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9 years in and it’s still really in your face!

pulled this out of the cupboard last night (a little too late last night) … 5 grams in the tiny white gaiwan and wow! smooth, subtle, interesting after many, many steeps – just couldn’t stop brewing it, one little cup at a time. Didn’t get much sleep but it was worth it. The only word that comes to mind is beguiling

Haven’t drunk this in years. Was looking through my stash for something to brew tonight and settled on this mushroom. I hadn’t remembered it as something particularly good. But tonight I brewed it up and noticed a very high level of phenols – distinct flavor of vanilla which was deliciously smooth and calming.

Holding up really well even though my storage is way too dry. I’ve had it for many years and have about 1/3 of the brick left. Smells and tastes delicious, creamy – everything I want in a ripe puerh

Drinking this tea after well over a year or more of having tasted it before. Much less smokey … as a matter of fact, hardly at all. Nice, smooth, not bitter, herby, soothing mouthfeel – very pleasant and very much changed from it’s former campfire-like smokey profile.

Snake Red is an in-your-face, powerful shou. At first it was overly smokey but now, over three years later it’s lost its harshness, smoothed out and the smoke has mellowed into a tongue tingling sensation that really lingers. Deep, dark, complex, delicious and I think it’s still got a ways to go on its developmental journey. So glad I have another cake stashed away!

Just finished this little cake; I think it was the first I ordered from Yunnan Sourcing. At the time I didn’t have much to compare it to. But since then I have drunk a lot of shou pu. This tea is outstanding, rich, viscous, deep delicious with a little tingle on the tongue. Sorry to see it go.

Immortal Monkey, may you live forever! There are many teas on steepster that have gotten rave reviews of 95 or higher and yet they do not stand up to the refinement and sophistication of this tea. With the active mouthfeel of raw, with the richness of ripe – and definite potential for future deliciousness, this tea outstrips the appeal of – let’s say – phatty cake – with it’s heft, smoke, leather and in your faceness – by a more subtle seductive, mysterious, come hither allure.
Taste and smell absolutely no “fishy-ness” or fermentation flavor what-so-ever. In style it reminds me of some of the 2012 smaller leaf lesser fermented Dayi cakes 0532 and 7632. Granted, I reviewed the 7632 with some sketicism, having fallen in love with the brown sugary deliciousness of 2012 Yongde Blue. But my palette has come to appreciate more subtle brews that defy description – where you really can’t define what exactly is so wonderful – while knowing they are. This kind of tea pulls you into the meditative realm where flavor, sensation and mystery meet.

This is the first real 357 gm cake I ever bought with the exception of cheap chinatown fake cnnp cakes. I found it downstairs at Kam Man Market on Canal Street in New York City’s Chinatown and paid $16.95 for it. Really lucked out with this one and most of the way through my first cake with another recently purchased, last one in the store waiting in the wings. It’s rich, smooth, clear, sweet and has smoothed out quite a bit from the first time I tasted it about 3 years ago. It was delicious then too, but more in your face (which I liked a lot). The taste is very integrated now with nothing in particular sticking out and stands up to large water to tea ratio as well as long steeps. I just managed to find a picture and the “8854” online as I had never seen it anywhere before except in the store I bought it in so I decided to post and review it. With the benefit of hindsight and many ripe cakes to compare it to, it’s a wonderfully delicious brew and a bargain.