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Wow this one is amazing!!! Tiffany – you rock! I suppose this one is from Nepal based on the ITCC website? It’s a wonderful, complex tea, wherever it’s from.

Love the medium sweetness, lack of astringency and bitterness, wonderful mouthfeel, and aftertaste lasting 1-2 mins.

Another one from Tiffany – I really appreciate it! I love gyokuro so so much. This one is very nice. I think I prefer my gyokuro a bit brothy-er, but this one is still great! Lots of umami and great mouthfeel. Love Kurihara’s catalogue too :)

My second sample from Tiffany – thank you! I am familiar with Japanese Tea Co, but haven’t had a chance to try their teas before, so I was excited to give this one a go!

I really like this kabusecha. It has a lot of character that is easily brought out given the presumably heavy steaming creating the mostly broken leaf. The flavor comes out real quick, so shorter steep times (45 sec for steep 1) and lower temps are better for my tastes. I really do enjoy this sample a lot and will have to sample from the rest of their catalogue!

So glad my tea swap package arrived today! First time doing a tea swap and it has been super fun so far :). Thank you, Tiffany, for the opportunity to try such a unique tea! I have never had a dark tea from Japan.

This one is super different from other dark teas I’ve had. The leaves appear much greener than most dark teas, so I have guess that the fermentation period is much shorter than the wet piling of shou. The smell of the dry leaves is actually a very potent and bright raspberry, which is quite unusual for a dark tea. The flavor is also very acidic/sour, though in a nice way. A touch of astringency in the early infusions without any bitterness or sweetness. This is the first time I’ve had such potent sourness from a tea, and it reminds me of kombucha. I have to believe the sourness is from the use of a black mold to ferment the leaves, as other fungal-fermented beverages (wine, beer) and sourdough bread can all have similar sour tastes. On the other hand, shou puerh is mostly fermented by bacteria (as far as I understand), so that likely explains the difference between the overarching flavor profiles.

Mouthfeel is thick and pleasant with good lasting aftertaste. Very intrigued to try some other Japanese dark teas now!

Didn’t expect much from this one given I had never heard of it before. And indeed, at least on my first try, I am very unimpressed. It seems this is part of the FT series based on other websites selling the cake.

Anyways, this one is just very uninteresting. The smell is exactly like a Xiaguan tea, but the taste is nothing like the typical profile. Regardless of how good it is after a rest, it’s not worth the price at all. Though, I will try it one more time after letting it acclimate, and will adjust my rating appropriately.

This may be an unfair review as I am just getting over a cold, so I will try the tea again in the near future. But for now, my opinion stands. And btw, I got this sample with my second order from TSR, where I bought a tuo of 2007 V93 and a cake of 2007 Haiwan.

Given the fame of this recipe, I was expecting much more. There’s nothing wrong with this tea, it’s just bland and simple. Sure, it tastes like a shou puerh, but without much positive going for it. The primary flavor is death/decay and not much else.

Somehow I completely forgot that I had purchased this one with my last YoT order! I found it when rummaging through my cakes. I definitely like this one more than the other Liu Bao I had previously tried. Still haven’t ever tried betel nut and don’t plan on it, so hard to say if that’s the flavor I get.

I wouldn’t say I get the medicinal notes that others get, however. I think the predominant flavors are earthy and root vegetables. Nice mouthfeel and good longevity.

Last tea sample from LP order. Unlike the young LBZ from NS, this one is actually quite nice! Has an interesting sweet note that is similar to brown sugar or caramel.

Mild astringent note in some of the mid-early infusions, but fades quickly. Not as much cha qi as some other reviewers have noted, but that’s fine with me :). Glad to try this one and see that XZH has some good teas that I can get behind.

Another one from my second NS order. This one is really strange tbh. I dont know how to describe it. Seems pretty watery in mouthfeel yet simultaneously fairly thick. Has a lasting spiciness (think cloves) that is unusual in puerh. Supposedly, Kuzushan means “bitter bamboo mountain.”

Infusions 4-7 certainly started to bring out the bitterness. Not an overbearing bitterness, but still not quite my jam. I can see how people would like this one, though.

The taste later changed again to become a bit more acidic/spicy and the bitterness faded. Lots of complexity here.

Location: Kuzhushan, Jinggu County, Pu’er City, Yunnan, China
Cultivar: Da Ye Zhong

Another one from my second NS order. This one is pretty similar to its 2011 counterpart, but it’s hard to tell the differences without doing side-by-side. Also love this one, but will do a side-by-side comparison in the coming week or so to really tease out any nuances. Definitely high 90s, but will hold off on formal rating until then :).

Edit: Did a side-by-side comparison of this one with the 2011 from the same company. They are pretty similar overall. I will say it is perhaps an unfair comparison. The primary difference is less sweetness and a lingering off note in the 2012. However, looking at the leaves between the two, the 2012 leaves are much more broken. I’m not sure if they just got more crunched somehow, but certainly these leaves will let off more unpleasant notes quicker than the more intact 2011 leaves. Not sure if that’s the only factor contributing to a difference. Nonetheless. this is still a great tea!