Got this in the mail the other day. Bought it from a private collector that Mr Mopar hooked me up with. Also bought some raw from him. Will probably try one of those later. This one is I am sure not what it claims. I paid $60 for all three cakes. You do definitely not get Yiwu Gushu for that price. I’d be really surprised if it was either Yiwu or gushu. It is, however, pretty good tea. It was slightly bittersweet in the first few steeps with a note of bittersweet chocolate. There was a fair amount of fermentation flavor to it. Probably about the right amount for a dry stored 2007 tea mind you so I expect that the age is in the ballpark anyway. There was also a not a camphor early on, I’d say the first three or four steeps. The various notes were replaced by a sweet note around steep six or seven. Could be mushrooms, maybe, I’m not really sure but it is a mildly sweet note. Overall I really did like this tea. For the price I paid I am tempted to buy a couple more of them. Despite that there was no possibility that this tea was what the name claims it was pretty good. I expect that the private collector did not come up with that name but that the tea was called that by whomever he bought it from. I always wonder why they take what is already a good tea and call it by something it isn’t rather than just calling it what it is, a good tea from somewhere else. Who really knows. The Chinses are very fond of calling puerh from a less famous location by the name of a more famous location, in this case Yiwu. In any case I really did like this tea.
I steeped this tea 12 times in a 105ml Yixing Teapot with 8.5g leaf and boiling water. I gave it a 10 second rinse. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, 30 sec, 45 sec, 1 min, 1.5 min, and 2 min. The tea leaves were not done at twelve steeps. I would have gotten at least three or four more steeps out of them but I was done. I will post a picture of the wrapper here on the odd chance that someone recognizes it. I know I have seen it before. I just don’t know where.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BJAs8Svj7AD/?taken-by=allanckeanepuerhtea
https://www.instagram.com/p/BJAzyVFD91n/?taken-by=allanckeanepuerhtea
Flavors: Dark Bittersweet, Earth, Mushrooms, Sweet
