness sample from PES. It's fabulous, love it. HATE all the extras that came with it! I tried to gently pry it apart to save the tag imbedded and ripped it. Found what looked like a hair, but was probably a nylon thread. Then I found an actual cotton thread from someone's clothing. Then I found a minuscule pebble (I hope) in the center! I realize it's probably no worse than the average Oscar Meyer Weiner. I'll still drink it despite the gruesome findings! No rodent parts (recognizable ).

It is absolutely mellow. Smooth feel, almost silky, and very clean, mild taste on the second infusion. I can barely detect a mild earthy fragrance with camphor at the end. My tongue might be ruined from years of coffee drinking, but I can hardly taste any of the camphor as much as I can smell. I know I have enough pu ehr, and i brewed one minute +/-.

Went back for a second infusion, examined the toucha to find another 2 tiny pieces of itsy bitsy minuscule rock. In the center, not around the outer or inside edge.

Forgive me, but did anyone else try and post their review on this?
DUH, Bears did. His infusion looks darker and about the same amount of tea. hmmmmmmm . . .

[Salsero]

Very lovely post. Yes, there are other reviews of this one in the Taste of Mellowness sticky thread in the Puerh Forum, but none in a Euro style cup. I did not have such bad luck finding extraneous junk in it ... actually all I found was tea!

[augie]

Very lovely post. Yes, there are other reviews of this one in the Taste of Mellowness sticky thread in the Puerh Forum, but none in a Euro style cup. I did not have such bad luck finding extraneous junk in it ... actually all I found was tea!

Like finding a cherry stone in a pie, maybe the little "surprises" are lucky! You think? I posted my reply in that thread. I got a slightly different taste from others, but my cup above is light brew compared to theirs. Looks like the same amt of leaf (I did NOT weigh) so maybe brew time. I'll keep trying.

My biggest regret in life is not finding this sample offer as my first Pu Ehr experience. however, I did stick with it.

[Salsero]

I think it is safe to assume that it is good luck. I also think it is safe to assume that most of these food analogies that people use (like "chocolate") should be taken with a highly qualified grain of salt.

[GeoffK]

My general take on it was... Not bad.

I mean it's a $4.99 100g cooked pu. In that space i think it brings the goods and delivers a very drinkable shu at a real reasonable price. I liked the camphor undertones and the cool hui gan. It's also has a mellow chi to it.

[augie]

My general take on it was... Not bad.

I mean it's a $4.99 100g cooked pu. In that space i think it brings the goods and delivers a very drinkable shu at a real reasonable price. I liked the camphor undertones and the cool hui gan. It's also has a mellow chi to it.

Did you find a few foreign objects in your toucha? My first thought when I opened it was, "dang, what is all this stuff?"

[brandon]

I found no such thing. Right now I am loving this, as well as the Haiwan brick. As far as disgusting things go, decomposing compressed nuggets of Yunnan tea leaf is some pretty nasty looking stuff.

[Dizzwave]

Did you find a few foreign objects in your toucha?

Hey Augie,
I also found some cotton thread in my Banna tuocha. In other bricks/cakes/tuos I often find hair, and recently found 2 small pieces of broken glass (in a mini tuocha). I've heard of feathers, cigarette butts, and all kinds of things found in tea!
I don't really mind. Finding things in my tea reminds me that the tea comes from a REAL place (not just "the store" or "the internet") that happens to be on the other side of the world. In fact, when I find a hair, I'm kinda like "Wow! This probably belonged to the person that picked (or processed) my tea leaves!"

Anyway -- that's part of why we rinse our tea. My 2c.

-dave

[Trioxin]

Sweet... I'm setting trends with my Mikasas. Maybe with my next review I'll brew into my rice bowls and see if I can't convert a few more more people to untraditional tea ware.

Nice review by the way. I've also found strange things in some of my cakes. Mainly hair and various strings and twine. I've ingested worse things though, like white zinfandel.

[GeoffK]

Did you find a few foreign objects in your toucha? My first thought when I opened it was, "dang, what is all this stuff?"

Nope nothing in the toucha that shouldn't be there. I'm actually NOT a fan of finding crap in my tea. I realize that inevitably things find their way into tea, but I think if it's well prepared and cared for you won't find tons of crap in there.

Honestly my 'quest for the affordable tea' has quickly come to an end. Enough bad teas that taste like they should cost almost nothing has got me focused on buying less but much higher quality tea.

I'll probably post my bargain pu rant in separate new thread

- G

[jogrebe]

Interesting, I did not find anything inside my Changtai banna Toucha and I bought an entire tuocha and broke it up all at once. I guess it must have been the luck of the draw.

[tenuki]

I drank some of this too.

[Salsero]

Interesting, I did not find anything inside my Changtai banna Toucha ... luck of the draw.

Mine was also clean. Go figure!