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After reviewing some raw pu’ers from this spring, I’ve come to the conclusion it’s probably still a bit too early to be evaluating this year’s teas. However, I do believe right around this eighteen month mark is the sweet spot to be drinking teas from spring 2016, so here we go. I got a sample of this tea with my very first order from Bitterleaf so I’ve had it for a few months now. The leaves looks really nice and intact and although I can only speak based on my impressions from the sample the compression seems rather light as I was able to reduce a reasonable-sized chunk on entangled leaves into mao cha with just some prodding and without need to use any force.

I used 8.7g in a 130ml gaiwan and rinsed the leaves briefly for just over five seconds, letting them rest for full ten minutes before proceeding with the brewing. The aroma of the wet leaves isn’t that different to my nose from your typical young sheng, but still somehow the smell was really nice (and continued to be throughout the session) and there was something savory about it that made you wish you could eat the aroma. I did also taste the rinse and ended up drinking all of it. Man, what texture. The tea was thick and viscous, almost like melted chocolate but with some grainy texture as well. The flavors were light in nature, but in terms of strength this was already a proper infusion. The flavors themselves are hard to describe. Maybe you could call it sort of like vegetal milk. More vegetal on the front while the finish reminded me of the finish of milk. Some nice sweetness did also emerge with a delayed effect and the tea really does coat your tongue with its flavor compounds, not going anywhere with time. This I’m not entirely sure of, but there may have been some mouth cooling going on even in this first steep. With just the rinse, this tea was off to a very promising start.

I did a total of eleven infusions in addition to this first steep which I’m going to refer to as the rinse, although in all fairness it deserves to be counted as the first infusion. The timing for these was 5s, 5s, 5s, 7s, 10s, 15s, 20s, 30s, 35s, 45s and 50s. Yes, 11/12 steeps and did not break one minute. That should sound promising.

The “first” steep I did was lighter in viscosity than the rinse, but it felt very big in the mouth all the same. The flavors were light in nature (this applies to the tea as a whole), but the tea also tastes really “full” – the flavors don’t seem veiled or distant and seem to communicate with you very directly. Like before, the tea is hard to describe, but very enjoyable, almost buttery. Perhaps I’d call it vegetaly, with maybe some slight good kind of mineraliness. This tea is already making me feel really good! Both the slight mouth cooling and the nice, long aftertaste are still present as well. The aftertaste seems to evolve over time and some sweetness does emerge after a more substantial delay than in the rinse, while the mouth cooling intensifies over time and the aftertaste turns more aromatic in your mouth.

In the second steep the tea is only getting stronger. The flavor has shifted toward a cleaner, more mineraly profile. There’s still plenty of body and the tea is quite warming with the mouth cooling still being present as well. The tea does have a slightly harsher edge to it now, hinting that it’s only going to get more intense in the next steep. There is however not even the slightest hint of astringency or bitterness to be found yet, and this is a spoiler, but I’m going to tell you that I encountered zero of neither over the course of the entire session. I’m going to stop mentioning this for every steep, but this tea’s trademark long-lasting aftertaste was still present as well. For physical effects, this steep made my tongue feel like it was maybe starting to swell a little or start going a little numb.

The Xigui continued to have a very clean profile and nice mouthfeel in the third brew. The tea made me feel good and I could feel a lot of tingling on my tongue. This is clearly a very pure and high-quality tea. The tea has a very nice and calming effect on me. It is very relaxing. As I was sipping the fourth infusions, I felt like it was pointless even trying to describe this tea, it’s just that good. The taste doesn’t sound like much on paper, but it tastes good. This is a very meditative tea. It makes me feel very relaxed and I can feel the tea in my chest and in my body.

In the fifth steep the tea became quite savory, like a nice vegetable broth. The body still continued to be big. The feeling you get from this tea is just amazing, and the aftertaste is just unreal. The savoriness continued in the next steep, with the tea soup being quite filling and satisfying. I’d describe the taste as vegetal with some vegetal sweetness as well. So good.

The tea continued to be impressively big in the mouth even in the seventh steep. While this tea is satisfying in simply how it feels in the mouth, in this steep in particular the sensation you got right as or right after you swallowed was amazing. I’ve never experienced something like that before. As I was drinking this infusion, I thought to myself this might be the best tea I’ve had. It transcends being better than the sum of its parts.

I probably pushed the eighth steep a bit too hard by extending the steeping time by more than five seconds. At this point the tea was beginning to taste more mineraly and less vegetal. This made me assume that we’d entered the late steeps now. The body wasn’t as big or the tea as impressive as before, but that’s okay for steep eight. That’s perfectly fine. The following steep was nicer due to a more appropriate steeping time. It wasn’t as big as before, but the mouthfeel was nice. The flavors were beginning to simplify, validating my assumption that we were in the late steeps now. At this point Oz was beginning to remind me of what most ordinary teas are normally like. There was some nice mineral sweetness in the finish.

I once again pushed the tea a bit too hard for steep ten. My recommendation would be to stick to 5s increments until it doesn’t cut it. The flavor was increasingly mineral now. The strength is still good, but I can only see the tea simplifying from here on out. I decide to do one last infusion for science. The results were rather plain. While the strength was still good and this tea may have gone on for god knows how many more rounds, it wasn’t worth it for me diluting a good session with unnoteworthy infusions at the end. I will note, however, that the aftertaste was nicer than the flavors you got up front and the aftertaste of this tea continued to be unending even in this eleventh steep, twelfth if you count the rinse.

And there you have it. I think it’s needless to say that I found this tea fantastic. I don’t know if it’s the best tea I’ve ever had, but it’s definitely in the top three. Of course that list is going to go through countless changes over the years, but that does not change the fact that this tea is excellent. While this tea is very approachable for practically anyone, its real strengths are likely going to be lost on someone new to tea or even just raw pu’er. The longevity and strength are top-notch and the cha qi is just about the most amiable and pleasant you can expect from a young sheng. The body and aftertaste are exceptional and there is absolutely no bitterness or astringency to be found using my parameters. This tea is ready to drink now, and while there seems to be little to no bitterness or astringency I assume Xigui has a good track record for aging tea. Admittedly I don’t know very much about Xigui, although I probably should.

After the session, I ordered a cake of this tea. I can’t really give a tea a higher recommendation than that. I actually wanted to buy two, but ultimately I refrained, because justifying to myself buying two was a lot harder than just the one. I’d rather go for more diversity and this way I’ll treasure what little I have all the more. If you are asking yourself is this tea worth the price, my answer is to order a sample and discern that for yourself. I think this tea is worth top dollar, but it is up to each person how much exactly a tea is worth to them. In any case, well done, Bitterleaf, well done!

My second Hai Lang Hao. I really enjoyed their 2015 Bulang brick, so I was excited to try this one. I’m no expert on ripe pu’er, but looking at the sample I received, the quality of the material looks good – small leaves with plenty of hairy golden buds. I used 11 grams in my 160ml Jianshui clay teapot and after rinsing the leaves once for ten seconds I let the moisture soak in for ten minutes before I began brewing. I did a total of nine infusions, for 9s, 9s, 12s, 15s, 20s, 30s, 45s, 75s and 2 min.

The first steep brewed a murky pale red. The taste was kind of there, but both the flavors and texture were still light. Normally one rinse is enough for me with shu pu’er, but for this tea I would recommend two quick rinses while it’s still young at least. This steep was still more of a wash than a proper brew. The second steep produced a much darker red. The flavor was much bolder as well. However, the texture was still rather light for a shu pu’er. The taste is hard to describe. Maybe you could call it a sort of weird mineraly taste. The finish was reminiscent of the finish of not so great coffee. It wasn’t exactly bitter, but neither was it quite clenching either.

The next steeping finally offered some more body. The taste wasn’t bitter, but more like sour, drying coffee, while the finish had a roasted note to it. The fourth steep was again a bit thinner, maybe a bit cleaner, but otherwise there wasn’t too much change. The flavors started to now shift more towards raw chocolate without any sweetness. A bit of sweetness did finally emerge in the fifth infusion. The flavor still had a dry quality to it (dry, not drying), which had been prevalent in the tea up to this point.

The sixth steep was softer both in taste and texture. It had a gorgeous velvety mouthfeel and incredibly creamy taste with a mineral tinge to it. I was really surprised by this infusion. That mouthfeel, man, and that finish, so nice. The tea was drying, gripping in a good way, making you want to drink more. There was also a slightly refreshing, palate cleansing quality to it. Damn. The steep that followed shared some of these qualities. It had the creaminess, but now combined with a bright, zesty flavor of red berries. These berries persisted in the aftertaste. These two infusions were really good.

I was taken back to being less impressed by the eighth infusion. The taste was now more mineraly, with only hints of the prior creaminess remaining. The taste did however become fuller as you kept drinking the tea and it left small deposits on your tongue, enhancing the flavor. Due to time, the ninth steep was the last one I did. It did feel it was appropriate to stop there, though. While I was still getting the mineraly, creamy taste, the flavors seemed to be starting to become thinner and continuing would have probably been just stretching out the tea.

After the session, I felt really lethargic and a couple hours later incredibly tired. Shu pu’ers do tend to be more calming and grounding than energizing in my experience, but this was probably the most lethargic any tea has ever made me. I literally didn’t want to do anything and once the tiredness hit me it felt like I needed to be in bed that instant. Tea is of course going to affect people differently, but the person I was drinking with experienced the same thing, so I would advice some caution when drinking this tea. Maybe have the first session with it at home where it’s not a huge issue if you don’t feel like doing anything for the rest of the evening.

So what are my thoughts on this tea? I must admit my expectations were high because of how good the Bulang brick was and I ended up liking it more than this one. Apart from the two really good infusions, this tea wasn’t quite my cup of tea. It is still quite young and might improve a lot over time, so I don’t want to be too judgmental. While I think the 2015 Bulang represents good value for money, this Lao Man’e at more than 60% higher price doesn’t quite justify its price tag right now. I’d place this tea in the ‘potential’ category. While the Bulang brick is good to drink now, this one needs more time to mature. I’d say try it in a year or two, if it’s still available.

Edit: I had a second session with this tea and have included my thoughts below in one of the comments.

It is not often that I drink sheng as mao cha, in fact this is only the second time I’ve done so. As the ‘young’ in the name of this tea suggests, it is aimed specifically for drinking young, so I was very interest to try it out. Because of being targeted in such a specific manner, I’ll be evaluating it based solely on its merits right now without taking into consideration any aging potential like I would normally do.

I’ve had the open bag hydrating in my pumidor for a few weeks. That’s not necessarily as much time as I typically give other raws, but since this is aimed at immediate consumption one would expect it to perform at least adequately. I used 9.35g in my 140ml gaiwan and gave the leaves a ten second rinse followed by a ten minute rest. This was followed by nine infusions, the timing for which being 6s, 6s, 10s, 15s, 20s, 30s, 45s, 75s and 2 min. respectively.

I was very surprised by how light the first infusion was. It wasn’t necessarily weak, but the flavors were very light and thin. I’m not sure if the tea was actually watery per se, but the flavor profile at least was very close to water. There were some young sheng flavors present and the tea was hinting at bitterness and astringency without actually being there yet. At this point I wasn’t really sure what to think of the tea so far. The second steep was still very light, but not very pleasant. The tea was losing body now. Up to this point I’d been using my standard boiled water that I always use for sheng, but starting with the next steep I decided to switch to the vendor’s recommended 95°C to see what that does.

The change in temperature didn’t bring much change in the third steep. The tea was a bit softer, but it was starting to taste nasty to me, which can happen with some raw pu’ers this young. The taste was generally quite mineraly, with perhaps some very minor underlying sweetness. Once the tea cooled it started to taste bitter. The next steep didn’t bring much change. The taste was starting to be quite metallic albeit overall the tea was less nasty than before. Although subtle, I noticed some cooling in my airways as a result from this steep.

Sipping the fifth infusion, I noticed this tea doesn’t really have the green and astringent character often prevalent in young raws, but instead it features a dominantly mineraly character with a slight tinge to it that I personally find unappealing. After extending the steeping time a bit more for the sixth infusion, the tea now had a soft texture to it. Taste-wise it was virtually identical to the last steep. It did however have a slightly mood-elevating effect.

Pushing the tea again just a bit harder for the seventh steep, there was now finally some more body to the soup. While the tea was still very mineraly, I noticed that it was beginning to taste less nasty, or perhaps I was just starting to get used to the taste. The issue is that I’m not generally a very big fan of mineral tasting teas, so it wasn’t really doing it for me. The tea was however beginning to put me in an elevated yet calm state. I also started feeling some tingling at the back of my head and behind my ears.

The eighth steep was a lot thinner than I’d expected. It had an interestingly bright taste. While it was slightly metallic, it also hinted at perhaps some fruitiness and maybe even some slight sweetness. At this point the tea started to be a bit drying on the tongue. The ninth infusion was the last one I did. I perhaps pushed the tea a bit too far too early and the resulting soup tasted a bit nasty. It wasn’t that bad but still. Still, I decided to call it here. I’m sure the tea could have gone on for likely several more infusions, but I felt I’d seen enough and wasn’t interested enough to see what else the tea had to offer at this juncture. Strength-wise the tea was still going strong, so I expect it had many infusions in it still. I’ll be getting a smaller gaiwan (~60ml) very soon, which should make sessioning these teas a lot easier and faster. Hopefully for the next review I’ll already have it.

My thoughts on this tea are mixed. I didn’t really see much reason to be drinking it for the taste, but perhaps there’s a way to brew it that makes it tastier than the way I brewed it. The mouthfeel was rather disappointing for most of the steeps, but when pushed a little it did improve in a couple of the steeps. The longevity seems excellent, but the real saving grace for me is the calm, gentle qi. This tea doesn’t have any of the intense rushiness that many young gushus tend to have, instead it is very pleasant and subtle. I could still feel the tea affecting me some time after the session and the sensation was rather pleasant while it lasted.

I’m glad I didn’t abandon this one halfway through, but I don’t think the qi alone is enough to salvage the tea. Despite how it’s marketed, I am going to save the rest of the bag for later and give the tea a few more months before I try it again. I think at least right now the tea is rather dull, but perhaps I was expecting too much. Had this tea cost more per gram than it does or not had the qi, I would have given it a negative rating, but for now I’m rating it as barely neutral. Perhaps there’s a way to brew this tea that yields better results or perhaps it will improve with some more time in the pumidor. Either way, if I manage to brew this tea in a significantly different way, I will do a follow-up review. If not, then I won’t.

Edit: I’ve had another session with this tea and changed my rating from neutral to not recommended as a result. See the comment I’ve left below for more.

I was fortunate enough to receive a free 20g sample of this tea with a teaware order. I used 11 grams in my 160ml Jianshui clay teapot and after rinsing the tea for under ten seconds and letting the leaves rest for twenty minutes I proceeded to do a total of nine infusions. The timing for these was around 12s, 12s, 15s, 17s, 22s, 30s, 45s, 75s and 2 min. according to my mental clock.

The first steep brewed a dark, murky red. The tea was… interesting, different. It carried a certain mature confidence about it. The tea had strength, but expressed itself in subtle ways. The taste was that of wood and bark, with maybe a faint hint of chocolate. Some of the typical shu sweetness was already present as well. The flavor lingers in a pleasant way. For a first steep this was very promising.

The second steep brewed darker as is to be expected. The tea was smooth, tasting of woody cacao. The soup wasn’t that viscous, but it felt big in the mouth. Again the aftertaste lingers nicely even though it’s subtle. The tea was very drinkable and had a nice calming effect that made you want to stop and take a moment for yourself. The next steep brewed even darker and was the best infusion up to that point. Words cannot really express what was great about it. It’s not the taste that made it shine; it’s more of a feeling. Attempting to describe it in terms of simple flavor notes and other such things would be doing a disservice to the tea, so I will refrain from doing so. I will simply say that it was very good.

The tea started to get sweeter in the fourth steep. It was very pleasant to drink and felt slightly warming as well as still quite calming. I was beginning to feel the qi. The tea started to get simpler in the next steep, which felt somewhat premature. It was still quite nice, with maybe the faintest note of dark cherry, but not as nice as before. The flavors continued to get lighter in the following steep, but despite this the tea was still in a place where many other shus would be happy to be at this stage. I could still detect some small hints of qi.

For the seventh steep I pushed the tea a bit harder and this brought some life back into it. It still wasn’t complex in terms of flavor, but boasted a very full taste to it once more. There was perhaps a roasted note to this steep, especially in the finish. Despite extending the time by full thirty seconds for the eighth steep, the tea brewed a lot thinner than I’d expected. It was also super simple now despite still brewing reasonably dark. The taste was slightly woody with mostly basic sweetness. It wasn’t weak, however.

The ninth steep was the last one I did. To my surprise it brewed stronger again, with a bolder, darker flavor instead of the basic sweetness from before. I’m assuming the tea could have still gone on, but I decided that I’d most likely seen most of what it had to offer so I decided to call it here. I was sessioning this tea alone and nine pots of tea was more than enough tea for me.

Shu pu’er is a category of tea I still struggle with. Crimson Lotus’s Lucky Cloud was the first one I ever liked and that one is from Jingmai material. This one also being from Jingmai material, but from older trees and with more age on it, I was excited to try it. I’m glad I wasn’t disappointed. This marks the third ripe pu’er I can say I genuinely like. I like the flavor profile, but at the same time the strengths of this tea lie elsewhere. I could be influenced by knowing the age of this tea, but this feels like the first shu where I can actually taste the age on it and this one isn’t even that old. Looking at the leaves at the end of the session, they aren’t totally black but instead a dull brown, which based on what I’ve heard would indicate that they haven’t been fully fermented and there’s still some room for the tea to evolve. Even though this is already seven years old, I see potential in it to improve. I’m not sure about the exact longevity of this tea, but I’d say I didn’t push it quite enough in some of my steeps past the first few. It came across as rather forgiving, so I’d probably recommend pushing it a bit too much rather than cutting it short, but this tea tastes great almost regardless of how you brew it.

I ordered a cake of this based on this session, so if you’re looking for a recommendation, I can’t do much better than that. The only issue here is the price. Is this tea worth the price? If ripe pu’er is a very casual tea for you, then maybe not. If you are looking for something special, however, this might be what you’re looking for. Order a sample and taste for yourself.

Edit: Based on my recent experiences with this tea, I’ve decided to change my original rating from recommended to neutral. You can read more on my current thoughts in a comment below.

Time for another semi-aged tea. This is only the third aged sheng I’ve tried, so I’m still very new to aged teas. The sample I received consisted of one larger chunk and some loose bits to round out the weight. The large piece was very close to the 12 grams I intended to use for this session, so only a few additional bits were required. I brewed the tea in my 180ml wood fired teapot made from clay from Dehua. The teapot has a very small opening, so I had to break the large chunk into three or four smaller pieces to fit them inside the pot. I rinsed the leaves just short of ten seconds and let them rest for just over five minutes due to time constraints before proceeding to do a total of nine infusions. The steeps were around 10s, 10s, 15s, 20s, 25s, 35s, 60s, 85s and 2 min. 10s respectively.

The first steep brewed a cloudy pale yellow. I should note however that I had this session in an apartment with minimal lighting available, so any visual remarks I make in these notes are not necessarily the most reliable. The tea was still light, but it had flavor already. There was some fruitiness on the front while the finish tasted of creamy vanilla. The overall impression it left was soft. There was a certain semi-aged quality to the tea, although it’s hard to pin down exactly what it was. Those who have drunk more aged sheng than me probably have some idea what I’m talking about. Maybe it’s a whisper of smoke in the finish or a tiniest bit of sourness. I’m not sure if it’s necessarily even a taste, but more of a feeling. The body was light, maybe light+. The tea never really got thicker than that or water thin.

The second steep brewed a pale, slightly more orange yellow. The taste was greener, more mineraly. The semi-aged quality was still there as well. I could still detect hints of the cream from time to time. I can’t be sure if I could feel the tea already starting to affect me a little, but I made sure to not drink it too fast. You need to respect the tea. This infusion seemed to have a cumulative effect where the tea gradually coats your tongue and it starts to taste sweeter as you keep drinking it. I noticed this in some of the later infusions as well. The sweetness seemed to bring out the creaminess, giving an impression of a creamy sweetness.

The third steep was slightly darker and could maybe barely be called an orange. I sort of got the vanilla as a really bright note. There was also another bright “side flavor” running concurrent to the tea that I can’t identify. While the overall impression was very bright, there were also deeper semi-aged flavors running underneath. The tea was slightly drying and it was possible to get some lightning-fast bitterness when you swallowed. The bitterness became very noticeable once the tea cooled down.

I started extending my steeping times perhaps a bit too early and a bit too much as the fourth infusion ended up being very bitter. Once the tea cooled down a little it did reveal some subtleties beneath the bitterness, but I wasn’t necessarily the best person for discerning them. My best attempt would be some sort of vegetal vanilla. At this point I could feel the tea rummaging my belly quite a bit.

The fifth steep had a bright mineral taste to it. It left your tongue a bit sandpapery. There’s more to it, but it’s hard to discern. Perhaps it’s a touch of sourness. The next steep was more clearly astringent while the mineral was less bright now. This was one of the steeps that got sweeter as you kept drinking the tea. The seventh infusion I steeped maybe a tad too strong, but the tea remained similar to the last two steeps: mineraly and astringent.

The tea started tasting a lot simpler in the eighth steep. Clean, mineral, astringent. The last steep I did was even simpler. Non-sweet sweetness, with that semi-aged tinge still there. Strength-wise the tea was still okay, so on that front I’d say it was still good to go for a round or two, but I’d seen what I wanted to see and decided to call it here.

Mad King is representative of its age and still retains quite a bit of its youth while displaying semi-aged characteristics as well. The storage has been clean and dry. Compared to Whatever 98, Mad King is more dynamic in terms of flavor and the flavor profile appealed to me more. There’s still some bitterness and astringency in the tea and while it does not kick quite like a young gushu, the tea did affect me in a similar fashion to a young raw. It left me feeling restless and a bit agitated for the rest of the evening, so if you are looking for a gentle tea, this might not be the tea you are looking for. I guess the tea could be considered drinkable now, but personally I’d give it at least a few more years. The tea is still far from full maturity and drinking it now would be a waste of its potential. Taking age into account, I think Mad King offers fair quality for the price, if you are looking for a semi-aged tea to age yourself.

So this is something a bit different: a roasted raw pu’er. At first I thought I was a bit too much of a purist to give this one a go, but ultimately the artwork compelled me too much; it’s just that fantastic. Originally I was just going to order a sample to start, but when it came time to place my order the samples were temporarily out of stock and I ended up just picking up a cake instead. That way I get to enjoy the artwork anyway.

Is this from Lao Man’e? Is it gushu? I. Don’t. Care. I don’t care. What I care about is quality and taste. If you can’t enjoy tea unless it’s absolutely from 300-year-old trees from Lao Ban Zhang, you may just stop buying tea. With that out of the way, let’s get to the tea itself.

The smell of the dry leaf is absolutely fantastic. Truly intoxicating. It’s really hard to grab hold onto any specific notes, but the best description I could come up with is this sort of burnt lemon scent. The scent in the preheated gaiwan is even more enchanting, reminding me more of lemon licorice. These small cakes are tightly compressed so you will have to use some force and you will end up breaking some leaves, but just aim to break off larger chunks which should make the few leaves you break negligible. The leaf quality looks good to me, with plenty of gorgeous buds.

I used 8.66g in a 130ml gaiwan, so a ratio of 1g/15ml. I’ll also note at this juncture that I haven’t been storing this tea in my pumidor, but instead been treating it like a roasted wulong and keeping it in the sealed ziplock bag it came in. Anyway, I gave the leaves my standard ten-second rinse followed by a rest between five and ten minutes. The wet leaf smell was shockingly different from the dry leaf aroma. Gone was the lemon and in its place was a dryer, dirtier super potent sharp aroma that reminded me of some sort of unpleasant food maybe made from leftovers or something. It was an interesting smell, but not necessarily very pleasant and sniffing it too much might give some people a headache. Fortunately this smell didn’t translate to the taste in any way.

I did a total of twelve steeps. Pay attention to these steep times, because they are not at all how I normally brew pu’er: 6s, 6s, 7s, 9s, 12s, 15s, 20s, 25s, 35s, 40s, 45s, 50s. Yes, twelve steeps and I never even got to a minute. This tea brews strong and like with Chaozhou style brewing every second counts. If you are new to gong fu style brewing or not confident in your ability to pour fast, I would absolutely recommend starting out with a lower ratio of leaf than I used. This will give you more room in terms of brewing the tea.

The first steep had a very light body. Right out of the gate the flavor profile was very interesting. Citrus fruit, specifically grapefruit, with a touch of sweetness in the finish. The note I got in the strong aftertaste was different and that of citrus zest to be specific. The second infusion had slightly more mouthfeel and felt perhaps even a bit oily. At this point it was already clear that this is a very nice tea. It is one you want to stop to savor and explore after taking just one sip. The grapefruit/citrus taste had developed and the overall taste was very complex and rich. Letting the tea cool down a little brings out a bit of a sour note, but it’s not a bad kind of sourness. The tea really coats your mouth and you can taste it long after finishing your cup.

For the third steep I extended the steep time by just a hair. The body remained quite light or maybe light+. The taste was immediately sour upon entering the mouth. I could also now taste the mineraly roast following the initial sourness. The grapefruit from before could now be found hiding in the aftertaste. In the fourth steeping the mineral taste was moved to the front joined by some sweetness, while the sour note moved to join the roasted note in the finish.

The fifth steep ended up being quite strong, but not overly so, just bold. The central flavor was still formed by a mixture of the sour note mixed with hints of the roast and citrus. The tea was almost refreshing in the same way that a green tea is, but it didn’t quite get there. My notes say, “Nice.” The sixth steep ended up being perhaps just a tad too light. This was accentuated by the flavors starting to become lighter in nature and the contrast to the boldness of the last infusion. I’m not saying this tea couldn’t be considered friendly towards newcomers in terms of taste, but this was a point where it started becoming noticeably more amiable. The tea was sweet, but in a subtle, elegant way, not in a bold, sugary manner at all. This was the first time when I could taste just hints of the typical young sheng character peeking through. My tongue was also left feeling just a tad astringent by this steep.

Despite the flavors themselves becoming lighter in character, the strength of the seventh infusion was fairly strong. It tasted sort of sweet, sort of sour, with maybe a hint of coffee bitterness in the finish. It is my thinking that the sourness and most definitely the coffee association come from the roasting. The oiliness made a small return in the eighth steep, with your tongue getting hit with a lot of roast when the tea entered your mouth. The finish was mineraly and it was sometimes possible to detect hints of the young raw flavor when swallowing. The tea tasted almost like a roasted green tea like hojicha, which makes sense. This is just my personal opinion, but I think the roast in this tea has been done really well. At this point I went to buy some groceries and I could taste it in my mouth for a long time.

I pushed the tea a bit too hard for the ninth steep by extending the steep time by ten seconds (the shock!). It ended up being quite strong, very pungent. The flavor reminded me of blood orange, but with some of your typical mineral sheng sweetness underneath. The tea wasn’t actually that overly pungent once you got used to it after a few sips. For the next steep I succeeded much better with the steep time. The tea was still strong, but the flavors were now starting to become thinner. Despite this, the brew was still very rich with much more complexity and depth than you usually see from most teas in their late steeps. The taste itself was sour, citric, maybe a bit mineraly. The roast was still there in the finish.

Steep number eleven was similarly quite strong. The flavors were becoming more simplified and some notes were starting to drop off, but the tea wasn’t one-note yet and still had multiple things going on. Grapefruit, roast, mineral. The flavor was bold and the balance between the notes good. The last steep I did was similar and still not quite one-note. You got the mineral and roast on the front and the citrus in the finish. The leaves could have probably steeped for god knows how much longer, but I think I’ve drunk enough tea to know when I’ve seen practically everything a tea has to offer and so I decided to stop here. If you wanted to get absolutely everything out of the leaves, I’d recommend tossing the leaves in your fridge around this point to see if you can make some nice iced tea out of them. I don’t personally practice this, but it’s worth considering instead of continuing with gong fu brewing.

And there you have it. This tea isn’t cheap, but I found it to be high quality and very unique. Perhaps most importantly it is perfectly ready to drink right now. I don’t even know if and how this tea would age and how you should store it. The strength, longevity and aftertaste are all exemplary and the flavors were enjoyable even to someone like me who isn’t necessarily the biggest fan of roasted teas or citrus. I think the roast complements the tea very well right now, but if you absolutely can’t stand tasting the roast in your teas, it should come down over time. A lot of young raw pu’ers in this price range aren’t in my opinion necessarily worth the price unless you intend to age them, but with this tea I would say that the price is reflected in the quality.

I definitely recommend giving this crazy tea a go while you still can!

I received two of these balls with a teaware order a few months back. I took one of them on a trip with me during the summer to drink with a friend, but unfortunately that session turned out to be a big disappointment and the tea didn’t really taste like anything besides green and astringent. It could be that the tea didn’t like traveling with me even in a closed ziplock bag. After letting the other one sit in my pumidor for a few months, I finally decided to break it out.

I brewed the tea in a 140ml gaiwan giving it the two suggested 30s rinses before brewing it like I normally would. I gave both rinses a small taste, but the first one was still far too light while the second was too nasty to drink due to the long steep time. Thanks to being a single serving, you mainly get large, intact leaves with less broken leaf you’d get with a cake. Aromatically the tea is pretty much your standard young sheng fare from what I could tell. I did a total of ten steeps, for 8s, 8s, 10s, 15s, 20s, 30s, 45s, 60s, 60s and 60s.

The first infusion was still quite light, but perhaps partially thanks to the long rinses the body was already quite big, I’d say medium+. I’m not quite sure about the taste, it wasn’t really purely mineral nor vegetal. The lasting aftertaste was light, but it was there. Despite being light, the tea comes across as pungent, possessing a backbone that you can sense.

The mouthfeel remained almost as thick in the second steep, with the taste being now more mineraly, but not in a typical way. The tea showed signs of being astringent or bitter upon entering the mouth, but the actual astringency never arrived. The finish on the other hand had hints of vegetal to it. There wasn’t really any sweetness to speak of, but the taste and aroma lingered in the mouth. The underlying sense of pungency from the first steep continued to be present as well.

Only extending the steep time marginally for the third infusion, both the body and flavor were getting lighter. Despite this the mouthfeel was still pretty nice and the aftertaste very long-lasting and stable despite not being particularly strong. The taste continued to be predominantly mineraly, but again not in the most typical way. What you noticed immediately about the next fourth steep was how cooling it was, impressively so. The body continued to be decent and the taste was very clean and still quite mineraly. The brew had a very nice calming effect that was almost meditative. Definitely a standout infusion.

The fifth steep still maintained a decent body. At this point the tea started to hint at astringency, but it was almost nonexistent. I’m not quite sure about the flavor, it lay somewhere between green, mineral and vegetal. Aftertaste was still a thing, albeit weaker now than before. The body got again maybe a bit lighter in the sixth steep, but the mouthfeel remained nice. The flavor was stronger now thanks to the extended brewing time and the mineraly taste was now similar to some mineraly premium Chinese green teas like Long Jing, etc. The tea may have even hinted at some vegetal/mineral sweetness in the finish. This was probably the best infusion of the session. After finishing your cup, the tea did leave a slightly astringent feeling in your mouth. It also had a mildly mood elevating effect similar to green tea but milder.

The seventh infusion was the turning point for this tea. I should have probably extended the brewing time less than I normally would for pu’er, for in addition to getting more body the tea also started tasting less enjoyable to me and being a bit astringent. It wasn’t bad yet, but it started bordering on nasty. For the eighth steeping I extended the brewing time less than I typically would and for infusions nine and ten I kept it at a minute. All of these tasted very similar. They were somewhat drinkable, but all had this quality to them that is a bit off-putting to me, I just call it nastiness. I will say though that all of these infusions even with the truncated steeping times were stronger in flavor than all the prior infusions, which I found quite impressive. I think that this is a good sign for future aging prospects in mind for when the flavors in the late steeps have become more developed.

After my initial disappointment with this tea, this second session really surprised me. It has a long list of good attributes. That being said, for me this was more of an interesting tea to experience than something I’d be interested in drinking regularly. My gut feeling has great confidence that this tea would age well and it would be interesting to revisit it in five or ten years once it has some real age on it. Since my experience with it was so positive, I’m on the fence about whether to give it a Recommended stamp or not, but I try to keep my standards for doing so high, so since I would not purchase more of this tea for myself I’m opting to not do that. However, if you do have any curiosity toward these planets by Crimson Lotus, this is one I recommend trying.

This is the oldest tea I’ve drunk to date and besides one semi-aged Xiaguan tuo my first foray into aged sheng. Perhaps my expectations were too low, but the leaves in the sample I received were larger and more intact than I’d expected; not that this is necessarily gushu or anything, but still. My sample consisted of one long, thin ten-gram chunk of the surface layer along with accompanying individual leaves. I’m not sure if the cake was just originally pressed loose or if it has loosened over two decades, but the compression in the chunk I received was fairly low. There wasn’t much aroma to the dry leaves, which obviously means there weren’t any funky storage related odors either.

I brewed this tea in a gorgeous new wood fired teapot I purchased through Bitterleaf Teas. It’s made from clay from Dehua and I’m dedicating it to aged and semi-aged sheng pu’er. Since it has a really fast pour, I used the same ratio of leaf to water that I would use with a gaiwan, so 12g to 180ml. I rinsed the tea once for 10s and after a ten minute rest I proceeded to do ten infusions, for 10s, 10s, 12s, 15s, 20s, 30s, 45s, 75s, 2 min. and 3 min. The rinsed leaves had a somewhat fruity scent of dark hay. After cooling a little the smell almost reminded me of an apricot pie.

As I mentioned, I don’t have much experience with aged teas, and as such I struggle with describing the first couple infusions as my palate was trying to get accustomed to the flavors. The first steep was fairly strong, yet gentle and smooth. I struggle with descriptors like woody, so I’m not sure if I’d use that word here, however I was detecting some smokiness in the tea and it made me quite thirsty without being drying. The second infusion while still having base notes to it also felt brighter in a way, to the extent that it felt almost prickly on the tongue.

The third steep was really mineraly, with an almost metallic finish. It was increasingly drying and also coated your tongue with a sensation that made you feel like it was burned. The mineral taste continued in the next steep, but this time merged with something else and perhaps even hints of cream. The mineraly nature was only ramped up in the fifth steep, which was super, super mineraly and almost too much for my tongue to handle.

In the sixth brew the mineral character finally settled down a little, starting to be about even with something else that was beginning to emerge in the tea. At this point I noticed this tea might taste better if you let it cool down a little. While the mineral taste continued in the next steep, it was joined by hints of some mineral sweetness that was starting to emerge. The steep was also very clean tasting in general. At this point I noticed the muscles in my lower back starting to ache and soon after I noticed feeling very calm and relaxed. The qi continued to move upward, growing more intense. It spread to my upper back, chest and head. It may have even made me feel a bit tipsy.

The eighth steep was similar to the last one in flavor, with maybe a touch more of that hinting mineral sweetness. At this point I was starting to get a vibe from the tea of it being somewhat medicinal, of it being fairly cleansing. I took my time brewing the ninth infusion, because at this point I was starting to feel quite tea drunk and my motor control was starting to be a bit wonky. The taste was still chiefly mineral, but instead of the prior hinting sweetness I got some of the earlier creaminess in the finish, which was a weird combination with the mineral taste. I should note this was the first time the flavors were starting to drop off a little as well.

The tenth steep was the last one I did and this was where the color started to fade for the first time, although this wasn’t reflected nearly to the same degree in the actual flavor. There weren’t any notable changes in the taste, so I decided to stop here, figuring I’d seen what this tea had to offer. The tea could have possibly gone on for an infusion or two, but that would have most likely required extra long steeps and I didn’t see enough value in trying that.

All in all an interesting first step into the world of aged pu’er. I generally don’t tend to like mineraly flavors very much, so the flavor profile wasn’t really for me. The flavors also shift very gradually without any dramatic changes at any point, so flavor-wise this isn’t the most dynamic of teas. I think rather than the flavor the cha qi is the highlight here, and although not the most intense pu’er I’ve drunk, I must admit I was caught off guard. I could see those seeking the tea buzz you can get from a young sheng but without the stomach twists drinking this tea. In terms of body the tea is fairly light and the longevity and the way it brews seem very similar to me to how a younger average sheng behaves. The tea brews a woody orange. Fairly light, nothing super dark. This to me would suggest that you could easily age this tea for at least another ten years if not more if you wanted to. How it would age, I have no idea.

Not the tea for me, but a valuable experience in learning more about pu’er and aged teas. More reviews of aged raws are to come.

This is the second of the pu’er samples I ordered from white2tea. It has had three weeks to sit in my pumidor before this session. I used 8.4g in a 130ml gaiwan and drank the tea from a Jianzhan teacup I received the same day, in case you feel that may have had an influence on the tea. To my nose the dry leaves seemed to have a smell of pretty typical young raw pu’er. The wet leaves also had a fairly typical warm green, perhaps a bit buttery scent. The smell of the leaves did gradually change over the course of the session, but I didn’t commit to memory all the various stages.

The sample I received was practically mao cha, with only a couple very small intact pieces from the bing in the mix. There’s a fair number of stalks and unlike “f*ck what u heard” where the sample seemed to consists nearly 100% of large, whole, intact leaves, there’s a decent amount of broken leaves to be found. Whereas with “f*ck what u heard” I commented about the rehydrated leaves looking quite healthy, in this tea’s case they seemed kind of sad, pitiable and droopy to me. The leaves seemed so thin they’d disintegrate like wet toilet paper if you rubbed them between your fingers.

I gave the leaves my standard 10s rinse followed by a 10 minute rest. In the meantime I did sip the rinse to get a feel for the tea. It was still light in flavor and texture, which isn’t that unexpected even for mao cha. The tea seemed to feel warming in my mouth, and in my mouth only. The flavor was soft and “white”. I could feel some astringency at the tip of my tongue. After this I proceeded to do eleven steeps, timing for these being 7s, 7s, 7s, 7s, 10s, 15s, 25s, 40s, 70s, 2 min. and 3 min.

The first infusion tasted of cream and vanilla, with some astringency. The next one was water thin in viscosity. Some of the cream was still left, but it was combined with your typical young sheng greenness and astringency. There may have even been some bitterness in this steep, which I don’t recall ever experiencing in a sheng apart from the one Xiaguan tuo I’ve had. The flavor of this infusion did linger in your mouth.

The third steeping had a soft taste of cream merged with green. The astringency was minor at first, but grew over time in your mouth instead of you getting an aftertaste. I may have even detected a slight peppery sensation at the back of my throat. The following steep was super thin in body, with the flavors starting to get thinner as well as a result of me not extending the steeping time thus far. Some of the earlier vanilla was back, accompanied by greenness and astringency.

Starting with the fifth steep, the cream and vanilla finally dropped off and you were presented with a smooth green flavor, with perhaps some slightly vegetal character peeking through. The sixth steep was also mainly just green tasting, with perhaps some butteriness to it, although I’m not totally sure. The seventh infusion was probably the only one I experienced that had even some minor mouthfeel to it. It had perhaps some vegetal and possibly even mineral sweetness to it. This sweetness I experienced struck me as something that might have promise for evolving with age.

The astringency was back from the eighth steep onward. The brief prior mouthfeel was gone and the tea was less enjoyable in general. Flavor-wise the mineral or perhaps vegetal stuff continued to have a presence somewhere in the background. The ninth steep tasted of mineraly low-grade green tea with astringency to it. Ditto for infusion ten, where some minor mineral sweetness may have also hinted of its presence. The eleventh infusion turned out bitter and astringent and just nasty in general. I ended up tossing it.

And there you have it. All in all this tea reminded me a lot of the Essence of Tea 2016 XinZhai that I reviewed a sample of some months ago. The flavor profiles are similar, although the XinZhai was tastier and much, much thicker in the early steeps and also displayed better overall longevity, while Pussy had perhaps a bit more going on in the steeps past the first four, although not much. Both taste still very young and seemed to be quite lacking in qi for me, but the one area Pussy was especially disappointing in was the lack of body. I severely hope this will improve with age. Comparing the two, while they may age to be two very different teas, looking at them now the XinZhai seems to offer a much better value in my eyes. The Essence of Tea offering will set you back around $0.21/g when talking about a full cake, whereas Pussy is more than twice that at $0.45/g. Personally I would drink neither now, nor would I purchase a cake of either, either. For the price Pussy is going for, there are a lot of fantastic teas out there. Do your research and find out which ones you prefer.

My first Hai Lang Hao. I’ve had a sample of this sitting in my pumidor for over a month now, I think. Since I was lucky enough to get a corner piece, I decided to use that one and just a few of the loose bits at the bottom of the bag to round the amount in my 160ml Jianshui teapot to 11g. Both the smell of the dry leaf and wet leaf after a 10s rinse were a very typical shu pu’er aroma with maybe a hint of sweetness in there somewhere. I didn’t really pay attention to the early steeps, but in later infusions the liquor itself smelled of clean raw fish fillet with the skin still on.

After giving the leaves ten minutes to soak up the moisture, I managed to prod the big piece to come apart with my finger with less difficulty than I’d expected. I proceeded to do eleven infusions, for 10s, 10s, 10s, 15s, 15s, 20s, 30s, 50s, 90s, 2 min. 30s and 3 min. 30s respectively. The first infusion brewed quite cloudy, but also quite a lot darker than I would’ve expected. The subsequent infusions brewed crystal clear as far as clarity goes, though, and it is possible that the cloudiness was caused by hairs floating in the tea soup as I noticed clumps of beached hairs at the edge of my cup after I was finished with the first round.

I could tell that this would be a great tea from just one small sip, and spoilers, it was. The flavor was strong, yet also very round and soft. My cup already raised to take my second sip, I put it back down, because I wanted to fully enjoy the long-lasting finish this tea has. This is a tea you want to take your time with and savor. The taste was chocolatey, with maybe hints of coffee. The tea wasn’t super thick or viscous, but it still had a decent body/mouthfeel. The texture was perhaps just a tad grainy.

The second infusion brewed very dark and now had a much more prominent coffee flavor, but without any sort of bitterness. The chocolate was virtually gone from the tea. The flavor continued to be strong, especially for a shu pu’er, but retained its soft and round, full-bodied character. The aftertaste was even longer lasting than before and seemed to only grow stronger over time. The viscosity remained low while the mouthfeel also remained decent. Both this and the first infusion shared a slight underlying sweetness even though at no point was this an inherently sweet tea.

Having not lengthened the steeping time for the third infusion, the tea brewed dark, but not quite as dark as before. This was also reflected in a lighter taste. The flavors were relatively typical ripe pu’er flavors, ones I have difficulty describing. The tea gave me the impression of being in transition between lighter and darker flavors. It still retained most of its prior round smoothness, while the texture/mouthfeel actually improved. In its finish the tea may have actually felt slightly syrupy. Lengthening the steeping time for the fourth infusion produced probably the strongest infusion yet and brought a small return back to the darker flavors. I’m often not a fan of darker flavors in tea, but here they didn’t bother me at all, which actually seems to be the case with most shu pu’er. At this point my tasting notes read: “Excellent tea.”

For the fifth steeping I didn’t dare to extend the brewing time. This produced a slightly lighter color, which was still quite dark, however. Instead of the prior reddish brown, the color was now a beautiful red. The darker flavors were starting to taper off, while one could notice some more sweetness creeping into the tea. The long-lasting aftertaste from previous infusions was retained still. Having lengthened the time for the sixth steeping, the tea brewed about as dark as before. The flavors were now getting lighter, while the strength of the tea remained about the same as before. This steep wasn’t particularly sweet, but what I got from it were berries.

The seventh steeping brewed a still quite dark red. The texture was noticeably thinner. The flavors were even lighter now, with the tea tasting like sweet water. While the brew seemed simplistic at first, it turned out to have more complexity to it than might’ve appeared at first glance. The berries were still somewhere in the mix, and I could almost say I tasted a light toffee note in there somewhere. There was also still some darker stuff present in the finish. While there wasn’t really a lasting aftertaste in the tea anymore, this steep did leave some aromas lingering in your mouth. Overall the tea wasn’t as excellent as before, but still quite pleasant and drinkable.

The eighth infusion was an improvement over the last. It tasted like super smooth kissel with a hint of milk/cream in it. Even the texture – especially the finish – was reminiscent of said dessert. The flavors were light, but very smooth and full-bodied. My notes read: “Such a superb tea.” Steep number nine produced still a quite dark liquor, even if the color was getting lighter. The note was light, but I definitely tasted strawberry in this steep. In addition to extending the time, I filled the teapot with slightly less water for the tenth infusion. The resulting flavor was surprisingly strong and the strawberry was replaced by the taste of black currant leaf juice. The eleventh steep I brewed with even less water, pouring hot water over the pot from time to time to keep up the heat. The color of the liquor was once again a couple shades lighter than before. Even though I’m confident the leaves could have still gone on, at this point there was practically only basic sweetness left and I decided to stop here.

Ripe pu’er is the one category of tea I’ve had difficulties getting into, but this tea was excellent. The material is clearly very high quality and the processing has been done expertly. This tea is perfectly drinkable right now. Not only is this the most flavorful and strongest tasting ripe pu’er I’ve drunk, it manages to somehow combine that with the best longevity I’ve seen in a shu pu’er as well. It’s the best of both worlds with no drawbacks. Even though the mouthfeel was decent, it was not on the same level with the other attributes of this tea. That is the one area where I hope this tea might improve with age. Flavor-wise I found this tea very enjoyable, even if the flavors are very typical shu pu’er flavors. The strength of this tea is how it delivers those flavors instead of what those flavors are specifically.

While I know a brick of this currently costs $245 on Yunnan Sourcing, I think this tea actually represents a great value. While this tea is $0.245/g which is well above most moderately priced ripes, I found it to be way better than twice as good as teas that cost around half as much. I know you can get a pretty fancy raw pu’er for that price, but if ripe pu’er is your thing, this tea is definitely worth ordering a sample of. All that being said, I’m not sure if I’ll be buying any sort of quantity of this tea for myself. While this tea was excellent, the one thing it perhaps lacked was that something that made it feel special. This would be an excellent tea to brew or recommend to someone as an introduction to how ripe pu’er tastes. As an experience, it’s probably up there among some of the best teas I’ve had, but if I were to keep coming back to it, I think I might want there to be some sort of hook that makes it feel more unique. I will have to keep sampling other ripe pu’ers and come back to this one after I have a broader sense of the category as a whole. If it still holds up as one of the best ripes I’ve had, then perhaps I will have to buy it.