Pu Erh with Earl Grey flavor

Shou (or cooked/ripened) puer often gets a bum rap. Some of that is deserved depending on quality. Many tea novices don't like it on first taste because it is so entirely different from anything they've ever tried. It is a strong-willed beverage with many characteristics, some a little too strong for the palate. I have developed a reluctant respect for it. That said, shou puer has found a place as an excellent base to blends, sometimes even more so than black tea. Red Leaf Tea, however, does something even I haven't tried and paired it with bergamot flavoring.

The appearance for this batch puzzled me. Most of the leaves looked liked curled and composted puer, but there were also strands that resembled (oddly enough) Silver Needle white tea. Those leaves also threw off my guess as to whether or not this was a cooked puer. It could've been a mistake with the batch, or the way it was processed, either way a pleasant surprise. The fragrance resembled the usual citrus-sour bergamot of Earls gone by, but it had a dusty scent to it - close to earthy. I likened it to a fruit bowl left in a retirement home closet (minus the formaldehyde).

Brewing instructions called for 3 grams of shavings from the puer cake, brewed in 6oz of boiled water for five-to-seven minutes. Since what I had was an already-shaved sample, I went with a teaspoon-worth for five minutes. I was in a wee bit of a hurry.

Through the transparent glass, the water infused to a rusty brown; inevitable for a cooked puer. The steam emanating from the mouthpiece had the aroma of chopped grapefruit. Something about the bergamot coupled with shou puer's natural earthiness created something different entirely. The taste also lacked the weaknesses of both. Lacking were bergamot's usual sour astringency and shou fish-like "ancient" flavor. The mix is a pleasant one I hope to revisit.

Geoff - Teaviews.com - Reviewer