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In the end this tea wasn’t bad. It was however not what I expected. This was purchased from a seller in Hong Kong. It is my understanding that Hong Kong is a wet storage type of place. This tea had all the hallmarks of dry storage however. The tea soup was still quite yellow. like a dry stored tea. It had not developed any aged flavor, good or bad, like a four year old dry stored tea. It had not developed any wet storage taste either. I was hoping for good wet storage on this tea as the ripes I got from the same seller had the hallmarks of wet stored tea albeit without storage notes. I was hoping for a good wet stored tea. This is at best an average dry stored tea. There were some bitter notes initially and some sour notes too. These took a few steeps to dissipate. What was left behind after about six steeps was fairly nice, mildly sweet raw puerh. In order for this to not be wet stored they must keep their puerh in a humidity controlled vault and set it for dry storage. I had definitely expected a tea that would have aged a bit. The sour note might go away after I air this tea out for a few months. It really wasn’t a bad tea. I was just expecting Hong Kong storage.

I steeped this twelve times in a 120ml gaiwan with 7.9g 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. I could have gotten a few more steeps out of this but twelve was enough.

This is the third tea I have tried from the EBay seller tea8hk2013 out of Hong Kong. And it is the third good tea I have gotten. There was very, very little fermentation flavor. This one had nearly cleared, just a little taste of it in the first two steepings. There was little bitterness too. And despite this being wet stored from Hong Kong there was no noticeable wet storage taste. I am not sure how this seller avoids wet storage taste yet has a tea that has basically cleared and is only four years old. This was just a nice semi sweet ripe puerh. Not entirely sure how to describe the sweet note. Like I said there was very little bitterness. I may have to send the seller an email asking him how he stores his tea and avoids wet storage taste. This is the third wet stored tea of his I have tried and only the first had any wet stored flavor, a spicy note to it. I am definitely thinking of another order from this seller. I’ve been drinking so many ripe that have cleared now I think I actually miss the taste of fermentation. This was a good tea.

I steeped this tea twelve times in a 150ml gaiwan with 10.5g 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. Could have kept going but I am at my caffeine limit for today.

This one I really didn’t like much. It started out ok but weak from the tight compression. Then after several steeps it developed a strong bitterness that never really let go. It also developed notes of leather and tobacco. It just had an unpleasant taste to it in the end.

I steeped this tea twelve times in a 120ml gaiwan with one coin or 10.9g 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 only thing good about this tea was it was cheap.

I am finding myself somewhere in the middle with this tea. It didn’t have any terrible notes, but it also did not have a really positive note to my taste buds, at least not early on. I did put it through twelve steeps. It was noticeably better by the twelfth steep. It had developed something of a sweet note. There was also a background note that I took to be a storage note. It was not prominent but behind the main flavors of the tea. This was also a very thick tea, thicker that most others I have drank. I did not get any qi off of this tea. I think this is an average wet stored semi aged tea. In my understanding it was wet stored although I didn’t find prominent wet storage flavors. Then again I think what Yunnan Sourcing describes as wet stored is only partially wet stored. I don’t think they buy extremely wet stored teas. In the end I neither liked or disliked this tea. I can neither recommend it or not recommend it. It was ok but was not great. Maybe it will age into something better. I let this tea rest for about two months before trying it. Could wet stored flavors have dissipated in my dry storage conditions?

I steeped this tea twelve times in a 120ml gaiwan with 8g 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.

This is a tasty tea. It is my second tea from tea8hk2013 on EBay. I am new to Hong Kong storage. This must have been stored properly because I was able to taste no storage flavors at all. It had also cleared. I did not taste any fermentation flavor in this tea. That is two for two for this seller. There was little if any bitterness to this tea. It had a sweet note throughout all twelve steeps I gave it. It also did not have the thickness usually associated with ripe puerh tea as far as the tea soup goes, much thinner. I guess the thickness in ripe puerh is from the fermentation flavor. Usually in my experience tea that is only eleven years old hasn’t cleared. This has me wondering how long it takes a ripe tea to clear in Hong Kong’s humid environment. The one I drank yesterday was only four years old and had cleared. In a few days I will try the raw tea I bought from this seller and see what the humid storage conditions have done for it. There was no trace of the fermentation of this tea left in it. It had cleared to that degree. I could tell it was ripe tea not raw but it had no more fermentation taste than a raw tea would which is to say none. What really surprises me is there was also no wet storage taste to this at all, no spicy taste, no wet wood, nothing. As to the sweet note in this tea, I really failed to identify it but it was good.

I steeped this tea twelve times in a 120ml gaiwan with 10g 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.

Got this tea the other day from an EBay seller in Hong Kong, tea8hk2013. The first thing that surprised me about this tea was it’s lack of fermentation flavor. This tea had definitely been wet stored to have already cleared as a four year old tea. However, there was only a little of what I have come to understand as wet stored flavor. In this case it was a spicy taste in the first few steepings rather than the taste of wet wood. Another thing that surprised me about this tea was that tea soup was thinner than most ripes. I do believe that they have good storage at this tea store for there were no particularly unpleasant tastes from the storage. This is the first tea that I have tried that was Hong Kong stored except for a Liu Bao from the same seller and one from White2Tea. I have no way to know if this was typical Hong Kong storage or exceptional Hong Kong storage. Back to the tea. There was a fruity note from the beginning with this one. I was unsure of what to call it but the best analogy I can think of is prunes or prune juice without all the thickness mind you. Overall I did like this tea. I have several others to try from the same seller, we shall see if they have similar taste profiles. This one was a different experience for sure. It was also different tasting from another ripe I have drank that had totally cleared, a twenty year old dry stored tea. I’m not sure if I can describe the difference. I’m also not sure which one was superior, the four year old wet stored tea that had cleared or the twenty year old dry stored tea that had cleared. There is very little in this tea to even indicate it is a ripe tea, but it doesn’t taste like a sheng either. I don’t know how to describe it. On another note, there was also really no bitterness to this tea.

I steeped this tea twelve times in a 120ml gaiwan with 11.1g 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. I definitely recommend this tea for someone who wants to try something different from other ripe teas.

Bought this from Amazon to get my order above their free shipping threshold. Bought it mostly to make caffeine free iced tea but am drinking it hot now. It is actually fairly tasty from the various fruits added to it. The flavor from the rooibos takes a backseat to the fruit flavors. It’s hard to pick out any individual fruit flavors, they blend together quite well. I think this will make a great iced tea. This was really cheap too. Only something like $13 for a pound of it. There was no option to buy in smaller quantities however.

I brewed this one time in a 16oz Teavana Glass Perfect Tea Maker/Gravity Steeper with 3 tsp leaf and boiling water for 5 minutes.

Got this in the other day from Yunomi. Made it today as an iced matcha latte with almond milk. I used around 8g of latte mix for about 6oz of water. I added some sugar and added almond milk and ice. It came out quite tasty. It is basically a latte mix made of ground hojicha. They add various ingredients so it is not straight matcha. The main note I get from the tea is the taste of the roasted hojicha, a roasted note. Then of course I taste the unsweetened almond milk without which this would not really be a latte. On the Yunomi website they list this mix as caffeine free. I sent Yunomi an email asking if this could possibly be true and their reply was they really should take that down that it was low in caffeine but not caffeine free. The error is still on their site. In any case this is a good tea and low in caffeine. As my insomnia has been really bad lately I have stopped caffeine for the day after this low caffeine beverage.

I whisked approximately 8g of latte mix with 175 degree water. I added sugar, almond milk and ice to the mix for the iced latte.

This is without a doubt one of the best green teas I have ever had. Global Tea Hut doesn’t send much but what they send is good. I figure I have enough for one more pot of tea. This tea was sweet and creamy in nature with vegetal flavors strictly in the background. It was good. I am not a big drinker of green tea but I would buy this if it were available that is certain. This was just fantastic tea. I didn’t gongfu this I was being lazy. Instead a brewed it twice in a 300ml Kyusu that I got from Japan. I only used 5g of leaf and probably should have used seven. It was a bit weak in the first steep. But I wanted to leave enough tea for another session of this sometime.

I brewed this twice in a 300ml Kyusu Teapot with 5g leaf and 175 degree water. I steeped it for 2 min and 4 min.

Decided to try this sample today, Thank You Teanami for this sample. Overall this was pretty good tea. It was good in a strong, kick your ass sort of way. It was strong and bitter in the early infusions. The bitterness was noticeable and potent for the first six steeps. This is not to say there were no sweet notes but they took a while to develop. As I have heard bitterness is good for aging this one might be one to buy and store for ten years but alas my Pumidor is full and I would have to dry store it.

I steeped this tea twelve times in a 120ml gaiwan with 7.5g 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.