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Second part of my day at work I opened this up with excitement as the Green Miracle was and is phenomnal for being young. Started off with a rinse and tossed it in the snow while walking back to my desk (I have to go outside to get to the kitchen).
Fits thoughts was how rough this was. Then I noticed a tang to it which was odd. I’m guessing this one does need some time to sit in time out.
The taste is a medium depth and the dryness is present in the back of the throat which is worse than the front. Yunnan Sourcing is amazing, but I’ll always tell everyone to buy Green Miracle.
I’m pretty sure I’ve said that 1000 times. I’m just being a good friend…. If I know from first hand experience what taste better to me I will always make that known. This one will probably be something to retry in three years.

I have Steepster working on my phone!
Drinking this at work because it’s easy to brew and consistent with taste that isn’t great or bad. This tea takes little to no maitance for time or brewing style it seems. A bit salty with a small nut finish. Wish it was either lighter or wetter. Kind of drying after a bit and becomes stale tasting as you go deeper with more steeps… which is an odd way to describe a tea, but the leaf seems older and now not awakened as you brew it.

2016 Sheng Olympics

I can only be honest when I review tea and unfortunately this isn’t something I want to keep drinking. The other Laos tea I had the other day was wonderful, in fact I want to buy a cake; rather, I will. This tea though… not feeling it. The intimidate dryness after the sips is quite annoying since there isn’t a taste to associate with it. This tea lacks depth, taste, and anything inviting for me to drink it again. Hopefully the blue will be better, but I will try that tomorrow and continue with an oolong for the night.

2016 Sheng Olympics

This is by far the smoothest raw pu’erh I’ve ever had; you can say border tea or whatever, but Chawang already remarked towards that (https://www.instagram.com/p/BAV5oDdxYFX/)

I’ve only had this Laos tea as of today, buy I’ll remark on it briefly. This doesn’t provide a feel, rather it provides a smooth taste that doesn’t deviate between steeps. I’m unsure how long this can go on… I brewed it 14 times and it tasted the same at 14 as it did at 1. Much of that may do with how I broke it up completely after soaking the leaf, regardless it keeps its taste throughout very well. There isn’t a remarkable taste nor did it provide a feeling as I said, but for what it is… I really can’t see how anyone could deny the value of such a tea as this.
I can easily promise that after I finish all three of the Laos cakes, I will be buying one of them for sure; unsure if it will be this one, we shall see which ones comes out. I’m just amazed at how well this steeps and how light it is because I love light tasting tea that allows me to continue to sip it for hours.

After reading about the concept of insect feces as tea, it was only a matter of time until I drank it. This product is said to be a home made product from the early 1980’s via Chawang. A short excerpt:
“Local people put medicinal herbs and old tea leaves into a bamboo basket and let them natural fermentation to produce aroma to lure insects lay eggs, after some months larvae eat the leaves and leaving the droppings there. People take droppings out and dry them in the sun, then fry the droppings together with tea and honey in the iron pan for 20 minutes so that the final insect feces tea is ready for drinking.” (http://www.chawangshop.com/index.php/1980s-guangxi-chong-shi-cha-10g.html)

How could a tea addict not let these words brew curiosity within themselves of an unknown journey that this would provide? This is something that I knew I would approach with a lot of time dedicated to the thoughts of brewing it as well as tasting it.
The first steep had a flash wash just to wake it up; I wanted my antique poop to be more alive when I tasked it! The first session I stuck with the typical 10 second steep as I would with a liubao or raw puerh I have no idea what to do with. The first thing you notice is, this is poop; just from the look alone, there is no denying that I just put poop in my teapot. The first steep I decided to sniff it awhile while it cooled. There is a medicinal smell in there mixed with a bit of that ‘dirty’ smell that luibao tends to have. The first sip took me by surprise as I was expecting more of a dirt taste and dryness. Initially I tasted some wet hay that is in the drying process. The similarities of luibao and this tea are evident from the look, smell, and taste. What I like most about this is how smooth it is. Interestingly, it leaves an oil like texture on the back of the teeth once you sip it down. That feeling is enjoyable until I remembered that it’s basically poop lubricant that I’m running my tongue across to assess the feeling.
Upon finishing the first session, I decided that I needed to go on to the next. Surprisingly this resteep very well. The next steep has a lot of the same qualities that you find in a really dried out white tea. It’s quite nice to have mixed in with the luibao taste. The oil like feeling has gone away which is unfortunate now because the after taste is quite dry. Little pieces are finding its way in my cup as they may be dissolving and getting smaller. Now I’m drinking and eating poop that’s older than me; isn’t that a weird concept?

I went ahead to four total steeps with a total of 22’ish ounces brewed and drank. In regards to the price: At $8 for 10g, it seems high but you have to keep in mind that you won’t be using 4g for a session. I think the price is lower than it could be, it’s actually a great deal for the experience and age of what it is.

Thank you Rich for providing this sample! I might be the happiest person to receive poop in the mail for quite awhile.
http://imgur.com/a/RTQOv
https://www.instagram.com/p/BBdXiO_xYLq/

2016 Sheng Olympics

I couldn’t tell you why I took some of this to work with me… but I did. With that being said, I used a kamjove and water that was probably 90c from what I have been able to asses while brewing at work. My session, which lasted six hour , consisted of 10 second steeps. The amount of steeps that I ended up with was over 14 and I stopped counting after 10. I’ll be honest to say that I feel like there might be a possible write up in the future for me as I take a lot of pee brakes because of how much tea I drink at work.

This was one of the most looked forward teas for me because it has some time to sit and do it’s thing. What was really weird about this was the background taste of honey for the first six steeps. Unsure if any other raw puerh has ever had me taste a thick sweetness hidden inside it, but it was there. This tea for me is in the medium area for thickness and darkness. The taste is comprised of very smooth notes that stay on the lower area of the mouth and the roof of the mouth. There’s some roasted vegetable notes with a small hint of stone fruits because the sweetness mixed in there appears that way for me. Since I was at work, I am unsure if this provided any real feeling or not because I stay quite busy and never notice anything besides the ‘I have to pee’ feeling.

I will say that I was very pleased with this. I do have some more to try at home with better conditions and I think comparing it to the 2009 and 2015 will be quite interesting :)

Somehow my review for this didn’t post and I just noticed while updating my cupboard…

Anyways, this is clearly one exceptionally stored tea. Being that I am not a fan of OB, that is some strong words. This taste like a light version of the 90’s red mark sheng from W2T; not even a slight exaggeration. This is just a beautiful tea all around that provides some nice notes that I am unable to describe to anyone who hasn’t drank a 20’year sheng (which I can say this is like the 98 mark as well).
I don’t suggest many teas because I know how important money and spending is, but out of all the aged oolong I’ve had (beside the 89’ from Tea Urchin)…. I highly suggest buying some of this. You won’t find such a beautifully stored and aged OB that brews at such ease with such the flavor profile that this has.
I’d love to be proved wrong as I always love me some new tea :)

2016 Sheng Olympics
Thinking that this would be just like its cousin I drank yesterday, I was in for some surprises :)
Interestingly enough: This tea has a strong resemblance to cooked squash. While I’ve had some sheng taste like a roasted zucchini, it doesn’t surprise me but it is also some new notes. The vegetable taste for this light sheng are dominant and I’m loving it. This is atually more subtle than what I was drinking last night. I even went ahead and steeped one steep for a whole minute and it wasn’t jumping off and on my taste buds.
This is such a wonderful raw puerh that I’m unsure if there are negative remarks because it brews easy, it has a great feel, the aroma is pleasant, and the vegetable notes pop right out during each sip. While the Midas Touch still makes this one seem normal, this is an example of a raw puerh that even those who are new to the tea variation would absolutely love. I’ll probably look into using this for a taste session in the future because it offers something a bit unique in regards to the taste it provides; as opposed to a lighter tea with a floral touch and not a vegetable touch.

I drink matcha 4x a week and somehow the last stuff I had from Yunomi lasted a few months which was surprising to me. This is the other matcha I bought during Cyber Monday and I think it works well as a morning matcha. Out of all the matcha I’ve had before, this one whisk the easiest. The color is bit brighter than the last stuff I had and the taste has some more depth to it with a sweet after taste. The texture isn’t as thin as the last stuff; not in comparison for how much powder is used, but for the same amount.
Price wise: I think this will be roughly $13 a month if it last two months for me which means I’m at under $1 per session/morning breakfast. I’ll be looking at Azuma for other products because this one seems to be solid. The can it is in is more appealing as well as the plastic top isn’t so flimsy like other products.

2016 Sheng Olympics
After checking on the shipments and seeing they have been scanned, with many already in different states, I decided that I could finally begin. First up was something I knew was going to be light because it had to be able to pair with dinner and continue throughout the night. I had one tight beenghole for this session.
At first I didn’t know if it was going to work out because it wasn’t breaking up, but then I decided that I needed to give it a little help so I did.
The first few steeps had a nice roasted vegetable tone to it like a bang dong. After brewing it out I realized that it wasn’t as light as a bang dong because the beeghold decided to let me in a bit and taste what it was hiding. A little bit of astringency came out but then faded as I continued on. The lightness of this tea was consistent and that is how I like my sheng. There might not have been much texture to the liquid itself, but it has a proper vegetable taste throughout the session.
This is a great raw tea to drink, but the Midas Touch puts it to shame. That being said, damn you Midas Touch for selling out; but also thank you to those who have offered to sell me one, I’m still thinking about it. I’m curious how this one will compare with the other Baiying cake that was in the 2016 Sheng Olympics.
All of this is to say that I don’t have any negative remarks for this tea besides the beenghole being deceptive on its notes from not opening to fully opening. That issue is something that others won’t experience because I am rather confident that I broke all the material up well and for those who got some dust… it had to happen, but I am pretty sure it’ll be good dust :)