100

Okay, it’s time for me to stop being in dragon mode (hoarding it all to myself) and review this. I didn’t want to hype it too much b/c I hadn’t had the funds to order my fill yet, but I just placed an order for the rest that I foresee myself purchasing, so here goes.

Oh boy! This tea has interesting written all over it. I was first drawn to the packaging, as I love the stag artwork on the wrapping. After reading the description from PuerhShop and the other review here on Steepster I knew I should give it a try, so I ordered a sample.

The first sniffs of the dry leaves in a warm gaiwan are wonderful. It has a really soft fragrance with the scent of flowers and fruits. I’m getting hints of magnolia, and maybe some cherry, plum, or nectarine. Definitely a stone fruit scent.

The scent of the wet leaves is more complex and hard to describe. It’s predominantly nutty and vegetal, but with a nice fruity tanginess in the background. It reminds me of really high quality green teas from china. Maybe a Bi Luo Chun. There is also a subtle floral aroma if you inhale deeply. This is lovely.

I gave the rinse a little taste. Even just sipping that there is a lingering floral taste in my mouth. Wow. I’m not going to describe the other flavors of it. I’ll do the first infusion first.
Something about the scent of the brewed tea makes me incredibly nostalgic. It smells very perfumed and flowery. the taste is more vegetal, buttery, and nutty, with green bean notes, but the lingering floral taste and aroma is what sets this Puer apart from others of its kind for me. I can definitely agree with the other reviewer here who said it reminds them of oolong tea. I can tell it is sheng puer from a mile away, but it definitely has a lot in common with oolong in its floral and green notes.

In the second infusion, the tea has become a bit more buttery and nutty. It still has a bright vegetal and floral note, but it is not as powerful as before. It is very prominent on the nose still, however.

The third infusion is a little more sweet and floral. Less of the vegetal, nutty. Still pretty buttery and smooth. I should mention that this tea has zero bitterness and is a really great raw puer. Very warming qi.

If you go with this tea for about 7 to 8 infusions or more, it starts to mellow out substantially, and any hints of young puer bitterness it might have fade away. The predominant flavor is of honey and flowers. The taste and fragrance are something sort of like orange blossom water. It just goes on and on this way for many infusions. It’s so gentle and lovely, I can only imagine how great this tea will be in a couple decades.

I’m buying a handful of cakes of this to age… the first tea I’ve done that with! I have seasoned one of Master Weilong’s one of a kind unglazed interior gongfu teapots with this tea. It smells so nice inside now. This is a tea I’ll be taking with me for the long haul.

Flavors: Butter, Floral, Green, Stonefruit, Vegetal

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 0 min, 15 sec 5 g 3 OZ / 100 ML
Ubacat

That tea sounds amazing! Is it expensive?

Lion

Not at all. It’s currently $19 for a 200g cake. I forgot to mention the cake is so floral fragrant you can easily smell it through the box it comes in. It is nice. Since this is the first really nice affordable raw puer cake I liked I am using it as one that I will try periodically over the years to help me learn how aging affects it. I got four cakes .

Lion

They also have samples of it for anyone who might want to try it without buying a whole cake.
http://www.puerhshop.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=121_157&products_id=1759

Ubacat

Thanks. I took a look and their prices are great. Can’t beat $19 for a 200 g cake! Their shipping is high to Canada though. I’ll give it some thought. I’m sure the shipping is worth it when ordering a few things at a time (like Yunnan Sourcing). I tried just adding things to my cart to see if the price would escalate when the order goes up but it didn’t.

Lion

They do have a flat rate shipping option. It’s like $9 USD, which is not cheap, but good for a larger order. It did suck paying for shipping when I was ordering samples from them.

Lion

The good thing is their samples are like 21g so you get a good amount to play with.

BookLion

Dragon Mode! Love it – have never heard this phrase before and am definitely stealing it. What would a lion mode be, I wonder?

Lion

Lion mode for me is when I’m overly exuberant and excited to have something, so much that I just drink as much tea as I want, as often as I want, with no regard for preserving any for the future. This often happens when I’m just strongly craving a tea for many days at a time, or I’m eager to try many different brewing methods for one tea. It’s kind of like when lions sometimes eat up to 25% of their body weight when they complete a hunt, since at times when food is scarce they may not eat again for a couple weeks. You gotta do it while the bounty is fresh and at its best, so it happens most often for me with green teas. Haha.
I think I default to dragon mode most times though. Lion mode is the enemy of my tea stock. :9

BookLion

Ha! Lion mode sounds fun. Like you, I think I default to dragon mode, but I am now committed to lioning over some tea soon.

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Comments

Ubacat

That tea sounds amazing! Is it expensive?

Lion

Not at all. It’s currently $19 for a 200g cake. I forgot to mention the cake is so floral fragrant you can easily smell it through the box it comes in. It is nice. Since this is the first really nice affordable raw puer cake I liked I am using it as one that I will try periodically over the years to help me learn how aging affects it. I got four cakes .

Lion

They also have samples of it for anyone who might want to try it without buying a whole cake.
http://www.puerhshop.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=121_157&products_id=1759

Ubacat

Thanks. I took a look and their prices are great. Can’t beat $19 for a 200 g cake! Their shipping is high to Canada though. I’ll give it some thought. I’m sure the shipping is worth it when ordering a few things at a time (like Yunnan Sourcing). I tried just adding things to my cart to see if the price would escalate when the order goes up but it didn’t.

Lion

They do have a flat rate shipping option. It’s like $9 USD, which is not cheap, but good for a larger order. It did suck paying for shipping when I was ordering samples from them.

Lion

The good thing is their samples are like 21g so you get a good amount to play with.

BookLion

Dragon Mode! Love it – have never heard this phrase before and am definitely stealing it. What would a lion mode be, I wonder?

Lion

Lion mode for me is when I’m overly exuberant and excited to have something, so much that I just drink as much tea as I want, as often as I want, with no regard for preserving any for the future. This often happens when I’m just strongly craving a tea for many days at a time, or I’m eager to try many different brewing methods for one tea. It’s kind of like when lions sometimes eat up to 25% of their body weight when they complete a hunt, since at times when food is scarce they may not eat again for a couple weeks. You gotta do it while the bounty is fresh and at its best, so it happens most often for me with green teas. Haha.
I think I default to dragon mode most times though. Lion mode is the enemy of my tea stock. :9

BookLion

Ha! Lion mode sounds fun. Like you, I think I default to dragon mode, but I am now committed to lioning over some tea soon.

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

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Bio

Hi there, fellow tea lovers.

My name’s Lion and I’m a Gongfu Cha practitioner, so I usually brew with a gaiwan for reviews unless there’s a more suitable brewing method, like using Japanese teawares for Japanese teas. I tend to stick to straight loose teas and scented teas in general, seldom dabbling in herbal and flavored teas. My favorite tea is Kenyan Silver Needle.

Aside from tea, I’m a generally creative person. I love to cook, write fiction, draw, decorate, garden, and do just about anything creative I can get my paws on.

Animals are really important to me. I’m a lion at heart, and I strive to better understand, respect, and appreciate other animals as best as I can. I advocate for better stewardship of wildlife and captive animals. We’ve still got a lot to learn.

For a long time I rated every tea I tried, but these days I don’t rate them unless they’re exceptional and deserving of a high rating. Here’s my rating breakdown for my reviews with ratings:

0 = Unpalatable, harsh
25 = Unenjoyable
50 = I’m indifferent
75 = Enjoyable, average
90+ = The best, would buy more
100 = Incredible, a favorite

Location

Kansas City, USA

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