This was overall a very nice aged ripe tea. There were no traces of the fermentation left. You could still tell it was a ripe tea and not a raw mind you. Even when all the fermentation is gone it does not taste like an aged raw tea. There was some wet storage taste but it was not strong. It lasted perhaps four or five steeps. There was no bitterness to this tea. There was an evolving sweet note from the beginning until I finished my session with the tenth steep. There was also a taste that I would call an aged flavor but not entirely negative like the leather and tobacco you get with 10 year old raw teas. As to defining the sweet note. The exact description eludes me. You might say fruity but not a strong fruity taste. Very hard to pin down. Now the real question was this worth the price I paid, $105 minus 12%? I would have to say almost worth the price. I will I think continue to drink this one along with the 1996 CNNP from Yunnan Sourcing. This is I think not an incredibly long lasting tea. While I think I could have gotten two more good steeps out of it, it was a little weak at ten steeps. Overall I think this one is worth a sample.
I steeped this ten times in a 150ml Ru Kiln Shui Ping Teapot with 10g leaf and boiling water. I gave a 10 second rinse. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, 30 sec, 45 sec, and 1 min.
I think this will be really good in another year or two. Definitely worth the price.
Puer shop is offering a 2004 version of this tea for $30, do you think it would be as good?