2006 Jin Yu Xuan Nan Nuo Mountain Black Puer Tea Cake

This is quite possibly the best ten year old ripe I have ever had. It started with some bittersweet notes and I would venture to say some notes of chocolate. These notes were fleeting and other notes developed. I would say it developed a dates note by the eighth steep or so. It also evolved into the sweetest and smoothest ripe puer I have ever had. As to qi. I am feeling a little, quite relaxing. Usually I get no qi off of ripe tea but I am getting some. Now to the big question about this tea. The description of the tea says it is from 500 to 800 year old teas. This certainly has the staying power of ancient trees. I am on steep 16 and plan to go back for more. The main question is do I trust the seller. I do believe I trust the seller to be telling the truth on this matter. And every tea he has sold me has been good. I definitely recommend some samples from him if you have not ordered. This is also my most expensive cake purchase. This cost $310 for 400g.

I brewed this 16 times in a 110ml Yixing Teapot with 8.2g 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, 20 sec, 45 sec, 1 min, 1.5 min, 2 min, 2.5 min, 3 min, 3.5 min, and 4 min. The tea wasn’t finished at 16 steeps, will probably go back for more.