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A face full of bitterness. Decent qi, but shit damn it’s hard to drink. I don’t mind a bit of bitter but this is really something else. It’s been an interesting experience but it’s definitely a 0 on the binary scale.

I’m drinking this straight after the 2000 yi wu shan aged raw pu-erh brick for comparison of similar aged dry and wet storage.

This tea is pleasant, although I think I prefer the wet-stored yi wu shan (seems I’m alone here, but hey different strokes) – I do like dank teas ;)
This does have a lot more going on, but I’m always on a hunt for a taste of old wet bookshop.

this tea is old, medicinal, leathery, plenty of astringency.
the cup aroma is delightfully sweet.

On the binary scale of “would buy or would not buy” this gets a 1. I like it.

I’m into wet-stored Pu-erh. old, dank, wet earth, wet towels, etc. It has a good wee bit of astringency, a little sweetness, but no complexity, thickness, or qi. in later steeps it has a nice subtle creamyness in the back of the throat.

This is the first tea I’m trying from my Guangdong storage sampler from YS. I haven’t yet cracked into the kunming storage sampler yet – it’ll be an interesting comparison. I’ll come back to this later when I’ve tried some other teas.

I’m enjoying this tea, having thought I wouldn’t after giving the rinsed leaves a smell (it smelt like a volcano, smoky, sulfuric, with a tinge of medicinal).
The smokiness is definitely pretty present, however it has started to age a little into camphor notes which I like. It has a nice mouthfeel, it gives a relatively thick liquid which came as a surprise given the price of the cake. Not particularly complex, but a very pleasant brew for its price ($8.50 for 100g toucha).

I pulled this out of LiquidProusts’ tea sample box, whacked the whole sample (13g) in my 100ml teapot and began with a 10 second steep. The first steep already has me feeling all tingly and nice inside. I don’t think I’ve had a tea that has had this effect on me before (I’ve read about body feel, but don’t think I’ve experienced it).
As far as taste, damp wood, mild camphor (mainly in the aroma, but mildly in the taste also), and very slightly astringent (not the horrible liver stripping mouth inverting astringency of some of the other samples I’ve tried so far!). I would say this is probably my favourite pu-erh so far (out of not many), one that I’m all like ooooooooh more please!

Still not wuyi yancha levels of delicious awesomeness, but you never know maybe I’ll catch the pu bug yet.

Liquid Proust’s magical sampler mystery teas 1 and 2. (“2004 raw” and “something-or-other mystery Chinese name”).

It’s very helpful to get a good selection of sheng pu-erhs as I’ve had very few, and most of them what I’d refer to as liver-stripping death teas. Haha, to be honest, I hadn’t even thought these would be sheng pu, I had simply assumed shu as that is what I think of when I think pu-erh. Here’s to trying something new.

The two samples I had today I had a few steeps of before giving up. Both had the same odd salty savouriness, almost like I’d used veggie stock or diluted sea water to brew them in.

I was given tea so I’ll drink it all even if it kills me.

(the reccomendation is a yes, if you are offered free samplers then why not?!)

This is a delicious sweet red tea. It makes an amazing cold brew, but is also fabulous hot.
Like all Zealong tea, it is a little overpriced for what it is. It IS however a great quality organic tea and I’m happy to buy it to support the farm as I’m from NZ.

It is sweet with fruit and berry notes. Mildly sour, no bitterness,and no astringency. Very (very) smooth and sweet.

My main critique is that it is very thin in the mouth. It has a reasonable, but not fantastic hui gan. Basically it has a great upfront flavor but not too much going on under the hood.

I enjoy it, but at $33NZD for 50g, i’d rather buy a reasonable Chinese red.

pleasant roasted bancha kukicha. I use a lot of tea per cup as it is very nice strong. This tea is nothing exquisite or expensive ($7NZD – 100g), but a satisfying tea good for when I don’t want something too caffeinated.
Great value comfort tea.

This is review number 1,
I brewed this with a lot of leaf and a fairly short steep as I usually do when trying a new red tea.

I was surprised how much like a darjeeling this tasted! Muscatel notes, not much sweetness, a little astringent, a little bitter (balanced bitterness, not unpleasant).
A little like an oak barrel, a bit of ash.

Overall underwhelming for me, however my partner likes it.