This was a nice shou. I agree with the statement camphor and dark cocoa to this tea. There was also a spicy note under the tongue. And there was a sweet note too but the camphor was the strongest note. This was actually good as I have come to not mind camphor and somewhat like it. At one point I couldn’t stand a tea with notes of camphor. There was also a fair amount of fermentation flavor that I noticed for four or five steeps.
I brewed this twelve times in a 150ml gaiwan with 11g 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, 20 sec, 25 sec, 30 sec, 45 sec, 1 min, 1.5 min, and 2 min. The tea is still quite dark at twelve steeps. I’m sure this would go at least four or five more steeps if I hadn’t hit my caffeine limit. This is definitely a long lasting shou puerh tea.
Flavors: Camphor, Earth, Spices, Sweet
This sounds nice to buy for the next winter. I like those cocoa notes and camphor combined.