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From the Puerh+ TTB box

Heeey this isn’t bad at all. Pretty standard sheng and pretty mellow. Was hoping for a little more OOMPH since it’s an older leaf, but alas. It’s a very forgiving tea. No cha qi tonight, at least not that I’m getting from it.

Not bad. Not wonderful. Good enough for gongfu.

From the Puerh TTB+ box..

I had a really hard time finding any info about this tea. The label just says “1999 Mengku – Berylleb”. I THINK this is the same one, but I’m not sure -https://www.kingteamall.com/product/1999-shuangjiang-mengku-bianxiaozhuan-brick-250g-china-yunnan-chinese-organic-puer-puerh-raw-tea-sheng-cha/

Apparently the guy “berylleb” goes by different things on ebay vs. his storefront. I found like 3 different names for him. I’m so very confused. Also, I thought “berylleb” would spell something different when it’s spelled backwards but NOPE. Now I wanna go find out how this guy got his name. Speaking of backwards words, did you know there is NO word for a word that is spelled backwards. Even Oxford Dictionary says there’s not (https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/explore/what-is-the-term-for-a-word-which-is-another-word-spelled-backwards). I mean.. I guess semi-palindrome will have to do.

Anyway onto this tea. Yeahhhh I’m not feeling it. It’s way too bitter even with flash steeps and lower temps. The leaves are pretty miniscule and broken up which probably isn’t helping. I was looking forward to trying an older sheng but this is NOT it. It probably didn’t help I couldn’t find much about this tea in the first place. Ahh well. Sorry Mengku, it was not meant to be.

Also from the Here’s Hoping TTB…

This tea is fairly unique for a black tea blend. It’s not bad iced. It’s no “Cocoa Kisses” (that one is better) but it works. It’s actually got some creamy undertones to it. This is probably a decent flavored tea if you are not a huge fan of chocolate or desert teas in general. Otherwise I’d pick Cocoa Kisses over this.

This is from the Here’s Hoping TTB..

This is REALLY good. It’s okay hot but I really enjoy it cold. The base and flavors work really well and it totally tastes like liquid chocolate, even without any sweetener. I’m normally meh about desert teas, so surprised I like this so much. I don’t know if I’d drink this everyday but it’s definitely a NICE flavored tea.

I’m also looking on their website and I see they have a coffee flavor of this. Oh no… I’m such a sucker for coffee flavored things.

Eh, this tea is okay. Definitely not my favorite from White2Tea. It’s not quite as bitter or particular as Little Walk but it’s nothing special. I will say though that I’m doing a lot of quick steeps at 190 and I’m still getting a lot of flavor out of this tea. Was hoping for some cha qi but not really getting anything from it. Oh well.

Just for fun decided to try some longer steeps and yeah.. too astringent for me. Almost metallic.

From the Here’s Hoping Tea Box..

I REALLY wanted to like this green base more, since I’m a big fan of flavored greens. Tried it hot, I tried in iced. This tea is pretty finicky and I found that I like it brewed hot and then iced. The trick is to not steep it for too long – I found under a minute was best for me. I know, I’m a wimp.

Also, the Bitaco website is down and has been for a while. What is up with that?

Even though I own this, I tried a sample from the Puerh TTB+ box to see if an older/different sample was any more mellow. I also switched up my brewing parameters from last time and used lower temperature water with shorter steeps.

Still a lot of bitterness here. And since I’ve tried nice shengs from white2tea this is just kinda meh. I think I’m actually going to toss the remainder of my stash in the “Here’s Hoping” box (yes I currently have two tea boxes).

From the Puerh+ TTB box. This may be one of the first legitimately aged shengs I’ve had and … it tastes a lot like a shou. Fancy that. It’s not bad, but not particularly amazing. Nice and smooth. Definitely fun to try as I don’t get an opportunity to try tea this old!

So I totally admit to buying the tea for the hype, especially given last year. I thought it was gonna sell out, but as of writing this there is still plenty in stock. I just bought a sample and let it sit for a while, but decided to finally break it out.

And WOW this actually pretty good. First, it’s not very bitter or astringent. Very smooth, which may turn some sheng drinkers off but is perfect for me as I’m kind of a wimp about bitterness. I DID use a lower brewing temperature (190), but I’m sure it could have held up at a higher temperature.

I got LOTS of steeps out of this and a little bit of a nice tea buzz too! Overall, I was quite impressed. Now, as for how old the trees REALLY are? Eh.. we don’t have to get into that. I’m just judging the tea on the tea.

From the Puerh Plus TTB.

My first Farmer Leaf tea. This was a relatively mellow sheng that actually got more bitter in the later steeps. Not bad, not great. Just so-so.