2012 Bulang Gushu "Ancient Tree" Shou / Ripe Puerh

Oh this is yummy.

So, Glen and Lamu sent me a message a little while ago, asking if I’d like some samples in exchange for reviews. I’m always open to that, especially if the tea is good.

And boy, is this tea Goooood.

I wanted to take all kinds of pictures and such, but my phone decided this morning to take a crap for me. All locked up for hours before I sorted it out. While drinking tea. Good tea. It helps a stressful situation be less stressful.

Anyway, this tea. It’s rich and delicious. Sweet. Chocolaty. Tasty. Amazing. It lasted through several infusions. It would have lasted longer, but I was distracted at work on the second infusion, and instead of steeping for about 10s, it was more like 90s. Oops.

I’m adding this tea to my wishlist now. I’m sure I’ll order some soon.

I want to own a 2kg brick of this and dress it up as spiderman and/ or Gandalf

The first few steeps of this are definitely the best and really emphasis it’s sweetness. I always think druid latte’s when I make this, but after sending some to the Last Dodo, she told me it tasted like Lindt Dark Chocolate Chili… and after she told me that I can taste that if my imagination cap isn’t on. But it’s totally chocolate creamy wood… I imagine elves living in a forest and going to a Treebucks to get a cup of this!

It doesn’t steep out quite as long as I’d like… but that is likely because I turn it motor oil colored to feel like I am drinking lattes :P I am sure if you flash steeped this it would go longer. It is soooooo sweet for the first 4 or so steeps. But I love this shou so much I would buy it no matter how long it lasted.

It is a great starter Shou… a bit more complex than the other intro one I use (Mandala’s Special Dark). I’ve sent many raves about this one to Glen, and he tells me it is because most ripes aren’t done intentionally, but this one is.

TL:DR: Stock up on 2 kg bricks and start a Treebucks for the druids in your area.

From the Sheng and Shou TTB.

Only 4g of this tea was left in the TTB when it got to me, but I’ve been wanting to try this one so bad, so I grabbed it!

Caramel shou…that’s all you really need to know. Smooth, delicious, caramel shou. Cocoa notes appeared in later steepings. Man, I wish I had more! On the wishlist it goes…wait, it’s already on there! ;)

This is an awesome shou.
I am glad I choose this one to be my first experience crimson lotus tea.
Taste was smooth and balanced. With notes of molasses & wheat & earth present.
Used 5.8 grams to 90 Ml glass gaiwan.

This is an excellent tea and perhaps the first shou gushu I have tried. It was earthy in the early steeps with a fair amount of fermentation flavor. Not a huge amount but about what you would expect for a 2012 tea. There were notes of dark chocolate in the early steeps as well. I agree with the reviewer that said the later steeps had a honey like sweetness. I would even say berry notes in the eighth and ninth steeps. This is one I wish Crimson Lotus had a price for the whole 2kg brick. If the price was right I would buy the whole thing to age it. It should also be noted that I never noticed any bitterness in this tea, if it was there I wasn’t paying close enough attention. This was an excellent tea overall.

I steeped this tea nine times in a 207ml Taiwan Clay Teapot with 8.5g leaf and boiling water. I steeped it for 10 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 30 sec, 1 min, 2 min, 4 min, and 8 min. This tea was far from played out. Had I not been drinking so much tea already I think it would have gone for another six steeps or so. This was a strong tea. I hope this ages well. I hope I have some of this left when it is ten years old.

So even though we have take home boxes from both of my birthday dinners (one with my boyfriend and then one with my family), my boyfriend decided he wanted to get subs for lunch. I dot know if it’s all the bread or what, but subs always seem so heavy to me. Nursing a full belly, I decided I wanted shou, and remembered that I had these leaves in the fridge. I had started a session with it on my birthday, but then my boyfriend wanted to go to an early dinner and my session got cut short after only 2 steeps.

6g, 8oz water, boiling, two 10 sec rinses, 10,10,15,15,15

The first two steeps, I remember them being smooth and silky, dark cocoa, which seemed to fill my mouth and make me think of it as more like a good cocoa powder, a little earthy, and a touch of something spicy. I had a sip of the second steep several hours later, after it had gone cold, and there was a sort of smokey note to it.

Third-fifth steeps were less cocoa powder, and more dark chocolate. Along with some dark sweetness, a little lighter than molasses, almost like dark brown sugar.

Sixth-ninth steep continue to get sweeter and the chocolate gets more creamy and milky. I just got back from Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios, where it rained all night, and it was opening night and a really busy for September. Now I’m winding down with one last steep of this, and but the leaves in the fridge for later.

Revisiting this one. A very engaging ripe tea which never fails. High quality leaf, flavorful tea soup and strong endurance allow me stretch out the tea session over a 2-3 day period. Purchased loose leaf and I would love the opportunity to pick up more.

Mmmm, a delicious ripe pu’er! This one is very smooth, rich, melty dark chocolate flavor with spice notes. With later infusions the chocolate goes from dark to milk with a wild honey like sweet flavor. Very easy to drink and desserty. No bitterness, dryness or fermentation funk. I got 17 infusions from 6 grams of tea, prepared gong fu style.

2012 Bulang Gushu also has a gorgeous reddish color that is bright and clear – a pretty pretty tea! Totally for someone who loves a rich chocolate note tea!

Full review on my blog, The Oolong Owl http://oolongowl.com/2012-bulang-gushu-ripe-puerh/