It was my first purple puer. The cake was not particularly tightly pressed but still required patience and my newly purchased puer needle to separate without turning half of it it into dust. The leaves are large and appear to be black but steeping reveals them to be mostly green.
I have not had much of luck with my puers so far: I stick to cheap products and in that range raw puer is barely drinkable and ripe ones are pleasant but rather lack in complexity. And this purple puer turned out to be a very pleasant surprise in that respect. First, its taste and aroma are decidedly different from other puers I tried. I did the short steepings (10-12 seconds), which produced an interesting mix of lingonberries, red currant, cranberries, black currant leaves and the overripe blackberries that were sitting in the hot sun for a bit. And some honeyed sweetness. The aroma is very intense and consists of the same components.
I got no less than 7-8 good steepings out of it. As usual, only the first couple of them were remarkably complex , but the next 5-6 steepings were very pleasant nevertheless, with the cranberry/lingonberry sourness coming to the fore in the steepings 3-5 , while last steepings were full of calming sweetness. All in all, it is a very interesting tea that gives you a very different taste depending on the duration and number of steepings, which gives ample space for exploration and experimentation. Every time I drink it I pick up something new., it is never boring and repetitive.
Flavors: Black Currant, Blackberry, Cherry, Cranberry, Honey
