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15 Seconds rinse – Soup is light golden-yellow, sirupy and transparent. Tea smell earthy and a little bit vegetal like peas. No bubbles while pouring the tea.

Brew #1, 3 min, This is a nice slightly dry medicinal tea with a touch of brandy, it sweet and mellow. The flavors of this one remain the same and consistent as I drink it.

Brew #2, 4 min, Tingling sensation, a bit spicy, it is less sweet and I don’t have the medicinal and brandy flavors for this second brew. As the tea cool down, it is earthy, mellow with a medicinal touch to it.

Brew #3, 6 min, Tingling sensation, spicy and sweet, it is more dry that the first stepping. A lasting grounded black pepper with a little medicinal feeling.

WATER USED: Naya Spring Water

15 Seconds rinse. A little quantity of bubbles while I serve the tea. The soup is medium cloudy, dark gold and smell like burnt brown sugar.

First stepping 3 min. : Tingling sensation, medium dry and maybe a little bit of campfire feeling/taste (the closest taste that I can come up with) and grounded pepper.

Second stepping 4 min 15 sec. : The grounded pepper is more spicy. Apart of those 3 flavors mentioned, I don’t taste anything else.

Very warm tea, sweating a little bit — feeling warm on my upper body (arms, chest, stomach) and slightly on my face.

Final thoughts: This is not a complex tea, minimal flavors, not a bad tea but I don’t think I will purchase that one again. However, I will try to use different parameter and see if I can get something more.

WATER USED: Nestle Pure Life

Second review of this tea, with a different kind of water, other parameters remain the same. One 10 seconds rinse.

1st brew at 3 minutes // 2nd brew at 4 minutes

Smell: Strong forest-like, honey and tobacco.
Colour: Light yellow, slightly cloudy

Only one flavour (tobacco) detected so far, I will let the tea cool down, it is very hot and seem to be a very dry tea. Yes, it is a very dry earthy tea with hint of sweetness. Tea has a tobacco taste with hint of honey-bitterness. A slightly lasting tobacco feel remain after drinking my first cup.

Second cup, Medium smoky-tobacco taste. As the tea cool down, I can detect a stronger bitterness. Wow, now my body feel so warm. Toward the end, the tea is gaining in bitterness.

Final thought: I think this tea will be good to drink after breakfast. People who like tobacco will enjoy this one. Time to quit smoking and enjoy a cup or two of this one. Nice to drink it outside during spring. This sheng explodes energetically.

WATER USED: Naya Natural Spring Water

Western Style – 1 Rinse, 1st brew – 2 min. 45 sec. : Gold in colour but a bit cloudy. Tea is smooth, clean, sweet, resinous and has a candy flavour — Taste is really different from the last session ( see previous review ), probably because I used a different parameters.

2nd brew – 4 min. : Slightly bitter with a hint of brandy. The candy taste is almost gone. As the tea cool down, only a mix of resinous-black ground pepper remain.

WATER USED: Nestle PureLife

Colour: Yellow-Orange, soup is clear and glossy but with some very tiny pieces of leaves. I remarked bubbles when I pour the tea. 15 Seconds rinse.

The one I have bought come from ebay and was on special for 25.35$ (original price was 35$ plus shipping). However, I’ve seen this tea for 75.00$ (Canadian dollars), directly from the Taetea group, well not sure if it is exactly the same since it is a different but very similar wrapper but it is the same recipe (7542). I think it is just a different brand (the brand of the cake from ebay is HELLOYOUNG and the brand from Taetea is Menghai Dayi — Is this tea a fake, or the real thing, or a lesser quality of tea? I think the brand I have is an lesser quality but let taste it.

1st stepping 3:00 minutes: Sweet honey notes with a touch of bitterness, earthy green. After the tea cool down, it really taste quickly like honey with some apricot flavour and no bitterness, so far so good. The honey flavour is very persistent and strong — mellow, very sweet and a bit earthy.

2nd stepping 4:00 minutes: Still taste like honey but not so strong anymore, more like a sweet dark wood. Subsequent sip taste like grounded pepper. Seem to have more subtle different flavours — more flavours that I can’t process at this time.

3rd and last stepping 5:00 minutes: Dark grounded pepper and dark woody — no other flavour detected. I think, I cannot have more flavours from this tea, seem that 3 stepping is what you can get out from this one.

Last thought: I really like this sheng puerh but I have in the past taste better ones. There are allot of puerh tea with the same recipe # (7542) and that come from Taetea, prices varies from 15$ to 80$ (on ebay).

For the price, it is amazing but it doesn’t rival tea that cost allot more. Also, I have bought in the past some sheng puerh that cost 50$ to 60$ and doesn’t taste better that the one I just reviewed.

WATER USED: Nestle Pure Life

This is my second review for this tea using a different brand of bottle water. Tea smell resinous and cantaloup. Tea soup is clear, transparent, beautiful and gold in colour.

15 Seconds rinse, 1st steep (3:00 min): First sip has a light resinous flavour. The resin taste seem darker like a bit burned as you drink it. Feel warm on my face, middle of my stomach and both front of my arms. What is that taste after swallowing the tea? Can’t pin point this one, is it woodsy? As the tea cool down the resinous taste is weaker with a subtle hint of sweetness and a slight bitterness starting to reveal itself. A mix of bitterness and earth replace the resin taste.

2nd Steep (4:00 min): Tea smell woody and resinous, first sip is bitter and maybe kind of a dark wood. Using Naya water instead of Nestle water seem to have a huge impact on this tea, with Naya water brand it is rough, darker, more earthy and less sweeter. As the tea cool down the resinous taste mix with the dark wood. At the end, it is the resinous and bitterness taste that are showing the most.

Lowering the rating of this tea because no sugary flavours are present, it still good enough but I will stick using Nestle Pure Life water brand or I might adjust the amount or/and steep time.

WATER USED: Naya Natural Spring Water

Quick rinse. 1st brew 3:10 min. : Slightly earthy, mellow and sweet, with medium dryness. Tea feel warm on my face and at the back of my throat. Taste like a piece of a dried fruit but I can’t seem to pin point the exact one. A good smooth tea, no complexity. Earthy flavour disappearing as the tea cool down, only a very sweet brown sugar and dried fruit taste remain.

2nd brew 4:15 min. : Sweet, slighlty earthy with a hint of bitterness still a medium dryness. Bitterness disappearing as the tea cool down. Brown sugar again, appear as the tea cool down with a hint of dried fruit, very smooth. Tea feel warm on my face, warm on the front of both arms and at the back of my throat.

WATER USED: Nestle Pure life

One 10 seconds rinse. 1st brew at 3:00 minutes: The soup is light, clear and gold in colour. Woody and earthy, this tea has a different tone than what I’m used to, the mix of the woody and earthy flavours gave rise to another taste that I can’t identify yet. It is more earthy than vegetal, like a forest with allot of trees and dirt. As a drink this tea, a honey flavour is progressively revealing itself.

Definitely sweeter as the tea cool down. The earthy flavours seem to diminish but the honey is getting stronger. As a drink it, all the flavours are merging together and about the same strength. Last sip has an earthy chocolate taste.

2nd brew 4:00 minutes: Earthy flavours are more pronounced than the first brew, starting to be a little bit bitter. After a few sip, it is earthy, bitter and slightly honey. Then, the honey notes are gone changing into a medium smokiness bitterness flavour.

3rd brew 4:45 minutes: Definitely smokey and earthy, at this point it is very dry. It started mellow, then it increased in dryness over many stepping.

I think, this one has more caffeine than the others puer that I had drink from my collection.

Let’s get out and bring out our bikes in this forest trail…we may found something interesting and comforting or we may disappear for a while.

Is it like a kind of “middle puer tea?” meaning something between a sheng and a ripe puer? Perhaps!

WATER USED: Nestle Pure Life