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Oh Lordy, what a value! Buttery, sweet, and cooling, the Bangbao village is exactly what I look for at the mid-price range. There is a pungent, floral profile, with just enough kuwei to give it a little edge and keep my attention. I find myself appreciating the olive-oil like viscosity of the soup, the hints of vanilla, and the enduring after-fragrance that this tea leaves. Another beautiful cake from YS.

Is this really from near Jing Gu? As Hobbes has written, neighboring fields in Burgundy can have different terroire… Its really quite low and savory, not very much at all like its overtly sweet and floral neighbor. There are notes of tobacco, barn-straw, wet forest floor and damp moss. There is some smoke and it seems a bit rough around the edges, not overly so though. A faint whisper of Jing Gu’s pungency lingers in the background. I am enjoying this, it’s quite unique, and there’s just enough thickness and sweetness to float the savory/nature qualities described above. I think some age would do this cake a lot of good.

Edit: having this again, from a Yi Xing this time, it seems to have more Jing Gu vanilla and additional sweetness. Weird what little changes can do to the experience of a tea. Still plenty bitter, punchy, viscous.

Note: I may edit this review later because I’ve only had it once and wasn’t paying terribly close attention. That said, I really enjoyed this little guy. Nice and thick, balanced bitterness and sweetness, notes of apricots and flowers with some honey under-tones. Lasted quite a while, very nice looking leaf and bud-sets.

Edit: I’ve since bought this cake and designated it as a work daily-drinker that I store in my cube. It performs quite solidly as such, in fact I fear that it’s a little too good for a desk tea, but there’s no going back now… DHS is remarkably dense, mouth filling, and crisp. As I drink it more I’m actually noticing a fruity taste that is closer to bananas or honey-dew melon than apricot (which is one of my more common pu-tasting notes). It’s strong, but I’m not afraid to overbrew it, since it tends to stay balanced even if its bitterness goes up.

I’m a little enamored with this cake, it’s just SUCH good summer-time drinkin’. Thick, sweet and pungent (if not a little straight-forward), it is suggestive of ripe peaches and meadow flowers. Very sweet, but picks up some bitterness towards the end.

I didn’t order this sample, but I got it anyway! Even though Yiwu isn’t usually my cup of tea, I’m inclined to make an exception for this one. It does indeed have the typically floral Yiwu profile, but good lord is it strong! There’s medium-high bitterness, plenty of body, and is intensely focused and structured. There’s also a bit of dry-fruit texture, though not as much viscosity as other Yiwu’s I’ve had (this is sort of the opposite of Scott’s GFZ), I’ll probably be inclined to spring for the cake at some point…

Whoa! Sooo buttery! This is very good Bi Luo Chun, though it’s not the delicate stuff you’d get from more the Eastern provinces. The leaves are huge, the soup is thick and sweet. Notes of fresh bread, grass and orchids.

Scott Wilson pulls through again, with another budget-friendly puer from ancient and wild trees. The first thing that I notice is the musky orchid aroma, then the smooooothe, oily body with a base of solid bitterness, and lastly a lingering aftertaste that reminds me of buttered crackers. It may sound weird, but the XHS reminds me A LOT of Scott’s Yunnan Bi Luo Chun… maybe its from around the same area? I can’t really fault this tea… it might not be as much to my personal tastes as others, but its strong, fragrant and interesting, with cha qi for days.

This is a strong, interesting tea at a good price-point. Last year, it was very green, aggressive and bitter. This year it’s mellowed somewhat into a lower, thicker, but still powerful and bitter tea. I’d say that it has notes of wet, dark straw, fermenting fruit, and sweet tobacco. As you can probably guess, this tea may not be for everyone, but I find the flavor profile outlined above to be to my tastes. It is enduring, while being both savory and sweet. I can certainly see it continuing to age very well.

I like this tea. It’s certainly strongly in the “daily drinker” category- not super exciting and a bit watery, but it checks all the sheng-pu boxes that are important to me: texture, huigan and qi. It is sweet and mellow, perhaps a bit tannic, with notes of roses, dark straw, and stone fruits.

I recently sampled this, gotta say that the quality is undeniable. Soup is thick, dark, sweet, reminiscent of decayed wood, mushrooms, and wild honey, and has a distinct mahogany finish.