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This tea is a sample from Scott at Yunnan Sourcing. The soup is a light gold in color with a nice floral smell. The taste has everything I like about a young Sheng: kuwei, astringency and an earthy/grassy taste with a hint of smoke. What I don’t like about this tea is the flavors are too muted for my liking, I really wish they were stronger. Having said that, is this an excellent tea, no. Is this a really good tea, yes it is. Would I buy it, yes I would. In my opinion only, this is an excellent tea for those who want to try a young Sheng but are afraid of the tastes overpowering them. Oh, Scott is only charging $15.50 for a tea that could easily go for twice that amount!!!!

I bought this Sheng after much scientific research. I love Asian Elephants, this tea is named Yexiangwang [Wild Elephant King] and it has an Asian Elephant on the wrapper so I bought it. Okay, enough of my scientific methods. The soup is a very light bronze color. The first steeping had me puzzled. The taste was a earthy, leafy, grassy, smokey mix (or, I really wasn’t sure what I was tasting). There was just a hint of kuwei and astringency that were not present in subsequent steepings. When I first tasted the second steeping I knew what the flavor was. To me it is a smokey tobacco flavor that is very mellow and pleasing to the tongue. I really liked the consistency of this tea. Steepings two through seven tasted the same. This is a great Sheng but if you don’t like teas with a heavy tobacco flavor then this tea may not be for you.

Okay, if I am a Sheng Yiwu snob, this tea makes me a Shou Menghai snob. Another excellent Shou from Yunnan Sourcing!!!!!! This tea is a joy to drink. The soup is a very deep mahogany. The taste is mind blowing. There are so many layers of depth to this tea that I have no idea how to describe them. The consistency is incredible. I am on steeping seven and it tastes like it did on steeping one. “Jin Hai Lang” means “Gold Hai Lang” and in my opinion, this tea is truly golden!!!!!!

Sheng Yiwu snob alert!!!! This Sheng is from Yunnan Sourcing and the tea comes from wild arbor trees between 200 and 300 years old. As for the tea, Yunnan Sourcing’s website says it much better than I can: “…the tea soup is a bright yellow-gold and clear, the aroma is penetrating and the tea is full in the mouth. The flavor is textured and thick with a strong and vegetal taste . This is one of the more smooth and aromatic of the Yi Wu area teas, but its still got a fair amount of bitterness and long-lasting huigan that stimulates the mouth and throat long afterwards.” The kuwei and huigan are perfectly balanced and there is just a slight hint of astringency that is the perfect compliment to the two. This an excellent Sheng!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Another sample from Paul at White 2 Tea. I will let their website say it: “Sweet, thick, and fragrant, the tea has already got a little bit of age. Much smoother than most of the teas from our 2014 production.” This is the smoothest Sheng I have ever drank. Expensive, but it would be worth every cent!!!

This is another sample from Paul at White 2 Tea. Before this sample I had never heard of Hei Cha tea. Well I have now. This is an excellent tea. The color of the soup is a rich mahogany. The flavor is an earthy (earthy/muddy) and woody mix with just a hint of sweetness that is wonderful on the tongue. What really impressed me about this tea is the consistency, steeping six tasted just like the first steeping.

Sheng Yiwu snob alert. This tea was another sample from Paul at white 2 Tea. This tea is a blend of both spring and fall material. The color is a beautiful golden bronze. The first steeping was a bit timid to me. However, by the third steeping it really had hit its stride. This tea has everything I love in a Sheng from Yiwu. It has both great kuwei [pleasant bitterness] and a touch of background astringency and the combination of the two was very mellow. If you like young sheng pu’er tea that isn’t overpowering, you should give this tea a strong consideration.

Another sample from Paul at White 2 Tea. Once again, the website says it all: …" this tea is burly. Probably too strong for inexperienced drinkers to drink immediately". This is an excellent Sheng in my opinion, but it is definitely not for beginners. The soup is a beautiful golden color. The taste is very burly and I had to cut back my steeping times or I think the astringency would have been over powering. My White 2 Tea 2007 Taochaju Yiwu and 2011 Taochaoju Yiwu Guyun have great kuwei [pleasant bitterness] with a touch of background astringency. This tea is the opposite, a lot of astringency with a touch of background kuwei. Once again, in my opinion only, this is an excellent Sheng. However, if you don’t like astringency or are new to pu’er tea this tea may not be for you.