Pu Erh note

I have very hard water, Ph is 8ish, or slightly over. I find this makes a very dull and muted pu erh tea. I have been adjusting my water to get it to 6.5 – 7 and the flavour is now fantastic.

This is also, interestingly, around the PH of river and lake water in Yunnan (average 6.7 – 7.3)

Sources
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02522667.2017.1367501
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/14/21/3385
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9779387/
http://en.cgsjournals.com/article/doi/10.11932/karst20220404

Tea

Pine Darts & Shixi & Turtle Dove

Pine Darts 2025 from W2T

Smoked pine needles and pine forest soil, smoke, smoked rubber? smoked leather? a kind of citrusy and green pine needle tartness happens. Interesting stuff. Very little if any bitterness. Very nice.

2024 Shixi from W2T

Very dense and compacted cake. Earthy, coffee grounds, wood, old hardwood, a mild rounded bitterness, a nice coolness lingers.

2018 Turtle Dove White Tea 7g mini – Free sample from W2T

Has an almost mugicha smell to it. Mild, smooth, soft but slight dry mouthfeel.

Tea

2 more teas

Yunnan Sourcing Cozy 2023

Yunnan Sourcing Sweet and Thick 2014

I found both of these pretty average ripes. They both brew dark and strong fast.

Tea

2 Teas

2024 Kuura Cola Ripe Puer A nice straight down the line ripe puer.

2023 Labyrinth Raw Puer Very nice young raw puer. Gets strong fast. Purchased one for storage.

Tea

Reviewed here

2025 Pine Darts

2024 Shixi

Tea

2014 Wu Liang “Sweet and Thick” Ripe Pu-erh Tea Cake. 357 gram cake.
Pressed in 2014…. made from Wu Liang Mountain area tea leaves wet-piled in a Jinghong (Xishuangbanna) tea factory and then aged in Jinghong until 2020, and then Kunming thereafter. From Yunnan Sourcing

2023 Yunnan Sourcing “Cozy” Certified Organic Ripe Pu-erh Tea. 357 gram cake.
2018 wet piled organic cha tou, which we blended with 2022 wet-piled organic loose leaf ripes of various leaf grades. From Yunnan Sourcing.