Overall I liked this tea. It was bittersweet at the start. There was a bitterness for about the first three steeps. There was a sweet note along with it. There was a fair amount of fermentation flavor. I’d say it lasted until around the fourth or fifth steep, about average for a young ripe puerh. There was also a bit of a sour note that briefly crept it. I’d say around the sixth steep. This didn’t seem to last and was replaced with another sweet note. Chestnuts come to mind, but that is just an opinion. If an unpleasant note hadn’t crept in for a while I would give this a stellar review. As it is it is just a little above average.
I steeped this ten times in a 120ml gaiwan with 9.7g 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’d guess there were about two more steeps to this tea. It does not seem like a tea that will last twenty steeps. It was fairly light colored in the tenth steep. The price makes this one I will still recommend. At $25 this is a good price.
Flavors: Bitter, Chocolate, Earth, Sweet
