This is an excellent ripe from 2005. Yunnan Sourcing says this was dry stored and I believe it. There was no taste of wet wood and no spice. There was a moderate amount of fermentation flavor left. It was there until about the fourth steep. This tea was sweet with little bitterness. There were some notes of chocolate in there and it developed a fruity taste in later steeps. This was not a cheap tea at $66 but was not horribly expensive either. This is in my opinion a classic example of a Dayi ripe cake that has some age to it. It could have been much more expensive.
I steeped this tea ten times in a 120ml gaiwan with 10.2g 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, and 1 min. I’m sure I could have gotten a few more steeps out of it if I was not at my caffeine limit.
Flavors: Chocolate, Earth, Fruity, Sweet