I bought a tuo of this a few years ago, and liked it enough to buy a full sleeve. I swear I thought I posted a review of it here, but now it seems gone. The tea is still available on the Yunnan Sourcing US website, albeit now at a higher price. My working tuo has been 3 yrs in a jelly-jar with a breathable filter paper cover in my dark tea cabinet at ambient, 55-60 %RH, while the sleeve is sealed with a 60 %RH humidity pack. The large leaves in the tuo were so tightly compressed that it crumbled off as I tried to pry some out. Today I brewed 5g of leaf in 100 ml boiling alpine spring water, starting for 1 min, for each of 8 sequential infusions, going 2.5 min for the 8th. I use a stainless steel strainer and a set of porcelain espresso cups for convenience. (My goal was to achieve the same tint in each liquor, which is difficult to observe in a ceramic teapot or decorative cups.)
The tea was potent, lightly astringent, moderately bitter, very smoky still (it’s now 20 yr old!). Good tea flavor on the tongue and mouth, with notes of hardwood smoke, camphor, cardamom, and an aroma of freshly-fallen autumn leaves. Although it’s been dry-aged both abroad and here in my midwestern cupboard, there was a tinge of “humidity”. All 8 infusions had the same flavors and aromas and strength, so I might as well have brewed it western-style. Perhaps I used too much leaf, so I’ll reduce it to 1 g next time and post a followup note in the comments.
Flavors: Astringent, Bitter, Camphor, Cardamom, Decayed Wood, Dry Leaves, Smoke, Tea
