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I’ve had a cake of this, which I blind bought on the recommendation of mrmopar in my stash for quite a while now. I pulled my cake out to give it a try for the first time in a few months last night. The dry leaf is very interesting looking. The leaves are long and spindly, and there are a pretty good number of twigs mixed it. It’s really a bit difficult to fit chunks of it into brewing vessels until you get some hot water on it. The leaves had a nice fruity aroma, with notes of straw as well. After a rinse, the tea smelled slightly smoky, though none of this smoke really makes it into the flavor, and again like straw.

From the get-go, this tea steeps out very thick. The first steep had a bit of an herbal note to it, along with a sweetness which immediately filled my mouth. The tea has good throat-feeling, and even before I finished drinking the first infusion, my head was pounding.

The sweetness stayed very strong, as did the thickness. By the third steep, I was feeling just about as teadrunk as I ever have before. My notes get a little bit garbled after this, but I know the tea went around 15 steeps, though possibly could have called it quits at 13. The sweetness stayed pretty strong, but was not cloying. I also don’t really know how to describe it – a bit mineral or honey maybe, with some slight apricot notes detectable at times.

I remember trying this tea around when I first got it, and being decently impressed by the quality of it. Now, after the tea has been resting in my pumidor for around 5 or 6 months, I am absolutely floored by the quality:price ratio. For me, this tea is an absolute steal. The texture and qi are incredibly potent and enjoyable, and the flavor, while nothing spectacular or unusual, is very enjoyable. I now have a large amount of this tea en route from Yunnan Sourcing, along with some other Hai Lang Hao samples. I feel pretty confident buying a lot of this tea, as it already has a bit of a head-start with aging, being pressed from 2012 maocha, and because I like how it has changed already just sitting in my moderately humid pumidor for a few months.

I’ll be trying this some different ways as well – I want to see how much leaf I can get away with using, as it’s pretty forgiving and not at all prone to bitterness. If my normal amount gave me such a powerful teadrunk, who knows what 7 or 8g could do! :P