From the Sheng Olympics.
There’s been a lot of buzz lately about this tea, but after tasting it, I have to conclude that the buzz is mostly about the buzz. Sorry, I know this is steepster rather than punster but I couldn’t resist. The cha qi is amazing. I rate puerh according to taste and cha qi and this one got a 100 for cha qi. The taste, however, didn’t excite me.
The taste is mostly a mix of straw and leather, starting out mostly straw but ending with leather. In the middle steeps it began to be astringent, with a bit of ashes in the taste. By the 6th steep, the taste was dominated by the astringency, and 25 minutes after I finished, my mouth was still puckered. It was an interesting tea, but not one I would invest in, since I have a few other teas with comparable cha qi whose taste I enjoy more.
BTW: I liked the 2007 version much better, so it is possible this is just going through an awkward stage.
same hah