This tea is a small 100g cake that calls itself “Golden Needle”. Most teas that are not Dayi and call themselves this don’t come close to living up to the name. This one does. It is really good, quite excellent. There was a bitterness in the first steep. This began to dissipate by the second steep and was gone by the third. It was earthy, it is only a 2014 tea after all. But the earthiness was pleasant and sweet. I am not sure that I can describe the sweetness of this tea specifically but it had a nice sweetness to it. In fact the tea I would compare this to is the Whispering Pines Huron Gold Needle, although not quite as good and much more earthy. Perhaps it comes to mind because they share the name “Golden Needle”. This tea is an excellent price too. I bought 5, 100g bings for only around $43. This tea is a much better value than the Huron Gold Needle even if fewer will try it. The seller, Streetshop88 is one of my favorite EBay sellers and has sold me some excellent puerh. I can’t wait to see how this one ages. It is good stuff.
I steeped this nine times in a 150ml gaiwan with 6g leaf and boiling water. I steeped it for 10 sec, 5 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 30 sec, 1 min, 2 min and 3 min. This was a strong tea. I think had I not had to sleep tonight I could have easily gotten another five or six steeps out of the leaves.
Flavors: Earth, Sweet
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