Jerry Tea Trade (AliExpress)

Underwhelmed. I bought this hoping it would be floral but sadly I wasn’t able to coax much floral flavour out of it. 1st steep was grassy and very mildly bitter. 2nd was a tad sweeter with the slightest hint of floral. 3rd brought back the grass as did the fourth and fifth. The wrapper was not the same as the listing or the one the previous reviewer received. Perhaps a different batch. I may try again another day with a different temp.

Not an in depth review of this for now but quick notes are better than no notes. I’m playing The Sims 4 with my husband as well as cooking dinner hence why this is just quick!

When I bought this tea it intrigued me, the written information on the listing says this is a Yunnan Menghai Chen Ripe Pu Er (hence the title) which is a little vague but the wrapper says it’s a Yunnan Tse Chi Beeng Cha from a company called Kunming Hechangxuan Tea Industry Co LTD in Yunnan, China. My Chinese is not great, but I believe Beeng Cha is pressed tea ie cake. I found this article which is an interesting read on explaining what Tse Chi Beeng Cha means. http://www.puerh.fr/en/article/tong_and_yunnan_chi_tse_beeng_cha.htm
I suppose the old saying is true, you do learn something new every day!

The cake had wonderful large leaves. I posted pictures on Instagram if anyone follows me :)

In flavour this is very smooth with: dry wood, damp fresh soil, dry musk and rich malt tones. At least in the first few steeps. Also became sweet which was a pleasant addition, it kept the balance smooth.

Still balancing food and playing, while also talking via whatsapp on my phone, but I have time to explain a little of my methods. I’m steeping this in my Yixing teapot which is roughly 370ml. Rinsed twice for 20 seconds and starting with 30 second steeping time whilst increasing it 15 seconds for the first few steeps.

After that it just softens in flavour and strength the more you steep it, but it remains smooth and clean tasting. I’m not going to sugar coat it, this was a nice Shu but it is by no means amazing. For the price I have no complaints at all! My husband liked this one as well. May age this for a couple of years and see if the flavours become more complex, but we shall see.

Thank you, KittyLovesTea, for several bags of this tea :)

I couldn’t find an ingredient list in English for this tea. I suppose being called “Lotus Leaf” I can assume that’s what I’m drinking, haha.

At first this tea almost seemed spearminty, but there’s a drying out affect that it’s having on my tongue along with some bitterness. I suppose that’s the lotus leaf? It’s hard to say. This tea is quite peculiar. Definitely interesting to try and I’ll see if it grows on me. It could be that I’m wayyyy over steeping this tea. There were no steeping instructions online and usually with herbals I steep forever and ever, so I’ll cut the steeping time way down and see if that gets rid of some of the bitterness.

UPDATE: I steeped this in 175 degrees F water for about 4-5 minutes and it does taste better. Still has that bitterness to it at the end, but not nearly as strong. I’ll still use this tea up just fine at work.

This was meant to be for a house warming gift but we just didn’t get a real chance to enjoy it, until today when my husband returned home early from work declaring he caught the plague. rolls eyes So he went to bed and I made him my famous vegetable soup. I made enough to feed an army so he should be well fed over the next few days. So now we are watching Kickboxer (yes that flick with Jean Claudee Van Damme, who my cat Cassie fancies by the way…she stares at him when he’s on the screen) and drinking this Pu Erh.

Flavour is very smooth with some sweet, damp earth tones. A hint of smoke in the after taste. Also a slight musty musk taste that lingers in the mouth, though not strongly. Further steeps bring out clay and wood tones though on the whole it remains very smooth and easy to drink.

Even through a few steeps it remains smooth and rather delicate. I’m really liking this one, plus the fact that it comes in a box and bag is really cool!

THIS IS THE GOD OF NIGHT SWEATS TEA. A crazy badly translated find on Aliexpress! The highlights of the description of this tea is "God of Night Sweats, prolonged Bear Soaks, Resistant to Impact tea, Shelf life of “jumps over Chen yue sweet”, good back to gan, “fat and moisture”.

Lots of floral! So much floral! With a bit of honey and forest floor notes with a bit of a sour aftertaste. The appearance of this tea is very beautiful – lots of flower petals and buds that expand. Only unattractive thing about this cake was prying off pieces, it was like dealing with a chewy oatmeal bar.

Full review on my blog The Oolong Owl http://oolongowl.com/camellia-flower-cake-god-of-night-sweats/