2024 Cacao 80

Type of tea: Ripe Puer

Brewing method: 6oz in gaiwan, boiling water

I don't reach for this one often because I associate the bitterness you can get out of it with more like an extremely dark roast coffee or high-cacao dark chocolate (so the name is appropriate!) rather than what I usually want from a tea. But I was on a ripe puer kick and decided to give it another try. Keeping the steeps short (10-15 secs) rather than increasing them as I went kept the bitterness under control, making it more like the expected smooth leafiness of ripe puer with a bit of a decadent punch.