Matu Send Message

I got a sample of this from a TU order a while back. It is a bit of a mean one. The dry leaves have an innocent enough sweet/floral aroma, but after a rinse, the scent is more savory with a touch of smoke.

My session with this one did not go so well. I don’t think I brewed it the best way I could’ve, as it was a bitter and slightly astringent bomb that wreaked havoc on my gut. Flavor was bitter with some honey and slight fruitiness – light smoke in the first few infusions. The mouth feel from this was quite tingly. I’m going to have to give this another try with a full stomach and more respect. It is definitely one that needs some more age, and I can’t imagine drinking it fresh.

I very rarely have any problems with tea making me feel unwell, but this one just kicked me in the gut and then bludgeoned me over the head while I was bent over. Qi was intense in the head and upper torso – had to take a couple breaks along the way. Perhaps one to drink more slowly.

I have had a sample of this one laying around since perhaps my first YS order. I just got around to trying it somehow. After rinsing, the leaves had quite a sweet aroma, like woody marshmallows. The flavor was also rather sweet, but I didn’t find it to be particularly strong. Good body and thickness to the liquor. Woody earthiness and a bit of chocolate on the finish.

Pulled a session’s worth of this maocha out of the Puerh TTB when it came through last. I was not part of the W2T Teaclub when this one came. The dry leaf had a soft and green sweetness to the aroma – after a rinse, it smelled more like wet corn and alfalfa, with a sour undercurrent.

The flavor of this one was beany and vegetal – very sweet. There is a relatively small amount of bitterness, mostly in the front of the palate. As the session went on, the flavor turned extremely floral, and some astringency built up as well. When I spilled some of the liquid on my tea tray, I was surprised by how sticky it was – almost more like juice. Very sugary young tea.

Between teas like this one and White2Tea’s Brown Sugar, I don’t know why anybody makes Huangpian into sheng. Of course, that’s just my personal taste talking, but I really think it does better as shou than sheng.

Iron Forge is very much a woody shou, with some other “foresty” or petrichor notes going on as well. Longevity was middle of the road for shou, I’d say.

Good tea, but I likely won’t pick up a brick. I seem to slightly prefer w2t’s Brown Sugar in terms of my huangpian shou – though I would by no means be sad if I somehow did end up with a brick of Iron Forge too…

I bought a sample of this tea, though I came very close to blindly caking it for the awesome wrapper. I haven’t taken detailed notes on it, but I think I’m probably going to buy a cake of it today (Black Friday). It’s got some nice spinachy vegetal notes, a bit of bitterness. Good body and a relaxing qi. One of the most notable characteristics of it is a unique huigan that reminds me more of what I’m used to from gaoshan oolongs than from sheng puerh. It is a pretty high and floral creamy finish. I’m very interested in seeing how the cake will age, so I might hang onto it for a long time if I can avoid drinking it all quickly.

Being a fan of Bulang puerh, I figured this would be a good black tea for me to try out; I was right. This one seemed to have a bit more body and depth of flavor than most hong that I drink. Slight bitterness if pushed, but mostly malty and sweet flavors – a bit of caramel and some kind of dried fruit, maybe raisins. I wonder how much my impression was colored by the word “Bulang” in the name, as I equate that with a more bold and burly style of puerh.

This was definitely a good black tea, but I likely won’t buy more of it – just because black tea isn’t something I drink much of generally.

Picked up a cake of this from YS in a recent order as I’m rediscovering an appreciation for shou lately and had very little on hand. This one seems very good for the price, though really not anything special otherwise. There’s still some fermentation flavor left to it, but it’s not gross or fishy, and I suspect it’s less intense than people were mentioning in earlier reviews.

This one was simple and straightforward to me. Woody sweetness with a bit of a vanilla character to it. Decent body. It doesn’t brew up quite as jet black as most shou at my normal parameters. I’ll have to try super-leafing it sometime and see what I get. It’s definitely one which will fulfill my needs – just something simple and tasty when I want to have puerh without having a really focused session or anything like that.

Had a sample of this one from last Black Friday order. I found it to be a pretty nice shou. It steeps out a little bit quicker than some that I drink, but not as quickly as, say, a gongting shou blend. I did get a slight bitterness when I pushed it, but only slightly greater than most other ripes I’ve tried. In the early steeps, I sometimes picked up a bit of a raisin flavor. For the most part, this one was the sort of woody flavor you might expect from shou. Less sweet, more robust. A good shou, but I don’t think I’ll be caking it.

I only had one session of this tea, out of the TTB which came through recently. My session was relatively enjoyable, though the tea didn’t impress me a whole lot. the tea smelled a little generically “sheng-y” with some sweet, greenish notes. The flavor was mostly vegetal, with maybe slight floral notes. I found it a little bit weak and just a touch boring. It was best when I started pushing it and some of that Wild Arbor bitterness began pushing its way to the fore. If I had a full sample of this one, I definitely would have tried to push it the whole time, maybe even overleaf it.

Alas, I just had the one session, so I won’t get to try that unless I order my own sample. All I can conclude is that, in my opinion, this tea should be treated with a heavy hand for best results. If that bitterness is prominent enough, it could make for a cake that will age rather well.

Had a sample of this one, which is now sold out. It was a good shou, but not really a standout for me. Wasn’t particularly funky. It had nice, slightly damp woody notes for the most part, with a bit of a creamy texture and sweetness. I could smell a bit of raisin on the gaiwan lid when I was brewing it out, but that never really came through in the flavor for me. Comforting and pleasant morning brew – can’t really go wrong with it.