'Big Blessing' Shou Puerh 2008, a warm embrace that lingers.

(First steep after two quick rinses)

This is another of those gems from Hidden Peak Tea-house in Santa Cruz, California. I wrote earlier about how you can buy everything they offer in ten gram samples for as low as $4.00 and this is one of those. I love this Big Blessing. It is, well, you know....a big blessing.
After two quick rinses at just under boil, the first drinking steep is just warm and delightful. Not a negative element to mention, just warming and easy and full of good cheer. Second steep, the same, flavors are changing slowly as the tea awakes. The infusion get better and better. It may not be a complex enough Puerh for more seasoned drinkers, but for a newbie this would be a perfect introductory tea into the world of Puerh. Had I started with this as my first Puerh, I would have gotten on the band-wagon far sooner instead of tip-toeing around Puerhs for months as I have been. This one is full of a smiling, happy-to-know-you kind-of Chi! And let's not 'bury the lead', as you can see in this photo this Big Blessing is a mere $4.00 for a ten gram sample.

Let's see what the Hidden Peak website has to say for themselves and their Big Blessing, shall we?

FACTS

• Vintage: 2008
• Category: Shou
• Format: Beeng Cha (round tea cake)
• Leaf Grade: Blended
• Growing Region: Tengchong
• Seed-grown, organic plants
• After-matured (1/2 year) and stored by the tea masters who made this tea

Sourced through a family friend in the Himalayan foothill village of Tengchong. This tea puts a smile on your face, due, in part we believe, to the jovial demeanor of the woman in charge of its production - a jolly tea master devoted to showcasing the best qualities of her region.

Grown at high elevation in sprawling, spacious gardens, the tea has the benefit of the cleanest air, water, and rich volcanic soil. A friendly tea that transports you, wherever you are, to the old world ambiance of the Himalayas.

OK! That was cool. What else is here from Hidden Peak we can read? How about this?

"The Big Blessing has complexity in its nature due to the distinctly unique raw materials in the blend. We have found, through gung fu manipulation, that you can exalt different elements as you wish - once you get familiar with it.

Wet Leaf:

rust colored, highly dense pressed leaf showing heavy fermentation • visible blend of broken, coarse leaf and young tip shoots

Broth:

ripe, dense, thick • unctuous liquor with some suspended substance • taste is generous and full-bodied •fruity, woody, mineral-rich with date flavor • butterscotch with ginsing 

Energy:   

this tea is benevolent, descending in you like a Himalayan sunset • electric and alive, while passive and contemplative."

Damn, really? Ok, I am not there yet, so while I don't know how 'electric and alive' it is, I know I love it, and frankly, it kind-of feels like it loves me back, so yes, alive I can see, contemplative we shall find out. At only the fourth steeping it is just now coming into its own, who knows what contemplative things it might have to say to me. I am all ears. And, of course, open lips!

And lastly here is steep four, my new best friend of the day...