1992 Tibetan Kang Brick Tea

Not my cup of tea. The leaves appeared dirty and decayed, and tasted more of an old woolen blanket than tea. Aroma didn’t appeal to me either.

I brewed this tea gong fu style as I do for most teas.
The steamed leaves have a very intense aroma of Yew Wood which acquires a shroomy and honey like aroma when washed. I had to wash this tea twice, one short and one long, before I felt confident that it had opened.
The liquor itself is a very gentle one with a more oak-like flavor and hints of moss with a dusty mouthfeel. You can really taste the age and the dusty dry air of the Himalayas.
Also, whoever tasted stonefruit in this tea is tweaking! There are no fruit notes in it AT ALL!

This took a long rinse and two (very hot) steeps to fully ‘open.’ Once it did, it was mild and warming, not too funky at all, and overall a very gentle tea. I enjoyed it. The age of the tea was definitely detectable.

I tried this one out today and was not a huge fan. Used 7g in a 120mL gaiwan with boiled water. The compression was quite tight. After two rinses, I tried to start with a 15s steep, and the compressed chunks just laughed at me in the gaiwan. So from then, I altered my strategy, steeping 1m+ and bludgeoning the stubborn chunks with my gaiwan lid. It barely worked, so after three steeps like that, I started spearing the still-chuckling pieces with my puer pick, getting them to mostly come apart. I’m pretty sure even then, they were still flinging tiny middle-fingers at me.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, I was unable to get any strong flavor from this S.O.B. The aroma of the wet leaves was pretty reminiscent of a dank basement, usually not a good sign for me. I did get a decent bit of the wetness in the flavor of this tea. I also tasted some wet wood and something kind of fungal, maybe mushroomy. It did taste decently aged. Also got some kind of tangy sourness which I didn’t find particularly appealing.

So I think it’s safe to say I don’t like this tea gongfu. I still have the rest of my sample, so I’ll let it air out some and then play around with it. I will probably try to boil it instead, maybe that will allow me to actually draw out the flavor of this crotchety old brick. Now if I could just track down a yak….

This one has grown on me. I didn’t expect to like it so much, but it’s a pleasant and palatable tea. May actually buy a brick of this one.

Award for the ‘Most autumn pile/forest floor looking tea’ goes to this one.

I listened to other reviews and have had it airing out for a long time. I tried it at 1/2/4/7/10m with a hefty chunk in my gaiwan & there was a definite aged flavour, some humid storage taste & some odd fruit I cant put my finger on what it is. Oh, and autumn pile/forest floor. Also a tangy taste that was interesting..

The body and mouthfeels werent thick or heavy, there was a very very slight mouth cooling. Whatever the headfeels/qi was, it was nice. I felt nice and relaxed

For some reason my brain kept thinking this is the sort of tea you give actors in films like LoTR when you want them to get into role properly as a druid.

But while the taste wasnt something amazing (have been drinking some 10+years Mengku also today & this is a bit bland compared) I enjoyed the session. There was an odd complexity to the tang & aged taste. You seriously need to steep it for ages to get the flavour to be strong.

this was an ok tea, not the best though

1st steep 20s: some sweetness needs longer steep (wasn’t sure if I needed to rinse it first)

2nd steep (best) 40s: tangy and sweet similar to really old puehr

3rd (final) steep 1 min: same as steep 2

when I smell the leaves dry they smell musty

when I smell the leaves wet they smell like the forest floor

I will find this tea a new home someday as I have too much to mail out atm