white2tea’s 2019 Waffles | Tea Review

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Every so often I like having a simple tea session without having to measure tea. Therefore, this pre-proportion tea cake came in handy!

Description: “An excellent everyday ripe Puer tea, with a soft sweetness and a smooth warming body.”

Instructions: 1 g of tea per 15 ml of water in small teapot or gaiwan. | Rinse once; steep the 1st steep for 5 sec, then add 5 sec for each additional steep[.] | Too weak? Steep longer | Too strong? Remove leaf  | Ripe Puer: 100°C

Review: I first saw this tea on Instagram and the waffle pattern was too lovely not to try! I personally really enjoyed pre-portion tea cakes since it removes the worry about having to measure the tea. Then I only need to focus on tea temperature and water amount. Therefore, this week I will be tasting this shou (ripe) pu-er and next week I trying a white tea with the same pattern!

The shou pu-er came in a tightly pressed thin cake, much thinner than I normally expect when it comes to pressed cakes. If it weren’t for the brown colour, it really did look like a waffle! I did not require any tools to break the cake as it was easy to enough to use my hands.

The dry leaves had a fairly consistent dark brown colour with some lighter leaves in the mix and had a musky earthy mellow vibe. After pre-warming the gaiwan and putting the block of tea in the vessel, the leaves had a fermented, earthy, mushroom, yeast, and damp earthy smell. After a quick rinse, the leaves started to unfurl.

Infusion 1 (5 seconds): The liquor had a pale reddish brown colour with some dusting at the bottom of the cup. The taste was mild earthy, woody, and musky.

Infusion 2 (10 seconds): The flavour profile was very similar to the first infusion but the liquor was a darker cloudy brown colour. It still tasted earthy and woodsy with some additional damp earthy and mushroom notes and astringency at the end of the sip.

Infusion 3 (15 seconds): The liquor was a dark mahogany colour with a smoky quality alongside the earthy, damp moss, and fermented notes.

Infusion 4 (20 seconds): During this infusion, the liquor became a dark murky reddish brown colour that I associate with pu-erh at dim sum that sits in the tea pot. It had a strong fermented earth taste and smell.

Infusion 5 (25 seconds): The colour was a dark colour, like Coca-Cola. The taste was strong, earthy, fermented, metallic, and mineral.

Infusion 6 (30 seconds): The flavour was weaker, but still carried a strong earthy note.

Infusion 7 (35 seconds): The liquor remained a dark brown colour that was barely see through with the earthy notes lingering at the back of the throat alongside some astringency.

Infusion 8 (40 seconds): After 8 infusions, the liquor was a lighter reddish brown colours, similar to the earlier infusions. It had a mellow earthy, wet moss taste and the sip ended off with astringency.

After infusing, the wet leaves was a dark almost black colour with a smoked, earthy, fermented smell, The pieces were small and broken and was made of leaves and steams.

Overall, the liquor had a nice range of flavours and I could see this being a good tea to introduce to someone who has never tried pu-er. It was easy to brew and difficult to brew wrong. This tea would also work really well using grandpapa style as you could just break off a piece of the tea cake and brew away! Overall, I liked the classic pu-er taste and how easy it was to brew (3.5/5 rating).

The question of the post: What do you think of pre-portioned tea cakes?