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I did a 20 second rinse then 20 seconds for the first 3 infusions then +10 for the rest of the infusions

For the first steeping I noticed this almost overwhelming earthiness. Like, a mushroom if it were stuck in a glass of hot water. This taste overwhelmed the rest of the flavors, and other than this I got a little bit of a black tea taste but barely noticeable and with the classic ripe taste. It was smooth, almost too smooth. For those who like really smooth tea this one if for you. I on the otherhand like my ripes to have at least a little bit of character, not just super smooth. But, again, this is just me, and when it comes to ripes I have my standards very high, and it all comes down to what you are looking for in a puerh.

after the earthiness came a medicinal black liquorish tasting cooling effect.

Sorry it’s been like an hour since I drank this and the qi is so strong like I am really sorry if this tasting note makes no sense at all. I will edit this later when the qi leaves me alone, haha.

I got so much work done yesterday that I have a little bit of time to taste this tea and review it!

At the beginning, I swear it tasted exactly like milk. Like not the creaminess of milk, but it just had the actual flavor of milk. It was quite enjoyable, but this “milk” taste really overshadowed all of the flavors for the first two steepings. This also has a mouth drying effect and this cooling sweetness thought my mouth. very enjoyable!

So sorry, but I totally did not write down any notes for the steepings so I can’t really pin down exactly which steeping I got which taste.

After the milky flavor died down in the 3rd or 4th steeping and the classic deep and dark ripe puerh tastes (though a little died down) presumed. I also noticed this cherry nutty flavor in the beginning, in the very first steeping, but the milky flavor was too strong in the 2nd and 3rd for me to taste it again. Overall, very enjoyable!

Taking a sip of this again there is this amazing cooling effect that is followed by sweetness, and the cherry taste is back!

It also lasted very long, but as I’m seeing with other purees it fell fast! I think falling in taste is a normal thing with most ripes, but I don’t think this lasted as long as some of the menghai puers that I had as I found that I still had about a liter of water left in the kettle where in the menghai one I drank around 2 liters of tea! But, I shouldn’t be comparing the two as I am sure they have very different price points, and this tea still delivered very well in taste. Still very impressed with Boyou, as Boyou doesn’t seem to be a tea factory that I would have initially even thought to try, but thanks again to mrmopar for really showing me what this factory has to offer!

Though, I would have liked it to be a little bit more balanced, with the flavors that I had it was still a very nice tea, and a tea that really calmed me before the day of studying ahead.

[Like an hour later]

Ok so I kinda wanted more tea and I noted that the rest of the bag definitely wasn’t enough for a whole other session so I just plopped the little chunks and powder in there and brewed about a 50ml per steeping of this.

Wow, I don’t know why but it tastes like chocolate, like milky milk chocolate with dark puerh tastes. It’s like a milk chocolate puerh bar! It really complemented my school work quite well. Also, for the first time I didn’t want to add sugar. I found that with this the sugar actually hid a lot of the taste and unnecessarily soothed out some of the flavors that I liked. I put sugar initially because I found I enjoyed it that way, but now I will taste every tea to see if I actually need to add sugar to enjoy it or not. There was also this smoke like black tea bitterness that was not overwhelming at all!

ok I know this tasting note is all over the place, but I added sugar to this mini steeping and it became smoother and much easier to drink, with a marshmallow like creaminess.

Right now I have and will have no free time at all for the next 4 weeks, and I am killing myself to try and push in this rating into my ridiculous schedule. needless to say the upcoming tea ratings will be much shorter than usual. This is all due to the fact that finals are coming up, and at the school that I go to, 90% is passing so I cannot miss anything on any of these tests if I want to pass any of my classes. This is why I start preparing like crazy for 5 weeks before I take the tests so that I am absolutely solid on everything in all of my classes.

Enough with my stress, let me tell you a little bit more about the tea itself. This tea was really really earthy, almost to the point of it being overwhelming. it was as if you took mushrooms and left them in a bowl of boiling hot water poured it in a cup then drank it. As you can probably tell i’m not a big fan of earthiness, but for those who love that taste this tea is for you! after 2 steepings the earthiness faded and I was left with he usual ripe tea tastes which I absolutely love from ripes. This taste carried on for 2 steeping then fell super fast. One steeping was a very nice taste then the one immediately after was like water. Would have loved to see this tea last a little bit longer, but I enjoyed the two steepings of that amazing ripe puerh taste, because that is why I keep coming back to ripe over raws most of the time.

Along with this mushroom taste there was a fresh green almond taste, but after the earthiness stage there was the regular ripe puer taste and along with it this over brewed black tea taste hiding behind it. Not a ripe that I particularly liked, but it was still very tasty nonetheless.

[So sorry as again I am studying for finals I will post a better tasting note when I drink the other part of the sample in the bag]

I remember enjoying this tea a lot. At first, it gave me a smooth mushroom and earthiness with a dark typical ripe puerh taste. This was the first time that I have tasted earthiness, and to be honest it wasn’t too bad. Though, this earthiness faded after the second steeping and there was this pronounced cherry taste. Very smooth, and quite enjoyable! Unlike the other 2010 ripe I tried this one did not have as much of that “barn yard taste” and had a very enjoyable fragrance, but this was not with the ripe puerh meaty smell.

I loved this tea, all of the flavors worked well, and I found myself wanting another sip every time I tasted it. Very delicious indeed!

[Finals are soon, and I am too busy studying to write a good length review sorry!]

It was quite beautiful out, today so I decided to take out my first raw in a while and taste it outide. This tea was alright, it was extremely bitter at first with a fruity pineapple taste. It was very light and enjoyable for the warm day outside. It took around 2 steeping for the bitterness to fade, then it was a very tropical and mango taste from there on. This tea was also a champ still brewing out tasty brews until the 10th or 11th steeping! I’m sure someone else might have enjoyed this tea, but I think I am more of a fan of the complexity and darkness that a ripe gives me, though this was still very enjoyable!

Wow….Just wow this tea is absolutely amazing. I don’t think I have yet drank a tea that I didn’t like and this one definitely wasn’t an exception.

I woke up today at 5:00 and I popped open this bag and left it for an hour or two to air out. Not that it had that much of a fermentation smell or “barn house smell” like the other puers I tried. Instead when I smelled this right after opening it had only a subtle barn house smell, but more of a very pleasant tea smell with some hay.

Now, let me just say I absolutely lost track of time after tasting the 3rd infusion it was just so good. I did two washes on this one just to get started with a nice strong brew, but I regret this decision now, as the 2nd infusion was absolutely drinkable, and I should have just let it brew a little longer.

Unlike my other reviews I wasn’t paying attention to infusions so I can’t give a really good review of each infusion by themselves. However, the 3rd and 4th infusions which were the pinnacle of this tea were very nice. You see, in my other tastings there was a Vanilla taste, which was in my face and put a cap on the other more subtle fruity flavors. Not to say that I don’t like the vanilla flavor, because I do quite enjoy it, but I was really wondering what else I could get from a ripe. This tea gave me everything that was hiding behind that vanilla flavor, it was absolutely amazing. Now I am so sorry, but I am horrible at finding tastes that aren’t in my face, or flavors that do not stand out. This tea was wonderfully balanced and had nothing that stood out infront of the others. If you read my other tastings I described the flavors as standing in a line in order from most apparent to least aparant. But this tea is more like a horizontal line with them all at the same level away from you right in front of you.

When compared to the Boyou I like this one a bit better! I never thought that I would say that! This tea lasted very very long, and was a collection of a whole bunch of flavors, not just vanilla and what is hiding behind it. This tea definitely cements Menghai’s reputation to me, and made me realize the importants that age gives a tea, as this had absolutely 0 fermentation taste, unlike it’s 2010 counterpart. How 3 years makes such a difference!

The qi was about a medium on this one, I wasn’t horribly tea drunk, but I definitely was for a few minutes after the last infusion. It wore off really quickly though, but was still there. I liked it this way, as I could finish up some homework afterwards, and not be too teadrunk that I couldn’t focus.

I must add the effect on my mood and after taste as well. This tea just lifted me up, it made me super happy, a great way to stat off my day. I became really patient and nothing at all bothered me. The aftertaste was good aswell, it was drinking the early infusions all over again, with a tiny bit of sweetness. Also, this tea did not give me a sweet taste when drinking water, suggesting it may not have that high of a mineral content, but I may be very wrong.

Overall an amazingly balanced tea on all levels, and an amazing experience. I recommend anyone who hasn’t tried Puerh to try this one, before buying, as if you haven’t drank Puerh before you wouldn’t have an idea of the flavors that Puerh can offer. There are some flavors that some people might not like, but I am sure that is a small fraction of people.

[Just a short intro skip to the tasting note if you don’t care much]

I woke up today with my face covered in blood. However, this is nothing to worry about, as it was just my tooth extraction for my braces acting up. So, this means that I got to skip class today for a rainy day at home with some ripe puerh. Initially, I was going to wait until the weekend, and hopefully get distracted by school work enough that I could make these teas last. But, I was home alone and it was a rainy day, the perfect day for a ripe. Also, I was worried about the bloods effect on my stomach, so I decided that drinking a puerh would aid in the digestion of it, and calm my tense stomach.

[Tasting note]

(3rd Infusion) The second infusion was a lot like the first so I skipped it. The 3rd infusion was a bit confusing, as the barnyard found it’s way into the taste, and the warm vanilla and marshmallow were going away. I was mainly getting a warm hay, and a dark woodiness.

[4th – 6th overview]
I lost track of infusions completely after the 3rd infusion. But all I know is that It fell really fast. I was hoping that this tea would be a champ and go on more, but all of the vanilla goodness in the 1st and 2nd infusions was lost in the 3rd then it just was a downhill from there. I drank it until the 6th infusion because I was stubborn, but realistically it lasted 5.

[Things to note]

However, it may not be a champ when it comes to strength it sure was when it came to tolerance. In the 5th and 6th infusions I really wanted more tea, so I brewed this ridiculously long, and no astringency at all! Just smooth vanilla hay with a bitterness hiding in there somewhere. I also did an experiment with adding just a little bit of hot water and to see how the thick little thing tasted, and I was expecting like the Menghai for it to be too biter to even leave in your mouth, but it wasn’t that at all, I actually drank the whole little shot!

[After effects]

Not a strong qi on this one, maybe because it didn’t last long. Usually after drinking tea if I drink a glass of water it will be sweet. But Not much of a sweetness either, maybe pointing towards not that old tea trees.

An Amazing Amazing tea while it lasted, everything that I was hoping for in a puerh, smoothness, and creaminess with not too overwhelming dark flavors. But when compared to the Menghai “Taste of Menghai” I liked this a lot better (while it lasted). It was not that much in your face, it was so smooth and elegant with all of those dark flavors. But, again, it’s a pity it didn’t last very long. Maybe the “Taste of Menghai” would have been like this one if I carried on the session a little longer, but yesterday I thought that I was going to class. (if I would have known I definitely would have carried on!)

Though I haven’t drank any other teas yet, I think Puerh will be more special to me than I initially thought. I’m still only warming up to it’s tastes, but now I’m really starting to like puerh, with it’s huge variety and health benefits.

This is my first sheng, something that I will definitely need to spend some more time with. It also definitely made me thankful that I tried sheng before going in head first with a cake.

When I first opened the bag there was a very weird smell, something like meat sitting in a barnyard next to a horse. This absolutely terrified me and I thought that I had made a grave mistake. But after a wash and a first infusion this horse and barn walked far away from my tastebuds (not my nose) and I was left in a field of already harvested hay sitting on a hay bail. But with this I was also surrounded by vanilla, lots of it. This tea it encloses your tongue and traps it in this dark taste not too dark. Giving you a pinch of vanilla at first then more and more and more. (forgot to say but these tastes are up to the 3rd infusion) until it is like you are drinking a London fog without any milk at all.

The smell on this tea was the worst part. The taste moves away from the barn, but the smell never leaves the barn. The smell wasn’t as pleasant as it’s amazing taste. But as soon as it hits the mouth the smell runs back behind the fruit taste, and is only present for around a couple seconds then the vanilla and whatever that taste was with it just overpowers. when in my mouth I breathed out of my nose and got nothing, needless to say it is only aromatic when out of the mouth. I believe that this is fermentation, but I’m not sure at all as this is my second puerh ever.

Unlike the sheng that I drank earlier when I felt stressed before drinking this tea, I felt even more stressed after. This may be due to the fact that I am drinking this on the honest day this year outdoors. This tea is definitely one that I would like a lot more in the winter, and I will save it in it’s little bag until then!

Overall this tea hit me in the face with reality of what sheng is. However, I might seem a little bit dull when writing this review because it’s been a not so good day and I was really hoping that this tea would help (I know sheng spoiled me) but my expectations were too high in this category of tea, and it did not meet that. But that’s okay, when looking back on it I really enjoyed this tea’s taste, but I was not a big fan of it’s smell.

[A Day later] Though today (viewer discretion is advised) I woke up with blood all over my face, and pillow. Turns out that one of the teeth that I pulled decided to annoy me today (I had to pull them to make way for braces).

But with that out of the way, I have an intense craving for this tea, and I want to pop the bag open and drink another. I think that my rating was a little low because I drank this in summer, which I think isn’t the time to be drinking such a dark and strong tea. I think that if like now in the early morning it was a little cooler outside I would have absolutely loved this tea. But I still do!

This tea was labeled 2013 Mystery Raw from Yunnan Sourcing.

I did a wash and brewed up the first infusion. It tasted very very fruity, with tropical fruits being the main taste. But, the main fruit that stood out was pine-apple. It tasted very much like pineapple with a peach and mango blend hiding behind it. It was a very nice tea, I enjoyed it very much.

It lasted about 6-7 infusions, with the fruity taste going behind and a grassy taste going in front, but the weird thing is, is that these two tastes sort of switched. One infusion I would taste a very fruity taste, but for 2 infusions that died down and I tasted a fruity hay. But then the pine apple returned until the session was over.

Today I also realized what being tea drunk is. I am super tea drunk it seems, as I am ridiculously calm, and really struggling to write this tasting note. I also feel really really up lifted with sort of a light feeling in the head and arms.

Overall, a very nice first puer, and I am excited for tomorrow to try a sheng!

[I had the red tin version of this tea, not the yellow tin]

[Eat before drinking this tea it weighs you down a little bit]

I am fairly new to tea, and for a few weeks I have been learning about tea. So, I am really eager to start, but shipping from china is kind of lengthy. So, I found this tin in my mother’s cabinet. I don’t know the age or anything about this tea, But I just wanted to practice some gong fu style brewing, and further my knowledge about the different flavors I am to expect from tea (I will explain more later).

I rinsed the tea for 10 seconds (because it was quite old) and then brewed with a 25ish second infusion for the first infusion. To be honest I didn’t expect much out of the tea, but I at least wanted some flavor. I got very little flavor at all, just a flash of bitter at the tip of my tounge, and then just flat until I swallowed it. It left my mouth quite dry and it made my throat want to close up. The second infusion was the same too, just greatly fainter (I added +10 seconds for each infusion). But the third infusion it was like this faint sweetness for a second, and then choppy flatness that made my throat really dry down my thoat. That was the only flavor I got out of it, a very faint almost one pinch of sugar dissolved into a little cup of water sweetness and then nothing.

But, with this tea I do now understand what an aftertaste is like. The sweetness that I mentioned earlier stuck to my mouth, and I don’t notice it until I drink water. When I drink water the water becomes smoother than normal and much sweeter than normal.

This tea makes me fearful of white teas, because if white tea is going to be as flavorless and bland as this, than I may aswell not bother.

I started into tea (or should I say researching tea) because I was browsing teavana and I stumbled upon their white tea section (I have since abandoned teavana teas and gone with Yunnan sourcing) but, when I saw this section it just awoke an interest in me. I just saw the picture of the brewed teas and read the description of how it is smooth and gives a honey like taste, I was instantly sold. So, then I went onto youtube to try and learn more, and found Don from Mei leaf. This is where I learned about Gong fu brewing, and the benefits of switching over from western style. His descriptions of the tea were amazing and I just had to learn more! He then introduced me to puer, and oolong teas, (something I never knew existed), and how they have differences in flavor and how they can calm the whole body. It just seemed like heaven in a glass. But, I have been brewing western style my whole life and drinking from tea bags, so it confused me how a tea could have all of these characteristics without adding any sugar! So, then when I saw the jasmine tea in the cabinet, I thought that I might try some, to see for myself how the teas don’t need any sugar at all to give all of these characteristics. But, this tea broke my heart, it had nothing and was very astringent, with only subtle sweetness, but mostly water. I really hope that tea is much more than this!

But if I am going to be honest, it wasn’t bad either, I probably just don’t like jasmine tea, but I was just disappointed at a lack of flavor.

However, this tea smells amazing with a fruit like, sweetish bitter smell. I wish it tasted as good as it smelled.

[UPDATE]

So, since I have a whole tin of this tea and I was kind of bored at home I decided to try and put some sugar into the gong dao bei when I poured the soup in. It made a world of difference! I could taste the nice jasmine flavors, and a very sweet fruit aftertaste followed it. It was very enjoyable! It also took all of the astringency with it, and the tea was very smooth and sweet. But, it still had a mouth drying effect.

The aftertaste is wonderful too! Every sip of water I drink turns sweet and tastes like how the tea smelled. It was very nice, but still kind of basic.