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I’m not really into the esoteric stuff but made me nice and relaxed and mellow and happy so you could say it has good “chi”/energy. I’ve been thinking about the Chi concept lately as many people use this word and I’ve noticed much more body effects/psychotropic effects now that I’m getting into pu’er and better tea in general. Perhaps I’ll try an L-theanine pill from NOW (brand) and see if that’s the major contributor.

Slightly smoky, which I kind of like. A fair amount of stems, but this is a pretty inexpensive wild abor tea. Drinking in 2016 and tastes pretty nice for its age, though not “aged”/tasting. I like this one a lot. My go-to right now. I like shengs though and don’t buy real old ones yet.

Brewed gong-fu near boiling. Rinse gives smell of earth, slightly like old book/must, with an edge of what some might call “fishy”, but it smells right- not like a cheap pu’er fish/shrimp smell, but just a fermentation smell, like korean food or something good. Anyways, I’m pretty new to ripe pu’ers and this is my favorite so far. Has the flavors of other teas I’ve had but just better. Also, I feel like I can taste the characteristics of the pre-fermented tea in way- it has nice fruity undertones like a good black tea.
Nice stuff.

Received a sample with my order from yunnan sourcing. I am pretty new to ripe pu-erhs, and will be withholding giving a numeric rating. Brewed gong-fu style near boiling. Two rinses as this pu’er is young and cheaper ripe pu’ers i’ve had benefited from rinsing to reduce ‘off’ fermentation flavors. Typical color, dark orange-brown, burgundy-ish liquor when looked through while pouring, but definite brown-earth colored in the cup.
Smell is musty earth, decent smell. Taste is bitter, very earthy. I think a double rinse is better to my taste- first steeps are a little earthy/bitter to my taste, but again, I’m a ripe newbie.

Brewed Gong-fu, 185F. Rinse gives a wonderful floral smell- instant memories of walking through a greenhouse. First steep- leaves begin to open, smell deepens with rich grassy notes, maybe slightly like moss. Pale green liquor. Moderate sized leaves.
Flavor is nicely vegetal. Not as floral as other anxi oolongs i’ve had. Still summoning memories of green houses as well as walking through a wet forest, which is what I get with similar styles. Solid offering. This makes me think of farmer’s market produce, in that it just tastes like real plants that have been treated well.
This is the second tea I’ve tasted from yunnan sourcing and both were top notch. Looking forward to trying the rest of my shipment.

Brewed gong-fu, 180F short steeps. Long slender whole leaves. Rinse leaves a fruity, nutty, slightly vegetal and floral smell, very wonderfull smell. Pale yellow, straw-colored liquor. Taste reflects the smell very well- taste is subtle, but good and with complexity. Comforting hay-like taste as well. I haven’t tasted a ton of different whites but this makes sense to me to be an autumn picking. Later steeping gives almost a chocolately flavor that is maybe a deeper version of what I called hay. Smell is still my favorite aspect of this tea. Two thumbs up.

Brewed gong-fu with two generous rinses to try to eliminate some of the fishiness. This to me is not a great ripe pu’er. While it is organic, which is nice, it is made of very small leaf fragments and smells fishy, which to me is a sign of poor technique in fermentation. With a year or two in storage the fishiness will probably dissipate, but it’s not a high enough grade tea to be worth that. Many other options of ripe pu’er are available at modest price points, especially from yunnan sourcing and other chinese-shipped providers. Flavors are earthy, roasted barley, wet moss. Not a lot of complexity. Later steeping are smoother and rounder with less fish.