Don’t blink or look at the price. This is the first part of a two episode series of extended sessions with a pair of very premium (and also very nice) young raw pu’erhs. First up is Essence of Tea’s Guafengzhai.
https://www.essenceoftea.com/2014-eot-guafengzhai-puerh-tea.html
Your episodes can never run too long.
Thanks Uncle Larry :).
Cheers,
-James
Thanks James
What are your thoughts re water temp? Lately I have been enjoying young tea like this with slightly cooler water. For me the balance between body and astringency is easier to navigate with slightly off the boil water. Looking forward to Last Thoughts.
Best
John
Personally, I find puerh will lose some of it’s complexity when the water temp cools down past a point (I would guess below 200°F). Less aromatics. I keep my water pretty hot/at the brink of boiling (again I guess, maybe 205°-210°) and use other brewing techniques to maintain a pleasant amount of astringency with stronger teas. I know people who do prefer lower temps though, even as low as 190°
Hi Brian & John,
Thanks for the comment. I am in a similar boat to Brian. I try to brew my pu’erh very hot, at boiling or recently off the boil.
Cheers,
-James
Brian and James
Yes, this makes sense. When I said slightly cooler I was meaning 200 degrees vs 212 degrees…in both cases still fairly hot. Thanks for your input.
best
John
Makes sense! I actually just got back from consecutive trips to the higher altitudes of Colorado and Bend. Water was definitely cooler there and required some adjustment.
I’m not even sure that you can get water to 200 where I was at in Colorado. Makes me curious about brewing up in the tea mountains.
Cheers,
-James
True tea geeks have no problems watching others drink tea for 20 minutes. Tea porn 😉
This is a superb tea I will say. I think it’s actually closer to $1.70+ a gram with the current exchange rate.
Thanks Brian! That’s a pretty steep price! I will try my best not to think about it when I session it again :).
-James
Hey James,
I really liked this episode. Definitely Lord of the Rings bro, haha!
I feel the length of this episode is better, at least for me. The other 8min or less ones are a tad too short. I like how you go through multiple steeps and explain in more detail. I think I may grab a sample of this.
Great stuff per usual. Keep it going!
-E
Thanks Eric! Interesting to hear that feedback. Will try to up these episodes a bit more in length.
Cheers,
-James
ps. Next week’s is similar to this one in format!
James,
The longer format is appropriate with teas of this caliber. One or two quick steeps is not enough to fully convey what is happening.
Good stuff as always.
Richard
Cool stuff James. I definitely enjoyed the longer episode, especially with a tea such as this, as others mentioned. I was wondering if you would be picking up any of the White2Tea spring collection to go over? Also I just had an idea to throw out of possibly doing a tea of the month report on the years new Spring production pu erh. I just thought it would be fascinating to compare teas all from this year from a few different vendors such as Crimson Lotus Tea, White2Tea, Yunnan Sourcing, Tea Urchin, etc. I’m not sure if logistically it would work but just an idea. Keep up the awesome content.
Great idea Paul
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