EBay Streetshop88

This is a very tasty tea. It is sweet and it is earthy. It is not for those who can’t stand a little fermentation flavor. This is probably one I will put away for a year or two and see how it ages. I only steeped this four times tonight. My tea session was cut short by a power outage. By the time the power came back on it was midnight and I did not want to steep it six more times. This was, however, a tea worthy of many steepings. There was a flavor to this tea I don’t know how to describe, behind the earthy flavor. Behind the sweet flavor.

I steeped this four times in a 220 ml gaiwan with 9.2g leaf and boiling water. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 10 sec, and 20 sec.

this was a free sample with my first streetshopp88 order. Not necessarily something i would have picked for myself, but overall this was fairly pleasant. I had a few steepings of it today and it remained a middle of the road, average sort of brew. nothing amazing about it, but nothing wrong with it either.

Copying my review over to this entry as we have multiple streetshop entries..

oh dexter. can we buy more please? when you get to being allowed to buy more? I pulled this one out randomly today because i always try to take time for at least one puerh when i work from home because even if it gets busy, i generally have time for a few steeps in between meetings. Today i christened my new pot that i picked up from the tea festival with this one. I’ve only had a couple steeps so far, so more to come if life doesn’t get busy..but i really love this. It’s rich. i have no other way to describe it.

it’s smooth…and deep…and rich…and just downright satisfying.

sneaks over to ebay

This was a tasty tea. It changed quite a bit over six steeps. Started out fairly bitter. Also there was a slight taste of bamboo or wet wood. These notes changed over the steeps and they became sweeter. There was very little fermentation flavor to this tea. It was an enjoyable tea. I wonder from the picture on the cake if it is from Shuangjiang Mengku company. The picture is nearly identical to that on the Wild Arbor King cakes from 2013 and I think other years. It wasn’t sold as such so I can’t be sure but I think so. In any case it was enjoyable. I could have gotten a lot more than six steeps out of it but I am at my daily caffeine limit.

I steeped this six times in a 120ml gaiwan with 5.7g leaf and boiling water. I steeped it for 10 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 30 sec, and 1 min.

This is really quite nice, and the price is amazing. This is part of my sample sipping Saturday. Yum!

This is a relatively tasty tea with a fair amount of fermentation flavor left. It is sweet and earthy. It has been described as having cocoa notes by other Steepster members. I won’t disagree with that but I wasn’t paying attention.

I steeped this tea six times in a 207ml Taiwan Clay Teapot with 8.5g leaf and boiling water. I steeped it for 10 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 30 sec, and 1 min. If I had not had enough caffeine I could easily have gotten four more steeps out of it.

This tea is a small 100g cake that calls itself “Golden Needle”. Most teas that are not Dayi and call themselves this don’t come close to living up to the name. This one does. It is really good, quite excellent. There was a bitterness in the first steep. This began to dissipate by the second steep and was gone by the third. It was earthy, it is only a 2014 tea after all. But the earthiness was pleasant and sweet. I am not sure that I can describe the sweetness of this tea specifically but it had a nice sweetness to it. In fact the tea I would compare this to is the Whispering Pines Huron Gold Needle, although not quite as good and much more earthy. Perhaps it comes to mind because they share the name “Golden Needle”. This tea is an excellent price too. I bought 5, 100g bings for only around $43. This tea is a much better value than the Huron Gold Needle even if fewer will try it. The seller, Streetshop88 is one of my favorite EBay sellers and has sold me some excellent puerh. I can’t wait to see how this one ages. It is good stuff.

I steeped this nine times in a 150ml gaiwan with 6g leaf and boiling water. I steeped it for 10 sec, 5 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 30 sec, 1 min, 2 min and 3 min. This was a strong tea. I think had I not had to sleep tonight I could have easily gotten another five or six steeps out of the leaves.

This is a good tea but not incredible. It had notes of bamboo in the first steep, somewhat pronounced. There was a certain amount of fermentation flavor in the first three steeps but not too much. This tea started out quite strong in the first three steeps or so but quickly weakened leaving the seventh steep to taste like a twelfth steep. The later steeps had no fermentation flavor and sweet notes.

I steeped this seven times in a 220ml gaiwan with 8.2g leaf and boiling water. I steeped it for 10 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 30 sec, 1 min, and 2 min.

This tea rates a 100% for effect and about a 70% for taste. It got me pleasantly tea drunk, a sensation I almost never get. This was true even in the later steepings, but especially in steepings 2 through 5. even in the eighth steeping I feel an immediate effect from this tea. Taste wise, this tea is about average. I noticed only one complex note, apples, and unfortunately slightly sour apples.I added sugar to this tea which intensified the taste of apples. I bought a 100g sample of this tea as I didn’t want to commit to a 1000g brick without tasting it first. If this effect replicates itself when I drink this again I may buy the brick. Streetshop88 sent me a nice chunk of a brick. The entire sample was nearly one piece. They are an excellent operation, nearly as good as Berylleb, but not quite. The tea brews up to a golden yellow color and held its color well even in the later steepings. It did not appreciably weaken even in the eighth steeping. I am debating going back for another steeping after I write this. Another good thing about Streetshop88 is their shipping, it is fast, generally seven or eight days via e packet to the New York area.

I brewed this tea eight times in a 220ml Gaiwan with 7.6g leaf and 200 degree water. I steeped it for 10 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 30 sec, 1 min, 2 min, 4 min, and 8 min. The tea did not tremendously weaken even in the eighth steeping. I would say there were at least four more steepings to this tea if I had the desire for more tea at this point. I give this tea an 85% rating overall, largely for effect.

This is an excellent tea from Streeetshop88. Its not quite as good as the Mandala Noble Mark, but its good. I steeped this five times over three hours as I was adding many puerh teas to my cupboard. I have now nearly finished, just my non puerhs to go.

I steeped this in a 250 ml yixing for 15 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 15 sec, and 30 sec. I used boiling water. I detect some chocolate notes and a few others I can’t put my finger on. It was sweet tasting in the first steeping, slightly bitter in the second, then quite smooth after the third. Streetshop88 has sold me some pretty good teas and this one does not disappoint.