Boyou Tea Factory (Berylleb King Tea, Ebay)

Bought this about a year ago and promptly lost it within my tea storage. Well I came across it yesterday and decided I would try it today. Over the course of twelve steeps it turned into a tasty raw puerh tea with a lot of sweet notes. It did not start off as well though. It was smoky in the first two infusions and there were some notes of leather and tobacco trying to pop through. These notes were weak and lasted only a few steeps. There was also a bit of a sour note for a few steeps in there too, presumably from the fact that this tea was dry stored for the last year or so. These notes did not last either. What emerged in later steeps was something of a sweet note. Not the apricots of a young sheng mind you but a sweet note none the less. There never was much bitterness to this tea and none at all in the end. This is one I probably should make room for in the pumidor if I find something else I want to take out as it is full to capacity and I have no place for another pumidor.

I steeped this twelve times in a 160ml solid silver teapot with 10g 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.

Thanks to a friend for sending a sample of this my way… we are having a crazy rain storm here and I’m glad I can stay inside with my teas and keep dry; hopefully I don’t lose power!!!

I’ve been doing slightly longer steeps of this one and I like it a lot. It’s earthy but also very smooth and thicker than some shus I’ve had recently. When steeped for around 1 minute it becomes very dark with a coffee-like appearance. A mellow tea but also very soothing. NIce for the terrible weather!

sorry I can’t write more about it but I have a massive amount of homework for a class.

I got a lovely sample from a friend. This tea sure is pretty when brewed. It’s a very deep amber and quite clear. The steam seems to linger on the surface for a long while.

This one is smoothy and quite yummy for an after dinner sip. I don’t find it to be amazing, but it’s definitely good. It tastes a little like an earthy forest. I would have thought that with this number of years for age, it would be less earthy. I just did one rinse, but I think I may add a few more on the next session to see if any of the earthiness dissipates!

I’ll update after that. :)

Backlog from yesterday: I was gifted this tea by a good tea chum. Throughout I struggled to find much of anything in it, sadly. It is woody and rounded and slightly sweet. It’s not bad, but I found it a bit nondescript. I think the best description for it is ‘solid’. If you want a shou that is mellow and rounded but not too challenging, then this one would be a good choice. I could see using it as an everyday shou that requires little thought. I do wonder if I was really in the mood for a shou. That might be why I found less to it than I might otherwise, or perhaps I have been spoilt recently by other superb teas. Anyway, thank you to my tea chum. I enjoyed the tea even though I did not find it to be stellar. I have a couple more samples to try from my friend but I think I need to wait for the shou craving, because one of them is a mystery sample that he is testing me with. I really have no idea what to expect from it.

Having a go at this one after a BIG Thanksgiving meal. I broke off about 12 grams of this to brew in the gaiwan. This cake is very dry probably due to the fact that it just came in from China last week and hasn’t had the opportunity to re-hydrate properly in the “pumidor”. The leaves in this cake are fairly large and from the aroma of the dry leaves it was deeply fermented. I gave a 10 second wash to rinse out the smaller pieces and leaf dust. First, second and third brews each five seconds apart starting with a 5 second steep. It brews very dark not as dark as some others. It almost has an “oily” sheen on the top layer. It has a woody vanilla plummy taste to it. It does leave the mouth a little dry. It has a slight honey finish to it. A good tea to settle back with after a wonderful feast with family.