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This is a nice larger leafed shou. It definitely has some of the honey notes that are talked about in the description. I have also found some floral aspects in it and an almost vanilla-ish spice to it, if that makes any sense. I think this tea reminds me more of a mood or atmosphere than any particular flavor. I have found it to be surprisingly complex and subtle. It is on the lighter/clearer side of shous which is making it perfect for drinking on a sunny autumn day such as we are having in Boston today.

Just got a brick of this in from Mandala Tea a couple days ago. I’ve been drinking this gong fu all weekend in 3 different sessions. Started off with 7 grams for 15 seconds in 100 ml and was a little underwhelmed so I boosted it up to 8 grams for 30 seconds in 100 ml. It was a good idea to be a little more aggressive.

This tea doesn’t give a ton of steeps but it comes through when it counts! I get bittersweet chocolate and I love the suggestion of burnt caramel by TheTeaFairy. This is a great dark shou that I think will help me get through the fall until I can splurge on pu-erhs near Christmas time.

EDIT: Tried this earlier today in my new gaiwan and it seemed to have longer legs than I thought. I used 7 grams in 90 ml water and I got a decent amount of steeps out of it. I started at 10 seconds and built slowly from there. Still super delicious.

This ripe puer starts off pretty dark, with mushroom and wood notes. It then segues toward a little bit of spice and finally settles into a whiff of butteriness with those wood notes and maybe a touch of dried fruit. Thanks to Garret from Mandala for including this with my order.

This is a pleasant enough shou. The predominant flavor is definitely wood with perhaps a little leather flavor. This tea really is very smooth. Almost too smooth for my liking as there is very little that really stands out in this tea, but maybe that should be expected for the low price, which is really exceptional at just $12 a cake. I have had better luck brewing western style which produces a more flavorful cup. Because of the low price I have also enjoyed messing around with cold brewing it after a couple quick rinses which resulted in a pretty interesting iced tea. To give you an idea of how hard it is to get flavor out of this I steeped 7 grams in 24 oz. water for 48 hours to produce a flavorful enough iced tea. It was a fun experiment.

In the end I don’t think I will buy this again, but I surely do not regret the purchase. As the website says, this may be a great starter tea for those new to puer but i feel I am perhaps past this point in my puer tasting journey.

I enjoyed this breakfast blend. There is a smokiness from the yunnan that threatens to overtake it at times but in the end feels well balanced by the other teas in the blend. It is definitely a tea you want to make sure you don’t oversteep.

What more can be said about this tea? Delicious tea that I really think deserves to be tried by every serious tea drinker at least once. Blew my mind the first I tried it a couple years ago and one of those teas I serve to people who don’t drink tea very often to show them the possibilities. I guess you could say I like it!

This is a good milk oolong. It has an almost nutty quality to it. It definitely has some of those cream flavors you expect from a decent milk oolong and also has a little bit of floral aspect to it during the steeping process. I got 7-8 good steeps out of it before it quit. It’s a good value at about $5.50/ oz.

This tea is outrageously good. Been drinking this all morning and I must say it has really made for a good start to the day! From the opening steeps which present a slight bitter smokiness as mentioned in the other reviews through the fruity period in the middle steeps to the final steeps which seem to me to have a slight pine taste to them I thoroughly enjoyed this. So happy I grabbed a cake of this on a whim last week as it seems as if they sold out. I wish I had bought more but I am happy that other people will have a chance to try this great tea. Can’t recommend this enough but not sure if your going to find a place to buy it where it has been stored as well as Garret and Mandala Tea have stored it. More cakes like this please! Can’t get enough.