A little research on yesterdays new tea, 'Yunnan Gongfu Fragrant Black' confirms my initial thoughts.
In yesterday's post about my initial impressions of Teavivre's Gongfu Fragrant Black I was sure I tasted Puerh. And it warmed my heart a little to taste it, I was surprised to find sipping this black tea brought back some good nostalgia of my Puerh sessions, which you know have not been resounding successes. Positive feelings of nostalgia towards something I am fairly sure I don't like tells me there is a truth beyond my reactionary first thoughts. Not with every Puerh I've had thus far until a 'maybe there is something there' moment or two I had with Yunnan Sourcing's Hui Run ripe Puerh two nights prior, and I believe the positive associations were about that Puerh in particular. Again I must take this opportunity to thank Scott from Yunnan Sourcing for sending this sample, and giving me more chances to work on getting to know Puerhs. Now back to the subject at hand! I am still loving this Gongfu Fragrant Black from Teavivre the next morning, though I think I just wore the poor four gram sample to its final end with this third steep of the morning, but it survived at least six steeps yesterday and another three today makes it a winner for me, and one I think i will buy to have as a daily drinker. On a side note, this is also the first time I have left used leaves in the Gaiwan to continue a session the next day.
Anyway, my small amount of research tells me I am not totally hallucinating the Puerh notes in this tea, by telling me the following from Teavive's site...
"Gong Fu fragrance black tea is a tasty spring tea with infusion-enduring taste. The first two infusions have soft, mellow mouthfeel with slight sugar cane sweetness in the throat and at the bottom of cup a hint of milky flavor remains. But from the third infusion it presents a flavor, reminiscent of raw pu-erh tea, helping produce saliva."
Yes! I was right! And this means I am on the right path, this black tea path towards maturing my taste-buds in a direction that will allow me to experience Puerhs with a more open mind. This is a gateway tea!
