7 Years Aged Ripe Pu-erh Tea of Mengku in Gift Box

Pretty solid. Gains a stronger wood flavor with the large amount of leaf i used(10g), about halfway through i begin to detect subtle hints of stone fruits and a pleasant coffee-like aftertaste. the wet leaf aroma is reminiscent of earthy fallen logs. it does have some old-book type flavor in the beginning but that was short lived about 3-4 steeps in. all in all pretty tasty.

This is very tasty. It has a fair amount of fermentation flavor left but no nastiness. It has not completely cleared but is part of the way there. It had a bittersweet flavor at first. This took two or three steeps to go away. I wasn’t paying that close attention to the specific notes but I don’t think chocolate is out of the ballpark. It was very tasty. Not one I’d stock up on but good.

I brewed this tea eight times in a 180ml teapot with 10.2g 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, and 30 sec.

Received a very generous sample of this shou in a recent YS order. 2007 raw material used to form this brick. Easier to pick apart than many I’ve had. Clear dark burgundy tea soup which gives off a mushroom sweet aroma. Very smooth from the very first sip with a flavor profile mixing creamy mushroom and brown sugar. No off-putting fermentation smells or tastes to distract from the rich tea flavors. Decent longevity which provided me with eight enjoyable infusions. Currently $27 which seems like a decent price for a brick of this age and quality. Seems to be a solid shou for everyday drinking.

Evidently I am having a pu-erh day today. Sheng in the mid-morning and shu in the afternoon, works for me.

This is another selection from the Yunnan Sourcing dark tea of the month club. So far I am liking the club because I got to try a lot of things I would not otherwise have chosen for myself.

This brick comes in such a pretty box (see photo). I have heard that bricks are not as good as cakes but I like this one a lot. The wet leaves steeping are very aromatic and earthy. The tea itself I would describe as earthy, chocolate-y, slightly creamy with a faint whisper of woodsmoke. Normally I don’t find shus to be smoky but this seems to be a bit. Or perhaps it’s just my imagination, I don’t know.

In any case, $18 is a good deal for this 250g brick in my opinion. YS calls it “lovely” and I would agree. I also have another sample of this if anyone would like to try it (I seem to be a wash in puerh samples myself!)