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Honestly I had very low expectations coming into this sample given a number of bad experiences with so called bargain cakes. Lacking an entire cake, I am not sure if this is a blended cake or a pure gongting cake as if it was blended with a cheaper grade of puerh it was done very well. As with the other gongting puerh that I’ve had before as it lacks any off tastes and has some smoothness to it but not enough that I would call it creamy or silky. I would say that this cake represents the quality mid-range ripe puerh well as it is a fairly good tea overall but lacks the extra quality that comes with the upper end premium cakes for an added price.

Brewed from a free sample from the vendor which was unfortunately too small of an amount for my larger ripe puerh yixing so I brewed this one in a gaiwan. The sample also contained a lot of dust and crushed leaves which I am not sure is at the fault of the cake or the person who broke up the cake. Even though the vendor claimed that rinsing was not needed for this extra clean puerh I started out with a quick rinse anyway for consistency purposes. The first infusion was clean and very light with a slightly fresh minty taste to it; which I think I might have under brewed. The next infusion I brewed longer and it was still on the light side with some smoothness and a light taste that reminds me of being a bit like Liu Bao. Depending upon one’s overall preference Liu Bao either comes off a as a cleaner taste than most ripe puerh or as a more plain and boring taste. Personally I am not that fond of Liu Bao overall so unless you do or you are curious about it I would not recommend this cake to you. I’m guessing that it probably would have been possible to get 2-3 more infusions out of the leaves but I had no desire to drink more of it so there was no third infusion.

This is probably one of the darkest rolled oolongs that I’ve been blessed to drink that was not overroasted to the point of having a burnt taste to it. This Premium Tieguanyin tea brings a wonderful sensational experience upon each sip in the range of flavors that roll upon my tongue. During the initial start of the sip I experience the initial roasted taste before it fades away into a sweet mellow smoothness that lingers in my mouth. The later infusions maintain the same shift, although it slowly becomes less subtle as the roasted taste slowly fades out and the sweeter mellowness becomes more predominate in the tea. In the end I lost count of how many infusions I was able to enjoy out of the leaves but I can safely say that it was over 5 which was really impressive for such a dark tea.

This one brews up a very beautiful golden amber color brew with a very enjoyable fresh flavor without any smoke or strong bitterness commonly associated with young green puerh. The background has a very faint astringency but in a good way that adds complexity to the brew that is well balanced out by a sweet smoothness. At around 3.5 years old this is a very nice puerh that has the extra “puerh notes” that set it apart from the stronger green teas and greener oolongs. It is wonderful sheng puerh samples like these that make me lament my body not being able to tolerate too much sheng puerh but in the end I conceid and admit that it is better to abstain for the most part than have my stomach complain for indulging in them too frequently :(

I wish I could have also tasted this tea when it was young to be able to understand how aging during the last 7 years has affected it. Like the other aged ripe puerh teas that I have gotten to sample it is not that impressive to me. While it lacks any off tastes of being overly musty, earthy or malty, it does not have that much else going for it. Overall the taste comes off to me as bland and washed out without much to be desired. Yet another example to support my view that beyond a year or so to let a new ripe puerh air out from any lingering off smells and tastes after postfermentation it does not make sense to age already artificially aged ripe puerh.

I brewed this tea from a sample that came in a ziploc bag after sitting around the previous owner’s house untouched for a few years so lacking air to breathe this tea’s “real age” is probably younger than 4 years. The first thing that struck me was the mixed grades as while I can taste the sweet mellowness of the gongting puerh on the outer layer it is mixed with a stronger almost rubbery maltiness of the cheaper grade of puerh that made up the center of the cake. While this is normally a practice that I heavily frown upon as deceptive of hiding lower grade puerh in the center where it can not be seen till its broken up, this time, maybe because of the extra age it has rounded out with more complexity to the brewed tea than a pure gongting grade puerh. Maybe cakes like these just need a bit more age than the very short lifetime that puerh generally has around me.

My first high altitude grown ripe puerh but not much different as I picked up most on the lighter fermentation levels used in this tea. This one takes a bit more skill to brew with good results than most ripe puerh as it does best with very short infusions otherwise one will find it a bit disappointing for a premium product. It has a nice light taste to the brewed tea and is good for a lot of short infusions. Although in the end it is not a puerh that I would see myself buying again as while it is a good puerh it fell short of my personal preferences.

A very enjoyable high quality ripe puerh cake with a more mellow and mild taste than the previous Mengku ripe puerh that I’ve had. The brew has a thick and smooth texture with an overall very mellow taste with wood flavor notes and maybe a touch of smoke, with a good balance of sweetness that is not overwhelming.

Finding puerh at my local grocery store was such an excitement I could not resist buying a box of puerh teabags even though I had my doubts as to their quality but figured that worse comes to worse they could be used for travel where not the best puerh is a lot better than no puerh. When I brewed my first cup from the $5.75 box of 100 teabags I was impressed with the quality. While it is not at the level of a puerh that can stand up to the rich smooth mellowness of an upper end Menghai or Mengku puerh cake, it is a lot better than a number of the cheap puerh bricks and cakes that I’ve had over the years. As with most puerh teabags I brew them long and will double them up to ensure a single good brew, the result was a slightly earthy (but not to the musty point) cup of puerh with a slightly sweet and smooth taste. I can not complain at the lack of complexity and while this is not one that I would brew in my yixing pot when I am at home it is a puerh that is good enough that I would not feel deprived if it was my only tea on a vacation.

I was given a box of Tazo Zen teabags from a friend who knew I enjoyed tea and while I typically avoid teabags this one is pretty good. While the presence of the lemongrass and spearmint partially masks the taste of the likely cheaper base green tea, it produces a nice overall effect in how the sweetness of the spearmint and lemongrass nicely complement the green tea. Almost good enough to make me consider picking up some more Tazo teabags to try if I can find any variety packs as Zen is one box of teabags that I will not have any problems finishing off from how enjoyable it is to drink.