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Pleasant if a little shallow. Better than some cooked puerh I’ve had that border on fish market pungency. A great introductory shu puerh; earthy, cooling, smooth though not as complex as I want it to be.

Shu+

Fresh, pungent grassy flavor with a distinct spearmint finish. A relatively bold and smooth tea for a pretty good price ($4 oz).

Earthy and austere like the well crafted, solidly built antique furniture that would be found in the study of a man worth knowing.

A translucent cinnamon bark and honey sweetness wrap around the nectar of persimmon and white grape producing a harmony of mid-range sine waves that never touch the earth yet do not peak to unpleasant, astringent brassiness.

The word of the day is “superlative”.

This one has a bite to it (not unlike some sheng I’ve had) but also provides a warming base of what comes through to me as butterscotch and bitter herbs. Softer and more welcoming than a sheng, not at all smoky, yet the comparison is unavoidable.

Smells like a bouquet of fresh cut flowers, tastes like a lush and perfectly manicured garden, and the hui gan is a slice of white peach that does not end. The florals are cooling to the point of tasting icy.

My sister says that it tastes like what we want perfume to taste like.

The dry leaf aroma alone is enough to tell that this will be a quality experience, although I was admittedly caught a bit off guard by the initial sternness of the brewed cup. However, my palette quickly grew accustomed to the sophisticated and slightly sheng-like bitterness that transforms into a long, layered, and thoroughly pleasing aftertaste. The apricot nectar apparent in the dry and wet aromas is overtaken by the structured and “big” body of the tea yet blossoms at the finish taking with it much of the dry, stately florals from earlier on.

Another winner.

Wha ‘jin fo? Delicious ripe persimmon and light cinnamon/clove spice wrapped up in a delicate piece of turkish delight , that’s what.

I am once again taken to school and instructed as to what tea should taste like. My goodness.

I implore all of you to purchase some samples from this guy. Please! Seriously, your minds will be blown. It’s that good!

edit: now that i’m a little more versed in the world of puerh, i can honestly say that this one is a cut above, like pretty much all tea from this shop. if hindsight serves me there was a distinct cleanliness and clarity to the flavors which, at this point, i won’t be able to extract from memory. they were good ones though.

Oh. OH. oh.

I understand now. . . THIS is puerh. (Oh.) There is a balance of dank earth and cooling menthol overtone that delivers a full, very palatable complexity. Not every tea has to be mystifying to be very, very good.

And I know this is weird but I actually left the wet leaves out overnight (I couldn’t bring myself to throw them away) and had something like the fifth steepage the next day. Weird, yes, I know, but still so good. One of my absolute favorites.