This is a fairly nice tasting semi aged raw tea. It started out with notes of tobacco and leather. They were not too overpowering and lasted about four steeps. By the fifth steep it began to transform into something nicer. I’d say it developed a sweet note of sorts but am not sure how to characterize it. While I was drinking this I was bidding on two ripe teas on EBay from Menghai Tea Factory. In each case I was outbid at the last minute by some idiot who didn’t do his homework, a novice bidder from his EBay score. In each case he bid over my price driving the bidding up to the buy it now price. I hate these idiots on EBay who don’t realize that the object of the auction is not to get the item at any price but to get it at a good price. Why will some idiots bid the thing up to any price. If my maximum bid had been above the buy it now price I’m sure this idiot would have come in and spent more than that to get the tea. Now I guess I wait for the seller to relist the two teas on auction. The same idiot is not likely to bid on them again although another one might. I could always just buy the tea but will probably wait for the seller to relist it. He will almost certainly do so.
Back to this tea. This is a very nice semi aged tea for the price I paid. The somewhat unpleasant notes of leather and tobacco did not last too long and it developed into something fairly nice. Considering I only paid $60 for three teas I think this is a good tea. It’s not spectacular but I think a good solid value. I thought before I drank it that it might be no good because the leaves smelled a little musty. There was no mold on the leaves.
I steeped this twelve times in a 150ml teapot with 8.7g 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.
Flavors: Leather, Tobacco
