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This is a very nice ripe from Dayi. There was a moderate amount of fermentation flavor. It had started to clear but has a while to go yet. There was a little bit of bitterness initially but not much. It was mostly sweet notes from beginning to end. There might have been some chocolate notes in there but I wasn’t really paying attention. I was just enjoying the tea. On work days I don’t have time for a gongfu session so today I started early and hopefully will get to one or two more teas. This was very good and worth the price he charged which was $30 on sale for the 11/11 sale. King tea no longer seems to have a presence on Aliexpress but as I understand it he now has another website.

I steeped this tea twelve times in a 150ml gaiwan with 10.3g 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. The leaves were not done at twelve steeps. If I wanted to continue I am sure I’d get another three or four steeps out of them at least if not more.

This was a strong and bitter sheng. I gave it twelve steeps and only around the eleventh steep would I say a sweet note started to develop. I had already lost the apricots of a young sheng however. I will wait a year or two on this one and see if it improves.

I steeped this twelve times in a 150ml gaiwan with 8.7g 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 mini, 1.5 min, and 2 minutes.

Bought two of these in a recent order. They are generally a safe bet in ripe tea as COFCO usually produces a good ripe. This tea was overall very good although mind you not spectacular. It had a nice taste to it. There was a fair amount of fermentation flavor that was not too unpleasant it having matured for a few years. If it had ever had a fishy taste it was gone now. It was fairly bittersweet at the start too. The bitterness, like the fermentation didn’t last too long. I have been sick the past few days so I really was making no attempt to get the specifics down. So there could have been some chocolate taste in there but I don’t know for sure. I know it was a very nice tasting ripe and the price was quite low. I forget what I paid but I am pretty sure it was under $15. For a standard, factory ripe produced in huge quantities this is pretty good. I can only imagine how big the batch of this tea was.

I steeped this ten times in a 160ml solid silver teapot with 14.2g 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, and 1 min. It would certainly have gone a few more steeps. Has a nice dark color in the tenth steep.

This is a very tasty black tea. There is a nice balance between the chocolate flavors and the berry flavors. It does not come off as tasting artificial at all. It is good.

I brewed this one time in a 16oz Teavana Glass Perfect Tea Maker/Gravity Steeper withi 3 tsp leaf and boiling water for 3 minutes.

Got this in my order yesterday. It is pretty good. It has a nice strawberry flavor. The flavor does not come across as artificial to me. It is good.

I brewed this one time in a 16oz Teavana Glass Perfect Tea Maker/Gravity Steeper with 3 tsp leaf and 200 degree water for three minutes.

There is definitely a note of bittersweet chocolate to this tea. It would be more to my tastes if it was more sweet and less like bittersweet choclate. There id definitely a chocolate note. I amnot really sure what type of chocolate they add to this. Still it is fairly tasty. As I recall last time I ordered from Lupica they were out of this and I had wanted to try it. Got it yesterday in what was my second or third order with Lupica. I like their teas so I will order again.

I brewed this one time in a 16oz Teavana Glass Perfect Tea Maker/Gravity Steeper with 3 tsp leaf and boiling water for three minutes.

This tea was strong, punchy and bitter. The bitterness lasted until around the eighth steep. After that it became sweeter. It became quite tasty just took a long while to get there.

I steeped this tea twelve times in a 150ml gaiwan with 8.2g 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 minutes. This one might age well. Will put it away for a year and see what it tastes like.

Drinking this again to see if I still like it as much as the first time I drank it. It is certainly one of the best ripes I have drank. There was a sweet note from the start with little or no bitterness. There was a certain amount of fermentation flavor but it was not too strong and didn’t last all that long, maybe four or five steeps. I am not sure if I would say this had chocolate notes but it certainly is possible. I would describe the sweet note as a dates note or something similar. This is probably the most expensive tea in my collection. Unfortunately he does not sell samples of this. As I understand it he has only a few bricks left. The question I ask is this really ancient tree. The claim of 500 to 800 year trees is not as obnoxious as those claims of some sellers. This probably means the bulk of the tea comes from 500 year old trees. But as I trust the seller and he was not selling this for a suspiciously low price I tend to believe him. This was priced where you would expect such old tree tea to be priced. I tend to believe Larry at Purepuer. The tea went 16 steeps and would have gone a couple more had I the patience for the long steeps. It is said that only ancient tree material will go for so many steeps but I don’t know if this is true. I’m sure I could have gotten twenty steeps out of this tea. It was a little weaker in the sixteenth steep but it was still noticeable as tea.

I steeped this 16 times in a 160ml solid silver teapot with 14.4g 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, 2 min, 2.5 min, 3 min, 3.5 min, and 4 minutes. I still think this is among the very best ripes I have ever drank and I have had a lot of different ripe tea. This one was clearly fermented properly. It was not in my understanding a huge production batch like some. This makes sense as they have only so many leaves from 500 year old trees. I don’t know how large was the production batch but I would suspect not more than 50 bricks or so.

This is one of the more expensive ripes sold by Tuocha Tea. It is good but not quite spectacular. It started out a bit bitter with a fair amount of fermentation taste to it. I didn’t find the fermentation taste unpleasant or fishy. It developed a nice sweet note in the end.

I steeped this tea ten times in a 160ml solid silver teapot with 14.1g 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, and 1 minute.

This is an excellent ripe that could use a couple more years of aging. There was a lot of fermentation flavor through the first four or five steeps. It was initially bittersweet in nature. The fermentation was not of the unpleasant sort. A sweet note developed after the bitter left. It was good.

I steeped this ten times in a 160ml solid silver teapot with 14.1g 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, and 1 minute.