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This tea made me so so so so so so so so so SO happy. Of happiness.

Only one rinse was needed and the color is deeper than ruby, like a garnet. And AllanK was right – zero fermentation flavor, no dirty flavors. This tastes like chocolate mushrooms. That may not sound appetizing, but I assure you, it’s the fucking BOMB, yo.

This is my new fave shou. Thanks for the sample, Allan!!!!

I did one session with three steeps, then another, then another. A total of 9 steeps, which got smoother as they went along.

From the start, I felt buzzy. At one point during the 2nd session, I realized that I dazed out. When I came to, I felt kind of dizzy and happy. Tea drunk, indeed!

I also kept staring into the cup, kind of mesmerized by the color.

To sum up: WOW. So yumz. Much happy. Wow. So garnet. Tea drunkies.

http://instagram.com/p/soFo2-vkcf/

After lunch, relaxing on a lovely Saturday.

I’m doing my 2nd taste test with Goldie the golden teacup vs a regular teacup. This morning I found, much to my surprise, that Goldie DOES enhance the flavor of tea. I had a sheng that was lovely, but had a little bitterness from the regular cup. But from Goldie, the tea was smoother and the finish was bitter-free.

I wanted to try again, but with a shou. This one had two 10 second rinses, but in it’s defense, the leaves needed to open more. It’s either less earthy or I am just getting used to the earthiness of shous and don’t notice it as much.

In any event, I did the same test with Goldie vs non-goldie. The effect is less pronounced because shous aren’t generally very bitter anyway, but damn… it definitely is smoother! I may not articulate it well, but I can taste a difference and I know it’s not all just in my head.

This tea is making me feel happy and relaxed and pleasantly woozy!

Smooth, lightly earthy, but not in a bad way. I just did one rinse on this one and when I sipped it, I knew there was no need to dump more.

Check me out, boychik!!!!

This gave me a light tea buzz and was a lovely evening tea (drank last night).

Thumbs up!

Wow.

I took a gamble on this one and Garret did not lead me astray. Thanks so much, G-Mac. You picked a real beauty!

Method: 6g, 6oz, 200 degrees, rinse-10-15-20, sheng yixing and Goldie

Aroma: Smells very strongly of grape and smoked apricots, but it has a freshness that was very pleasant.

Flavor: First, this feels like butter. It’s creamy and so very smooth. It’s fruity and sweet, with almost no bitterness and only the lightest astringency on the finish. It made me feel all warm and it did not take long for my tea drunk wooziness to start. I have a sheng glow. A nuttiness starts to emerge, too.

I adore this tea. It’s amazeballs!

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It’s time, tea friends. Time for the 3rd and final tasting of what me and my TeaFFs affectionately call – Fungus Tea!

I made all years using the same method, which can be found on the 2013 note.

Firstly, this smells incredible. Like grapes and fruit leather, specifically fruit rollups. And not just ANY fruit rollup. CHERRY fruit rollups, which always happened to be my personal fave growing up.

And now, the taste… I’m going in!

Not quite cherry fruit rollup, sadly. This oddly has no sweetness and an astringent finish, which neither of the first two teas had. The 2013 was especially sweet, IMO. Neither the 2011 nor 2013 had one trace of bitterness, but there is some bitterness here. I can only speculate that these were from different makers and different types of original material?

In any event, you must drink it hot! As it cools it becomes significantly less pleasant, and more bitter. The nicer aspects are the aromas and the leather flavors. This also leaves a dry finish on the tongue, which I did not notice on the first two teas.

To sum up:

Buy the 2013. But for goodness sakes, people. LEAVE SOME FOR ME! :p
Buy the 2011. It’s an interesting contrast to the 2013 version.
Pass on the 2010, or just order a small sample at first.

I lucked out because I ordered a huge chunk of the 2013 since it was cheaper, and it ended up being my fave.

Here are the first two reviews, for comparison purposes. FUNGUS TEA FTW!!!!
2013 – http://steepster.com/Sarsonator/posts/262092
2011 – http://steepster.com/Sarsonator/posts/262198

Well I still like it, but this is nothing like the 2013 I got from CS.

This is a little smoky and less sweet, though it IS still somewhat sweet. It also has more of an aged flavor. A bit less complex. I like it, but I’m super glad that I ordered a much larger block of the 2013!!!!

I admit that it’s hard to rate this on it’s own merits without comparing it to yesterday’s tea because… DAMN.

Here’s yesterday’s tea! http://steepster.com/Sarsonator/posts/262092

And a pic from today’s session! http://instagram.com/p/sgEEP4PkUy/

I know I love A LOT of teas. And I love them with all my heart, but this fucking tea… It’s incredible.

I wasn’t exactly sure how to brew this and I admit to being far too lazy to walk from the kitchen to the living room to grab a device connected to the interwebz to look it up.

Method: 5 g, 4 oz, 200 degrees, 30-60-60 (no rinse), Novak teapot (glazed)

Aroma: Smells like fucking genmaicha. I curse when I get excited.

Flavor: The first thing is that this is fucking SWEET. All on it’s own, with zero additives. I didn’t want to rinse and get rid of all the fungy goodness, so the bag said 4-5 min western style and I made up my own semi-gongfu times. NBD.

This tasted kind of like a black tea at times, but a little like a green tea. I’m having a hard time finding words other than: Good. Yum. Fuckin. MOFO. Nom.

I also bought 2010 and 2011 versions from CS, but I started with the 2013, which was purchased in larger quantity since it was cheaper. For realz, yo. Y’all gotta try this.

I’ll be trying the other years over the next day or 2. Can’t! Wait!!!!

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This was a sample from my dearest MzPriss! Thanks, pookie pie!

I like this one. It’s putting some pep in my morning. It’s pretty smooth, though it does have a little bite at the end.

I think it’s a pretty decent price for the quality and the age, too!

I think this is my first flavored shou. I did do one quick rinse, but mainly it was to wake up the leaves.

I wasn’t sure how I would feel about this, but damn… it’s really good. It absolutely tastes like chocolate, and the pu is very mild. No dirty flavors!

I added a little maple because chocolate should always be sweet. I had this as my after dinner tea and it was lovely. It’s on the 6th steep and still tastes chocolately. Surely that can’t be natural? But whatever, it’s good!

This is a lovely sample from my TeaFF, MzPriss! Thanks, honeybelle!

Method: 8 g, 6 oz, 200 degrees, rinse-10-15, sheng yixing, Goldie

Aroma: sweet and fruity

Flavor: Well the first two steeps are kicking my ass a bit. This is an interesting mix of very pleasant flavors with a sharp bitterness. It has a nice astringent finish. Some sips taste quite mild, and some are like a kick in the shin.

Steeps 3 and 4 are calmer. I have a little sheng glow going and the apricot notes are coming through nicely. I’m starting to feel a little tea woozy. Yay!

This one is definitely a keeper and I think it will age nicely and the initial bitterness will soften up.