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Here’s to my third YQH sample. I will admit that receiving these as gifts make it so much easier to review because if I had paid for them I would feel more obligated to make myself enjoy the tea rather then go through 16 to 20 steeps and just spill my thoughts on here with no regret.

Knowing that this is a blend, I know that I won’t be getting 100% of what someone else got but I do know that I will still be tasting the majority of the same notes. Leaf was easy to separate after a quick rinse (I do this so it is all opened within 8 minutes of sitting). Since this isn’t in the middle range of color, I have to assign a number for a darkness: I would say this is around a 7 to 8 out of 10 concerning darkness of a raw pu’erh That to me normally means levels of depth within the liquid as well as a more syrupy lingering in my mouth. Most of the raw I’ve had from the 80s, 90s, and 00s follow this assumption I assigned. Unfortunately, this tea only has the longevity of around 27 seconds after a sip. However, after the fifth steep it stays rather consistent which is nice because at steep 10 you are not losing the flavor profile that steep 6 had.

I was really hoping for a stronger feel as well as a lingering taste or tingle in my mouth. It has the taste of a 00s tea for sure, but I’ve had better and I don’t really want to compare prices because I feel as if this tea would only improve over a decent 5+ years according to my taste preference; which leans towards young rather than old. As this was my Easter treat, it kind of let me down because it went down and its mark was gone before 30 seconds had passed. Wait about a minute of a decent sip and you notice a bit of flatness to it that you wouldn’t get from a tea that has tingle feel or syrup like layer left in your mouth.

Beautiful leaf with almost a copper complexion to it when you turn the leaf around. Giving a smell smell to the brewing liquid I expected a honey taste as it reminded me of a oriental beauty. Unfortunately, what I thought was going to be an amazing tea ended up having the second most funky taste I’ve ever encountered. The best way I can describe it would be oversalted butter melted and then mixed into some instant tea. It was one of the hardest few steeps to get through as the leaf looked so great that I decided to continue at least 7 steeps to see if it changed… no, still really awkward tasting; though I’ve had this same experience with another gaba oolong before.

Drank this for three hours while working on some computer maintenance :)

Solid smell of smoke when just examining the dry leaf. Brewed this one hardcore for two steeps and tossed, left alone for 8 minutes and came back to it. Liquid has a nice middle color to it telling me that it wasn’t going to be light nor would it aggravate me with a strong taste. I ended up tasting a mixture of storage on this tea which was really odd. The one thing I noticed most was how dark the leaf became after my 3 hour session. Almost a amber hue to the leaf as if it was either dark leaf in the beginning or the storage did this. Unsure of both accounts because the taste was a bit hard for me to determine. Does this mean I don’t know my stuff or I was correct that the storage taste is mixed which makes it hard? I don’t know :/

It was an enjoyable session, but I would have prefered the other Peacock raw I’ve had from EOT over this one.

Drinking some 2006 Wild Anchient from Awazon while at work today. For whatever reason, this taste like wet grass mixed with semi baked dough. Never had a bread like taste to a sheng before so I’m unsure what this means. I don’t particularly like this mixture, though it may work for a darker tea. The leaf looks beautiful though and doesn’t have much of a scent to it. Nice and dry, easy to pry; makes steeping it simple. Just something about the taste isn’t going so well with me

Took some 2006 Yougxin Guhua from Awazon to work today. Much better than the Bulang, possibly a personally preference… maybe not. This was easy to brew, but very tight so it took time to gt it to brew up fully at work. Not so smooth, but the taste is in that middle zone of light to medium that allows for easy sipping as well as some complexity to figure out while you drink it. Since I was at work I couldn’t really figure it all out, but I can tell when a tea is worth a second try and this one falls under that category.

Drinking this 2005 Tian Di Ten from Verdant. My advice, buy oolong instead… this stuff is not something I can recommend. Really weak, ugly material… looks like a heicha cut by mister Edward Scissorhands

Threw myself off with this tea… I linked Fujian with my past experiences and thought this would be dark and cocoa. This ended up being a medium brew with a fruit nectar taste and texture to it. Leaf ends up going from a dark brown/black to an olive leaf with veins that show up when the color starts to pop. Aftertaste is present, adds a little viscosity to the saliva. Back of the throat is feeling dry while the mouth is not. Kind of an odd after feeling that I am not enjoying, but I will have to retry it at another time to see if the back of my throat stays dry again because that’s pretty odd.

Took this 2006 Bulang from Awazon to work today knowing I had access to hot water :)

Brewed it up 8 different steeps and found it to be an easy drinking tea with a bitterness and astringency to it that kept me awake at work. While it wasn’t something I really enjoyed, it worked for what I drank it for. Still waiting to review the one Awazon I really liked until I find a second to do a back to back review; chances are it’ll happen because I have almost 20 samples awaiting me!

Smooth dirt infused warm water in my mouth.

I have to admit, this is a delicate shou instead of one of those ones that decide to beat the hell out of your taste buds so you make remarks like ‘strong’, ‘powerful’, ‘woke me up!’

I couldn’t get past the mouth pucker and bitterness on this one. Thought it would have rested enough to have that all taken care of, but I guess not. I have about 15 Awazon samples and this was the first. While it was a sad face producer, I already found one with a sangria taste in the background and a wonderful re steep ability; will review after work.