EBay Royal Tea Bay

Reviewing this from memory. This was excellent sweet puerh with little if any bitterness. There was very little in the way of fermentation flavor. I am glad I bought it.

Steeped this eight times in a 120ml gaiwan with 9.3g leaf and boiling water. I gave it a 10 second rinse and a 10 minute rest. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, and 30 sec.

This is a tea with a lot to live up to. So many people have drank and enjoyed the White2Tea Naka. It doesn’t quite manage to live up to its namesake Naka. It had a slightly rocky start. There was a fair amount of fermentation flavor and an unpleasant flavor note I never pinned down. It took several steeps for this unpleasant note to go away. What was left afterward was fairly tasty. The sugar I added to this tea may have helped but there were definite notes of chocolate here. Like its namesake Naka has a reputation for, this tea got me slightly tea drunk. It was not a lasting effect however. If it wasn’t for a poor start this tea would rate at least a 90. In the end I enjoyed this tea. I should add that this tea had quite the potent fermentation aroma to the bing.

I steeped this tea eight times in a 180ml teapot with 10.1g leaf and boiling water. I gave it a 10 sec rinse and a 10 minute rest. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, and 30 sec. Judging by the strength of the brew in the eighth steep I’d say there were at least four more steeps to this tea if I wasn’t at my caffeine limit already.

This tea is tasty. It is perhaps the sweetest puerh I can remember drinking, but that is from the flavor of the sticky rice, not the puerh. In fact it is pretty much right on the line of too sweet. It does not taste remotely like a genmaicha roasted rice tea. Otherwise is is a fairly good, slightly above average puerh. It is the first puerh I have tried from Royal Tea Bay. I’m afraid it only got brewed western style as I was too lazy to do gongfu style this morning.

I brewed this twice in a 16oz Teavana Glass Perfect Tea Maker/Gravity Steeper with two mini tuo cha,, about 8g leaf and boiling water for 30sec each infusion. While I would recommend this tea it may be too sweet for many people.