Here’s to my third YQH sample. I will admit that receiving these as gifts make it so much easier to review because if I had paid for them I would feel more obligated to make myself enjoy the tea rather then go through 16 to 20 steeps and just spill my thoughts on here with no regret.
Knowing that this is a blend, I know that I won’t be getting 100% of what someone else got but I do know that I will still be tasting the majority of the same notes. Leaf was easy to separate after a quick rinse (I do this so it is all opened within 8 minutes of sitting). Since this isn’t in the middle range of color, I have to assign a number for a darkness: I would say this is around a 7 to 8 out of 10 concerning darkness of a raw pu’erh That to me normally means levels of depth within the liquid as well as a more syrupy lingering in my mouth. Most of the raw I’ve had from the 80s, 90s, and 00s follow this assumption I assigned. Unfortunately, this tea only has the longevity of around 27 seconds after a sip. However, after the fifth steep it stays rather consistent which is nice because at steep 10 you are not losing the flavor profile that steep 6 had.
I was really hoping for a stronger feel as well as a lingering taste or tingle in my mouth. It has the taste of a 00s tea for sure, but I’ve had better and I don’t really want to compare prices because I feel as if this tea would only improve over a decent 5+ years according to my taste preference; which leans towards young rather than old. As this was my Easter treat, it kind of let me down because it went down and its mark was gone before 30 seconds had passed. Wait about a minute of a decent sip and you notice a bit of flatness to it that you wouldn’t get from a tea that has tingle feel or syrup like layer left in your mouth.
Awesome review