Today I drank an unknown type of tea. All I know about it is that it was mislabeled puer and was from Hunnan. It was some type of hei cha or dark tea. It had a most interesting flavor. I am on the fence as to whether I really liked it or not. Bought it from a local store called The Pleasures of Tea. It is hard to describe the taste and I don’t know how to describe the prominent note it had. This note was both sweet and a little bit sour in truth. It was some form of dark tea. It was dark like a shou but without any real fermentation flavor to it so I don’t think it was a fermented dark tea. I have no real idea as to the age of the tea. The best way I can describe it’s taste is as a cross between a sheng, a shou, and a black tea. It had little bitterness to it and in it’s own way was quite smooth. I didn’t seem to have any qi. I don’t think that the store, The Pleasures of Tea, lists this on their website. I don’t think I would buy it again. I don’t really hate it but I don’t really love it either. To me this tea still says “I don’t know” even after eight steeps.
I brewed this eight times in a 120ml gaiwan with 9.1g leaf and boiling water. I gave it a 10 second rinse and a 10 minute rest. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, and 30 sec.
