Tag: The Chinese Tea Shop

1990’s Loose Leaf Pu’erh Tea (Ripe/Shou) by The Chinese Tea Shop
Pu’erh Tea / Straight
$38.00 for 50g

First Impressions

This 1990’s Loose Leaf Pu’erh Tea (Ripe/Shou) was a 2020 Vancouver Tea Festival purchase (and March feels so long ago now, especially when I consider that the tea festival happened the weekend prior to a pandemic being declared – a lot has happened since that weekend). This was really an on-a-whim purchase after having a chat with The Chinese Tea Shop’s owner, Daniel. Every year, I end up talking to him about tea and he’s a wealth of information (so is his shop’s website!). The 1990’s Loose Leaf Pu’erh Tea was a recommendation made by him, and I was easily persuaded to give it a try.

1990’s Loose Leaf Pu’erh Tea (Ripe/Shou) is a straight pu’erh tea, from the Yunnan, Xishuang Banna Region of China. The ripe/shou vs raw/shang categories of pu’erh will be discussed another day. The loose leaf tea comes in a plastic resealable pouch that has a clear front and white back and a simple label with not a lot of information – the product page on The Chinese Tea Shop’s website definitely has more. The leaves themselves are a dark reddish brown colour and there’s an aroma to the leaves that reminds me of figs and apricots.

Preparation

No steeping instructions on the packaging, but as per the website, The Chinese Tea Shop recommends 95-100°C (203-212°F) water for steeping pu’erh, and also the gongfu method of steeping. I’m still unpacking from my move, so I used a western style tea pot instead and steeped for 90 seconds using 100°C water.

First Taste

1990’s Loose Leaf Pu’erh Tea (Ripe/Shou) steeps to a deep, deep reddish brown colour. The aroma of the steeped tea mimics the flavour of the tea really well – I get a lot of earthy and malty notes, sweet fig and apricot flavours, and there’s a thickened mouthfeel to the tea itself. It’s very smooth though, with no bitterness detected.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped 1990’s Loose Leaf Pu’erh Tea (Ripe/Shou) six times (seven steeps total with the same leaves), and added an additional 15 seconds for each subsequent steep. The flavour remained consistent throughout, I found that the sweet fig and apricot flavours began to wane a bit by the third resteep, but was still detectable by the sixth resteep.

My Overall Impression

I loved The Chinese Tea Shop’s 1990’s Loose Leaf Pu’erh Tea (Ripe/Shou). The balance of flavours in this tea make for a tasty cup of tea, and I’m happy that the leaves resteep so well, especially since it’s not a particularly inexpensive tea. My best pro-tip to share when you’ve got an expensive tea is to always resteep it (unless you didn’t like it) and get all that flavour out of the leaves before green binning it. I found this pu’erh to be really easy to drink and I found the malty part balanced really well against the sweet fig and apricot flavours that I found in there.

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Vintage Wild Gushu Camphor Loose Leaf Pu’erh by The Chinese Tea Shop
Pu’erh / Straight
$41.00 for 20g

First Impressions

Not sure who I am and what have I done with Michelle, but this is another pu’erh review for a tea that I voluntarily purchased. Crazy things happened to my brain during the 2020 Vancouver Tea Festival and this is one of those purchases! This is the Vintage Wild Gushu Camphor Loose Leaf Pu’erh from The Chinese Tea Shop. This pu’erh is from the 1970’s, so even older than the last one I showcased here (from the 1990’s). Vintage Wild Gushu Camphor Loose Leaf Pu’erh comes in a resealable plastic pouch. Clear window in the front so you can see the tea leaves themselves (and don’t worry – I keep my tea away from light!).

Vintage Wild Gushu Camphor Loose Leaf Pu’erh has some amazingly huge leaves in the dried state. There some dark reddish brown colours  that are just lovely. It has a very soft aroma that reminds me of a bit of peaches, like the aroma that you smell when you walk by a pile of fruit at the grocery store. Just the aroma that wafts up at you when you walk by to entice you into purchasing that just ripened fruit. It’s subtle and doesn’t just smack you in the face, but it’s definitely present and enough to draw you in.

Preparation

No steeping instructions on the packaging, but there was plenty of information on The Chinese Tea Shop’s website. The Chinese Tea Shop recommends steeping in 95-100°C (203-212°F) water for short steeps in the gongfu method.

I opted to do an initial steep of Vintage Wild Gushu Camphor Loose Leaf Pu’erh at 100°C (212°F) water for 60 seconds.

First Taste

Vintage Wild Gushu Camphor Loose Leaf Pu’erh steeps to a deep burnt orange colour. The aroma is mostly earthy, with hints of sweetness in the background. The flavour of the tea is earthy and sweet, with some deep peach/stone fruit notes. It’s not quite as fresh peach aroma as the dry leaf, but still quite inviting. The texture of the tea is smooth, bold, with a slightly thickened mouthfeel. No bitterness, no astringency, and just the right amount of sweet to balance against the earthiness.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Vintage Wild Gushu Camphor Loose Leaf Pu’erh four times (five steeps total with the same leaves). I added an additional 30 seconds for each subsequent steep, and found the the flavour stayed very consistent throughout. It did wane in intensity, but the flavour profile stayed pretty similar to the initial steep with that earthiness, sweet, and peach/stone fruit notes.

My Overall Impression

I loved The Chinese Tea Shop’s Vintage Wild Gushu Camphor Loose Leaf Pu’erh. Is anyone else surprised? Maybe I do like pu’erh after all? This one has some great flavours – I loved the thickened texture that the pu’erh has, with the earthiness, peach notes, and just the right amount of sweetness that just makes it quite inviting. I think if this had been one of the earlier pu’erh teas that I tried, I would have liked it a lot better (who knows though, maybe not!). It’s just pleasant and enjoyable, and I like the depth of flavour in this aged tea.

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Ancient Camphor Wild Tree Loose Leaf Pu’erh by The Chinese Tea Shop
Pu’erh / Straight
$18.00 for 20g

First Impressions

I know, I know, I bought pu’erh. It’s just so out of character for me! I’ll reach for basically any other type of true tea before pu’erh (I’m terrible, I know). Ancient Camphor Wild Tree Loose Leaf Pu’erh is a purchase that I made from The Chinese Tea Shop at the 2020 Vancouver Tea Festival that I actually made on impulse. (That may apply to most of the purchases I made at the tea festival… if I’m being honest).

Ancient Camphor Wild Tree Loose Leaf Pu’erh comes in a resealable plastic pouch with a simple label on it. I found from the product page online that this tea is from Yunnan, Xishuang Banna Region, it’s considered a sheng (or raw) pu’erh, and it was harvested in the 1990s.

The leaves are dark, there’s a bit of colour variation throughout the leaves which is nice to see. The aroma of the dry leaf is a mix of earth and mushrooms with a hint of mineral quality to it that reminds me of the smell of mineral water. It’s basically intriguing and also one of the reasons that I wanted to buy it – who doesn’t want to drink tea from the 1990s?

Preparation

The Chinese Tea Shop recommends steeping pu’erh in 95-100°C (203-212°F) water, and also recommends using the gongfu method of steeping tea (which is basically seconds for very short steeps. I opted to do an initial steep of Ancient Camphor Wild Tree Loose Leaf Pu’erh for 1 minute (60 seconds) with 100°C (212°F) water as I was steeping it in western style tea pot.

First Taste

Ancient Camphor Wild Tree Loose Leaf Pu’erh steeps to a golden peachy colour pretty quickly. There’s a strong earthy flavour to it that continues to remind me of mushrooms with a subtle sweetness throughout. It’s pleasant and enjoyable, which I do find to be a surprise to me since I normally don’t gravitate towards pu’erhs but here I am – buying and drinking it.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Ancient Camphor Wild Tree Loose Leaf Pu’erh six times (seven steeps total), adding an additional 30 seconds for each subsequent steep. I found that the flavour got stronger in resteep 1 and 2, and then got weaker after that. The flavour of the tea remained consistent throughout all the steeps.

My Overall Impression

I loved The Chinese Tea Shop’s Ancient Camphor Wild Tree Loose Leaf Pu’erh. While I did make this purchase on whim – because why not? – I found the dry leaf aroma and the steeped tea to be both intriguing and inviting. I really enjoyed the flavours from this raw pu’erh, and it was really nice to get the opportunity to try out a tea that’s been aged. I think the flavour is really nice with that earthy quality, and I really liked how well the tea resteeped and stayed pretty true to the initial steep.

Curious about the cup rating system? Click here to learn more.