Lang He 2010 Yu pin

kieblera5 sent me a generous sample of this some time ago. Thank you very much!

Had a gongfu session with a ceramic gaiwan. 10 second rinse. Steeping times: 20 seconds, 15, 15, 20, 40; 1 minute, 2, 5, 10.

The dry leaf aroma smells of chocolate and earth. The chocolate is strengthened in the rinse and wet leaf aromas.

The first infusion is very light – light in color (orange) and light in flavor (mushrooms). This shou gets going right after this, though. Both the color and flavors strengthen. Lovely shade of dark red in the pitcher, when held against sunlight. My session was split in about half, not counting the first cup. I had to take a four hour-long break. There is a difference in taste and texture. Infusions 2-5 are deliciously creamy, sweet, and cocoa-filled. I didn’t give much to my tea pet, Georgie. Sorry not sorry, buddy. The cocoa is still there in 6-8, but it is more bittersweet than sweet. And the texture is not quite as smooth but still thick.

Overall, a clean and light shou. Not heavy like other chocolately shous I’ve had perviously. Don’t underleaf, like I did in the first session (this review is based off of my session), otherwise it’s far too light. Very glad to have tried this! The price for a cake on Tea Urchin’s website is more than reasonable.

With the Tea Urchin group buy coming in within the next week’ish, I decided to try one of the teas I already have from them. Even though I purchased some 1989 oolong… all I have from them is pu’erh currently.

I will say that I have high expectations because of their pricing :P and here is what I found out about this tea:

The first three steeps of this tea have nothing unique about it, it’s just another ripe… once you go into about the 6th steep is when you really get a glimpse at the beauty of this tea. I preformed my normal test for high end pu’erh teas by leaving out a few steeps for 30 minutes to get luke warm to see how it taste. I do this test because I have found it to be true that quality pu’erh will have a wonderful silky feel and great taste as it goes down at a normal temperature.

This tea just takes a little time to get ‘awakened’ and then it’s smooth sailing.
:)

Very clean shu, light fermentation, no off flavors.. Very thick, dark, and creamy in texture, color, and taste. Notes of wood, mushroom in the early steeps. Tea is very dark from steeps 2-8, lightening after. The later steeps become clearer, the flavor developing a caramelized sweetness. Overall, a full mouthfeel over 12 steeps, and a delicious way to get into ripe puerh without any potentially off-putting flavors. Definitely on the short list for “really good shupu.” At $60 for a 400g cake, this is a steal – definitely a daily drinker and accessible to new shupu drinkers.

Lang He Tea Factory is known for producing fine ripe puerh. Light fermentation which results in it being free of that fishy flavor common in more heavily fermented shu. This is one of the finest Lang He products I have tasted. Clean, smooth and sweet with very high purity of flavor. The 2010 Tea Expo award winner is built upon a foundation of high quality material and it offers high quality flavorful sips through the session. Creamy chocolate notes frequently reveal themselves. This is an easy drinking tea and the moderate price makes it a good candidate for daily drinking. A bit difficult to find for I’ve not seen it listed anywhere except Tea Urchin.

I got a Christmas present in the mail today from Marzipan! She got me a bunch of TeaUrchin Samples! SQUEE! <3

This is my first shou offering I’ve tasted from Tea Urchin. It is very nice! Smooth, with a creamy mouth feeling, and not too dark/rich. No puerh funk at all. Reminds me a little of dried dates though it isn’t a super sweet shou. Mmmm….shou.

<3 <3 <3

This is my first tea from Tea Urchin. I was very excited to try some teas from them, the company has a nice feel to it. Their wrappers are really fun (I know, don’t judge a book by its cover or a pu by its wrapper. Isn’t that how the saying goes?) Their teas are a bit on the more expensive side, so I was hoping for high quality in return. This particular tea is not one of their own, but rather is from the Langhe factory. This ripe pu erh didn’t disappoint. I’m going to have a hard time going back to Menghai ripes after this one. It is a exceedingly smooth tea. Rich, medium bodied, and not a hint of bitterness or any off flavors. It is just a fine tea! Creamy, very slightly woodsy, and clean. I have several other Tea Urchin samples I will review in the weeks ahead. But this is surely a good start.