2010 Jinggu Zhu Ke Zhuan Ripe Brick in Bamboo 250g

For the low price I paid this tea isn’t bad. It’s by no means incredible but for $7 I didn’t expect much. There was a fair amount of fermentation flavor during the early steeps of this tea, I’d say it dominated the first four steeps. The main note that emerged in this tea was spice. It was as if I had added a red chili pepper to the tea. After a while a sweet note emerged but it took a while. I never found notes of chocolate but I really didn’t expect to. This was just something cheap to add to my order. It is a large leafed tea and the brick was loosely packed. It was definitely made of lower quality leaves. But all in all the taste wasn’t half bad. Not something everyone would like but I am sure some would. I am not sure if the notes of spice are because it was packed in bamboo. I really didn’t taste the bamboo. I will let this age and see how it is in another year.

I steeped this twelve times in an 85ml Yixing Teapot with 7.2g 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, 30 sec, 45 sec, 1 min, 1.5 min and 2 min. In the end I neither recommend this tea or don’t recommend this tea. If spicy notes are to your taste this brick is cheap. There wasn’t much to lose with this brick and I am not upset to have bought it.