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This tea delivers what it promises of a sweet and easy drinking cheap everyday puerh. Smooth but not silky as while it has a pleasant lack of rough edges it does not come close to entering into silky (creamy) territory. I also like how it is the first Puerh Shop private label ripe puerh that is just a simple brick and not the mini bricks that never work out as planned.

This is my first Dancong oolong and the first that I found within the price range that I am willing to pay for oolong. This tea likely needs a second rinse as the first infusion was not that good but the second one was a lot better with a softer and mostly sweeter brew with a slight edge of bitterness that sortof resembles a Wuyi but a bit more floral and sweeter, and while I would not call it honey like myself I can understand why many will describe Dancong as being like honey. The infusions afterword stay the same before they slowly fade away in a way that continues to be enjoyable. So to its credit this tea does a good job at dying well although for the most part it is not one that I am overly impressed with.

The first thing that surprised me about this sample was the lack of bitterness despite the vendor description of it being bitter and strong. Maybe it has mellowed out that much if it was written in 2009 or it may be that my sample came from the hardest bottom center of the cake which is not opening up that much despite repeated brewing. Regardless the end result is a more mild sheng puerh that was nice drinking as a free sample but not one that I have any plans on buying after getting to try it.

Overall I find this a fairly sweet and rounded edged ripe puerh that is overall light in its feel and taste. Overall a good light puerh but I do not think it is worth a few cents short of $30 for a 450g brick, so I am very glad that this is a free sample that I’m drinking.

I only had a small sample of this tea which is less than I normally use for brewing ripe puerh so my review might be a little off. Even with longer brews than normal in a partially filled gaiwan I was not able to experience the thickness described by the vendor but I can say it has a slight hint of silkiness. Although I can say that it is a mellow and sweet as described, but it does have a clean richness to it overall.

I am not sure if this is typical for a wild grown and sun dried puerh as this is anything but bitter, harsh or smoky for its very young age for a sheng puerh. In many ways it reminds me more of a green tea or a green oolong in how it is light, fresh and surprisingly smooth in its taste. This tea also has the strongest energy (or Qi as some call it) that I have ever encountered in a tea to date. So this is not a tea to be drinking at work if you value the ability to think straight and focus as it gives a bit of an airy feel to one’s head after drinking a small amount of it.

I was at work when I tried this. Had I read the description I might have waited until I could be more attentive to the infuzion. That said I may have over steeped this just a little. Luckily I have enough for another tasting so I can revise the note if needed.
As is common with pu’erhs dry leaf has a strong earthy smell, this one more aqautic (“fish, Dave…it smells like fish” is the reply my wife gives whenever I use that term for pu’erhs).Also common to pu’erhs is the dark color that quickly comes during infuse. Wet leaf smells like a pu’erh…
then came the difference. This pu’erh is sweet, like honey sweet. I’ve used the description of toothpaste for this flavor before, that hint of mint sweetness.As a sidenote; wife says I need to brush my teeth more when I drink pu’s, yet I say it taste like toothpaste=hows that work…anyway.
Also in the sweetness is a faint tart, like blueberries that are mostly sweet with a little tart. I detect a little toasty note in there too. There’s alot less earth or wood about this one. I would like to think it would be an ideal beginner pu’. My second steep was a tad astringent, but I chalk it up to being at work and poor steep management. Since I will taste it again I will close this one for now and will revisit soon.
tunes at time of writing-Laura Marling Dharohar Project=Anmol Rishtey/Meheri Rachi/To Darkness-Kripa/Devil’s Spoke-Sneh Ko Marg
Mumford&Sons appeares on. If you like Indian music like Ravi Shankar and Alla Rakha You’ll love it. If you’ve never tried it I encourage you to do so.

Smelling the dry leaf of this tea I thought it to be quite a bit less earthy or aquatic as other pu’erhs I’ve tried. The piece I recieved from Pu’erhshop was more compact than other pu’erhs as well. After rinsing I saw that the color was a strong yellow with a little green. The wet smell sweet. First taste also revealed a very sweet and minty flavor that actually subdued much of the warm earthy flavor that became more prevalent after a few steeps. The earth tone that was present came out more a sandelwood; leather mixed with cedar but less acidic. There was a hint of creaminess and little astringency to speak of, this however increased with cooling of the drink. Afterflavor is very pleasant and minty.
Second steep; astringency has backed off again allowing me to further enjoy the sweeter notes. The complexity has increased in that the warm earth feel tried to push it’s way forward, but the sweet wouldn’t yeild. Now I’m starting to taste the more common woodiness, say of acorns. The astringency rises with time as before, but the minty afterflavor helps to compensate for one who shys from dry drinks. Generally speaking I like this pu’erh, especially since there are no exaggerated complaints of ‘fish smell’ from the peanut gallery in my home. It’s not as good as some of the pu’erhs in my sampler, but I’m starting to see a gravitation toward pu’s.
Note; after a few more steeps the more common wet earth/aqautic flavor showed up,not that it’s a bad thing.

Definitely a very nice clean and refreshing raw pu’erh!

The tea is much sweeter than I anticipated. I found an underlying charcoal smokiness to the liquid, enhanced with roasted vegetal notes- more like olive-oil brushed & grilled asparagus. The jasmine is very muted during the first 3-4 cups, but then there’s the awakening of great synergy in the steepings that follow! What a very nice treat!

The wet leaves are broken large leaves. Nice quality – no noticeable damage or defected leaves. These leaves produce a green amber liquid, with a small amount of bitterness. More medicinal, very dry sensation to the tongue – no moisture. Almost a cottonmouth feeling, then trying to eat salty crakers (this feeling is only on the tongue – not whole mouth) This is a nice characteristic though. Obviously, the only way to counter this, is to have more tea! :)

tunes=Mumford and Sons(yes more Mumford)-White Blank Page/Thistle and Weeds/
Dust Bowl Dance/After the Storm/I Gave You All/Liar.

This is a nice shu pu’erh tea, and stayed full in the mouth, even after multiple steepings. The aroma of the leaves resembles Nori, of which I don’t mind. The liquid is a reddish brown color, even at 10-15secs steepings. I’m not sure that I would steep this one much more than 15secs, however it would probably hold up pretty good against becoming bitter. This tea has a medium boldness – not overbearing. It fit perfectly for my day to give me the extra little Get Up & Go!

The dry leaves have the aroma of steamed sticky rice when you first open the pot. This is not detected in the flavor until after you sip the tea, towards the top back of the throat. I really like how this taste of rice lingers.

After infusion, the smell of the wet leaves are much more similar to a spring bud green tea – certainly vegetal. There may be a real light cucumber undertone. It definitely evolves as you finish the first cup. There is this feeling in the mouth and stomach that leaves you full, as if you just had eaten a piece of sushi – California Roll, maybe?

Even-though there isn’t a noticeable sweetness with this tea, the liquid is smooth and no detection of bitterness. With what I see so far, I’m glad there are many more encounters to come!

Edit:

I want to give props to Tommy the Toad for pointing me to this tea! Great suggestion.

good aroma clean taste without being overpowering i think this will get even smoother with more age a good quality tea.

This was pretty decent, considering the size of the balls. I still prefer cakes to these though

very similar to the 2009 cake tight cake very good flavor. I think I will let this cake age a few years it should be even better.

First, I have no idea what “naturally organic tea leaves” means….as opposed to naturally inorganic? Whatever.

This tea won’t age well, I think. It can not even really make it through five infusions before it is dull and kinda boring. The first couple of steepings are not bad, but it slowly dissipates and turns into something that tastes like decent materials thinned with average leaves.

Not the worst tea or anything, but not that great.

SUPER dark and smooth and delicious! Also got great tasting reviews by my friend who had never drunk pu-erh before, so this is a good choice for an introductory tea. It can make at least 8 good steeps and is really just heavenly. It leaves a wonderful aftertaste and has great qi too.

A wonderful example of nugget puerh at its finest. If a strong mellow taste and a very silky creamy texture sounds good to you than this is a puerh that you will love. If nugget puerh was not so hard to track down in large amounts and expensive from the high demand I would drink this as my everyday tea.

If you like strong puerh than it is important to break up these mini blocks into thinner layers before brewing otherwise one will get weaker infusions. This puerh is on the lighter end of ripe puerh and has a nice smooth taste that is worthy of Puerh Shop’s American Hao label as it good quality that is truly premium tea.

I’ve been wanting to try a raw Tuo cha for years, and the rice aspect seemed so appealing. A special Thank You to AmyOh for sending some my way!

I thought the rice scented tuo cha smelled just like a lightly sweetened rice cake. As it was steeping, I was getting lots of hot steam in my face, and light sweet rice aromas. The wet tea leaves had doubled in height and were still cylindrical. It looked like the inner leaves were striving to break free, but the outer leaves were holding them back. They smelled so aromatic- more smokey, with good sweet rice aromas. As the leaves cooled, the smokiness and sweet rice aromas were more balanced. Still cooler, the sweet rice aromas stepped up and the smoke receded somewhat; until-at their coolest, there were more sweet rice aromas, toastiness, and only light smoke.

The cup is a light yellow, which I found deceiving, because the aroma is much stronger than I expected it would be. Major toasted sweet rice aroma, with lighter smokiness in the cup (as the cup cooled).

Man, this was very tasty! Very sweet, lightly toasted rice-like putting a rice cake in the toaster, and lightly toasting it :)) So smooth on my palate-Aaahhhh toasty rice, with no smokiness detected! I like how it coats and stays (lightly, not too heavy) on my palate, even after the tea is swallowed. After swallowing the tea, I taste a light sweetness-like plain Rice Crispies cereal.

While steeping my second cup (45 seconds at 190), I saw light foam and bubbles, and good rice aroma. After pouring a cup, the wet tea leaves had finally broken free-some were even climbing my tea press trying to escape! “Oh, noo you don’t….I’m not done with you yet!” :)) The wet tea leaves smell even more smokey. As they cool, still quite smokey with faint rice aromas; until even cooler-less smokey & more rice aromas.

The cup is a darker yellow. The rice aroma is apparent, with a mild, lighter smokiness. A toasty aroma is there too-overall, the cup is aromatically lighter. The flavor seems light, until the tea hit the back of my palate. WOW!! Flavors are more smokey and astringent (in a good way) than my first cup, with a lighter rice quality. Tasted even more like a toasty rice cake on the back of my palate, with a full, toasted rice flavor. My best cup yet! :))

Am I the only one who swirls and swishes the tea around & ‘round my mouth to intensify the taste & flavors of the tea?!? I also inhale oxygen into my mouth. What can I say? It helps me enhance the taste and flavors of the tea. :)) If you dare….or care…to read on, there’s more to come later. I’m not done with you yet! Well, some of you anyway.

In my third cup (45 seconds at 195), it appears that some of the smaller leaves did escape into my cup on the pour. Actually, I remember reading or hearing that if some leaves end up in your cup, it’s OK to leave them there. Oh…….when my friend Elise was in China, the Chinese would leave them in their cups. She said they left them there because it added to the overall tea experience.

The tea liqour continues to darken and the smokey aroma continues. Leaves still possess smokey/toasty aromas, with the rice character waning, cooling to reveal less smoke and more fruit (lemon fresh?). I’m also getting that fresh “distant, grass in the air” aroma. On my palate, there is less smoke, but a greater toasty/nutty astringency.

Boiling water for 2:15, reveals leaves that STILL smell of smoke and nuts, that also exhibit the fresh quality of the third cup. The flavors are fading, but still retain a good tangy green quality.

Thanks again Amy for broadening my tea experience with this delicious tea! I love teas like this where each steep reveals different qualities and flavors of the tea. :)) I’ll just have to remember to Gongfu teas on the weekends when I have more time.

I always remember my Grandma (Dad’s mom) on her birthday. She was very kind, caring and loving. She liked coffee with her fish. She was a great cook. Before we would leave on our journey home, she always baked fried apple pies special for me, because she knew I liked them so much. I always hated goodbyes (still do), but the pies would help a little. So tonight, I will have a cup of coffee, and think of her and all of the fond memories, filled with the good times we shared. :))

Cupped & Reviewed: Thursday, May 17, 2012.

Another offering from Tommy and thus cashing all my swaps with her. I think that the Menghai pu-erh tea is some the best quality pu-erh that I have tried. This is another great offering like the 2006 V8. It really has the same nose and smoothness that the v8 has but just makes a little bit less cups. I would say one ball makes about 16oz of steepage. So it’s perfect for the cup that I’ve had going on 11years I think. It has some fame to it because when I couldn’t find it for a while my former roommate said “you can’t find the holy grail?” I used to drink my coffee from it everyday when we lived together. Luckily it was found and I’ve been enjoying this tea in it. Again 6 good steeps so far. Thanks again Tommy.

Tonight I brewed this milder than before and I’m now picking up on some sweetness that wasn’t there before. I’ll have to see how many re-steepings I can get out of it and see how the flavor changes.