This tea is among the very best shou puerh I have ever drank. Thank you Mr Mopar for this sample. There were at various times notes of plums or apricots, not sure which is the best description and dark chocolate. This tea has staying power. I steeped this fourteen times over a four hour period. There was a touch of fermentation flavor in steep 3 and 4 but that was it. I didn’t weaken until around steep 10 and was not too weak at steep 12. Steep 14 was pretty weak. If I had the patience I would steep it a fifteenth time for an hour but I don’t have the patience and want to clean up my tea table. This was arguably as good as the 2008 Song of Chi Tse although it may have had a touch more fermentation flavor, which is to say not very much fermentation flavor. This is a highly caffeinated puerh. The first six steeps had me on a caffeine high. I could also feel the qi of this tea, not as potent as some but definite.
I steeped this 14 times in a 150 ml gaiwan with 6g leaf and boiling water. I steeped it for 15 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 30 sec, 45 sec, 1 min, 1.5 min, 2 min, 3 min, 4 min, 5 min, 10 min, 20 min, and 30 min. It did not start to lose a noticeable amount of strength until around steep 10. This was damn good tea.
Flavors: Dark Chocolate, Plum