2008 Qiaojun "Double Dragon" Shou/Ripe Puerh

Another great sample from Kieblera5. Thank you!

Brewed in a ceramic gaiwan. 10 second rinse. Steeping times: 10, 15, 10, 10, 15, 15, 20, 40, 120.

The dry leaf smells of leather, and in the heated bowl, of chocolate and blackberries. The leather and chocolate notes are strengthened after the rinse. The first couple infusions are sour and lightly colored. Beginning with the third, the liquor suddenly darkens to garnet. This shou is dense with a chocolately sweetness and creamy texture. Fruity notes appear at the end of the session. Like a dark chocolate bar with fruits! (berries, raisins).

This tea from Crimson Lotus Tea is in my opinion pretty good. The leaves look like good quality to me. From the looks of them I think there are a lot of buds on the outside of the cake. The taste is nice. There was a fair amount of fermentation flavor in the first few steeps. It was not fishy to my taste buds but perhaps not as nice as some. There was very little bitterness to this tea. It was think and dark in the early infusions. I would venture to say there were some notes of chocolate in there too. It was very sweet in later steeps. I’m not getting much qi off this cake. But you often don’t get any off of ripe. I gave this ten steeps and I am at my caffeine limit so I won’t go further although the leaves would definitely go another few steeps.

I steeped this ten times in a 120ml gaiwan with 9.7g leaf and 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, and 1 min. Overall I really enjoyed this tea.

https://www.instagram.com/p/_XURKvzDQnMKA75OwHN43grplbqd8P6Ob3dmg0/?taken-by=allanckeanepuerhtea