Erik Drews

SOS ComAlt

Week 6 Tasting lab

This week we had another tea tasting, but instead of tasting a green tea, an oolong tea and a pu-ere, we tasted two different types of pu-ere. One of which we tasted three times as it was steeped three times. The raw pu-ere is fermented for 10-50 years whereas the “cooked” pu-ere is is fermented much quicker and only takes 45-60 days.

The first rinse of the raw pu-ere produced a yellowish brown tea that was rather translucent. Its aroma reminded me more of green tea, but the hydrated leaves smelled vegetal. The flavor of this tea was very bitter and earthy. The flavor was very different from the aroma, it had a smokiness about it that had somewhat of a drying effect on my mouth.

The second rinse of the raw pu-ere had a clear but a little darker appearance. Its aroma became floral, and its flavor was noticeably sweeter than the first rinse. The sweetness was accompanied by a grassy, undergrowth type flavor that tasted delitefully swampy to me. The third steeping of the raw pu-ere’s aroma seemed somewhat diluted compared to the 2nd steeping which seemed more concentrated than the first. The appearance was a little more yellow than the others and maybe a little bit lighter. The flavor was super bitter with the same musty type of swampiness but less of it. The flavor hits the front and center of my tongue and had a smoky drying effect on my mouth.

The “cooked” pu-ere was really dark in appearance almost red with more sediment at the bottom of the cup and a similar translucence. The aroma was woody, and sweet. It reminded me of dried grass and minerals. Much like the raw pu-ere the cooked pu-ere was smoky and earthy. It was less bitter but still had a dryness about it.