2016 Menghai "Hui Zhi Yun" Ripe Puerh Tea Cake

I received this tea about a 2 years ago and I’m just getting around to reviewing it. Brewed out of a medium sized gaiwan. I heard from some good things about Yunnan Sourcing on Reddit, but I was not impressed with this tea.

It has a heavy fermentation flavor, and didn’t give me a good feeling in my stomach. This flavor lasted throughout the whole 10 steeps I gave this tea. As with many shou puerhs, it has earthy flavors, but other than that I can’t make out anything I like about it. I will have to give another one of their shou puerhs a shot, but this one is not good.

Got this in the mail in my latest Yunnan Sourcing order. And it is a good one. There was a lot of fermentation flavor that lasted through about steep six. It was dark and rich in the early infusions. I’m not entirely sure if I noticed notes of chocolate but it is possible. What was there was a nice sweet taste with little bitterness. It will be interesting to see how this one ages.

I brewed this twelve times in a 150ml gaiwan with 12.1g leaf and boiling water. I gave it a 10 second rinse. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, 30 sec, 45 sec, 1 min, 1.5 min, and 2 min.