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Blind bought a cake of this because BULAAANG! It’s pretty nice, and a good price for what it is. Leaf smells smoky and a little bit floral. The first two steeps feature a pretty prominent campfire smoky note and a plummy fruitiness. Baking spices mingle with the plum note as well. It is decently thick in body. The flavor becomes sharper and a little astringent in the next few steeps, though the smoke dies down here. The tea produces a very notable throat feeling for a few steeps – like the feeling when you have phlegm in the back of your throat, but you can’t cough it up sorta. These steeps are all intense, punchy, strong in flavor.

Around steep 5 or 6, the fruit note morphs into a cherry flavor and the tea picks up a slight wood note. It also loses a good bit of strength and body, a trend which continues through to the end of the session, around 11 steeps.

9 Years of age has done much to soften what must have been a kick-you-in-the-teeth kind of tea in its youth, but this still has a good bit of bite to it. I attribute this to its Bulang character and the small material. It gets going quickly, brews strong and hard for a half dozen steeps, and then starts to peter out. Good for when you don’t want an epic-length session but want a tea with a bit of age on it. Not regretting the cake purchase at all.