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Drinking this again, for the third time. The second time I drank it Steepster was down so I could not post a review. I overleafed it a bit today to see just how much I could get out of this tea. I used 9g in a 70ml teapot. It went 34 steeps without getting too watery. It still had a nice amber color in the 34th steep. It started of a nice dark black color and held this color for about 25 steeps. Around the 26th or 27th steep it evolved into an amber colored tea, but still nice tasting. This was one of the most complex ripe teas I have drank. It started out quite bitter. So bitter I didn’t really notice the fermentation taste. This slowly changed into a sweet note after a good amount of steeps. In the end it was a mildly sweet tea that had not lost too much of it’s flavor. I did steep it 34 times. This is the most I have taken any tea. The last three steeps I put aside to photograph my tea session. This is without a doubt the best new ripe I have drank. And as to qi, it was quite potent up until the 12th or 14th steep then it was not noticeable. I only wish I could have afforded two of these. It is definitely on my list to buy another. It is in my opinion the rarest of teas. No one generally makes LBZ material into ripe tea. BUt with Hai Lang Hao and Yunnan Sourcing I trust that it is exactly that. The fact that this tea went 34 steeps is further proof of it’s origin.

I steeped this 34 times in a 70ml teapot with 9g leaf and boiling water. I gave it a 10 second rinse. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 7 sec, 7 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 10 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec 15 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 20 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, 25 sec, 25 sec, 30 sec, 30 sec, 30 sec, 45 sec, 45 sec, 45 sec, 1 min, 1 min, 1 min, 2 min, 2 min, 2min, 3 min, 3 min, and 4 min.

Got this with my Black Friday order and am just getting around to it now. It was a fairly nice tea with little if any bitterness and a fair amount of fermentation flavor. That flavor was a little unpleasant but in no way fishy. In any case it didn’t last and this became a nice perhaps you would say easy drinking ripe puerh with a nice mildly sweet flavor profile. I didn’t really get the flavor notes specifically as I made a phone call in the middle of the session. Months ago I have given a gongfu set to a friend of mine and a couple of teas, some ripe puerh and some oolong. He had not tried them yet. To be honest I was calling to convince him it was worth a try. I would be a shame if all the money I spent was wasted and he didn’t use the tea set. This was a nice tea in any case.

I steeped this nine times in a 140ml Yixing Teapot with 12g leaf and boiling water. I gave it a 10 second rinse. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 15 sec, and 20 seconds.

This is a relatively nice tea from Chawangshop. It was not terribly expensive but as I recall not dirt cheap either. It was fairly bittersweet at the start with a fair amount of fermentation flavor. Both the bitter note and the fermentation took four or five steeps to steep out, leaving a fairly nice, semi sweet ripe puerh. I tried the same ratio of leaf to water that worked so well for the LBZ ripe tea from the other day, 1g to 10ml. It was too much tea for this one. This one would have been better with at least a 1g to 15ml ratio. Still there was a good taste to this by the eighth steep. I think if I took this to twelve steeps it would develop a fruity character, or if I had used less leaf probably by the eighth steep.

I steeped this eight times in a 160ml Yixing teapot with 16g leaf and boiling water. I gave it a 10 second rinse. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 7 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, and 10 sec.

This is a fairly nice ripe puerh tea with little in the way of bitterness, a fair amount of fermentation flavor but no real funkyness, and some nice sweet notes. As to the name it doen’t quite live up to a tea so good you would keep it for Sundays. It is good but not spectacular in any real way. But then again for the price you don’t expect spectacular. It was not an expensive tea. There was even a fleeting note of chocolate to this tea. I noticed it in the third steep and then not again. Overall this was very good and worth the price.

I steeped this eight times in a 180ml Yixing Teapot with 15g leaf and boiling water. I gave it a 10 second rinse. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 7 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, and 10 sec.

Bought this in my Yunnan Sourcing Black Friday order and am just now getting around to drinking it. Unlike the last four Hai Lang Hao teas I would not call this phenomenal. It was fairly good though and somewhat expensive because of its age. I was a very tightly compressed brick. The first four steeps were a light amber color. After that it got darker and the fermentation taste, although weak, was noticeable. There was no real bitterness to this tea and it was fairly sweet. For a ripe this age the word dates is often used. This does not seem quite that sweet but it is definitely a sweet note in the last steeps. I steeped this ten times and will go back and steep it a few more times for my tea photography

I steeped this ten times in a 160ml Jian Shui teapot with 15.8g leaf with boiling water. I gave it a 10 second rinse but it could have benefited from a longer one as the first few steeps were quite weak. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 7 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 10 sec, 10 sec, and 15 sec.

This is an excellent ripe tea. It was strong with a bittersweet taste at first and a moderate amount of fermentation flavor. It got much sweeter as the steepings went on. There was a strong and relaxing cha qi from about the second steep that lasted until around the fourteenth steep. I gave this tea sixteen steeps in total and then steeped it a few more times for photographs. This was no cheap brick but nearly a dollar a gram brick. Even though I got it during Scott’s best sale of the year it was pricy. It was extremely well compressed. It dented my nice new tea tool which was annoying as the thing was made out of solid brass if I remember correctly. In the end I broke out my tea awl and that it did not dent. The steel of the awl was stronger than the brick. Overall this was one tasty tea. I would say that the bitterness lasted well into the eighth or tenth steep at least. The fermentation flavor did not last that long but I wasn’t paying close attention to the notes. I was too busy enjoying the qi of this brick, which of course is very rare in a ripe but Hai Lang Hao knows how to process a ripe tea so it retains it’s qi.

I steeped this sixteen times in a 85ml Yixing Teapot with 8.4g leaf and boiling water. I gave it a 10 second rinse. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 7 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 10 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 15 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, and 25 sec. It was still not a weak tea in the sixteenth steep. I steeped it about five more times for the photographs I am going to take for my Instagram page.

This is a fairly nice ripe puerh that had a bit of a shaky start but got much better as I resteeped it. It was a generous free gift from Taylorxia2014 at Moylor tea co. It started out with a note I would describe as slightly sour cherries and a moderate amount of fermentation flavoe. The sour note only lasted one or two steeps and the fermentation a couple more. What was left behind was a nice semi sweet note that I am having a hard time describing specifically. I also think I bought this tea from someone else at some point for when I saved the image for the tea page I found I already had the same image under the same name but I couldn’t find another one on Steepster so I must not have logged it before. This tea seems also to have a very nice color to it and as I am going to photograph it that is a good point. So far I have had nothing but a positive experience with Moylor although I have not tried their sheng. I definitely recommend his shop.

I steeped this tea twelve times in a 100ml teapot with 13g leaf and boiling water. I gave it a 10 second rinse. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 7 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 10 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 15 sec, and 15 sec.

This is another excellent tea from Hai Lang Hao. A real Yiwu ripe is somewhat rare. But with Hai Lang Hao and Yunnan Sourcing I trust that it is real. It was significantly less money than the LBZ ripe but still quite expensive. This was a very good tea. There was some bitterness at first and certainly some fermentation flavor although for some reason I really didn’t notice the fermentation taste. I steeped this tea sixteen times and it turned from having a light bitterness to a muted sweetness and then to a sweet ripe puerh, almost sugar sweet but not quite. This wqas also a strong tea as it lasted well into the sixteen steeps without me resorting to five minute steeps. There was some qi to it but not the massive qi of the LBZ ripe I drank yesterday.

I steeped this tea sixteen times in a 85ml Yixing teapot with boiling water and 8.2g leaf. I gave it a 10 second rinse. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 7 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, 25 sec, 30 sec, and 45 seconds.

This was an incredible ripe tea. Most teas that call themselves ripe LBZ are fakes. Not this one. Made by Hai Lang Hao and sold by Yunnan Sourcing at a very high price you know it is real. The first thing about this tea that I really noticed was the Qi. In the second steep it hit me like a steamroller. It kept going for quite a while too. I can still feel it and I am on the 16th steep. This tea was perhaps the strongest tea I can remember drinking. It started out quite bitter. But this bitterness gradually changed into a sweet note. I did not add any sugar to this tea. But in the sixteenth steep it tastes like I did. There were definite fruity notes and perhaps chocolate notes but I am unsure about that. This tea was perhaps the best young ripe I have ever drank. And it is very rare for a ripe tea to have any qi, let alone a strong qi like this one. I am tempted to buy another brick at some point to store for the long haul. This was a spectacular tea when viewed over sixteen steeps.

I steeped this sixteen times in a 70ml teapot with 5.1g leaf and boiling water. I gave it a 10 second rinse. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 7sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, 30 sec, and 45 sec. I definitely recommend that anyone into ripe tea buy a sample of this from Yunnan Sourcing. This tea was so strong I altered my steeping pattern to have more short steeps. This tea was spectacular in the end.