[2024 'Kuura-Cola' Ripe Puerh Tea – KUURACORP](https://kuura.co/en-eu/products/2024-kuura-cola-ripe-puerh-tea?srsltid=AfmBOorw_HlruKOf32wMG5C_HXxois0Gw560J41qq5Z-fceumPqtuFcx&variant=44253244358842)
Origin: #China #Yunnan
Pressing: #y2024
Vibe : Funky, Cola, Spicy, Sweer, Earthy
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### The Story
I got this tea just at a point when I started having some more disposable income, and started to get back into rebuilding my tea collection, with anything that seemed like it's worth getting my dirty hands on(still in that phase at the time of writing(dec. 2024), oh god when does it stop, pondering the options of retired but broke, or retired with more tea then time left). And at this point I am getting cakes of whatever sounds good(as long as they're budget, I still get samples of the expensive stuff, I'm not rich, I just realised disposable income is a thing when you have a job and live with your parents), and this is a tea I started seeing everywhere on reddit.
The hype train was going alright... the engine was rumbling, and the horn was horny(horning? tooting? wtd?), and the Kuura Cola 1, seemed to have sold out fast with people craving for more, and this time I was gonna get in on it too!
And it seemed like a perfect tea to review, and push around the circles to get people to read my blog, but I'm a slow bastard, and a procrastinating one, so by the time you see this, the hype train has been derailed harder than the tea was railed by everyone obsessing over it.
Kidding, I mean ultimately the point of it is not to get people here to read it, but to enjoy a nice tea, and share it with someone who is enthusiastic and curious to see what others think, just like me.
So first I have to mention I was, still am, absolutely stunned by their website design(straight up looks like a luxury clothing type a site, and makes you feel fancier than you are), and by their packaging, and the little textual easter eggs you get with your package. And the cards and guides you get, just as beautiful. And the tea didn't disappoint either, first time I tried it I was in love, there is just so much happening, and it's just so damn deeply funky and in a good way, I mean anderson .paak typa funky, like you know it's funky, but it's so smoothly funky no one would be mad at you if you said it wasn't.
With next few sessions even just next few steeps I had with it, in consecutive days, the tea, as many do, kinda settled into a constant place, not offering suprises as much, but being just like... real nice spicy funky sweet vanilla bean tea. So you can definitely daily drink it but for me, it does well with a few days or teas in between it to contrast it and show you why it's interesting(while that does happen with a lot of teas if you assault them over and over, this one feels like it had a bit of a sharper fall, I guess that's where it's price shows face)
Defintely a tea I would like to stock up on, great daily drinker overall, and a tea I would love to try a more expensive version off where it's just a bit thicker, just a bit more funky.
So let's move to the subjective facts with no fluff or stories now and see what I got:
### Brews
#### GongFu, 4.15g/60ml/100C/20+10*n
- Wet leaf smell:
- Overall pretty nice spice notes, with some earthy funk. In the early infusions it leaned more heavily into the bready and yeasty territory, and then settled with time into cookie sweetness and spices. Clove and Cinnamon were the one that my nose distinguished. Smell was pretty heavy and dark with balancing funk, and tad of bark woody brightness. Sweetness was there but much more spice and vanilla sweetness. Don't think of it like creme brulee vanilla, but rather pure vanilla stick. I can totally see where they get cola, with some herbal sweetness added to it as well.
- #TSmell/vanilla #Tsmell/spices #Tsmell/clove #Tsmell/cinnamon #TSmell/wood #Tsmell/earth #Tsmell/wood
- Flavour:
- Flavour is also quite lovely, offering nice and deep dark notes, with no bitterness, a very resilient tea, to long steeps. Sweet like spices, with some vanilla notes, and sweet yeasty bread more in feeling rather than pure flavour. Thickness wasn't super there but noticeable. The pleasant funk definitely made up for it reminiscent of earth, and earthy fruit, like composted fruit.
- #Ttaste/earth #Ttaste/vanilla #Ttaste/bread #Ttaste/spice #Ttaste/funk
### Overall
- Base notes: Earth, wood, yeasty bread.
- Enhancer Notes: vanilla, spices, funk
- Surprises: bark, herbal sweetness(stevia like)
- Mouthfeel: #Thickness/4 #Sweetness/7 #Complexity/7 #Depth/Dark
- Grade: #tgrade/8