2003 Xinghai "Wild Elephant Valley" Aged Ripe Puerh Tea Cake

This tea has grown on me. Still has that fishy, musty flavour in the first couple of steepings but when I really push it in the fourth infusion it opens up into this lovely, mellow, comforting old friend. Love that “clean leather” aroma. Might consider buying a full cake of this if I don’t find anything else that catches my eye.

Rating: 74

No review, just a brief note to myself that I found this to be a clean (maybe a vague mushroom quality without a first rinse, but no fishiness, or other off notes from the fermentation), mellow, earthy shou with plenty of longevity (10 – 15 infusions over 2 or even 3 days) and moderate caffeine. Probably better as part of a meal, but not bad on its own. The first ripe puerh I’ve considered picking up a cake of (which ended up being sold out in any case)…

2/10/16 Update:
Brewed in my larger gaiwan this time with about 7grams of tea. After drinking the tea and then reading my first review I have to say this tea hasn’t really changed, It’s nice and smooth but a bit on the thin side with no special qualities as far as qi or mouthfeel go. A nice shu but nothing special. Changing my rating from 82 —> 79.

Not a full review, just impressions from my first session.

Good body and mouth feel, qi is a bit light but warming. I brewed the tea about 8 times before switching to long brews and eventually boiling. The main profile was woody with a light hint of chocolate-like richness. A bit thinner than expected after about 4 brews. I’ll up the amount of tea next time for sure. There was a distinct spicy aroma that lingered even through boiling. along side it was the oatmeal note I get from most 10-20 yr old shu’s. I’ll update this after I’ve brewed the tea one or two more times.

Deleted my review by mistake. doh.

So i’ll do the short one:

Was very smooth, no fish or funk, but still, ripe & aged pu just tastes to me like mud with a bit of chocolate. Its nice mud & chocolate.. – OK nice dry mud & chocolate, but still. Theres maybe a hint of fruit in there… The taste stayed quite consistent throughout the session.

I cant recommend as I have no idea if its nice or not – I dont do things like black forest gateau / chocolate/earthy & fruit so ripe/aged might just never be for me.?

There is some hint of fruits in there, but hidden in amongst this flat solid mud taste. You ripe pu drinkers are weirdos.

I just dont get wowed by dark pu, actually now I think about it I dont drink much dark tea full stop any more..

I tasted this tea from a sample I received from Yunnan Sourcing. In the first session, I liked it a lot, but in the following sessions, I noticed wet, moldy, metal, flavors that I don’t usually enjoy. I gaiwan gong fu style with flash brews. When increasing the steeping times the moldy flavors felt more prominent to me.

Trying my second Xinghai ripe today after sampling the 2008 Bulang yesterday. This tea tastes very similar to me. You know how you can tell a factory’s distinctive shu flavor? Dayi and Langhe come to mind. Xinghai seems to have its own. Burnt coffee and slight perfume come to mind here. This tea was not so different from the Bulang, just a little smoother, probably due to age, and a hint of fruit in the first steep or two. This tea doesn’t justify the $60 price tag to me, I’d just as soon buy something like the 2008 which is just as good and much cheaper.

I really enjoyed this tea. It’s got almost zero fermentation flavor to it. It has a little bitterness in the beginning. It’s got some nice sweet notes. There’s a hard to describe note in there too. Not an unpleasant note. I’m thinking maybe dates but that is just an impression. I gave it eight steeps and it’s got a fruityness to it in later steeps. This is a moderately expensive shou. I was taking a risk ordering without sampling first at $62. Luckily I figured I could trust Scott not to sell me something terrible and it wasn’t too expensive.

I steeped this eight times in a 120ml gaiwan with 8.8g 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. If I hadn’t hit my caffeine limit for the day I’m sure I could get four or five more steeps out of it.