2014 Menghai 'Year Of The Horse'

Huh, well this is an interesting tea. I’ve never had a bitter shou before, but there is definitely a good deal of bitterness here. Not astringency but more like a coffee-esque bitterness. Not quite as pleasant though. I tasted and then tossed the first two steeps (after 2 rinses) and by the third it was much more palatable. But not particularly special. Overall pretty weak bodied for a pu-erh and quite bland.
Happy to try it, but I’m glad it was a free sample.

Ugh. How many times is it going to take to save this note?

Thank you Mr Mopar for this sample. This tea is strong. The bitterness lasted the first six infusions then no noticeable bitterness. There were some sweet notes, but in the later infusions. I would say that notes of apricots emerged in the seventh steep and notes of stonefruits emerged in the 1oth steep. Overall this was an excellent tea. I would say that this tea could have gone 20 infusions, it was that strong and I only used 6g of tea too for 150 ml. There was even a bit of what I would normally describe as aged flavor, notes I have usually only found in a semi aged sheng tea.

I steeped this tea thirteen times in a 150ml Gaiwan with boiling water. I steeped it for 10 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 30 sec, 45 sec, 1 min, 1 min 15 sec, 1min 30 sec, 2 min, 3 min, 4 min, and 5 min. This tea did not appreciably lose strength even in the 13th steep, it was that strong. I would say this tea is capable of going 20 steeps. I have not thrown out the leaves and may save them for tomorrow.