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Outside some Menghai productions, I haven’t really explored big factory ripe productions. From what I gather the 7581 seems to be a pretty well known recipe, but all that really matters to me in the name is the 8 as I’ve generally observed that I tend to have a preference for ripes with a larger average leaf grade. The sample that I received has a surprisingly strong sweet rice aroma especially for such an aged tea. The appearance of the dry leaf is very dark and although the compression was probably reasonably high back in the day, time has gradually transformed the material into dry and brittle.

I used 12.1g in my 160ml Jianshui clay teapot and also drank the tea from Jianshui clay. I was foolish and neglected to break the one large chunk I tossed in into smaller pieces and ended up doing so after the first rinse which I followed with another. I did a total of seven steeps, the timing for these being 12s, 12s, 18s, 28s, 45s, 75s and 2 min.

The first infusion was still fairly light in terms of color, but the liquor was already really clear. The taste and texture were similarly still light, but the tea was very clean and there was a certain refreshing quality about it. The mouthfeel was also nice. There was some very minor sweetness and overall the tea was very reminiscent of berry juice. There was also a certain creaminess about it. This profile reminded me a lot of the general Menghai area ripe pu’er profile.

The second infusion brewed a slightly different shade, but not really much darker than the first steep. This applies to the session as a whole as the tea never really brewed much darker than this, which isn’t dark at all. The liquor was super clear. While the texture had gotten even lighter than before, I was actually getting some bitterness now. The flavor profile was generally darker than before, but no particular flavors besides bitter really popped out at me. At this point I was already noticing some cooling going on in my airways. The tea became extra bitter once it cooled down.

Steep number three wasn’t thick, but it had a sort of slimy texture, if you know what I mean. The taste was that of dry wood. The tea was quite drying in fact, especially at the back of the mouth. The cooling was only amped up, which in turn really emphasized the dryness. The bitterness was still there, but in a very minor role. At this point I happened to get a whiff of the empty cha hai and the aroma was absolutely wonderful. Definitely pay attention to the aroma of this tea.

By steep four the color seemed to already be fading, but despite appearances the body had now improved. On the flavor front you got the slightest hint of sweetness which then turned into much stronger bitterness which then also went away. My favorite steep was steep number five. At first I had difficulty trying to come up with a way to describe it, but then I happened to smell the tea in the cup and it kind of reminded me of medicine. After tasting the tea again, I arrived at the conclusion that describing the taste as medicinal might actually be apt. I have heard others describe some teas as medicinal, but before this I’ve never tasted anything I’d personally label as such. I really, really liked this steep.

The sixth steeping brewed strong and bitter with more of the prior dry wood taste. At this point I felt some slight burning sensation in my throat, but I don’t know if that’s solely the tea or if my throat is becoming a bit sore. Steep seven was the last one I did. By this point the color was very light and the flavor reflected this. The tea had become very basic with some sweet and woody notes to it. The leaves could have probably carried on with extended steeping times, but I decided to call it there as I expected the steepings to only deteriorate from this point onward.

For such a budget tea, I quite enjoyed this tea. 10¢/g is typically the bare minimum I pay for ripe pu’er, but I must say I’ve never really been particularly impressed by any tea at this price point. While this tea might lack the richness and body of some younger similarly priced teas, what you are getting is a very clean tea that offers amazing value for the money. I don’t think I’ve ever really found any of the aged ripes I’ve tried in the past worth it, as the age has typically come at a substantial premium, but in this case you get an ultra clean tea that costs the same as a freshly pressed shu. Granted, some modern boutique pressings that cost about the same may have the potential to surpass this tea years down the line, but for my personal taste for immediate consumption I prefer this tea to most affordable ripes I’ve tried. That being said, ultimately I’d categorize Red Star as a daily drinker and while this is a tea that’s fun for me to session once or twice, it is not something I’d be looking to purchase. I’m not really a person who drinks the same tea more than once every few months or so, so daily drinkers aren’t really something I’m looking for. That being said, shu pu’er as a category is probably closest to a daily drinker for me as it’s generally the most casual type of tea for me.

I honestly didn’t expect much from this tea as I’m generally really picky about ripe pu’er and tend to prefer only the really premium productions and teas from certain areas. While Red Star does have its shortcomings, I found it to be excellent value at just under 10¢/g and something I can recommend to someone looking for a clean, affordable daily drinker that you can also pay attention to if you so choose.

I believe this is my first Bing Dao tea. I’ve tried teas from around this area like the YS 2017 Nuo Wu, but nothing from Bing Dao itself. I actually have a full cake of this, have had since before the price ever went up. It is however sitting at the bottom of my pumidor in a tricky spot, so since I wanted to try it out while it was still young and review it while I was at it, I went ahead and ordered a ten gram sample of it just for this session. I usually like to give teas a couple months in my pumidor after arriving as I’ve noticed a correlation with a higher likelihood of having a rewarding session, but hopefully the two and a half weeks in this case is adequate.

I steeped the entire 10g sample in a 140ml gaiwan using water just off the boil. I did a short 5s rinse and tasted the wash while I let the leaves soak up the moisture for five minutes or so. The taste was still light and green at this stage, but the aftertaste was quite long-lasting. I proceeded to do a total of twelve infusions, the timing for these being 6s, 6s, 8s, 10s, 15s, 20s, 30s, 45s, 75s, 2 min., 3 min. and 5 min.

The first infusion was still relatively light both in terms of taste and body. The cha qi was already quite potent however. I don’t know if I’d call it very mild astringency or just a slightly prickly sensation, but in addition to that the tea had a slightly numbing effect on the tongue. I’m not sure if I’d quite go there myself, but I could see people calling the taste remotely fruity. Just after a couple of small cups, my head was already throbbing. I could feel the tea especially behind my ears and at the back of my head.

As is to be expected, the second infusion was stronger, but surprisingly also smoother. The broth was also a lot thicker, kind of fruity, with slight astringency in the finish. The steep that followed was similar. Strong, astringent, but without the hints of fruitiness. The qi was now moving to my upper back and chest. The fruitiness returned in the fourth infusion. The taste didn’t remind me of any specific fruits but tropical fruits in general. However once the tea cooled down I felt like I was tasting peach. At this point my airways began to feel clear and there was a slight cooling effect. The qi continued to be potent. I began to feel very relaxed, but at the same time like I could go do high-level sports.

Steep number five was very clean and fresh. I could also feel a slight burning sensation at the very back of my tongue and some astringency of course. This was followed by a brew that was a mixture of fruity, green, creamy and astringent which was an interesting combination. The seventh steep is where the Bing Dao tasted most like your typical young sheng. It was young, green, astringent, perhaps even a tad bitter. The taste was clean and the body decent. This seldom happens to me with raw pu’er and typically with only some really high-end dan congs, but I actually kind of liked the astringency in this steep.

The next two steeps were quite similar, clean and astringent, but the first was still kinda yummy for whatever reason and the second one quite savory. Steep ten was a bit of a surprise with some citrus to the taste now, maybe even hints of sweetness. The astringency was very strong now in the finish. In contrast the astringency was largely absent from the eleventh steep which brewed clean, juicy and oily with a pleasant taste to it. Steep twelve was the last one I did. At this point the tea was still going strong in terms of strength. The flavors had simplified and the astringency was back, but at no point was this tea really about the taste so it was hard to notice a huge difference. The tea could have likely gone on for multiple infusions, but I decided I’d seen most of what it had to offer.

Looking at the leaves at the end of the session, I saw hardly any broken leaves, burnt bits or even slightly more oxidized leaves with red edges. This is not something I see too often even with some really expensive teas, and it tells me about the level of confidence the people who processed the tea have in the quality of their material and the dedication they decided to put in.

This was a nice session. The thing I should note about this tea is that even though it was astringent to varying degrees in nearly every steep, it never became overbearing or distracting and while it wasn’t necessarily a good kind of astringency which is very rare to begin with, it was never really bad either. The qi is very noticeable, but never too aggressive and can actually make you feel quite good. The strength and longevity are good, but where the tea failed to impress me was the body. It’s not poor by any means, but not particularly noteworthy either. In terms of taste I don’t think there is that much going on right now, but how this tea sounds when described and when drunk are two different things. The tea is more enjoyable than it may sound, but at the same time it is not really a beginner-friendly tea and like with many other high-end pu’ers you are paying for many things besides the flavor.

Would I recommend this tea? That is a tough question. If you are looking to educate yourself and learn what a tea that you can trust to be Bing Dao as long as you trust Scott tastes like, I would recommend trying a sample. I myself invested in this tea for the long term. Saying if it will be worth it ten years down the line would be difficult. If you like strong tea with cha qi and find the astringency in this tea acceptable or perhaps even enjoyable, this is a tea that could be drunk now. I don’t think it would necessarily be worth its price tag though.

I had a good time with this tea. I didn’t necessarily love it, but I certainly wasn’t disappointed with it. I paid $170 for my cake. The price has gone up considerably since then. I found the quality to match what I paid for, but even at the current price if you really like the tea it’s probably worth it, especially five or ten years down the line. I’m sorry I can’t be more help than that, but if you’re looking to buy a tea as expensive as this, you ultimately need to trust your own judgment.

After reviewing Hai Lang Hao’s Yi Shan Mo ripe pu’er from Yiwu, which is often dubbed the queen of pu’er, here comes the king. My sample was ten grams so I used ten grams. For brewing I used my trusty 160ml Jianshui clay teapot, although I didn’t always fill it quite full so the leaf-to-water ratio is probably closer to 1g/15ml or so. I gave the leaves a brief rinse for under ten seconds and let them have five minutes to soften up while I did other preparations. I did a total of eleven steeps, the timing for these being 10s, 8s, 10s, 13s, 20s, 30s, 45s, 75s, 2 min., 4 min. and 10 min.

This tea opened up really strong. I don’t know if it’s as strong as the 1996 CNNP Green Mark Te Ji I reviewed, but it’s definitely one of the strongest ripes I’ve had. The body was already quite good and the taste that of unsweetened baking chocolate. The aftertaste was strong even just after a few sips. It felt like I could already feel the tea affecting me a little bit, although I can’t be entirely sure.

The second steep brewed a really dark mahogany and you could just tell how thick the tea was by looking at the last drops slowly dripping from the teapot. The taste and texture were that of sugar-free chocolate pudding. The tea was so thick, it felt like you could use a spoon to scoop it up. Both the taste and aftertaste were strong and there was a gentle pleasant bitterness to the tea.

The third steep was thick, slick and oily. This time the flavors were more subtle, but eventually I arrived at the conclusion that the taste was mainly woody. At this point I was already starting to feel the cumulative qi. For the fourth infusion I extended the time just a hair and the tea was strong again. I’d made it slightly bitter, but the other flavors were a bit hard to discern. I’d say they were mainly woody again. The qi was hitting me hard though and I almost decided to go lie down because of how intense this tea is.

I brewed the next infusion just a tad longer than I’d intended, but the tea wasn’t too strong at all. Seems I should have gone even just a bit longer, because there was less body now and the flavors came off as rather simple, being mainly simple woody notes. I managed to get the strength back where I wanted in the next steep and the texture improved a little too being slightly syrupy. The flavors had now shifted slightly toward darker woody tones. The tea was very easy to drink, nice, but not super rich nor thin. The cha qi was still falling hard on me, making me feel like I might drop my cup if I was not careful.

Steep seven brewed incredibly sweet, like somebody had put a full cube of sugar in my cup. The taste was sugary and woody. Really nice. At this point it did start to feel like the qi was letting up. The strength continued to be good in the next steep. The body was decent as well. The flavors however were rather simple. The tea was fairly sweet, but not as sweet as before.

Steep nine was still solid in terms of strength. It started off woody and maybe a bit mineraly. It was very fresh and slightly cooling. As I kept drinking it, I started tasting menthol more and more. This was really interesting as I’ve tasted mint a couple times in pu’er, but never menthol. I ended up really liking this steep. While I found the next infusion less cooling in the mouth, I could taste menthol even stronger now. The sweetness was pretty much gone from the tea, making it taste like a sugar-free breath mint. The mouthfeel was still quite nice and overall this steep was enjoyable, pleasant, perhaps even rewarding for such a late steep.

The eleventh steep was the last one I did. There wasn’t all that much taste left even after a ten minute infusion. There was kind of a bad berry taste to the soup, maybe a bit acid. Maybe you could have done one more ultra long infusion with these leaves, but I deemed them pretty much done.

Unsurprisingly, this tea was good. Was it the best ripe I’ve had? Actually, no. I liked the Yi Shan Mo better. And one or two other teas as well. But this tea was good, wish all ripes were this level of quality. Is it worth the ridiculous price? I don’t think so. Not even close. I think the Yi Shan Mo at 38.5¢/g is totally worth the price and I like it better than the Lao Ban Zhang which costs four times as much, so do the math. As most people probably can’t afford this tea, myself included, I think the better question is is this tea worth buying a sample of? I’d say so. I would recommend trying out other genuinely high quality ripes first to see if you even find them worth it in your book, but if you’re genuinely interested and don’t find the cost of even a mere 10g sample too difficult to justify, go for it.

This tea brews strong, it brews thick, and the cha qi is really potent. It has probably the strongest chocolate notes I’ve tasted in any tea. I still can’t get past that. The longevity is great too, for a ripe and for a tea that brews this strong. I’m glad this tea was good, but I’m even more glad I liked the Yi Shan Mo better, because I want that tea and can’t afford this one. What’s clear is that Hai Lang produces some great teas.

I noticed recently that Yunnan Sourcing’s “Green Miracle” had sold out, so I decided to pick this one up while it was still available, just to see how the two compare. I used 12.1g in my 160ml Jianshui clay teapot and drank the tea from Jianshui clay as well. After a 10s rinse and a 5 min. rest I proceeded to do a total of eight steeps, the timing for these being 12s, 12s, 15s, 20s, 30s, 50s, 90s and 2.5 min.

The color of the first infusion was still light. The texture reflected this and was fairly light as well. The tea wasn’t quite bitter nor chocolatey, but bittersweet might be an apt description. Despite the color, the strength was stronger than your average shu. The second steep didn’t actually brew much darker. The texture was very light, which you could tell already by just looking at the liquor. The taste was a bit stronger, consisting of darker tones and being at the edge of bitterness. Bittersweet might still be applicable here. The lasting flavor left in your mouth was however clearly that of coffee.

The third steep finally brewed a bit darker, although hardly very dark for a shu pu’er, more like a hong cha. The tea was strong, but light, if that makes any sense. The initial burst of dark, bitter coffee flavors was fairly strong, but the texture was disappointingly light and the flavors faded quickly, leaving behind this sort of void. It just left you with this sense of there being a lack of substance. There was however at least a persistent lingering aftertaste. I also noted that the tea became very bitter once it cooled down.

Slightly extended brewing time finally produced a slightly better body in the fourth steep, although the texture was till light+. The taste was bitter, maybe even a tad sour (but not in a bad way), now leaning more toward woody notes. This was a decent brew. The body didn’t hold up in the next steeping. The flavor had dropped as well. This with me extending the brewing time by 50% from the previous steep. The taste was perhaps slightly sweet and mineraly with some light woody tones. Very disappointing.

The sixth steep I apparently managed to push adequately as the strength was back to a decent level. The taste was mineral, with some darker woody notes as well. The tea had a certain freshness to it, being almost cooling. There were some nice lingering woody tones as well. This was a decent steep. Steep seven was light in texture, but had a nice mouthfeel. I’m not quite sure how to describe it, but it was tasty. It was refreshingly woody with a bit of mouth cooling going on. A nice infusion.

Steep number eight was the last one I did. It was light, simple. Drinkable, but the tea could have very well been on the verge of either giving up entirely or becoming nasty. There was some of your typical base sweetness, but I deemed the tea done in my eyes.

This tea was decent. I’m fairly picky when it comes to shu pu’er, so I wasn’t expecting too much. I found the tea to brew stronger than your average ripe, while the body was generally quite lacking. If you like your ripes thick, I’m not quite sure how to achieve that with this tea without making it excessively strong in the process. If you are wondering how Immortal Monkey compares to Green Miracle, I haven’t had that tea recently enough to make a good comparison, but I recall Green Miracle being perhaps a bit more dynamic in terms of flavor, although the flavor profiles are comparable. At least right now Immortal Monkey seems to lean more towards bittersweet and woody, while Green Miracle according to my memory was less bitter and perhaps more chocolatey and mineraly. These teas are still young, however, so they will continue to change over time. I don’t think I really have a preference for either tea right now. They are similar but different in their own right.

To boil things down, Immortal Monkey seems like a decent tea to drink now, with the potential to become a better tea in the future. Those leaning toward a bittersweet woody profile when it comes to shu may find this to their liking. Those seeking a replacement for Green Miracle should not be too disappointed either. While the tea is not distinctly sweet, the lack of sweetness does not come off as a negative like it can with some other teas.

I haven’t seen very many Yiwu ripe pu’ers on the market and this is the first one I’ve tried. I used 12.3g in my 160ml Jianshui clay teapot, so roughly half my sample. Although this is a brick, the compression seems very light and I was able to break larger chunks into smaller ones without having to used hardly any force at all. I rinsed the leaves for under ten seconds and let the leaves soak up the moisture for five minutes before I began brewing. I did a total of eight steeps, the timing for these being 12s, 12s, 15s, 20s, 30s, 50s, 90s and 3 min. For drinking the tea, I used both a regular glazed teacup as well as a Jianshui clay teacup dedicated to shu pu’er.

The first infusion brewed a dark red. The liquor was surprisingly clear especially for such a young tea. The tea was syrupy, slick, clean and slightly sweet. The strength was good. The next steep brewed a pure black. Possibly the darkest color I’ve seen, if you can compare black with another black. The mouthfeel was velvety and there was a mild pleasant bitterness to the tea. I’m not really sure if there was quite a coffee taste to this steep as is often the case with shu pu’ers at this stage.

Steep three produced a super clean, beautiful liquor. The mouthfeel was astonishing. It felt like the tea was massaging your tongue. Just phenomenal. The tea left an active sensation in your mouth even after you swallowed. There was even less bitterness now. I don’t really know how to describe the taste. It leaned more towards darker notes, but I’m not sure if calling it coffee or roasted is quite correct.

Steep four was somewhat weaker than the prior infusions, which was a sign for me that I could push this tea even harder for the following steeps. The taste was also less complex, but very sweet. Quite impressively the tea still brewed a perfect black in the fifth steep. The tea was now stronger and less sweet. The taste was mainly woody. At this point I could start to feel the tea in my body, especially around my chest and abdomen.

Infusion number six continued to brew totally black. Contrary to the color, the tea had become very fresh with a clear taste of mint. The soup was ultra clean and both cooling and warming in the mouth at the same time. The taste was also accompanied by a REALLY nice and pleasant qi. This steeping was definitely one of the standouts. Steep seven is finally where the tea only brewed a very dark red as opposed to a total black. In contrast to the color, the flavor had dropped much more significantly and was merely that of some basic sweetness. Steep eight also continued to have plenty of color and the strength was now better as well, but the flavors simply weren’t there. The tea was simple and nice and you could probably have continued with these extended sweet steeps for a while, but I deemed the session to be done.

I feel I’ve described this tea with much fewer words than I usually do. This can either be a good sign or a bad sign. In this case it’s a good sign. This tea was exceptional. I don’t know if it’s my favorite or second favorite shu pu’er up to this point, but I can say that the base material is definitely my favorite and it has been expertly processed. This tea performed much like I’d demand from a high-end raw pu’er, while offering the flavor experience of a shu pu’er. Since the tea has been more lightly fermented and the leaves aren’t totally black, I’d expect it to develop and become even better over the years, although it’s perfectly drinkable now and I didn’t detect any off-flavors.

I would very much like to buy more of this tea. The two inhibitors are however the fact that it comes in a 1kg brick and consequently the high price that results from that. This tea is however most definitely worth the price. Assuming it doesn’t sell out in the very near future, I’d love to grab a brick of this once I’m able. While this is an accessible tea, I would say that its true strengths might be lost on someone still very new to pu’er. Just the way it flows out of the cha hai as I pour tells me how high-quality it is. Despite the dark color, the tea didn’t brew particularly strong, so I wouldn’t go much lighter on the leaf than I did and you could probably easily go heavier. The only real downside was the longevity, but hopefully more flavors will develop there as the tea ages.

Time for another Menghai. Why not. I’ve had this little fella for probably close to a year, but since it’s so tightly compressed I decided to give it plenty of time to chill and get settled. Generally I avoid anything that’s highly compressed, but since this was such a small bing and a relatively cheap investment, I decided to go for it. I would most certainly advice caution when breaking into this fella. My pick slipped several times while carefully trying to break off the leaves for this session, but luck was on my side and it never hit anything. I used 12 grams to 160ml and both brewed the tea in and drank it from Jianshui clay.

I gave the tea my customary 5s rinse and 5 min. rest. I did a total of eight steeps, for 8s, 8s, 10s, 13s, 18s, 30s, 60s and 2 min. The first steep was still fairly light due to the compression. There was some pleasant sweetness, but what stood out the most about the teas was how clean it tasted. There were some “browner” notes as well, not sure if I’d call them earthy. The body wasn’t thick, but still pretty good.

By this point the more compressed bits were already coming apart and the next infusion brewed much darker, although nowhere near black. The texture was thick. The taste was dominated mainly by a single dark note I couldn’t find a word for. The finish consisted of a bitterness reminiscent of cheap coffee. The bitterness grew as the tea cooled down. Compared to average ripes, this infusion was quite nice both in terms of texture and upfront flavor, but reviewing this back to back with Menghai’s own special production Xin Hai Bai Nian cake really highlights just how much simpler this tea is.

Steep number three produced about the same color, but this time the texture was much lighter. The taste was clearer, with dark notes still present and hints of coffee bitterness in the finish. The liquor, although never overly cloudy, was finally quite clear in the fourth steep. The texture was light to medium and the taste even clearer than before. After struggling to identify the dominant flavor, I’d say it’s dark wood.

The soup started to become creamy in the next infusion, although more in texture than the actual taste. Even though the extraction itself wasn’t weak, the flavors were already clearly beginning to thin out. The tea left the palate relatively clean with perhaps a slightly mineral finish. The tea became even creamier in the sixth steep, although also possessed a slightly unpleasant tinge to it. While the extraction was adequate, the flavors themselves were light. The tea was simple enough to drink.

Having pressed the tea a lot harder for the seventh steep, the extraction was indeed stronger, but this could do very little to counter the flavors that were thinning severely. The texture was less creamy, with a taste of slightly decomposed wood. Infusion eight was the last one I did. Despite losing a lot of its color, I still managed to pull out the woody notes, although the underlying minerality was trying to push through them. The sensation on the tongue was quite mineraly. The tea wasn’t weak, but thin in terms of the flavors. It was decent though. Drinkable. The leaves could have possibly provided an infusion or two more, but I didn’t see enough value in trying to stretch them out and so I decided to end the session there.

While paling in comparison to Menghai’s own Xin Hai Bai Nian, this tea was better than your average ripe and proved once again that Menghai produced solid shu pu’ers, even if they aren’t always particularly noteworthy. To me this came across as a solid daily drinker and something that would make a great introduction to shu pu’er. Probably the thing that struck me out the most about the tea was how surprisingly clean it tasted. I know it’s already been five years since it was pressed and it probably consists of slightly aged material, but still it came across as a lot cleaner than I expected, given the compression, storage and so forth.

What I was probably the most disappointed in was the longevity, especially given how this tea didn’t brew particularly strong at any point. I didn’t find the flavors anything amazing, but they are rather well-defined and keep things very simple and straightforward. This in conjunction with the cleanliness makes me think this would make a great introduction tea to ripe pu’er, although there are many alternatives out there.

For me personally this tea was not interesting or rewarding enough to be something I’d buy more of, but I’m not ruling out that it could develop more complexity slowly over the years. For the price it’s not a bad choice, especially if you want something clean and simple. I think you could probably go a little heavier on the leaf than I did and get good results.

I’ve had a cake of this ever since Yunnan Sourcing listed it back in 2017. I’ve had one casual session with it a couple months back, but didn’t review it at the time. The bing is very pretty and the dry leaf aroma wonderful. I brewed 12.3g in a 160ml Jianshui clay teapot and drank the tea from a cup made from the same material. I rinsed the leaves briefly for under ten seconds and let the moisture soak in for five minutes before I began brewing. The aroma of the freshly rinsed leaves was very clean and comforting. I did a total of nine steeps, the timing for these being 10s, 10s, 12s, 15s, 30s, 50s, 90s, 2.5 min. and 6 min.

I’ve been experimenting with brewing ripe pu’er with slightly heavier leaf ratios and that in conjunction with the fairly small average leaf grade of this tea means it brewed quite strong (for a shu pu’er). There was a lot going on in the first infusion, with flavor notes bouncing around my mouth. I could taste rich notes of wood and something that reminded me of wine, with a pleasant bitterness in the finish with hints of chocolate. The aftertaste was long, rich and rewarding. While the tea itself wasn’t super thick, I liked the feel of it in my mouth. This was a wonderful start to the session.

The next brew offered deeper, darker notes. Very rich. I don’t know if I got any notes I would refer to as earthy, but eventually I began tasting dark, bitter chocolate, one that had melted and was flowing all over my tongue. The bitterness was wonderful. The tea was now really big and active in the mouth. It caused the lower half of my mouth, jaw in particular, to tingle. Damn this is good tea.

The third infusion presented more bitter and roasted notes. There was also a faint sweetness which in conjunction with the roasted notes made me think of nougat. The bitterness leaned more towards coffee now, and the lingering bitterness that was left in your mouth was REALLY wonderful. I could drink this tea just for that bitter aftertaste. The mouthfeel wasn’t as great as before, but still enjoyable and active in the mouth, mainly around the tongue.

Steep number four was one of those roll your eyes back into your head moments. Man, that mouthfeel. I just wanted to let the tea rest on my tongue. It was thick, lubricating and felt great going down the throat. Taking a sip made you want to smile. The flavors were taking a backseat for this round, but I didn’t care. I could taste familiar bitter woody coffee notes, but they weren’t as strong or good as before. Afterwards you could feel the tea in your chest.

I accidentally brewed the tea a bit too long for steep number five and the tea ended up almost too thick for me. Even though I pushed it quite a bit, the resulting flavor was surprisingly weak. This was actually not due to a weak extraction but the flavors themselves being light. I could taste some generic woody notes, which became much clearer in the aftertaste. This infusion was really warming in the chest. I actually liked the tea better once it had cooled down completely. This brought forth a really nice mineral taste and I didn’t really get any of the woody notes.

The tea got back into gear in the sixth steeping. The flavors took the backseat again while the liquor felt wonderful and active in the mouth. Woody notes were still present, but the tea was now also a bit creamy and there was some slight sweetness and mineral taste. While I could tell the tea was entering its late steeps, there was still a fair bit going on and the thickness was still good and the aftertaste actually more potent than the tea itself. The aftertaste was rich, creamy and aromatic.

The color began dropping in the next steep. The taste was now that of sweet rice, like the rice drinks you can buy at the store. It even had the slight graininess those drinks have. The tea was also really thick. I mean, really, really thick. It was very pleasant and enjoyable to drink. The color continued to fade quite dramatically in the eighth steep. The tea was also considerably thinner. The immediate flavors were basic sweetness and some weak woody notes, while you could taste the sweet rice and minerals in the finish. The lingering sweetness intensified over time as you drank the tea, however, ultimately becoming incredibly sweet. There was also a slight numbing sensation on my tongue.

I attempted one last long extraction, but the resulting tea was really light. There was a creamy mineraly taste of berries, but also a slight unenjoyable tinge to the tea. The aftertaste was nice though and super sweet. I decided the tea was done.

I’m glad I didn’t review this tea back when I first tried it. I recall it coming across as a solid ripe, but nothing as wonderful as the session I had this time. The problem with (and wonderful thing about) tea is that no two sessions are ever alike. I may not have had the clay teacup yet when I first had this tea, I don’t recall, but it may have made a huge difference. In any case, this tea was fantastic. I wish all my ripe sessions were like this. This may have very well been the best shu pu’er I’ve had to date. I would most definitely recommend leafing this tea a bit harder than usual to ensure a rich brew, long aftertaste and that you bring out the wonderful bitterness it holds. The longevity of a tea like this is never going to be very impressive, and you’ll just have to accept that.

Looking both at the dry leaf and the brewed leaves, I can buy this being from higher grade material than your average ripe. While I’m hardly knowledgeable about these kind of teas, the leaves, although small, look intact and like fine pickings. To me this tea comes across as perfectly ready to drink now. Unless you are a thousand times more sensitive to fermentation taste than me, you should be fine. While not necessarily cheap, for what you get I think the price is actually quite reasonable. Like I said, wish all ripes were this good.

This is the oldest tea I’ve had to date. I used the entire 10g sample in my 160ml Jianshui clay teapot. I don’t know what this tea was like back in ’96, but thanks to both the age and the small leaf size, the chunks feel loose, dry and brittle. I gave the tea a brief 5s rinse, followed by a 5 min. rest to let the moisture soak in. The rinsed leaves had a super clean woody smell to them. I did a total of nine steeps, the timing for these being 10s, 10s, 10s, 13s, 18s, 28s, 45s, 90s and 5 min.

Thanks to the small leaf grade and the loose compression, this tea brews dark right out of the gate. The liquor itself is also extremely clear. I was taken aback by how strong and bitter the first brew was. When I say bitter, I’m not talking positive or negative, it was simply a flavor like any other, in this case a coffee bitterness to be exact. The empty cha hai after the first infusion smelled amazing. If you are brewing this tea yourself, don’t miss it.

In the second steep the tea already brewed coffee black. The tea was smoother now, although still bitter and the flavor had shifted toward roasted coffee beans. In the third steep the tea started tasting clearer and brighter, like looking at a clear sky after a storm. The bitterness had now shifted to only being present in the finish. At this point I was already starting to feel tea drunk. This tea hits you pretty hard.

The taste continued to get brighter and clearer in the fourth infusion. There was also no bitterness to be found anymore. The flavor is hard to describe, but this was easily the most enjoyable infusion so far. The next steep only brewed a dark red anymore, so the color was definitely beginning to fade fast. The taste was that of red berries, but nowhere near as bold as it had been before. I was getting a real buzz from this tea by this point.

Steep six was still fairly dark, but the color was definitely fading fast. The taste was a mixture of bitter and creamy. I was feeling quite messed up. The brew that followed was also slightly bitter, but the bitterness was accompanied by darker tones that I didn’t really care for. The flavors were definitely beginning to reflect the color and starting to get considerably thinner and fade. My body was throbbing by this point. I did two more steeps, both of which were rather simple but pleasant enough, possessing some basic sweetness. The leaves may have had one or two more extra long steeps in them, but they would have most likely just been more of that basic sweetness so I called it there.

Even though these small leaf grade ripe pu’ers do tend to brew rather strong in the beginning, this tea still surprised me with its strength. If you are using a teapot, I would probably recommend using less leaf than you normally do. What surprised me more, however, was the strong bitterness present in this tea. I’m not used to tasting bitterness in shu pu’er very often and most certainly not on this level. Again, the bitterness wasn’t a bad kind of bitterness, but neither was it a pleasant kuwei.

For a shu pu’er, the tea does possess rather potent cha qi. While not necessarily unpleasant, I wouldn’t call it enjoyable either, we are talking of more like a hammered sensation. The flavor profile does not appeal to me personally. Coffee drinkers might appreciate it, but while not a coffee drinker myself, I’m sure you could get a much better coffee experience for the same money or less. I don’t know how many people are drinking ripe pu’er for the cha qi, but there are other alternatives out there, if that’s what you’re looking for, maybe not quite as potent though.

The more I drink these gong ting/small leaf grade ripes, the more I’m starting to think they are not for me. They can be finicky about how you brew them and I just find them less complex compared to teas with larger leaves mixed in. If you just think about for example a pure bud picking versus a one bud, one leaf picking standard, it’s easy to comprehend why the material would be more expensive, but just like when comparing two picking standards, a pure bud picking, while more expensive, isn’t necessarily better, just different. One may prefer the pure bud tea, but another person may prefer the one bud, one leaf picking.

Anyway, to sum things up, this tea brews extremely clean and strong both in flavor and cha qi. If you are averse to fermentation taste and are willing to pay, this is the tea for you. Just don’t go expecting a sweet shu. While I didn’t find the tea to have enough complexity to keep me interested, it was still interesting and informative to session, which is why I bought a sample in the first place. If you are wondering what an aged shu pu’er tastes like, this tea is worth it for the experience.

While I’ve highly enjoyed ripe pu’ers made from Jingmai material, the young raws I’ve tried from there have always left me with mixed feelings. I was very curious to see what I would think of this tea. I’ve had a free sample that I received with an order sitting in my pumidor for several months. The tea is still very young, but I’ve been drinking through several samples over the past few days and decided to give it a shot. I used nine grams in a 130ml gaiwan and drank the tea both from a regular teacup as well as an unglazed Jianshui clay cup dedicated to young sheng.

I rinsed the leaves briefly for five seconds and let them soak up the moisture for five minutes while I drank the wash. There was already body to the tea but not much taste. It did leave a faint, perhaps floral aftertaste lingering in the mouth. I proceeded to do a total of eleven infusions, the timing for these being 5s, 5s, 7s, 10s, 15s, 20s, 30s, 45s, 75s, 2 min. and 3 min.

The tea started off with a big, oily body, although the mouthfeel itself was nothing all that special. There was a distantly honied taste, but all in all the flavors weren’t very defined yet. The aftertaste was actually stronger than the tea itself and very stable. I could taste the tea with my entire mouth. Over the next three steeps the tea grew greener and more astringent while retaining varying degrees of a honied character as well. What all of these infusions had in common was a long and stable aftertaste that was almost always better than the taste of the tea in your mouth. The aftertaste of the fourth steep was more of a honied mineral taste and it made your saliva taste AMAZING (like honey).

I found the fifth steep perhaps a bit weaker in terms of flavor, but also more settled and balanced. It was astringent, perhaps even a bit smoky, and I could feel a slight burning sensation in my mouth. The honey was now more in the background. Again, I found the aftertaste of this round more enjoyable than the front flavors. I would most likely recommend a small brewing vessel for this tea as it is something you don’t really need to drink more than a few sips of each steep.

Steep six was more friendly at least toward my tastebuds. The taste was softer with less astringency. The tea was still fairly green tasting and leafy, but more drinkable than before. I wasn’t really tasting the honey anymore, but there were now whispers of a green/leafy sweetness. The aftertaste was again the highlight here and this time concentrated around the sides of your tongue. It also improved over time and ended up becoming very nice. The seventh infusion continued on this path of change and presented a liquor that was now much more mineral sweet tasting and highly aromatic in the mouth. While the tea wasn’t necessarily excessively astringent, I could feel a slight burning sensation both in my mouth and throat. In terms of texture this steeping was incredibly easy to drink and the tea left a satisfying sensation in your mouth and throat after you’d drunk the tea. Your throat was also left feeling very lubricated.

The astringency and burning sensation started ramping up in the eighth infusion while at the same time you got less taste. This is the point from which on the clay cup started to become very helpful. It helped bring down the astringency to a more manageable level while revealing more of the underlying flavors. The tea was beginning to exhibit more of those honey notes again while also having that nice sweet mineral taste. It was highly aromatic especially in the nose and also left me salivating while making my mouth taste sweet.

The burning astringency continued in the next steep where the clay cup continued to be my friend, revealing complex notes of honey with countless layer to them. When drunk from clay the tea was also incredibly thick, feeling like yoghurt in your mouth. This was the thickest the tea got and I was really surprised by both the thickness and how well the clay cup was performing. Steep ten was no longer as astringent, but even here the clay cup made the tea much better. It improved the texture considerably and made the flavors rounder and more balanced. Overall the flavors were beginning to simplify, however, but the honey notes were still fairly “thick,” even if there was less depth now.

Steep eleven was the last one I did. Once again the clay cup presented fuller flavors here. The taste itself was beginning to get fairly simple by this point though. While the strength and body still remained quite good for steep eleven, I wasn’t expecting to see anything more interesting so I decided to call it here. The tea could have possibly gone on for at least a steep or two.

This session ended up being much more interesting than I originally expected based on the first few infusions. However, just like other young Jingmais I’ve had, I didn’t find that the flavors appealed to me and I found the tea to have too many unpleasant qualities in its current young state for me to enjoy. I think the area in which the tea easily shines the most is the stable and incredibly consistent aftertaste which I found often the reason why you’d drink this tea. I’ve never had an aged Jingmai, but based on the fact that I enjoy Jingmai shu pu’er and just the gut feeling I get drinking this tea, I’d suspect that these teas need to be aged a fair bit before I can enjoy them. This particular tea, while not necessarily high-end, displayed quite a few promising quality markers. I don’t really have enough experience to say how it compares against other Jingmai teas, but just generally speaking it performs just about how I would expect from a tea at this price point, making it fair value.

While I can’t personally recommend this tea as the flavor profile does not appeal to me, this tea was more interesting to session than other Jingmais I’ve had and if you’re looking for a Jingmai tea in particular definitely give this one a shot.

Wow, it’s been a while since I’ve reviewed a ripe pu’er. I haven’t really explored Bitterleaf’s shu pu’ers, so I went in not knowing what to expect. The sample I received was simply a single piece from the cake. To me the compression seemed rather high, reminding me of Hai Lang Hao’s ripe pu’er bricks, expect in bing form. I found it easier to just chip away some small bits until I was left with a single twelve gram chuck, so that’s what I did. The appearance is rather appealing, reminding me of teas like the Green Miracle for example, although the buds seem smaller and so forth. The dry leaf has a familiar shu pu’er manure scent, although this could have been acquired in my pumidor so don’t place too much weight on that.

I used a 160ml Jianshui clay teapot to brew the tea. Since the tea was so highly compressed and still fairly young as well, I opted to do two short five second rinses instead of one longer one to try to soften up the tea a little. This was followed by a ten minute rest before proceeding to steep the tea. The rinsed leaves didn’t have a very strong scent. The smell was very interesting and unique though, very perfumy. Later on into the session I could pick up the scent of wet wood that had begun to decompose coming from the teapot. I did a total of twelve steeps, the timing for these being 10s, 10s, 13s, 15s, 20s, 30s, 45s, 75s, 2 min., 3 min., 5 min. and 10 min.

At this point I should mention I’ve been dealing with the flu for the past week, but I’d say I’m more than 90% recovered when it comes to appreciating tea. As another side note, I drank this tea both from a regular teacup as well as an unglazed Jianshui clay teacup dedicated to shu pu’er. Most of my drinking was done from the clay cup, but I had the regular cup there for reference just in case. With other types of tea I find it less straightforward, but in regard to shu pu’er I find that the clay almost exclusively improves the tea. The flavors are much more forward, the body is better and you lose hardly any of the nuance of the tea. If you are looking for the simplest and most cost-efficient way to improve your every ripe pu’er session, my tip would be to buy a simple cup from a vendor you trust and see if it makes a difference for you.

Anyway, getting back to the tea, the first infusion brewed rather cloudy, which is to be expect from a tea this young. The liquor itself had a sort of nasty smell to it, though, which was kind of new to me. That was limited to just this steep, however. As expected from a first infusion and a chunk that had still yet to properly come apart, although there was already flavor, the tea was still fairly light. The tea was kinda oily, but not necessarily in the same way as a raw pu’er. I still don’t know what people are talking about exactly when they speak of fermentation taste in the early steeps of young shu pu’er, but I did pick up some of the taste I’ve encountered in some other young ripes. For me it’s this sort of very mineraly taste that I could see some people describing as feeling slightly “off” or perhaps even slightly unpleasant, although I’ve never really had problem with it myself. Overall the tea was slightly sweet with a spicy finish. It left a sense of freshness in your mouth and helped open up my clogged airways featuring some nice mouth cooling as well.

The second infusion produced a much darker color now that the leaves had begun to open up and separate from one another. The liquor was still very cloudy, like dirty, extremely muddy water. The flavor was also much stronger. I could taste cacao, or you could also call it unsweetened hot chocolate. Overall you could call the tea bittersweet. The brew that followed produced an almost black liquor, but you could also tell that there was much more clarity now. The tea was thick, coating and lubricating, producing thick saliva in your mouth. It was even bolder than before, with darker tones to it. I could taste chocolate, perhaps even hints of vanilla. There was also a pleasant bitterness running through the tea that I enjoyed. Overall this infusion was really nice.

Steep four brewed as black, if not darker than the previous one. A sort of syrupy sweetness was beginning to emerge in the tea. Bittersweet would describe the tea quite well. The fifth steep had a taste of wet wood. There was also a potent, hidden sweetness within the tea. The steep was quite strong with lasting flavors. I found this infusion in particular very warming. I ended up having to take off my sweater as I suddenly began to feel extremely hot.

The color didn’t let up in the sixth and seventh steeping. The tea continued to brew strong and bittersweet, with both the bitterness and sweetness strengthening. Steep seven also had an interesting perfumy quality to it. The eighth infusion produced a gorgeous dark ruby red color with perfect clarity to it. It was one of the most gorgeous colors I’ve witnessed while brewing tea. The tea on the other hand wasn’t as potent as before. The texture was thinner and the flavors much simpler than before. The taste was slightly creamy, with some emerging minerality. Super clean taste overall. The tea left your palate relatively clean, although there was a lingering aftertaste as well.

The ninth steeping still continued to give a really dark color, although the liquor itself looked much “thinner” now, like colored water rather than tea. The taste was really creamy now. The sweetness had changed. It was very interesting. It had depth to it which is something I have not really experienced from sweetness before. Thanks to the extended steeping time there was decent body as well. The color did continued to fade in the tenth steep, though the tea was still brewing about as dark as some ripe pu’ers get. The flavors were definitely tapering off fast though. I could taste some of those red berries that I often get in Menghai area ripes just as they are about to steep out.

Steeps eleven and twelve were both longer ones and produced mainly a basic sweetness with some body as well. The strength and color were still decent and the tea could have probably gone for a couple more extra long steeps, but I decided to call it there. Toward the end of the session I could feel some mild qi in my body. It was nothing major, mainly a dull, pulsating sensation in my body. I did experience another wave of heat as well.

Looking at the steeped leaves at the end of the session, they look totally different from any ripe pu’er I’ve seen before. The leaves are large, springy and lively like raw pu’er, not dull, disintegrated and unrecognizable like most shu pu’ers. I’d say just from the appearance that these leaves look like higher quality material than a lot of sheng pu’ers out there.

So what did I think of this tea? I thought the material is excellent. This tea brews strong and it brews long. It even has qi, which speaks to the origin of the material. Although I enjoyed the flavors, the one caveat I have with this tea is that I didn’t find it to be very dynamic. The tea is very young, however, so this could change with time. I don’t have that much experience with ripe pu’er so I can’t really speak to how much change you can expect, but having revisited Yunnan Sourcing’s Green Miracle recently, I felt it had changed in terms of flavor over the past twelve months. I know the level of fermentation plays a big role here.

Having been made from the same material as their silver grade Plum Beauty raw pu’er, this tea is priced similarly, which places it outside what most people are willing to pay for ripe pu’er or raw pu’er even in some cases. I’ve tasted many shu pu’ers that are supposedly from higher quality material than your typical ripes, but this tea easily blew all those teas out of the water in terms of raw quality of the material. While this was not my favorite ripe pu’er based on a single session, I found it an interesting and rewarding tea to session nonetheless and I will be purchasing a cake of it in the very near future. I expect this to be a tea to benefit a lot from aging and will give it at least a year before even sessioning it again.