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Please note that this review is based on a single western style steep. This is a tasty ripe tea with a fair amount of fermentation flavor. That flavor is not unpleasant. It is somewhat sweet with little bitterness. It brews up dark and rich to a slightly creamy cup. It is a good choice for 3:30 in the morning when I can’t sleep and I am too lazy for gongfu cha.

I brewed this one time in a teavana glass perfect tea maker/gravity steeper with 11g leaf or 2 mini tuo cha and boiling water. I gave it a long 20 second rinse to break up the mini tuo cha. I brewed it for 30 sec.

This tea from Berylleb was strong and punchy without all that much bitterness. It was smooth from the beginning. It continued to be strong and smooth throughout all ten steeps I gave this tea. I did develop some sweet notes in later steeps but I would not use the term apricot. They were more subtle. This tea has a potent aftertaste that is somewhat bitter. As to qi, I can say it has a relaxing qi but this is not what some would call a stoner tea, it’s qi was not quite that strong. I enjoyed this tea immensely. It is at least as good as sheng I have acquired from White2Tea or Yunnan Sourcing. It also claims to be ancient tree, from 400 year old trees. While I believe you should take all such claims with a grain of salt, Berylleb has a good record of telling the truth. I tend to at least believe they believe that this is from 400 year old trees. If bitterness is a prerequisite for a good aging tea, this has enough of it I think it. While the bitterness was not at all unpleasant, it was there but not that much of it. In the end this is a good, slightly bitter sheng for an excellent price. It was on sale for $45 a bing, don’t know if it is still on sale, the regular price lists at $90.

I brewed this tea ten times in my new 150mml ruyao gaiwan from Teaware.house with 10.g leaf and 200 degree 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, and 1 min.

This is another tea from Global Tea Hut. I think it is good quality. I picked up a roasted note only in the first infusion. This is interesting as I don’t think it was roasted. There was a bit of a mediciny note too. For several of the steeps I added fresh raspberries. The raspberries infused with tea, not so much the other way around. I of course ate the tea raspberries. For most of the ten steeps I drank it straight. It was smooth with little bitterness and an aftertaste I just don’t know how to describe. There is no point to recommending this tea. You simply can’t get it. This is in my opinion not the best Global Tea Hut has sent. It is good though.

I steeped this tea ten times in a 120ml gaiwan with 6g leaf and 190 degree 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, and 1 min.

Didn’t remember trying this when I bought it last month. Today it only got steeped western style. It is tasty with a very mild malt character and some sweet notes. It is a bargain for the price, good quality on the cheap.

I steeped this one time in a Teavana Glass Perfect Tea Maker/Gravity Steeper with 3 tsp leaf and boiling water for 3 min.

This tea is quite good. It has a fair amount of fermentation flavor and virtually no bitterness. It had a nice sweet taste to it. There were some notes of chocolate in there and there were some fruity flavors. Overall this one was quite good. The fermentation taste was quite tolerable, not unpleasant like some ripe. Menghai Tea Factory did a good job on this one.

I steeped this ten times in a 100ml gaiwan with 8.4g 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, and 1 min.

This tea has light floral notes and is somewhat vegetal. It is a nice green. It’s hard for me to judge the sweetness of the tea because I added suger. It is pretty good as green teas go. Simpson and Vail ran a promotion on this tea and gave out a free ounce in a mini tin.

I steeped this one time in a Teavana Glass Perfect Tea Maker/Gravity Steeper with 3 tsp leaf and 175 degree water for 3 min.

This tea is pretty good. It is sweet with mineral notes is the best description I can give. It had a fair amount of astringency to it too. It is not roasted. It had fair lasting power as I gave it ten steeps and all indications are it would have gone a few more steeps. It was sweet enough so as to need no sugar. A year ago I would have added sugar to this tea. This is probably my last gongfu session for another week as I am going to have to pack my last gaiwan after this session as I begin moving tomorrow.

I steeped this tea ten times in a 120ml gaiwan with 7.1g leaf and 190 degree 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, and 1 min.

Got two oz of this with a Christmas gift. It’s just not that good. The tea itself was cloudy. The taste is dubious at best. I don’t like it. The chocolate flavor is not strong enough and the chai is just off.

I brewed this one time in a 16oz Teavana Glass Perfect Tea Maker/Gravity Steeper with 3 tsp leaf and boiling water for 3 min.

I have a chance to drink this today because my impending move has been pushed back until Thursday. After tomorrow I will pack my last gaiwan. This tea is pretty damn good. The fermentation taste was not as heavy as some shou puerhs. I’d say there was some fermentation flavor until the fourth steep. There was little bitterness and much in the way of sweet notes to this tea from Berylleb King Tea. Berylleb refers to this as high grade tea. I don’t know that it is really higher grade than other Dayi ripe but it is certainly good quality. There probably were notes of chocolate to this tea but my mind was not on the tea so I’m not sure about it. It did develop a nice sweet fruity flavor in the later steeps. Moderately so anyway. Overall this was a very good tea.

I brewed this tea ten times in a 120ml gaiwan with 10.1g 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, and 1 min. I think this tea would easily go another four or five steeps if I hadn’t already had so much tea.

This is a tasty ripe cake with a fair amount of fermentation flavor left. For those with an aversion to fermentation flavor it was initially somewhat unpleasant even if I wouldn’t say fishy. It was sweet with little bitterness to it. The Yunnan Sourcing description says notes of Whisky/Smoke/Peat. That was not my initial interpretation of this tea but I think it is an alternate description of the notes. This is not really a chocolaty shou. It did develop a nice sweetness in later steeps and was dark and rich in the initial infusions. This was a very strong tea. It was quite enjoyable in the end and the price was right at only $25.

I steeped this tea ten times in a 120ml gaiwan with 10g 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, and 1 min. Judging by the color of the tenth steep I’d say I could get four or five more steeps out of this if I had a desire for that much caffeine.