Haiwan Tea Factory (Streetshop88)

Surprisingly good Shou Puerh. After quick rinse and letting leaves rest for 2 mintues
Steep 1 < 10 seconds: Thick with a taste of autumn leaves. Aftertaste a tiny bit bitter.
Steep 2 = 10 seconds: About the same as previous. Bitter aftertaste barely discernible.
Steep 3 ~ 15 seconds: Taste brightens a bit. Slight tobacco note apparent. Bitter aftertaste gone.
Steep 4 = 20 seconds: Autumn leaves, mellow with a bit of sweetness. So good
Steep 5 = 30 seconds: Same as previous. Lighter. Maybe 1 or 2 steeps left.

Bought this with my last order to Streetshop88. It is a relatively good ripe mini tuocha. It was fairly bitter at the start, I would say for the first two infusions. It slowly developed into something sweeter over the twelve steeps I gave this tea. You could potentially say there were some chocolate notes in there and that it developed a bit of a fruity note in later steeps. I brewed this today mostly because I was feeling lazy. I find mini tuocha good when I am just too lazy to deal with a cake. In this case I had just finished ten steeps of Rougui. Judging this tea overall it gets a reasonably high mark, judging by the first steep not so much. There was also a fair amount of fermentation flavor to these tuos. I’d say it was a factor for about five steeps. It was not in my opinion fishy.

I steeped this tea twelve times in a 120ml gaiwan with 2 mini tuocha or 11.2g leaf in 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. I’d say there were a couple of more steeps left in the leaves but not many.

One thing this tea is not is well aged. It has a lot of fermentation flavor. It is not a terrible tea just too thick with fermentation flavor for a 2005 tea.It also had a little too much bitterness in the early steepings. Despite being a Streetshop88 tea from a major factory it is not as good as some of their offerings from no name factories. I was really just starting to enjoy this when I stopped drinking it. I do have to get up tomorrow and eight steepings of caffeine is enough. This is a tea that I think needs two more years aging. I really wonder if it is really from 2005? Who knows?

I steeped this eight times in a 120ml gaiwan with 8.6g leaf and boiling water. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, and 25 sec.