1997 CNNP Zhong Cha Yunnan YiWu Wild puer Raw

Dry leaf has a light musty aroma.
Wet leaf after rinse has a nice aged aroma.
First infusions tasted fine. Somewhat Light body but decent aged flavor.
Wet leaves are a mix of dark brown and olive green. small, broken leaves.

In my experience, this tea does not have the vitality, the oomph, the special character that good puer can have.
Its nothing like the 92 da ye loose leaf sheng from essence of tea, for example.

I keep returning to the conclusion that its more cost effective and satisfying to buy premium tea from well curated selections by reputable vendors than to hunt for bargains.

If I didn’t know the source I’d say I had drank a different tea than Rich. I wasn’t blown away by this tea. I definitely don’t think it was dry stored. There was a strong note of wet wood in this tea. This note usually means wet storage. This could still be a wet stored tea from 1997. This wet storage taste never completely went away, even in the tenth steep. I did not find any fruity notes like Rich did. I found mildly sour notes instead. There was indeed little bitterness to this tea and the sour notes could be the tea trying to age. I think there is an equal chance that this is a much younger tea than 1997 and wet stored. I don’t know enough about judging the difference in the tea liquid to be sure though. Younger. humid stored tea has a look similar to aged raw puerh. It would also have the notes of wet wood that were so prevalent in this tea.

I brewed this tea ten times in a 120ml gaiwan with 8.6g 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, 30 sec, 45 sec, and 1 min.