Review: Three Mini Tuo Chas

Okay, here’s what I’m looking for–mini tuo-chas, both shu and sheng, that I can easily take to work and that will be both tasty and forgiving under *very* minimalistic brewing conditions. 

 How minimalistic?  Basically, I boil 5 oz of water in an open Pyrex measuring cup, drop in the tuo-cha, wait for the tea to be relatively settled (shorter for sheng, but many infusions), and pour it straight into the cup of my gaiwan.  Then I just add more hot water to the Pyrex and repeat until there’s nothing left to the tea. No washes/rinses, no preheating of implements, and I occasionally prod moodily at it with a straightened paper clip…very basic, very careless. 

First up: The Shu Showdown: Beyond Thunderdome!  Two mini tuo chas enter–One mini tuo cha leaves.  (Tina Turner not included)

I had on hand a sack o’ mini tuo chas in shu puerh that I picked up at Ten Ren in Chicago for the moderate price of $15 for about fifty-some of the little buggers, and a small sample of shu puerh mini tuo chas that I ordered from The Tao of Tea, which is where I got my new tasting/aroma cup sets.  I decided to put these in a head-to-head battle for my at-work affections.  I might order more from a different company in the future, but for now, these two would do.

The Ten Ren shu mini tuos were of a somewhat lower-quality than the Tao of Tea shu mini tuos…at least, I believe they were.  I’m basing this on 1) taste and 2) the incredible number of annoying floating twig bits that I found in the Ten Ren tuos as opposed to the mostly-leaf blend of the Tao of Tea tuos.  The high twig ratio made the Ten Ren puerh break up faster as the twigs struggled to escape and float, but this also made it difficult to pour reasonably “clean” and clear tea into my drinking cup.

Both brands were very straightforward–shu taste, plain and simple, with good depth and minimal complexity.  (Perfect for sucking down after greasy lunch at McDonalds, yum.)  Suitably coffee-like for office comfort needs, and suitably low-maintenance for the minimal brewing care.

I did prefer the Tao of Tea tuo chas, though.  They were a bit smoother and less pondy/murky tasting, but only a bit.  The biggest factor was those gosh-darn twigs so prevalent in the Ten Ren tuos. 

So, I’d order the mini shu tuo chas from The Tao of Tea again.  They were perfect low-care brewing treats for my desk at work, and yielded plenty of cups of decent puerh.  I’ll drink up the Ten Ren stuff, though, too–wasn’t bad, just bothersome.

The other mini tuo chas for at work were the green/raw/sheng ones from The Tao of Tea.  I got a small sample of these as well and was hoping they would work for my at-work sheng.

The dry sheng mini-tuo had a very bright, citrus-y scent to it, whereas the liquor had a toasty, almost grain-like scent with a citrus overlay.  The inital steeping was about 45 seconds with boiling water (one mini-tuo for about 5oz of water), which wasn’t even enough time to allow it to break down completely.  The first infusion was “green” tasting, delicate (probably not enough infusion, frankly) and a bit astringent, but not too dry.  It had a smooth, almost buttery depth to it that I *really* liked, though.  Is as good as the sencha and genmaicha I have on my desk, and likely better.  Nothing at all bitter or unpleasant about this brew.

After the first infusion, the mini tuo puffed up into a darling, fluffy, tiny “nest” in the pyrex cup.  It was *so* pretty and bright green that I just had to touch it, so I picked it up and prodded at it and broke it apart.  It was really fun to play with–I love touching “used” tea leaves, don’t know why.  This made my fingers smell like a bright, sweet, citrus candy–yum!

Second infusion was for about a minute.  I used my patented “partially straightened paper clip” technique to prod down the still-floating leaves and poured it off into my cup.  It’s now easier to note that the leaves are *very* fragmented–makes for a bit of a messy cup the way I’m doing it, sans-straining, but still perfectly tolerable for drinking.  The leaves are *such* a pretty green and smell just like orange sherbet–citrus, cream, sweetness…

The liquor itself is bright, cheerful, sweet, citrusy (there is *so* much citrus taste in this sheng, it’s bizarre)…but rather astringent this time.  Could probably do with an even shorter steep, but that’s tough, using this brewing method.  More than just “drinkable,” though, it’s bracing and uplifting.  Super for work.

Unfortunately, as the liquor sits in my cup with the small amount of loose leaves in the bottom that “poured over,” it’s still steeping enough to render it rather bitter if not drunk quickly.  Rather *quite* bitter, to the point where I might have stomache trouble with it if I drink too much. In fact…ugh.  I can’t finish this.  Will have to dump it, yiiiick. Will have to devise a slightly more sophisticated straining method…like…a strainer, perhaps!

Third infusion…I’m almost afraid to drink this now.  My tongue is *still* curling from the assault it just endured.  Now I *know* what happens when one brews sheng for a bit too long.  Ugh.

 So, I transferred the leaves into my gaiwan so I could strain it better, and will be drinking from…ummm…the pyrex measuring cup.  Oh, well.  Only brewed it for the briefest of moments–thirty seconds.

It’s fine, now.  Much easier to drink.  The pleasant green citrusy-ness is back, the horrible, nauseating bitterness is gone, etc.  It’s a bit dry, still, but nicely so.

Umm.  I would’ve been able to get lots more out of this puerh, but I sort of spazzed and burned my fingers on the office gaiwan (I hate this thing.  I need another nice one like the black one I have at home) and dropped the tea, and…yes.

So.  In short, the sheng mini tuo chas from Tao of Tea are just fine–if you’re brewing them carefully and are not a klutz like me.  Will likely not be drinking lots of sheng at work–I’ll stick to the shu–as it’s just a bit more attention than I’m able to devote to the stuff during the work day.