DragonTea House

Another surprise from corona supply chain. Ordered same time as few samples from California based purple cloud tea that took a week to get to Ireland. Well, that one has been sitting in customs for last few weeks. Maybe they are calculating the most expensive to apply higher rate which should be zero but I am guessing politicians want to retire earlier. They will fix it later with getting free nuclear submarine from Taiwan or something. I went for the picture. I am guessing dark for roasted. So PayPal never got fixed but maybe there was an option to pay with card thru PayPal but no account. Paypal disabled there text authorizations and to create new account one needs the same. Alternative option was alipay thru transferwise platform. So EMS was courier of choice, USD 15 and voila I got it in 3 weeks with no customs involved. Only guessing due to shipping from shanghai thru hong Kong. What about mongolia, Afghanistan and Dubai. I know, camel wouldn’t have so much fodder to survive the journey. Anyway, it tasted better that I expected. Way smoother and sweeter. A bit acidic only guessing cuz it made me hungry. But missing oiliness from swiss batch. So will I be putting it away for ageing ? I will consider this as well, I like how leaves look on the picture. But link is deceiving, someone just overwrote out of stock line it seems.

https://dragonteahouse.biz/san-he-brand-1712-liu-bao-hei-cha-dark-tea-loose-2017-500g/

So what’s the story with acidity. Is it not enough stalks. On the morning of 6 December 2021 g.j.leonard comet will be about 5 degrees from the star Arcturus.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=76K2aM-YkH0

I like this pu-erh. It is not the best aged raw I know though. I guess this could be called wet-stored pu-erh. The taste is basement-like, in an enjoyable way. There are nice notes of old wood. Reminds me of antique shops. The tea is also rather sweet, fruity and smooth. I would have liked a little more thickness/full-bodiedness.

I like this a lot. The cake offers a nice mix of leaves and buds, and the leaves are pretty large, but impossible to tell of course if this is really from `ancient trees’.

The aroma profile is of a pretty classic, robust dianhong. Plenty of caramelly, sugarcany, smokyish sweet flavor, and full malty body. Creamy texture and little astringency, although the peppery aftertaste gives it some nice `bite’. Very enjoyable and satisfying. I think it is very affordable as well.

I enjoyed this tea. It is, however, different from many ripe puer. There were no notes of chocolate in it. Instead there were notes of camphor, spice, and a little bit of wet wood or wet storage taste. It had a fair amount of fermentation taste in the first few steeps. This taste was a little more unpleasant than some ripes but not out of bounds. In the end I will neither recommend or not recommend this tea. It is really a matter of taste. Some will really like this tea, some will hate it. It was cheap. Dragon Tea House sold it for around fourteen dollars. While I don’t classify this as a bargain find as I do a cheap brick I recently drank from Yunnan Sourcing, it wasn’t bad. It’s in the eighth steep now and I am enjoying it so it isn’t all bad. Just if you buy this don’t expect too much from it.

I steeped this eight times in a 120ml gaiwan with 9.7g leaf and boiling water. I gave it a 10 second rinse and a 10 minute rest. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, and 30 sec. Judging by the color of the brew I’d say that I would get another four or so steeps out of this if I wanted to continue.

Smokey black tea. Not at all bitter. Best to brew dark. This is a favorite for cold days

6g in Gaiwan. My first cake :) (Yes I bought it because it was one of the cheapest I could find).

Dry leaf: It is dark and there are twigs in the mix, which suggests low quality material.

This shu pu-erh has a unique flavour, which I would describe as being similar to bovril and stewed tea. It is relatively smooth, but not creamy smooth. The brew does not have the depth and is not as dark as some Menghai’s I have tried, but it is very drinkable and I have found myself re-loading the Gaiwan tonight. Some of the leaves are black and some are dark grey, which to me suggests different levels of fermentation. It has zero fishiness in it, which I am very surprised at.

According to the description, this uses leaves harvested in 2001.

At $14.99 (£9.70) for a full 357g cake, it’s a bit of bargain in my humble opinion.

This is a tasty and inexpensive tea. I forget what I paid but it was not much. I dropped the brewing temperature by 10 degrees to 190 degrees and got an improved result. This tea is excellent with a little honey. It is somewhat sweet and fairly malty but the malty flavor is not overpowering.

I brewed this once in an 18oz teapot with 3 tsp leaf and 190 degree water for 2 min.

This tea is better than I was somehow expecting. It is malty and slightly sweet. It is not bitter. I can taste no astringency. It is a good value for the price.

I brewed this once in an 18 oz teapot with 2 tsp leaf and 200 degree water for 3 min.