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2015 (2010) Duoteli Yellow Box Super Grade Liubao Tea

Clean taste of hard wood that has moss growing on it with a touch of cigar reminiscence. Not as deep and feelable as the other I had from Chawang shop. Six steeps in and I’m out.

Was very easy to brew and probably great for beginners, but doesn’t have that kick I want.

While finishing The OA today, I was able to brew this out 14 times.
The leaf has nothing unique when looking at it, but like most of the Jingmai raws… it’s very light and easy to drink.

Slight viscosity, end note comes through as sweet, up front high notes of vibrant honey that are masked by some bitterness which may end up being overcome through age; damn you toddle, grow up already.

Anyways: This is probably the honey comparison to spring bangdong when it comes to price, ease of brewing, accessibility, and potential; bangdong being the floral.

All that to say, this brews out one clean cup after another.

This is probably in my top 3 straight blacks of all time thus far: https://www.instagram.com/p/BOKcjehg_mo/

Thanks to Daylon suggesting the 10 second steeps with more leaf, this is one wonderful cup from beginning to end.

The leaf is easily identifiable as pu’erh material as you can see in the video. That might be what makes it so wonderful and unique.

A sample of this was sent to me and I was curious about it… wasn’t sure if it was a raw or ripe from the package or the smell of the dry leaf. When I brewed it up it let me know it was a ripe though.

From the first steep I knew this was old tea; thankfully I have had multiple experiences with shou that’s 10-15, 15-20, and 20+ years old. This falls in that range of being in the early 2000s, but if it was wrapped in bamboo than it would probably have a more dry’ish aspect to it. It has a dry wood taste to it with a very surprising kick of fermentation. I haven’t come across an older ripe with this kick in the mouth so that surprises me. The undertones and high notes of bark(old sun beat layer) let me know that it’s older… but I think for most people this isn’t something they want because it was 100% dry stored and by that I mean 30% humidity or something like that.

This is something I may consider buying, breaking up, and storing in a crock for later. The complex taste that comes through the viscosity with sticky stem mixed in with old bark makes this unique while not being too harsh or too weak. With some humidity and bringing to life this could be a gem. Dead serious

Chawang Shop landscape box luibao
Steep 1, 10/10

That is all I need to remark on. If the other ones are this good…

Drank some 2015 purple wiyu yaobao from The Finest Brew… well, they are no longer around and with no listing this is what you all get to read.
A random note.
Purple is not for royalty when it comes to tea.
Purple is for random.
This stuff is actually quite solid due to its wonderful wild nectar feel to it; not the taste, but the mouth feel. The taste is very much like a yabao outside ontop of some autumn leaf if that makes sense. Looks kind of pretty, taste elegant, brews kind of funky, and it is different which sets it apart as this is nothing like a yiwu sheng.

Alright, it’s Friday and I want to drink something unique or good. My first thought was some Pubertea, but I don’t feel so happy about some BS shipping on it so I’ll wait till the sour feeling goes away. I went to the stuff I’ve bought and found this 2016 single tree sample I bought for those who helped with the Sheng Olympiad because I didn’t want to have another year of controversial tea; even if the highest end was great. Whatever I write about this please know that Verdant provides great service to me as a customer and I value the teas they bring to the community regardless of claims. I drink for myself and at the end of this session I’ll let you know how I feel.
First thing, 100g is $49.00! That’s a hefty price on a sheng; not to mention 100g cakes are pretty much just an enlarged beenghole. Opened up my 5g sample and saw this was maocha from which makes sense for sample portions and all but I wonder if that changes the taste. Either way, brewing will be much easier. From the looks of the leaf, this has the look of terrible Dacong or some ugly mocha from 4 years ago; like the stuff I bought on Aliexpress once. Not the best first impression, but shou looks like cow patty so who’s to say looks will determine anything. So here go!
Steep one and I can smell the darker notes on this rather than the lighter ones of fruit. I suspect there will be some medicinal taste within some forest elements of damp wood if the smell aligns to the taste.
It was at this very sentence that I decided to stop taking notes. Then it was this sentence that I got back to my computer to let you know that I ate oreos with milk after the 6th steep because my mouth and throat were feeling dry. Also, just so you know, I decided to go back to this sheng after the sugary snack… what am I doing to myself?

So this session lasted roughly three hours by time I was done and only 16 steeps; not sure if I pushed the heck out of this or if it goes that long. The look of this leaf is just pure ugly. I had a huge stick going through my pot the entire time with many stems showing me their side that the sun never saw. Just not appealing looking. The aroma stays constant of wet leaf steam and light mossy bark. There’s no taste of moss, but the medicinal taste is somewhat like what you get when a little aloe for a sunburn gets in your mouth. A little cooling feeling and a little ‘oh that is nasssssssssssssssssssty’ going on.
For me, this tea is 100% void of bitterness which is awesome for a sheng. Admittedly, I’m not sure if this is the same type of material being picked as others due to the look and taste. With no sort of feel at all, other than wanting some oreos, and the look I’m kind of suspicious. The taste never has a sweet side to it and the to the best of my ability I would say this taste like a girl cologne; you know that kind marketed towards a ‘sporty’ man but it smells kind of sweet like whoever is wearing it wants to smell like the candy at the bar around beers. Anyways, I tried this tea and pushed it pretty hard because I had one shot at it. With that said, I wouldn’t want to revisit it within the next year but I am also curious to how easily the cakes break or if they were pressed very loose like the Bill Clinton I have downstairs. I wonder if someone could name a cake Bill Clinton or Snookie… wait, there should be a loosely pressed shou named Snookie.
Verdant has the best roasted oolong period when it comes to the Autumn Laoshan Roasted Oolong and some great black teas for someone who isn’t a black tea drinker, but this is just not my thing. The tea they put out in the spring that was older than the USA was pretty good and had the notes of fruit I enjoy… it’s just this is for a different set of taste buds.

About a month ago I tried Tao’s Banzhang and last week I tried the Lao Ban Zhang. Taking some time apart from reviewing it because I really felt something off of this and I wanted to make sure it was the tea and not just my overall upbeat mood that day.

Turns out, either I’m really susceptible to tea giving me awesome feelings or this is some serious ‘feels’ tea. It doesn’t have a good taste; something like a factory cake from 2007 to 2009 ’ish, but the feels got me.

That’s about all I can say for this one.

A new experience for tea…
I went into this pretty strong, 7g in 100ml.

The first taste hit me and I wasn’t ready for it. The powerful aroma and taste threw me back into memories of being a child and visiting my dads extended family; many of which that MF cancer has taken from us. I cannot explain it with words, but the memories so strong of being in the old unused farm land of VA and PA were 100% real from the taste again.

Not sure how I feel about being completely reminded of the past without wanting to as it is unexpected, but dang this taste like straight up sweet foggy grass on the hills of those areas from where my family is from.