2013 Menghai "Golden Needle White Lotus" Premium Ripe Puerh Tea

My very first ripe pu-erh. Didn’t like it. Much too bitter on first steep ( overtones of coffee, which is something I detest). Later, longer steeps were OK but didn’t have a ‘special’ taste. I can’t rate the tea fairly though because I don’t yet have anything with which to compare it.

This is said to be Menghai Tea Factories highest grade ripe. While this one needs to age a couple of years it was good overall. There was, however, a lot of fermentation taste in the first few steeps. The first steep of this was a little unpleasant. It had a noticeable fermentation taste for the first four or five steeps. After that it was not a factor. It was also bittersweet at the start, slowly changing from bitter to sweet. I’d say there were some notes of chocolate in there. Didn’t really get a fruity taste but I used a lot of leaf, maybe if I used less leaf. This is one I will probably put away to age a bit. I was hoping I would want to drink this on a regular basis but I think it needs to age at least two more years. I do think it is a high quality ripe.

I steeped this twelve times in a 160ml Ruyao teapot with 14g 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.