2011 Lucky Brand Pu-erh Tea for Export to Russia

This is the best packaged loose puerh that I’ve seen to date. Instead of the typical foil or plastic bag of the loose tea inside the box I was pleasantly surprised to find a paper bag instead. So in other words this 2011 ripe puerh has already had the chance to air out and is ready to drink now instead of a year from now after being opened. Overall this is a lot better than one would expect for its price range, the puerh is malty with a slight earthy edge but not earthy enough to have the companion sweetness that often goes with it. Reminds me of the early cheap puerh that made me fall in love with puerh but at a fraction of what I was paying for it back then.

This is a relatively nice tea for the price. There were some wet storage notes during the first two infusions, they were not strong. There was very little bitterness to this tea. A sweet note did develop to this tea. Considering what I paid I am happy with this tea. It’s by no means incredible but decent for the price.

I steeped this 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, 20sec, 25 sec, 30 sec, 45 sec, 1 min, 1.5 min, and 2 min. I could have gotten a few more steeps out of the leaves.