2014 Hai Lang Hao "Bu Lang Tribute Brick" Ripe Pu-erh tea

I just finished my first tea session of the new year with some 2014 Hai Lang Hao Bu Lang Tribute shou puerh from Yunnan Sourcing. I’ve had this sample for about a month, plenty of time after shipping and while this was good when I tasted it fresh off the porch it is even better now! It still has the Bu Lang aroma like the Hui Run but now with more sweet cherry to it. The tea soup is very flavorful and changes throughout the session, opening up with bitterness and an almost saccharine sweetness. It very quickly reveals a strong cherry flavor, between dried and fresh, alongside a chocolate which eventual evolved into s nuttiness. Mouthfeel is very oily and cooling. Qi isn’t super intense but is definitely there. I usually drink shou for the overall experience as opposed to chasing qi anyway and the qi isn’t actually lacking. I always enjoy Hai Lang Hao puerh and this is no exception. The overall brick is an entire kilogram which makes the buy in price higher even though the price per gram is extremely good. This is definitely on my list of stuff to stock up on.

Not having shou in awhile, due to heat, I decided to try some once again.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BIP38Z5AohN/

Very clear impression that I dislike shou. I think what has happened recently is drinking 1 sheng a day for my longer sessions to get my regions down better and age/storage/taste/stuffffffffffz has actually caused me to dislike the strong/harsher stuff like shou that is just so straining on the palate. This is true of cheap and bitter sheng as well.

This brown brick, that could be used as a large lego piece when you’re making a home fortress, is actually good in terms of ripe. There are no sour notes nor does it has a strong upfront taste that makes the session rough. Personally I am just going to the light side.

This tea was quite tasty. There was a fair amount of fermentation flavor in this tea. It was especially strong in the first infusion but less so in subsequent infusions. I’d say I noticed it through four or five steeps. I also got an interesting sweet note from this tea. It took me a little while to pin it down, sticky rice in the third and fourth steeps. I know there was no sticky rice used in the creation of this brick but the note was there and very strong. Even after this note was history it was a nice tasting sweet ripe. There were no realy off flavors to this tea. The brick itself was tightly compressed. I had a lot of trouble breaking off the 9g of tea I used in my yixing teapot. And I was using a pretty sharp tea knife that I just got from White2Tea. I think they used quality leaves in this but that of course is just my impression.

I steeped this twelve times in a 110ml yixing teatpot with 9g 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, 30 sec, 45 sec, 1 min, 1.5 mini, and 2 min. I really think I could have kept on going with this. The leaves didn’t look finished by the color of the tea soup. I think this tea would go at least fifteen steeps maybe more.

I was hoping this would settle my stomach, but it didn’t.

It’s quite nice, though. I did two long rinses, letting it sit between (aka I totally forgot about the tea). The first steep wasn’t quite up to snuff, but was very drinkable. Subsequent steeps have been quite tasty though. Almost sweet and spicy. The texture is great, too.

Of course I’m still sick and can’t really smell anything, so ymmv. :)

Thanks so much for sharing, Dexter. Pretty sure this was part of one of clubs we split.