pu-erh.sk

Man this tea is a monster! Big wood and earth flavors and a nice mildly bitter backdrop with a touch of tobacco and plums for good measure. Very generous too. I lost count after a dozen steeps. Got a sample and shoulda gotten more with my last order. Great qi as well.

This tea is huge! A while back (before I started this habit of reviewing tea online) I ordered a bunch of 2016 samples and Peter kindly included a ton of samples of 2017 gushu. I believe there was ManNuo, LaoManE, BangPen, Naka and a few others. All of these teas are beautifully processed and have outstanding material. In fact unless tasted side by side , I had trouble telling many of them apart. They have a great consistency. The GeDeng is the one tea of this bunch that knocked me out and the one I purchased a cake of (although I considered the Naka as well). Glad I did as it appears to already be gone. This tea has a big bold herbal kick and smooth bitterness and a nice oily texture. There is a wild, woodsy flavor follows by mild stone fruit and spice. The qi is bold, euphoric and energizing. Just the thing to drink before a long hike or paddling excursion.

Best Yiwu I ever had. From about 1991 til last year I was a second flush Darjeeling fanatic, Singbulli,Jungpana, Castleton, Thurbo etc. Then I discovered Yiwu sheng last winter and realized it gave me everything that a good Darjeeling could and more. My Darjeeling collection is probably going stale. Anyhow, this tea transports one to another place. It’s loaded with notes of jasmine and what I liken to the smell of the evergreen rainforests of the Olympic peninsula in Washington. In later steeps, notes of honey and almond seep in. The qi is outstanding and takes one to a land where it’s always afternoon. Can’t wait to try rareness 2 and 3. As for Yiwu in this price range I also really liked Hai Langs . It was more aggressive with more wild jungle taste…but I found it’s qi to be unremarkable. Of course qi is rather personal. Anyhow, you need to try a sample of this. Wish I could afford a tong!

Very smoky and sweet like caramell!
Images and more at https://puerh.blog/teanotes/2015-xiaoshu-linchang-prsk

Heavy sweetness, thick and woody note.
Images and more at https://puerh.blog/teanotes/2013-man-zhuan-prsk

Not knowing, if this is version 2 or 3 but both are one of the best teas ever! Cooling, bitter and nutty taste with a very strong Qi.
Images and more at https://puerh.blog/teanotes/2016-gushu-rareness-3-kongshanyanyun-prsk

Floral, cooling with a heavy spicyness and strong Qi.
Images and more at https://puerh.blog/teanotes/2016-gushu-rareness-1-kongguyoulan-prsk

Very spicy and unbelievable sweet!
Images and more at https://puerh.blog/teanotes/2015-huazhu-liangzi-prsk

Complex and multifaceted with a light bitterness.
Images and more at https://puerh.blog/teanotes/2016-bangpen-prsk

Long-lasting and strong bitterness with a earthy-nutty tone and characterisitcs of wild tea. Strong Qi!
Images and more at https://puerh.blog/teanotes/2016-gedeng-prsk

Slightly spicy and bitter with a subtile fruity sweetnes. Very good price!
Images and more at https://puerh.blog/teanotes/2014-yiwu-wangong-prsk

Very strong and spicy. First slightly bitter but getting sweeter all along. Intense and heavy with a strong Qi.
Images and more at https://puerh.blog/teanotes/2015-gushu-naka-prsk

Clean, strong and astringent with a slight smokyness. Good factory Sheng but nothing compared to Peter’s own Shengs.
Images and more at https://puerh.blog/teanotes/2011-dayi-7542-yellow-mark

Strong, bitter and adstringent with a fruity note resembling Bitter Lemon.
Images and more at https://puerh.blog/teanotes/2013-bada-prsk

Wow,

I got incredibly tea drunk off of this (and compared it to OxyContin). It had a deep flavor profile that reminded me of a fresh forest, and had a sweet and herb like body.

You can read my full review here -

https://www.theoolongdrunk.com/single-post/2017/05/21/The-OxyContin-of-Sheng—-Rareness

This is a nice tea with a fair amount of fermentation flavor. It was not bitter and developed a nice sweet note. One might describe this note as dates but that is just one possible interpretation.

I steeped this ten times in a 75ml teapot with 6.4g leaf and boiling water. I gave it a 10 second rinse. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, 30 sec, 45 sec, and 1 minute.

This is a very nice shou brick with a bit of fermentation flavor left. I really only noticed it in the third and fourth steep, once the leaves had opened up. But this was a remnant of the taste, not a strong flavor. The tea did have a moderate amound of wet storage taste. I noticed it up until the eighth steep but it was not strong. I suspect a year of dry storage here will clear the tea of that. Overall I really enjoyed this tea. It had a really nnice sweet finish in the last few steeps. I am not sure what to call these notes but for some reason roasted hazelnuts came to mind. This may be inaccurate however, it is just what I thought of while drinking this tea.

I steeped this tea twelve times in a 110ml teapot with 8g leaf and boiling water. I gave it a 10 second rinse. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, 30 sec, 45 sec, 1 min, 1.5 min, and 2 minutes. Judging by the color of the tea I would say there were about two to three more steeps left in the leaves if I wanted to continue.

This tea had a great price, so I decided to grab a cake to try. I am a big supporter of factory productions, and I like imitations as well, so I kept an open mind when brewing. The cake is moderately compressed with some aromas of hay, slight floral, raisin, and cherry along whit some dark wood. The leaf is a bit rustic in its appearance as well as its scent. I warmed my teapot and threw some inside. The aroma opens into a punchy scent of wet hay, wet wood, grassy, and sharp fruits. I washed the leaf once and began my brewing. The taste is very rustic as well with lots of hay and wood. I can grab at some dry floral along with a sweet aftertaste, but the brew grows thin quickly. However, the qi is good and warming along with a pleasant head space. I liked the qi, but the drink was a bit too much for me. I think this cake will spend its day in storage until it learns to calm down a bit. A perpetual time-out.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BRODoC9AyFm/?taken-by=haveteawilltravel&hl=en

I’ve been searching for a decent aged puerh to stock up on, so that I can have something to sip on and relax with. However, this will not be the one. The leaf is incredibly compressed and very dark with tones of intense spiced wood, dry, tobacco, and faint antique furniture. I grabbed my zini and warmed it up and placed a few crumbly pebbles inside. The aroma opens into some dry pipe tobacco, leather, petricor, and wood. I washed the leaves once and preparred for brewing. The taste begins sweet and smooth with some dustiness and earthy tones. The brew continues in the same manner and pronounced dryness arises later on. The body is medium thick and the brew is mostly clean. The qi is present, but I wouldn’t call it particularly involved with the tea. The brew continues in this manner and it doesn’t develop any further. My problem with this tea is that I believe the high price is only due to its age; which I don’t think is fair. The brew is very dusty, the taste is bit unclear, and there is no prominent complexity, and the qi is quite lacking. If this was lower, than I think this would be a fair lil tuocha, but at just under a dollar/g plus high shipping; this is not a good buy for me.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BP2rul1AWDY/?taken-by=haveteawilltravel&hl=en

I keep recieveing samples of this with my orders, so I have a Frankenstein cake now, lol. The leaves are light silver and loosely compressed. I can pick up some nice yiwu-like scents of slight sweet, subtle, and soft florals. The grassy youngness still shows strongly. I warmed my teapot and placed some inside. The scent opens into some heady florals, with sweet and tart tones, also I can note a bit of smoke and fruitiness. The taste is grassy with just a tad of sweetness. The huigan was incredibly faint. The bitter continued in each steep and became a tongue numbing astringent. Also, I note that the smoke tone appears around steep three. The brew continues in that manner and stays consistently basic. The qi is noticeable with a fair head rush and some face warming, but that is the extent.There is no doubt that this is organic plantation tea. For the price (mine was free), it’s a fair tea I guess, but I wouldn’t seek this out.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BQ8QXMFAr6P/?taken-by=haveteawilltravel&hl=en

I did a side-by-side tasting of this and Puerhsk Xiaoshu Lincang.

The leaves here are a bit darker than the regular lincang, and they have the same fresh floral, but I also pickup some brown sugar and molasses. This tea is alike the regular Lincang, but it doesn’t have a background of roast. I warmed up my shibo and threw this in. The scent opens into a sharp roast, mesquite, smoke, and some briquette. However, this type of roasting is different than the previous regular lincang. I would compare these alike a store bought pre-cooked rack of ribs ( reg. lincang) vs. a cookout style summer time self-smoked rack of ribs (gushu lincang). The later is less artificial. I washed the leaves and commenced the brewing. The brew begins sweet and smooth with a bit of smoke in the aftertaste. However, the tea continues to grow even more smoky and even more astringent. The tea is not that great, and it is a very “eh” tea to me. I did not finish my session.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BPF6Cy2gKxS/?taken-by=haveteawilltravel

I did a side-by-side tasting with this and Puerhsk Gushu Lincang.

The leaves are lightly covered with little hairs all over. The scent is still fresh with some nice floral characters as well as light butter cream and background of roast. I warmed up my shibo and placed this inside. The warmed leaf exploded with intense roast aromas along with some charcoal, meaty, and roasted veggie tones. I could also pick up a campfire scent. These are not good signs for me. I washed the leaves and prepared for brewing. The taste has tons of roast, and it is slightly bitter. I could pick a little bit of sweetness, but it was mostly a bbq tea. I push on through in hopes these “smoke-like” tones would fade, but I was soon greeted with a sour note a like a pickle. I have better hopes for this teas gushu counter-part.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BPF6Cy2gKxS/?taken-by=haveteawilltravel