I thought that my first foray into the world of pu-er warranted its own entry. Today I’ll discuss three other teas that came with the pu-er in my recent Tao of Tea order: one black, one green, one oolong.
Black Bear Second Flush Darjeeling ($3.50/oz.) – This is an excellent tea. The website describes it as having a “fragrant, floral-rose aroma with a hint of camphor.” Not sure I get the camphor, but the flowery quality is definitely there. One of the best second flush Darjeelings I’ve had, although I still have to confess a slight preference for the first flush. The dry tea is beautiful to look at, consisting of long, chocolate-colored curls of leaves, the buds covered in fine, silver hairs.
Sencha Kenjyo ($18.00/oz.) – Yes, $18 an ounce is very expensive and I’m not likely to splurge like that again in the near future, but this stuff is really good. An ounce (which is all I ordered) goes a very long way with this tea. The leaves are emerald green and very finely chopped into tiny needles. Only a tiny amount of leaf is required to make a big pot of an almost fluorescent green brew. The scent is amazing, a bit like fresh spinach. I had always been a little puzzled by reading descriptions of some teas as “buttery,” but now I know what a buttery tea tastes like. It has a rich, coating dairy-like mouth feel that I have not encountered in green tea before. This definitely opened my eyes to the amount of diversity in Japanese greens and I will be trying more of these.
Strong Fire Oolong ($3.00/oz.) – This is a highly roasted Tie Guan Yin from Taiwan. I was a little scared when I first examined the dry tea. It looks and smells like charcoal. I didn’t see how the brew could taste any way other than burnt. As it turns out, the tea is not half bad. It has kind of a toasty, grainy quality that reminds me a little of Postum, if any of you remember that stuff, or maybe Hojicha. Definitely not a great oolong, but not bad for the price and certainly interesting. I’m drinking a third infusion of it right now and I could probably get more out of it if I wanted to.