Brian Dougher Send Message

I just grabbed a sample of this from YS. It tastes considerably older than a 2007 due to the humid storage, but it’s really clean. Has a little of that ‘old house’ smell which I love. It’s smooth, floral (rose-y), and sweet. Hardly any bitterness at all. If I have any complaints it’s that it might be a little too smooth. But overall this tea is an absolute bargain!

Picked this one up from YS and immediately fell in love. Strangely, it’s almost identical to a ‘2006 Changtai Yichanghao’ (more than likely fake) that I picked up for cheap on ebay. So similar, in fact, that I’m just going to copy a part of my review for that tea here:

“It’s a sharp and pungent tea, with a smoky/spicy/woody/shroomy flavor, and great qi. This is my energizing tea when I’m feeling run down. It’s also comforting and makes me feel warm and fuzzy (quite literally). "

I find all these attributes and more in this tuo. The leaf quality is a bit better than my ebay cake and it just brews on and on. This tea just checks all the right boxes for me in what I am looking for in a raw puerh and it just seems to harmonize with me if that makes any sense. I feel right at home drinking it.

I like a raw puerh in that adolescent stage because it still has some of that young vibrancy while also showing some signs of maturity. I’d love to try this one again in 5-10 years but not sure I can hold onto it that long. The tea liquor is nice and thick with a beautiful orange color. Taste is salty tobacco and wet straw with a slight astringent bite and some caramel sweetness. Salted caramel! Maybe some apricot in there as well. Fantastic qi! Got a little drunk on this one.

Really nice. Soft, creamy, delicate, fruity/floral. Really a perfect little easy-drinking tea. Great value for such quality leaf. I could see this being a daily drinker for me.

I took a chance on this one on Ebay and I’m glad I did. I’ve not been quite so lucky with other cheap teas. This one sells for $22 for 400g, which is a preverbial ‘steal’ for a 2006 Banzhang (supposedly). Could be a fake, not sure. But who cares! I love it. It’s a sharp and pungent tea, with a smoky/spicy/woody/shroomy flavor, and great qi. This is my energizing tea when I’m feeling run down. It’s also comforting and makes me feel warm and fuzzy (quite literally). There is just something about this tea. The smoke is pretty intense in initial steeps but dissipates quickly. I just bought another one. I think I’m going to buy even more soon. Yay!

I picked this up from Dragon Tea House for a reasonable price thinking I’d get a nice 10 year old aged tea… but there’s barely any age to speak of. I’m wondering if they sent me a newer year by mistake or if it was just stored extremely dry or was sealed up…?? This thing is greeeeen. I started enjoying it though once I adjusted my expectations. It’s super tightly compressed which is annoying but workable. And the flavor is green but sweet, like chewing on sugar cane. It’s a little dry. Some bitterness/astringency still if brewed too hot/long. I’m not tasting any smoke or tobacco like everyone says they get from Xiaguan teas. All said, it’s an enjoyable and unique tea, if a little one-dimensional.