2018 Yunnan Sourcing "Year of the Dog Blue Label" Ripe Pu-erh

I agree with RichD: sweet, simple & smooth. A good daily drinker.

This is mostly fruity shou with a little bit of an aged character already. It reminds me a bit of Menghai V93, but with less wet-pile taste. The taste is quite balanced – tart and savoury with a nice bitterness and mild sweetness that accentuates in later steeps. It is a smooth and crisp tea. I can also see what Scott means by the spearmint-like cooling sensation. You can really feel it especially in the back of the mouth.

I found notes of hot apple, raspberry, cherry and cocoa, but this is not a complex tea. Mouthfeel is mostly oily and a little lubricating.

For someone who wants a fruity shou that’s ready for casual drinking, this is a pretty good choice. However, it is not as interesting as some other recent YS ripe productions.

I’ve ordered samples of all of Scott’s 2018 ripes (five have been released so far this year). I will try to review them all. I tried Lucy a while back (and reviewed it), and it was very good. This one is also very good, but it is a different style than is typical. I’d say its defining characteristics are sweet and simple. It is pretty smooth with almost no astringency/bitterness. It is not very complex, but it has a very unique flavor. It has a sweetness I associate with lao cha tou (ripe nuggets). It has a nice feel and good flavor, and solid qi; the sweet is front and center, with burnt coffee and a hint of chocolate in the background. I don’t think I’d reach for this very often, but I will definitely get a cake or two. I bet it will age very nicely, and will be very smooth and straightforward.