2008 Wild Tree Raw Pu-erh tea brick of Dehong

Feeling like drinking some samples on my day off today (unfortunately day off = a long day of catching up on work, not getting any downtime). I have this sample sitting in my tea drawer. I recently reorganised when I made my teaware/stash spreadsheet to keep track of everything, and I now have all my straight teas in a box separate from flavoured. They were taking on flavours/scents and I’m hoping this way I can taste the unaltered flavour when I brew them.

I think this sample could have come from LP’s Helping Hand/Puerh help, but I have it in a bag with my own writing on it (presumably because I’ve had this before and moved the rest of sample to a smaller bag?) Regardless, I know I didn’t buy it, so thank you to whoever sent me this. It isn’t something I would buy normally, so it is really great to step out of my box.

2.5g leaf (all of what is left of this sample),, 150 mL per steep

Rinse

Steep 1: 10 seconds
Light flavour, no bitterness at all, tastes like puerh but is very well rounded. Nothing unpleasant about this at all.

Steeps 2 & 3: 10 seconds
Very smooth, the flavour reminds me of when you cut your lawn and leave piles of cut grass on top. The grass dries out in the sun, but if you ever pick up a bigger pile, inside is hot and moist as it decays. It isn’t a vegetal flavour, but reminds me of autumn leaf pile and drying cut grass. Hints of fruit also.

Steeps 4 & 5:10 seconds
A little bit of barnyard, a little bit of sweet fruit. Absolutely no astringency, bitterness, mushroom/fungus. This is so smooth and enjoyable I drank the 4th cup mindlessly while watching a youtube video and forgot I to write tasting notes on it.

Steeps 6 & 7; 15 seconds each
It has a very pleasant sweetness to it. Notes of hay and stonefruits.

Steep 8: 15 seconds
It has gotten quite fruity, like peach/apricot and tropical fruits. The sweetness continues to develop.

If YS still has this in stock, I’m buying a whole cake no matter the price. I’m blown away by how good this is.

Awesome tea! Earthy and dirt hues. This has a deep, back of the throat, soothing sensation. Though it comes from a brick, I think this is one of my favorite teas at this point and I know my opinion will change over time but this is my first true love of raw puerh.

I ordered a sample of this one last week during the sale, & this is an interesting tea!
The dry aroma is a little ‘well aged barn’- like, & when I warmed the leaf up & breathed in its essence, I picked up soft notes of tobacco, purple plum, & smoke….well, not really smoke…maybe charcoal?

I steeped in matching rounds of 2, pouring from my yixing into a mug.
The first mug featured a very mild cup with hints of charcoal & slight bitterness, & instant 3rd eye opening vibes. While I was steeping the next 2 rounds, all of my chakras started to open, from root to crown, like the blooming of flowers, in a psychadelic kind of way.
The 2nd cup sent qi rushing throughout my body, making my extremeties giddy, almost as if every cell in my body was laughing. My injured hand was especially lit up, really buzzing with unsummoned reiki, so I went with it, opening to the healing that I feel was being offered. I’ve been doing a lot of Reiki on myself lately, & this evening especially I feel like the nerves in my finger are waking up.

I often wonder if these experiences are as outlandish to others as they seem while I’m experiencing them, or maybe I’m just having flashbacks to my old hallucinogen days, LOL.
Either way, this was a very dynamic session, possibly my most potent tea experience to date.

Flavorwise, this was hard for me to nail down. The best word I can think of is smooth. I used 5 G in a 125ml yixing, & although there was a very slight initial bitterness, the rest of the cups were mellow, with kind of an old fashion white bread & creamy nut butter taste…or maybe sunflower seed butter. Later steepings started getting a sweet aftertaste, but I can’t really identify it with anything, at least not at this moment. I have enough to sample this a few more times, & it will be interesting to see if this experience repeats itself.
Nice clear energy & headspace in the afterglow.

ok tasting again cause i had to prepare couple samples. So good. im so happy i picked the whole brick.

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