I am no expert in Puerh only started to dip into it a couple years ago. It is an interesting kind of tea. More a living product than a finished one, full of possibilities, it could go in many directions, and you need to take care of this tea. As one of these famous quotes says, it’s about the journey, not the destination.

Another thing I like is how people react to them. Some have strong reactions to them, bad and good. Puerh is different in many ways, usually not what one expects, both in taste, intensity, or sometimes both.

First brew

Perhaps I did not put enough leaves for this brew. It is quite a light brew, sweet nonetheless, and easy to drink. The wet leaves are still tight. They will develop more in the next steepings.

Some time has passed since the last time I sat down and wrote. It does seem I have already forgotten how to brew, write and drink at the same time. It is a weird rhythm. February is soon coming to a close. After being sick at home since early January, it feels like this is the beginning of the year. I had a lot of time to think about what to do with the blog, but not enough energy to do everything either some days.

The cold is starting to go away, the sun is peeking out more often than before, and the plants at home seem more thirsty than usual. Waking up after winter, finally. Feels like I have been in the same cycle too, and just coming out of it.

Second brew

The brew has a stronger colour, and the aroma is more pronounced. The wet leaves smell sweet but more intense than before, with something like bark or forest trees, in a good way. Hints of flower or a sort of sweetness like that, as I said, not experienced with puerh. Drinkers of these beautiful teas than me will have their own opinions.

I wish I had been introduced to this kind of tea much before. There is much to learn about it.

Third brew

This tea continues to evolve. It is so smooth. After drinking it, it leaves you with a perfectly clean aftertaste that makes me salivate. It maintains a sweetness and roundness as it cools down. It was lighter in the previous steepings.

I will see what specifics I find before publishing this post. I am curious to learn more about this tea.

Ps: On the vendor site, Teas We Like, it says: “Quite sweet, resinous and herbal, decent thickness, good longevity, and good energy.” Not that far off!

A tea from Menghai Tea Factory. Not too young, not old enough to be in another category.

This tea is a 1/4 cake I both as an Introduction to Sheng Puerh set, together with 3 others. This one is my favourite so far. Don’t think I have written about the other ones yet, eventually.

Morning brew is a kind of post where I go to the tea cabinet and pick something that interests me, some teapot I like and a fountain pen and paper. Loosely structured, just sitting down, drinking and writing. Would love to do something similar to a podcast format one day.

Fourth brew

I have increased the temperature bit by bit during the steeps. This one is by far the most aromatic of all. The sweet smell I cannot identify is more prominent, with woody, forest and some dark green leaf notes.

The flavour is surprisingly smooth. Considering how the aroma developed much more in this brew. Interesting. I really need to learn more about this style of tea. Will drink a couple more steepings on my own and keep the post until around here, I suppose.

For the blog, I am starting to organise it in a 3 style fashion. First, the morning brews, an informal post, loosely structured, minimally edited, except when I cannot read my handwriting…

Second, regular posts on different topics, like books, events, news, ideas and other tea-related. These regular posts are a bit more structured, opinionated and edited.

Third is note posts, more complex, structured and referenced posts. In my mind, it should be in a completely different system. One like Obsidian or Roam research where you could interlink the notes. All the topics have some connection to others, and it needs to be updated and taken care of from time to time. This is a digital tea garden, after all.

I should probably write this on the about page as well. If you are reading this, now you know. Have a great day.