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Judging by taste, wrapping, and security markings this Dayi is real. It is from a new seller, or at least one new to me, vin_enjoy on EBay. This is the second or third of his teas I have tried. So far none has been terrible from what I recall. This one was good. It had a lot of fermentation flavor. This flavor was quite unpleasant in the first steep. This unpleasantness was largely gone by steep two and history by steep three. I’d say the fermentation flavor lasted around four or five steeps, about average. There was little to no bitterness to this tea. Id developed a nice sweet note although I’m not sure what to call this note. I bought this tea on auction. Unfortunately, I didn’t do my homework before bidding and check his buy it now price. Some idiot came along determined to get this tea so I simply outbid him. In short I paid $5 more than the buy it now price because I was annoyed at this other bidder. At least it is good tea.

I steeped this tea twelve times in a 105ml Yixing Teapot with 8.1g leaf and boiling water. I gave it a 10 second rinse. 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 min, and 2 min. The leaves were not done at twelve. If I had a desire to keep going I could get a few more steeps out of the leaves.

Cold brewed this the other day as an iced tea. It is much better iced than hot. It really does have the flavor of raspberry jam this way. This is really good.

I cold brewed this overnight in a 68oz iced tea pitcher with 8 tsp leaf.

This is a strong and bitter sheng. It was noticeably bitter for at least the first eight steeps. It was fairly smooth though. Somewhere around the eighth or tenth steep more of a sweet note emerged. I don’t think I would use the term apricots with this sheng. Despite it’s bitterness I did enjoy the tea. I think it is a good quality product and am hoping another six months of age will take the edge off.

I steeped this tea fourteen times in a 70ml teapot with 5.7g leaf and boiling water. I gave it a 10 second rinse. 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 min, 2 min, 2.5 min, and 3 min. I think this tea would have gone twenty steeps but I did use a lot of leaf.

Judging by the wrapper I guessed that this tea was a fake. The logo was not centered like in their picture. Judging by the amount of fermentation taste I would guess that this tea was considerably younger than 2000, perhaps 2015 or even 2016. The wrapper appeared to have years of age on it but this is easy to fake. As to the fermentation taste I would guess that this tea was improperly fermented as well. It was very unpleasant. I did go away after maybe six steeps or so. I had hoped that it would be replaced with a nice sweet note but no it was replaced with what I can only describe as an off tasting bitter note. It never became what you look for in a ripe tea. It would seem that the EBay seller Tealife2015 is one to avoid. I have several other teas by this seller and will get to them in time. At least I did not pay to much for this tea although anything above free is too much for this tea. This has to be the worst puerh tea I can remember drinking. The low price should have tipped me off but I had decided to take a risk on a new seller. This is likely my last purchase from them. I gave this tea twelve steeps hoping it would improve. Steep twelve was just as unpleasant tasting as steep one. This tea will probably get what I would guess is my lowest rating yet with the possible exception of valerian root I can’t think of a tea that tasted worse and at least the valerian root does something. Avoid this seller. I will get to the other four or five teas I have from them and see if this is an aberration or not. All their teas can’t be this bad. I think I already gave them feedback or this tea would get them negative feedback.

I steeped this tea twelve times in a 150ml gaiwan with 12.3g leaf and boiling water. I gave it a 10 second rinse. 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 min, and 2 min.

Bought two ounces of this in store. It had a nice aroma and I thought it would be interesting to try a tea from Uganda. It is a BOP tea and it reminds me of a Ceylon Orange Pekoe tea. It has that “near orange” taste. The note is almost citrus in quality but not quite. While I wouldn’t rush out to buy more of this it was interesting to drink it.

Brewed this one time in a 16oz Teavana Glass Perfect Tea Maker/Gravity Steeper with 3 tsp leaf and 200 degree water for 3 minutes.

This is relatively tasty but a little bit sour. As I recall it was also a little bit sour when brewed hot. Cold brewed it as an iced tea this time. It doesn’t taste heavily of the rooibos in this it is mostly the fruit notes that come through. I am not sure where the sour note is coming from. It is still good iced.

Brewed this overnight in the fridge with 8 tsp leaf in a 64oz iced tea maker.

This is a strong and bitter sheng. There was a pronounced bitterness throughout the first eight steepings. Somewhere around the ninth steeping it began to transform into something sweeter. Not sure that I would go as far as to say apricots on this one but it definitely smoothed out and became sweeter. This is probably a good tea to age. But it will have to be dry stored because I have no more room in my pumidor, unless I remove something that is.

I steeped this twelve times in a 100ml Ru Kiln teapot with 8.2g leaf and boiling water. I gave it a 10 second rinse. 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 min, and 2 min.

Bought this again the other day. This time I am primarily planning on making it as iced tea but I brewed it hot today. It has a very nice berry flavor and it is still one of the best decaf teas I have had.

I brewed this one time in an 16oz Teavana Glass Perfect Tea Maker/Gravity Steeper with 3 tsp leaf and boiling water for 3 minutes.

Bought two ounces of this yesterday at the store. It is a nice black tea. It is malty and reminds me of a Ceylon black tea. I think it would be good iced too. It has a bit of a chocolate note and little if any bitterness. I like this. It was inexpensive, I think around $4.50 an ounce. At the pleasures of tea she sells quantities as small as one ounce. She also has a sit down tea bar where you can order any of her teas. I had a Japanese black tea while I was there. I didn’t end up buying it because of the price. It was $12 per ounce but was good tea. In general she sells good quality teas.

I brewed this one time in a 24oz cast iron teapot with 4 tsp leaf and 200 degree water for 3 minutes.

This tea is very good in my opinion. It definitely reminds me of the two earlier productions with more fermentation flavor. There was a fair amount of fermentation flavor to this tea. But it was not unpleasant or fishy. It lasted maybe four or five steeps and then was largely history. I won’t disagree with the reviewer who noticed a dark bittersweet cocoa note although I really didn’t notice that myself. I noticed a bitter taste at first slowly turning to sweet. Even a fruity note in later steeps. I really enjoyed this tea.

I steeped this tea twelve times in a 150ml gaiwan with 12.2g leaf and boiling water. I gave it a 10 second rinse. 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 min, and 2 min. The tea was not done at twelve. I could have kept going but want to move onto something else.