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I do believe this, now 19 yr old, sheng has substantially improved over the last 4 years that I’ve had it in my cupboard (at 65% RH), and now I find the aroma pleasing, the brewed liquor to be smooth, sweet, & round in the mouth, and the flavor to be discernibly tea-like with a note of celery, and something I would drink with regularity. No astringency, bitterness, fishiness, or sourness. Which is all good, since I somehow ended up with two full 357g cakes of it! My records show I paid $45 for the first (drinking now), $70 for the second (a month later), and now (Feb 2025) still for sale by YS at $85, assuming one can get it into the USA at all. This time I used 5g dry leaf and 8oz boiling alpine spring water for 15s, 15s, 30s, and 90s (after a 10s rinse). All using a steel infusion basket in a porcelain teacup. The resulting amber liquor was crystal clear and as fragrant as the dry leaf. I’m sure another infusion or three would tasty, too. Rating this as 80.

I bought Heritage Honey Oolong from Mountain Tea 8 years ago, sipped it once or twice, and have kept it stored in a sealed jelly jar since then. And it STILL tastes great! Today, I brewed 2.5g in 8oz boiling alpine spring water for 4 min (after a 10s rinse), which allowed the huge leaves to unfurl nicely in the steel infusion basket. The aroma is intoxicating and the flavor powerfully divine! Floral and so very sweet, with strong tropical fruity flavors on the top of my tongue. I can’t call out a single fruit, so let’s call it ambrosia salad! The long, long-lasting aftertaste lingered, keeping a smile on my metaphorical mug. A second long steeping (like 10 minutes because I got distracted) was equally enjoyable. If one were to better limit the infusions to a couple minutes each, I’m sure this would have gone for 4-5 great rounds, and possibly more if starting with cooler water. I don’t remember why this got pushed to the back of my cupboard — surely not for lack of merit! Checking the Mountain Tea website I am shocked to find it now on clearance at a sweet price meaning my full session would now cost a quarter for the leaf, and I spent more just for the spring water! Mountain Tea does not transparently track lot numbers or production years for it, but I see prior reviewers from a few yr ago also mentioning clearance events on this tea, so they must just be making room for the next shipment. Here’s an opportunity for you! I hope you like it as much as I do. I’m rating it as a 95 only because of my prejudice favoring black teas.

I bought this looseleaf product with uncertainty, which was ultimately rewarded, because I really liked it! I was eager to explore tea from Nepal because a coworker was from that Himalayan country. This is a spiced black tea, and the label lists “CTC, black pepper, cloves, green cardamom, cinnamon, ginger flavors”. Although it is unclear if this is a highlight of components, or a comprehensive ingredient list. Did they forget a comma after the word ginger? Or, is it really just ginger flavor?

I brewed as directed: 1 tsp in 8 oz 200°F water for3 minutes. The aroma of the brew matches that of the dry leaf: cinnamon, clove, cardamom, and black pepper. The golden-brown tea has discernible flavors exactly matching the ingredients. It was cardamom-forward, with cinnamon and clove warming the mouth, perked up by ginger and black pepper. Underneath it all was a generic black tea, possibly an assamica varietal from the neighboring Indian district of Assam. As the tea cooled, the clove became more pronounced, and the black pepper could be felt tingling the back roof of my mouth. There was a lingering aftertaste of cinnamon and clove. One thing I appreciated is that the cinnamon did not overwhelm the blend. The label also mentioned a single re-steeping of 3 min., which also produced a deep amber liquor with less intense flavor and aroma. In the second infusion, cinnamon sang from the driver’s seat with cardamom accompanying in the rear, and everything else providing a soothing chorus from the metaphorical trunk. I recommend this tea without hesitation, and rate it as an 85. Of the five teas I bought from Nepali Tea Traders, this was my favorite!

I guess I expected more. But this 25 year old sheng was smooth, woody, and quite quaffable. I brewed 2.5g in 8 oz boiling water for 30 s, and got 8 nice steepings that produced a deep golden liquor without any fishiness, sourness, astringency or bitterness. But it also didn’t have anything particularly appealing to me. For this price, I would get much more enjoyment from a number of other fine teas. Because of the blandness, I’ll only rate it at 65, and recommend it with indifference. Still for sale by YS.

I continue to sip along on this, now 33 year old, Sheng Pu-erh tea, which I bought ca. 2017. I broke apart the full cake 6-7 years ago, and kept it in its zipper bag for a few years, and with a 60% RH pack for the past 4 yr. Today brewed 5g in 10 oz boiling alpine spring water for 10s, after a 10s rinse with same. Noticed a faint assamic scent under the pungent wood and leaf pile aroma. Very smooth with no bitterness or astringency. Quite a nice experience! Again, many successive resteepings, all very similar. Raising my rating to 80.

I received this 2005 shou as a part of a storage comparison tea set from YS. It is a potent tea, both in aroma and flavor. I steeped 5g leaf in 8oz boiling alpine spring water for 10s (after a 10s rinse), repeating for 9 infusions, the final going 30s. Each infusion was dark brown in color, sweet, creamy, smooth and pleasant in taste, with an aroma of sawdust, leather, and leaf litter, with a hint of tea leaf. No fishiness or objectionable flavors, no bitterness or astringency. But certainly no notes of cherry in flavor or aroma, as reported by the vendor and by several other tasters, either. It was a good, basic ripe puer but without anything particularly notable, either good or bad. So I rate it at a solid 70. As of Jan 2025 it is still in stock and for sale as full cakes or smaller samples.

Well, I bought a big bag of this some 8 yr ago, in early 2017, and didn’t care for it as much as I liked other TTES #18 teas, so it has been sitting in my tea cupboard ever since. Now that I am re-exploring this variety from Taiwan (also known as Hong Yu, Red Jade, and Ruby 18), I’m giving it another shot. There is still experimentation going on in Taiwan as far as what to do with this variety of tea, which (according to Teapedia) is a large-leaf “cross between Taiwanese wild tea tree (B-607) and a Burmese assamica (B-729)”. Some will make a delicious dark black tea, others a heavily oxidized oolong (“Brandy 18”), and still others will process it as an awful white tea in cake form, hinting that it could be aged like a pu-erh. Some will encourage leafhoppers to feed on the plants as hey do for certain Oriental Beauty oolongs higher in the mountains, and call it “Honey Black”, whilst others will do the same in the Sun Moon Lake vicinity, all with varying success from year to year.

What I’m reviewing now are large, spindly black dry leaves that unfurl to milk-chocolate brown colored leaves after the second steeping, labeled as “organic” but with nothing about leafhoppers. Tealyra doesn’t list it anymore on their site but, thankfully, user eastkyteaguy captured their description when making the entry for it here on Steepster. The same product was also listed here under the company’s former name of Tealuxe, with a somewhat more detailed description captured by user Jason, along with additional reviews. There is concurrence that it is a Sun Moon Lake area product.

I used about 3g in a stainless infusion basket with 8 oz boiling spring water for 2-3 min in both steepings. I got a strong flavor of honey, with notes of apricot, malt, dates and floral fragrances. The dry leaf had little fragrance. I find it good, but not as satisfying as Brandy Oolong 18 by the same company. I’ll give it a rating of 78.

Brewed some more of this today, amidst the snow-covered yard and frosty weather. I’m liking this 2010 ripe puer more and more. No added spices or herbs this time, just straight from the cake. The citrus peel has mellowed and is not screaming of tangerine, or anything else. Just a nice, subtle addition to the flavor profile. (You will have no difficulty identifying it, but it won’t blow your underpants off as do some Earl Greys.) Raising my rating to 85. Since I have several cakes, and YS is sold out, I’m willing to gift samples to regulars here, just send me a request. I brew 5g in a stainless infusion basket, with 8oz boiling alpine spring water for 10s to a few minutes, successively, after an initial wash. Cheers!