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This is a tea I have a hard time defining. It’s sweet, rich, savory (in the green/raw way), and hearty. It’s comforting in a way that raw and ripe aren’t on their own, uniquely its own and greater than the sum of its parts. I find myself reaching for it not (just) because I can’t decide between ripe and raw, but because it satisfies in a unique way.

☑ Berry
☑ Malt
☑ Black

Have to love a tea that delivers what it promises. Very prominent raspberry/blackberry, turbinado sugar sweetness and fruity/funkiness, and a malty backbone. Perhaps a touch of licorice in the later steeps. Mild, pleasantly tannic.

This has more fruit flavor than some flavored teas.

Sweet, creamy, vanilla, cherry cola, some mild herbaciousness, some cocoa. Later steeps have a sweet, somewhat floral quality. Brewed this up grandpa style and was hit with a flavor like classic glazed donut. It’s not the most complex shou, but it’s very satisfying. If this tea sat and brooded a little more, getting a little more heady I wouldn’t mind.

This is a tea I kind of forgot I have, which is surprising because my collection is not that big. I just don’t drink a lot of white tea. I bought it either year of or year after and it’s picked up some odor from my tea drawer. Zip-locks permeate odors, folks. The first couple steeps where storage flavor is present aren’t that interesting otherwise, anyway, mostly just sweet.

As I said, I don’t drink much white tea so I don’t have many reference points to draw on. Reminded me a lot of the Taiwanese mountain oolongs I used to drink. Notes of pine, slight citrus zest, general floral notes (maybe orchid, gardenia, jasmine, maybe violet) and nice sweetness. In the later steeps it’s stronger on the tree-vegetal/pine notes. Pleasantly dry, with a mouthfeel that moves from round to softly dry. I was able to push the temp on this pretty hard in the later steeps, going from 185-205’F which brought out more pine and green wood notes.

I remember this tea being more astringent and vegetal, and less sweet when I first tried it, so I think aging has helped it a bit.

Overall not bad, but too smokey for my taste. The smokiness overpowered everything else for me. I am a pu noob, but I was surprised by how green this tasted for its age. YS says dry-wet guangdong, so I guess that would explain it. Flavor was again smoke, musty/mushroomy wood, damp hay/barnyard, something savory/meaty, and some citrus or spicy fruit – maybe grapefruit. Mid steeps leaned towards darker fruits. Pleasant round mouthfeel. Slight tartness as it cooled. Satisfying returning sweetness. Not much here that I haven’t found elsewhere, but I will revisit it.

First time being the first reviewer on a tea, I think. Certainly one this old.

I take this with me to work and brew it grandpa style mostly, first steep is typical shou, second and third have a wonderful cola taste that I love. Like cola flavored candy – think Bottle Caps. Some warm spices, particularly cinnamon. Slightly slick/creamy mouthfeel. Really pleasant. I will have to gong fu this to see what else it’s got.

This was a blind buy for me before I was sure I liked shou. Didn’t like it much at first, stashed it away for a year and a half or so. Definitely a deal when I bought it, I’ll have to blind buy more.

Had an old sample of this that I revisited. The sample is probably a little stale, I keep my puerh in ziplocks and I’m sure the humidity isn’t optimal.

Overall really enjoyed this tea, lots of heavy, sweet chocolate and cigar/leather, and some cherry/root beer/dr pepper. Wonderfully deep, lasting aroma that sits in your chest. Slightly brisk, mouthfeel wasn’t overly slick. Not a whole lot of development, but I might blame that on sample quality.

Tried this against the 2013 and found pretty similar results, but slightly prefer the 2013 which had more sweetness and cherry stuff going on. Again, sample quality might be a factor.