2011 MGH 1108 Mangku Ripe Pu-erh Tea Brick

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.

The Shu was rather interesting. It had a very mild duiwei. I usually like my ripe puerhs to have a far stronger aroma, but I thought I’d take a chance with this one.

After the initial wash, I took notice that the leaves gave off quite the pleasant aroma. I was quickly captivated by this puerh. The first brew was a rather light golden brown color and also had a very light earthy flavor, even woodiness to it. The second was a bit bolder of a flavor, still retaining a bit of astringency to it, but not necessarily in a negative way. I found the third brew to be the best. There was just a perfect balance between flavor, color, and aroma. The later infusion were still great, up to about the 6th brew. Then the intensity of flavor began to fade quickly. I maxed out the tea at about 10 steeps.

I actually like this Pu quite a bit, and I will be looking forward to trying it again in a few months.