/ck/ - Food & Cooking

Drinking the 2020 Happy Elephant Ripe Puerh

Boiling water - 7g, 150mL Yixing, 15s + 5s.
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I was thrown off guard by this. Scott at Yunnan Sourcing described it as sweet, so I expected sweet, but this is actually an incredibly broth-y ripe. First brew was very light colored, almost a caramel, but by the second brew it's black like you'd expect from a ripe. The flavor as well is a slow starter, starting as a weak ripe and evolving to be, to be frank, a little too strong by the 3rd brew.
A bitter, woody tone comes through from front to back. It almost conjures up memories of burning aspen logs in a wood stove, lacking the smokiness of the real experience. The wood flavor is definitely not very pleasant that it'd remind you of pinewood or cherry-wood or even oak. However it follows with a very thick liquor that tastes like a very well made mushroom broth, maybe even reminding me of beef broth.
Letting this cool down to room temperature, the broth entirely vanishes but the wood rounds out much better and reminds me of spruce rather than aspen. The flavor at the back of the throat entirely disappears, rather lingering near the teeth. I feel as this tea ages, it will actually end up being very good, but as a young ripe, it is decently disappointing.

For the price, I can not recommend this tea, but if you want something woody to age for a few years, it could be a decent investment. If you do end up getting this for any reason, I recommend you drink it in the peak of winter by the fire, as I can only imagine actual smokiness coming from a fireplace may trick the mind into thinking this is better developed than it is, or at least match the feeling of the moment.