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This tea was part of a couple of puerh samplers my daughter gave me for Christmas. I’m not much of a ripe drinker, but enjoyed the opportunity to sample such an old tea.

After a 10 s rinse and 5 minute wait the tea tastes very much like a traditionally stored sheng. The primary taste is wet wood, but there is some camphor lurking in the background. I’m feeling a fairly good amount of cha qi as well. Color is also sheng-like: burnt sienna, without any reddish tinge. 2nd steep): Really nice wood/camphor aroma. Brown color. Taste is slightly sweet; camphor with some fruit. Really nice finish. Later in the cup, the taste is kind of earthy/dirty and I’m finding I don’t like it as much. 3rd and 4th steeps: nose is wet wood; taste not so much. Becoming sweeter, and slightly nutty. 6th (2 m): Soft and fruity. Very little wet wood. Bumped my score up a couple of points.

My overall impression was that the tea was very interesting, but that I got tired of the wet wood flavor very quickly. Fortunately, only two steeps were really dominated by wet wood, though it was present in the first 4 of 5 steeps. My rating went up and down in inverse proportion to the woody flavor. Since I was comparing this to an old sheng, I did some tasting of the W2T 90’s Hong Kong storage alongside this tea. I liked the HK flavor better because there wasn’t much of the wet wood, though this tea was quite a bit more interesting, and had less camphor.

I’ve had the Tea Urchin order in my pumidor for about a week, and decided it was time to start sampling. If this tea is any indication I’m going to be happy with the order. Though this is a 2011, it is tasting middle-aged: the flavors were more wood than straw, and the color was more orange than yellow. There is still quite a bit of astringency and acid, so I’ll enjoy watching it age.

The really strong first steep has lots of fruit, and hints of straw and veggie. Long, powerful finish. Somewhat chewy texture. Strong cha qi. 2nd steep is soft and sweet and bursting with flavor and cha qi. I really like this tea. Started noticing a bit of molasses, and less fruit or veggie in the 3rd steep. Turned astringent at the end of the cup. 4th steep is quite astringent, slightly bitter, but I still taste a bit of fruit underneath. I haven’t had this for an hour, but the cha qi is hitting me after less than an ounce. The next few steeps were still potent, with a bit of fruit poking out from underneath an astringent woody flavor. Around the 7th steep the fruit began to dominate the wood, though there is still some astringency at the end of the cup. At this point my steeps were lasting about a minute. Still good texture.

I received this free sample in my last Wymm tea order. I think of them as a puerh tea company, but I guess I should expand the definition to Yunnan tea company. This tea has obvious yunnan character: leafy with just a hint of chocolate. The try tea shows a fair number of golden buds. Good nose and finish.

I enjoyed the tea. There are no obvious flaws and it is interesting enough to hold my attention. It is above-average for a Dianhong, but I have other Dianhongs that I prefer, so probably won’t be buying.

Taste started out soft, sweet and fruity (not quite apricot, but close) with a good finish. My whole body is feeling the cha qi. Decent body: I’m feeling some thickness on the tongue. I’m noticing a bit of acid under the flavor, and a bit of what I think is smoke riding on top of the fruit. Very interesting.

The 3rd and 4th steeps were balanced between sweet and bitter. Flavor is more woody than fruity, though I see hints of fruit. Still lots of cha qi. I reduced my usual steep times for the 5th steep, and found that the astringent woody flavor receded while the fruit came forward. I preferred this balance, so did relatively short steeps. Still going strong at #8.

I have to confess that I’m not absolutely certain that this is the tea I’m drinking. I got this in a recent group buy and this tea and a similar oolong were unlabeled. This comes closest to the picture.

The dry tea is the most unusual I’ve ever seen (see photo in the Steepster description). It is a delicate matrix of dried leaves and stems. You don’t measure this tea in teaspoons: three grams was about 1/4 cup. In my initial steep, the flavor started out as vegetables, but then started to smell like molasses, then cinnamon, and I had a flashback to making raisin oatmeal cookies. This probably distorted my first cup since all I could think about was cookies.

The second steep and third had a distinctive spinach aroma, and while there was spinach in the taste, there were other veggies as well as butter. I was a bit disappointed since the picture suggests a more roasted tea (which I prefer) but the flavor was very green in style. Nothing against the tea; just not my preference.

the 4th steep(all steeps are 60 s) is a bit more subdued. I might be able to get more steeps but they would need to be much longer, and I’m probably over my caffeine limit for this afternoon.

From the Puerh TTB #4 (Mao cha)

Light straw color and taste. Slightly sweet. Hint of apricot? Pleasant finish; very strong cha qi. Hints of bitterness appear at the 3rd steep, but not enough to be a negative. The bitterness was gone on steep 4. Overall, a very pleasant tea: smooth, slightly sweet, easy to enjoy, but not as complex as I like.

From the Puerh TTB #4

I’m trying to lead by example in producing reviews of the donated teas. When I got the Essence of Tea donation, I immediately pulled 4 grams from each, packed the rest into the box, and headed for the post office. The samples then sat in a box waiting their turn with all the other samples. They finally made it to the head of the line.
1st steep (10s): This is amazingly well-integrated. No rough edges. Delicate nose and flavor, but the flavor builds in the mouth. Good finish. The cha qi kind of stuck up on me: at first just a feeling of well-being, but now my entire body feels energized, yet at the same time relaxed. 2nd steep (10s ) Rich nose of leather and a hint of smoke. There is a really full body in the mouth, and sweetness that extends into a long, tasty finish. Much more powerful than the first steep but still perfectly smooth. This is what I picture a fully aged puerh tasting like. 3rd similar to the 2nd but more woody, with camphor appearing.
This is the style of tea that I enjoy: not too harsh or bitter, but with complex, interesting flavors. I’m usually not a fan of camphor, but the subtle hints of camphor I noticed here just add complexity and interest. The cha qi was obvious, but not to the point where I needed to take a nap, though perhaps too strong to want to drink this tea at work. The overwhelming feature for me, though, was the absence of rough edges. This is one of the few puerhs I’ve had that I didn’t feel was too young to drink.

1st steep (10s): Strong, rich aroma is leathery. With some spice. Smells old. Deep orange color. Good flavor and texture: coats the tongue. 2nd (10 s): Really nice. A hint of bitterness underneath a slighty sweet leather/spice flavor. Rich. Hard to separate the finish from the effects of the cha qi, but both are very powerful. 3rd (20s): There is a slight hint of ashes, similar to what I’ve seen in a few other old shengs. Not strong enough to be unpleasant, but not as nice as the previous steeps. 4th (30s): Sweeter than before, less ash. Later steeps alternated sweetness with the ash flavor and were less enjoyable.

The first two steeps were outstanding, but I lowered my rating because I didn’t like the later steeps as much. Usually I find puerh peaks at the 3rd steep (bear in mine I only use 1 gram per ounce of water and steep 10, 10, 20…). This peaked at the second, and was much less enjoyable in the later steeps. A very good tea, but after the first steep, I was hoping for greatness.

From the Sheng Olympics. Thanks to Liquid Proust for putting it together.

I had this immediately after the Whispering Sunshine. The 1st steep is sweeter with less spice. 2nd steep was more interesting than the 1st steep, but still suffers in comparison to the Whispering Sunshine. Lots of cha qi. By the 4th steep I’m noticing some spice that wasn’t really there before. Also has a bit more bite to it. Really feeling the cha qi. The spice gradually submerged the sweetness as the dominant flavor, but the tea never achieved the complexity of the Whispering Sunshine.

From the Sheng Olympics. Tip of the cap to Liquid Proust for putting it together.

This is just the type of tea I love: fairly complex but not too heavy or bitter. I liked this immediately. Strong for a 1st steep, with spicy straw flavors and a long finish. Strong cha qi. 3rd steep (20 s): Really good texture right into the finish, which is long and powerful. Taste is still primarily spice and straw, but the exact nature of the spice varies. Got smoother in later steeps but was really nice. The cha qi started to let up after a few steeps, but if I hadn’t spaced out the session over an hour or so it would have hit me hard. I had about 8 steeps before I noticed it was fading. Might have been able to do a few more but was anxious to move on the the other CLT tea in the group.