Xingyang 1998 Golden Leaf Pu'er

Tea type
Pu'erh Tea
Ingredients
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Flavors
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Caffeine
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Edit tea info Last updated by David Duckler
Average preparation
Boiling 0 min, 45 sec 8 g 3 oz / 100 ml

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34 Tasting Notes View all

From Verdant Tea

Xingyang Workshop is a tiny artisan production known for extremely clean and sparkling flavor. Their tea is differentiated by the unique style of fermentation. Instead of fermenting the tea in big wet piles for a short period of time, the tea is spread out in smaller heaps and allowed to dry completely during fermentation, which inhibits the rapid growth of cultures. Then, the tea is allowed to sit dry and loose for several months to a year before being packaged. The result is a complete lack of of sour, murky or heavy taste that so many shu pu’ers have.

The 1998 Xingyang is a true tea lover’s tea. It evokes the smells and feeling of being surrounded by books in an ancient library, yet it is not musty in a dirty way like many older pu’ers. The mustiness takes the mouthfeel of an enveloping vapor. The aftertaste is perfectly sweet and lingers for hours. As this tea steeps on. (30 or more steepings can easily be had) a bright vegetal taste emerges, which plays with the sweet aftertaste. The smell is deep, like wet ocean sand.

Despite its age, this tea is incredibly accessible due to its sweet and sparkling taste. It appeals to anyone who is interested in tea as an experience that goes beyond the beverage. In friendly competition with other tea hunters, this Xingyang has outpaced teas from the 50’s and 60’s in terms of complexity. See what all the fuss is about and try some for yourself.

http://verdanttea.com/shop/puer-teas/xingyang-1998-golden-leaf-puer/

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34 Tasting Notes

100
3294 tasting notes

I drink different teas for different reasons.
In the morning I tend to drink bold & rich black teas.
Sometimes I want something green & fresh, sometimes I want something floral or roasty.
Sometimes I want something sweet & flavored like a dessert.
Other times I want an experience, not a flavor. A feeling of introspection, a feeling of ‘this moment’. The feeling of qi flowing through me…
That’s when I turn to this Shu. I love this tea! It is like a revelation every time I drink it. The leaves just keep giving, & I’m certain I’ll continue steeping them tomorrow. It’s not a dessert tea, it is a tea for the moment. It is a tea for all eternity.

Spencer

This sounds amazing! I love that experience (teadrunk?), and aged shou is what provides it for me, too.

Terri HarpLady

I tend to get it more from shengs than shu’s, but the chaqi in this tea is amazing! Every time I drink it, it blows my mind! :D

Spencer

Definitely adding this to my shopping list. Thanks for the recommendation!

Bonnie

Amen sistah! I still have a stash left myself. Need to drink some!

Terri HarpLady

I know it’s probably not possible, but I sincerely hope David encounters more of this, because I’d buy it in a heartbeat. I think its one of those puers that people would invest fortunes in!

Spencer

A fourteen year is a tremendous find. Was it pricey, when it was available?

Bonnie

Not really. You were able to buy smaller quantities which is how I began. Verdant had this puer for a long time.

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100
294 tasting notes

I had to try this Shu first. I may be at a loss for words but I know I’m going to ramble. The dry leaf to my German Shepard nose had little or no scent. My spider sense told me to rinse it and I am glad I did. The rinse was a dark, murky brew with sediment. The first brew was rich and complex. Not too earthy. Smooth. A few sips and I feel an incredible tea high creeping up. I am tasting the ancient library. It is by far the best Pu-ehr I have had. Perhaps the best tea period. A great tea on this dreary autumn day. As I look out my window to my backyard I see statues of The Virgin Mother, Her Son Jesus, and Buddha { A gravestone for my beloved Akita }. The leaves and Long Needle Pine cover the cold ground as they do every year. This tea is for today. It make you stop and look at the chrysanthemums and truly enjoy life. I am having a heightened awareness to my surroundings. A squirrel was burying something under the Monkey Puzzle Tree with such care. I thought of where this tea came from. The Good Earth. The people who nurtured it. Where was I ? Did I mention the second steeping ? I used less water in the Yixing. It was darker. A burnt orange brown. Flavor, you can only imagine. When I was making the third pot I noticed the leaves looked like they had 30 steepings left. Although I do not drink wine, I can only guess it’s like opening a bottle of vintage Chateau Margaux. My third steeping I used more water with a longer steeping time. A wonderful infusion. Lighter. It looks like I may not leave the house for a while. As I am drinking this I’m listening to Tom Waits " Last Leaf On The Tree". This tea has provided me with a beautiful experiance. At one point I was getting chills. A energy I have never had before. At another point I felt like crying because the tea was so great. I will cry if I cannot get more….

Charles Thomas Draper

It’s Heaven and Earth.

Geoffrey

So you’ve found this… What great fortune for you, Charles. It is indeed the height and the depth of what tea can be. I myself do not have a single word to add, but here is a little something from Han Shan via Gary Snyder:

On top of Cold Mountain the lone round moon
Lights the whole clear cloudless sky.
Honor this priceless natural treasure
Concealed in five shadows, sunk deep in the flesh.

Charles Thomas Draper

Geoffrey, it’s that good….

Jim Marks

I just got that Tom Waits album yesterday and haven’t gotten to that track yet.

I’m supposed to be saving money to cover landscaping costs and holiday traveling but you guys are making me want to buy lots of tea.

Is this the oldest vintage you’ve had?

TeaBrat

I will have to try this on my next Verdant order.

Charles Thomas Draper

@Jim, yes this is the oldest vintage. And I too am buying a ton of tea. And loving it all. I bought the 1998 after the first steep. @Amy, I think I would recommend it….

Jim Marks

I’ve purchased this one twice: http://camellia-sinensis.com/tea/fiche/?id=Pu+Er+1996+Chung+Cha and that’s the oldest one I’ve had at home to steep correctly, but I actually enjoyed this one quite a bit more: http://camellia-sinensis.com/tea/fiche/?id=Pu+Er+2002+Naka+%28Lahu%29 really unique and fascinating flavors.

I had a 1978 in a restaurant, but it was wasted because nothing that gave me to make it was remotely correct and it just tasted like nothing.

Charles Thomas Draper

Thank you Jim. I bookmarked the page. Now for further adventures….

Charles Thomas Draper

@ Jim, both teas that you suggested were sold out. I must admit they have some very interesting selections….

Jim Marks

Sorry, those weren’t intended as recommendations, just discussion of old vintages.

Charles Thomas Draper

Would you recommend buying from them?

Jim Marks

The vendor is fantastic, yes.

Asaf Mazar

Definitely a deep psychoactive experience with this one. Something in the vaporous quality of it. Its like a fossil fuel with deep condensed energy

Terri HarpLady

I love this tea. I was lucky to purchase some while it was still available, & it is the best Shu I’ve ever had, an amazing experience, definitely reserved for days when I have nowhere to go & nothing to do but relax & enjoy being present.

Charles Thomas Draper

Terri I bought a whole tin of it and then some….

Terri HarpLady

I would have bought a tin if they’d had any left, but the tins were gone, so I bought the last of what they had :)

Bonnie

This is my best experience thus far also. I fear that I’m on the edge of becoming Gollum with his “Precious”. No other tea has been as curiously mystical.

Terri HarpLady

Good to see you here Bonnie! :)
Funny you should mention Gollum, LOL, because I’ve been re-reading the Hobbit (again) & just read that chapter a few nights ago!
This is definitely the best Shu I’ve ever had, oops, I already said that, but it bears repeating!

Charles Thomas Draper

Maybe the best Shu. Sheng are a whole other world….

Terri HarpLady

Yes they are!

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100
676 tasting notes

Thank you David Duckler for this great Sample!

Attempting to review this Pu’er is like me auditioning for “So You Think You Can Dance”!

All the equipment I used was glass…pot, cup etc. I used spring water, made sure not to eat first, no perfumes or lipstick, just everything clean! Steeping time 2-3 minutes.
I recorded 3 infusions but this 1 tsp to 4oz water method can go 12 infusions (gulp)!

The Pu’er is so intense that I felt like I was in an old movie and this is how I am going to discribe the experience, in scenes.
The color of the Pu’er liquor remained a beautiful shimmering light gold.

Scene (steep) 1. If you picture an old movie set…a cloak and dagger type by Agatha Christy then I’m the old lady in the library and a gentleman (David Duckler) has handed me a glass with a golden liquid. He disappears.
Unaffraid (or stupid) I take a sip of the liquid…it reminds me of linen…and my grandmama’s attic long ago…when I would sneak vanilla wafers. I can smell the vanilla far off down in the kitchen. My tongue tingles. My tongue feels quite furry and I taste earthiness with the sensation that I’m about to be buried in a cave. I feel different. Is the golden statue in the corner of the room watching me?

Scene 2. The earthy flavor makes me feel like a Greek goddess…yes…like I have taken a big bite out of Corfu! Corfu tastes really good, not muddy whatever and salty! Wait now, put your nose in the cup and there’s coffee toffee latte! BREATHE DEEPLY! INHALE!
I need my fan! I need my lounge chair and a nap! My mouth is tingling and juicy and where is everyone? This is not natural! The room is askew!

Scene 3. Must have dozed off. My cup refilled itself…peculiar. A hand, leather gloved and looking like Geoffrey’s hand, has slipped some more golden liquor into my glass. It smells faintly like a fruit…pineapple? A flower perhaps? My tongue tingles like fire and then turns into a silky creaminess. NO! It almost tastes like coconut water and earth.
My desire to be or do anything else has disappeared like a vapor.
Have I been drugged? The elixer is too enjoyable to resist.
Where is David Duckler and Geoffrey to tell me what to do next. I must have more!

This was all in fun…I loved this Pu’er! I hope you don’t mind my playful attitude!

To Sum it up:
Sweet, Tingles, Salt, Linen, Earthy, Pineapple, Creamy/Silky, Vanilla Cookie, Coffee Toffee Latte, Coconut Water, Some Flower, Furry, Cave, Higher than a Kite!

I give this Pu’er…a standing ovation. It is fantastic and mystical. Thank you to David for the opportunity to drink this Pu’er!
http://youtu.be/21NCH2sPlhc You’ll never guess!

Geoffrey

awesome.

Bonnie

Glad you’re not mad!

Azzrian

AWESOME review! Just amazing! :)

ashmanra

Now I want to listen to “The Friends of Mr. Cairo” by Jon and Vangelis. Geat review!

Autumn Hearth

Wonderful! I need a second session with this tea before I review it. I had it after Two Elephants Tea Trail, which was a lot more intense. After the first three infusions I just didn’t feel like I could listen closely enough, though I could tell it was really lovely.

David Duckler

Perfect review for a tea like this. I have never had this with friends without the conversation immediately moving towards the fantastic the surreal and the realm of memory. There is a realm of tea that is only accesible through those darker and more obscured channels, the realm of tea that can be profoundly moving. This one belongs squarely in that realm. (Also- I am happy to play the gentleman in this scene)

Your steeping is right in line with Xingyang Workshops recommendations. The tea is a totally different experience worth trying at some point done in a gaiwan or yixing with shorter 5-10 second infusions, limiting to 4-5 ounces of water. Not as rich and grounded, but more lunar and sparkling.

Bonnie

Thank you! I almost trashed this review fearing that I would offend the purist tea lovers! Something about this Pu’er takes you over though. I will try the other method…maybe not by myself!

Bonnie

Yes I fixed something here and I didn’t think it was going to put it up at the top, but it did. Crying out loud! I thought the boys in the think tank fixed this.

Claire

My first time seeing this, I LOVE this review Bonnie!

Terri HarpLady

It really is an awesome tea, and now I wish I’d bought (even) more of it. This is a tea I want to drink for years!

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30 tasting notes

I thought I would share my first experiences with this tea that I am pleased to see so many others enjoying as much as I do. I first came into contact with it through Wang Shilin, a middle-aged man with the coolest black 1950’s glasses. (Though I am not sure that they were meant to be hip particularly). Wang Shilin represented Xingyang Workshops offerings in the city of Qingdao, near Laoshan Mountain where I source my green teas and the Laoshan black.

I first came across him on a search for a brick of old Yabao tea to give to my wife for Christmas. He was the only guy in Qingdao who even know what Yabao was, as it isn’t normally seen outside of Yunnan. We drank tea together all day, starting with a white tea brick from Xingyang workshop, and moving into pu’er. He didn’t realize until later in the day how interested in pu’er I was. He was so excited to see a younger person drinking pu’er. He was lamenting over how so many young people in China drink cola or coffee with milk.

It wasn’t until we had become friends and I was on my way out that he looked sort of shiftily around and pulled out a little paper bag of pu’er leaves. He asked me to try it at home and come back next week to talk again. You could tell that this tea was one of his secrets. I knew that he was extremely proud of it.

Of course, I went right home and tried the tea- I won’t even try to describe it. It was hard enough to write a description for the website without going on tangents about memory, childhood, spiritual experience, etc. This is just one of those teas. You can’t help but be moved by it. Every time I brew it at a tasting, everyone starts talking about Grandma’s attic, or that time when they went to Maine, or the library of their old school.

I waited three days (that is the rule for second dates, right?) before rushing back to Wang Shilin’s shop and telling him all about the tea. He had the expression on his face of knowing exactly what I was going to say, and feeling satisfied to hear it out loud. He brewed it up for me again, explaining how different Xingyang is. The tea liquor was perfectly crystalline, he pointed out. Many old pu’er may get more complex, but they can also get murkier over time. Xingyang’s does not.

Honestly, having two, dwindling tins of this tea on my shelf at home was a big impetus in going into business. Now that I am back in touch with my tea friends, I am assured access to my beloved Xingyang 1998.

I must say though, I was only able to get 30 tins, or six pounds of this total in my last shipment and it was pretty hard to convence Xingyang to part with it. This tea may soon be a memory itself…

Charles Thomas Draper

I get chills reading about this tea. I get chills thinking about this tea….

Charles Thomas Draper

I see you have a 100 gram tin. Hmmm

David Duckler

Yes- Xingyang sends this tea in tins, as they don’t want any leaves broken in shipping from China. The tea is in a paper bag with their logo on it, sealed in a pretty attractive looking black tin, and packaged from there in a beautiful box. It is definitely the way to go if you plan on having this tea around for a while. There is just something special about reaching into a tin with characters and tea motifs on it.

By the way, I know what you mean about getting chills over this stuff. People may laugh at us, but then again, they probably haven’t tried the Xingyang 1998 yet.

TeaBrat

does pu-erh tea ever get stale? I would imagine not…

David Duckler

GOOD pu’er only gets better with age. Some low quality pu’er falls apart or composts over several decades, but tea like the Xingyang gets more complex, more sweet, and more smooth with age. Sheng pu’er changes the most dramatically. It is fun to get a brick of something you like and try it once or twice a year, keeping notes. They change in an intriguing way. I have a brick of the Yiwu from 1997, and it is hands down THE best taste sensation I have ever experienced.

David Duckler

Just be sure to store your pu’er away from strong spices or smells, or excess moisture. Those are the only things that can be detrimental. A cardboard box works well because it keeps out dust and moisture but allows airflow.

Charles Thomas Draper

I would love to try the 97….

Nathaniel Gruber

Love this! I have a 100 gram tin of this from David, and I am concerned over it lasting the rest of my life. Despite the cost, I am going to need to buy another 2-3 tins of this stuff. It is hands down my favorite tea and I will kick myself forever if I run out of it a few years down the road.

Charles Thomas Draper

Nathaniel I agree….

Autumn Hearth

David, thank you so much for including this as a sample, my package just arrived. I had to restrain myself for ordering all the shu (budget does not allow for that right now) but had to pull the trigger on the outgoing and incoming offerings. I’m looking forward to all the new harvests this year and I already know I will be ordering the corn toucha in the summer (the rest of the pu’er and some of the alchemy blends I will save for the winter, except yabao, I have decided yabao needs to be in the house at all times) My co-workers have asked me to bring it in on my last day, today, at Teavana and several of them are planning on ordering from Verdant. I’m definitely asking for a tea subscription for my birthday. You’ve earned a customer for life and if I ever open a local tea bar your teas will definitely be featured. Thanks for all that you do. Blessings, Autumn

David Duckler

Dear Autumn, Thank you so much for the kind words. It makes my day to know how much you are enjoying the teas. I am also pleased that you are excited to try the Xingyang 1998. I wish you the best as you embark on your new adventures. May your last day at Teavana bring many new first days for you! Best Wishes,
David

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93
2816 tasting notes

I have to say that lately I’ve been thinking about the psychology of tea cups and this has led me to an interesting observation with this tea today.

Side by side I am comparing the taste in a glass mug vs. a japanese cast iron teacup. The tea I am drinking out of the tea cup (it’s black) tasted darker than the tea I’m drinking out of the glass mug. I am a kook.

Anyway it is back to the glass mug for now. This is a lovely light amber color now. I don’t believe I have ever had a golden leaf shu before and I am in for a real treat. This is another tea which is nothing like the traditonal pu-erhs I’ve had in the past. It is much lighter in color and has quite a delicate flavor. I feel I need to sit down and really appreciate it rather than just slopping some tea in a mug.

This reminds me ever so slightly of kombucha or cider which I attribute to the fermentation (and kombucha is made from tea, after all). But no sourness is present here, just a nice minerality combined with a rich beautifully aged tea. I am getting sandalwood and earth. I kind of wish I had not read Verdant’s notes on this tea before drinking it but I am reminded also of a swimming hole deep in the woods somewhere but with natural and clean water. Very surprising for a pu-erh. I will be eager and happy to try anything else that comes out of the Xingyang workshop!

Preparation
Boiling 2 min, 0 sec
Ninavampi

Psychology of tea… I love the way tastes and enjoyment can be influenced so much by external and internal factors. I feel that my mood also influences how much I like or dislike a tea. I am going to have to dry a dark colored tea cup to see what happens… : )

TeaBrat

Lately I have been very fond of the glass mug, I like to see the color of the tea I am drinking. :)

Ninavampi

Same! I love my glass teacup! Yay for double walled bodum!

ScottTeaMan

I’ve been enjoying glass as well, but I can’t seem to find my Jenaer Glass cup/saucer. I love it. Very high quality German glass company. Mine is older and was manufactured in Germany, but now the glass is made in Germany & molded in Romania I think. So it is not 100% German crafted unless you buy older pieces.

I hope I can find it. it just feels so perfect in my hand. You may be able to find older pieces online. Another good german Company is Finum:

http://www.finum.com/company.htm

I’m stuck on german glass, Tetsubin teapots-real Tetsubin, made in Japan. Yixing clay teapots. USA or English bone china. I think I’m the kook! :))

TeaBrat

Those Finum cups look beautiful! I need some – lol!

ScottTeaMan

I guess I’m tired of buying “Made in China” everything. If I can’t find anymore Jenaer glass, I’ll buy Finum, or from this French glass company Rochelle glass. Amazon used to stock it.GGGRRR!!

Charles Thomas Draper

All of my tea is from China. I can’t help that. i must admit I try to buy American whenever possible….

TeaBrat

those La Roche cups are cute – believe it or not I have some goblets I use for wine glasses that must be from the same company, they also have bees on them!

ScottTeaMan

Hhahaha….do you like the quality?
Where did you get them?

ScottTeaMan

Target carries La Rochere.

TeaBrat

They came from a french store in SF

ScottTeaMan

How’s the quality?….I’m still searching for Jenaer cups and smaller glass teapot. I think they made a 20 oz teapot.

ScottTeaMan

I hope the Finum teapot infuser is removable. I would like to brew some larger leaf teas & display teas without it.

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91
174 tasting notes

Today is a puerh day. After I finished Xingyang 2007 I decided to sample another puerh I have yet to try and this one came down from the shelf. I opened the package and was greeted by a smell so very faint. Kind of like an old book. Call me crazy, but I love the smell of books, new and old alike.

I’m sitting here trying to write what I can smell of dry leaf, wet leaf, infusion, and then my mom calls. Being a mother she worries, and she’s worrying even more now with this storm hitting. Apparently, since my parents are closer to the coast, they are getting hit with 70 mph winds and a lot of rain. The highways are closed. Everything is closed. The creeks and yards are flooding. And the storm hasn’t even hit full force yet. She was asking me how it was here…rain and a little wind. Nothing bad here yet, just a small storm for us for now.

But she was making sure we had our provisions set up…you know, candles, working flashlights, water, early showering, a tub full of water for the toilet for when the electricity goes out, food, toilet paper…storm provisions. She was saying how the cats were freaking out and I thought how young the cats are and that they never experienced a storm like this before. In fact, I can’t remember the last time we had a storm this bad. It’s been years.

When I was little I remember having bad storms, like watching the barn across the street have the roof and two sides removed by the wind. I remember sitting in the living room with the electricity out watching the storm shake the windows so bad I thought the house was going to come down around my head, but be so fascinated by the storm, that I couldn’t move away from the window. Such force created that it can only inspire fear and awe.

This is such a wonderful tea for memories. It’s so light and wonderful it just begs for memories and imagination. It has notes of linen and stone, with a soft silky texture that glides over the tongue leaving a tingling sensation in its wake. It hints at something old, something that remains just out of grasp, forever out of reach. For today and the coming days, this tea is the perfect companion.

Preparation
Boiling 0 min, 15 sec
Ysaurella

we are following the news of Sandy from the other side of the Atlantic and we think a lot of you all, our dear American friends.Take care

Invader Zim

Thank you.

TheTeaFairy

Beautiful review … keep safe!
And I agree, nothing like the smell of a book!

Azzrian

Smart to fill up the bathtub!!! Keep safe!

Fjellrev

Hope everything is fine over there!

Dixie_Amazon

Moms will always worry. Hope you and yours weather storm safely.

Invader Zim

Thank you everyone. Everything is ok here, mostly just rain, my parents are fine too. We almost lost power, it flickered a few times, but being further inland I think the mountains protected us from the worst, nothing like the coasts you see on tv.

Dixie_Amazon

So glad you are ok!

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59 tasting notes

Note coming soon- I need a little bit of time to share my thoughts on this one.

(simple summary: incredible)

EDIT:

So – this tea is really cool. Every time I think about someone trying this for the first time, I’m so pleased and proud for them! I think, “Oh- you lucky person! You’re about to have a real treat. Lucky….”

This is a shu pu’er, and by now, it’s almost 13 years old. I’m always impressed by this, not because it’s just old, but because it is clearly so fine. From my understanding and experience of old shu’s, things this old and older generally just taste really musty and (well) “old”- any further complexity is usually just straight dirt or heavy sweetness. They’re boring, and why not? Shu pu’er was (and still is) a relatively new thing, still being perfected as something more than swindler-trying-to-sell-you-fake-old-sheng.

But enough of those- onto this one!

Whenever I’ve gone to one of their tastings that includes this tea, Verdant always has us try this tea last. Thank goodness! It would be so unfair to the other pu’ers to start a tasting with this tea. It is the culmination of an afternoon’s education, and the glimmering hopeful promise of all that could await you in your future tea-life.

How can I describe the taste of this tea? Sure- I could tell you all of the things my tongue is telling me: sweet, sparkling / musty like a grandest library, full of books and the feeling of shared knowledge / incredibly crystalline and light-weight, almost like a vapor / the guilty pleasure of the smell of book-binding glue in new books, or the back of a stamp, or fresh-minted money / clean vegetal sweetness, like celery or grass after the rain / lunar.

All of those things are true, but (as Nate has said, and as others will surely corroborate) the real strenght of this tea comes with the connections and memories it pulls out of you and the company you drink it with. Do not drink this tea if you do not want to reminisce. Do not drink this tea if you do not want to find yourself opening up with honesty and truth to those you’re drinking with. Drink this tea with good true friends, or with people you really want to know better. Drink this tea if you’re willing to still yourself and listen to what it could help you uncover, if you want to meet again a younger version of yourself, and if you’re ready to revisit the places of your youth.

This is a quiet tea. This is a tea drinker’s tea. This is a tea for memories, and a tea for honesty, and a tea for connections. If you like tea, then this is a tea you just have to try.

….

It’s pretty inconceivable, but this tea could continue to age and grow! I cannot imagine where this one might go in another ten or twelve years, and I do not know if I’ve got the self control to make it that far on one canister.
Also, the tin mentions that there was an even higher grade of this tea produced, but it was reserved solely for state dignitaries. Incredible. What must that taste like now??
For now- I will hide the tea in the back of my closet, at the bottom of my box of pu’ers. I will save this for special occasions, or for very beautiful, rainy days. I will keep going to Verdant’s tastings, and I will be sure to stick around for the end.

Preparation
Boiling 0 min, 15 sec
Nathaniel Gruber

Good review. Any serious Pu’er drinker needs to try this. For those that have fallen in love with it like we have, the only option is to buy at least a few tins of it. Like we’ve said, one tin is simply not going to work long term with this tea. The fact that this one is even available for purchase is such a blessing.

David Duckler

I think it is ridiculous that farmers will even part with tea like this. To get stuff of this caliber, you can’t just walk in with fistfuls of money. You have to drink tea with someone for days, and in this case, months, before they open up enough to bring out their treasure. I think one reason that many companies have trouble with sourcing is that they go on a whirlwind tour and allow just a day in each tea region. I had the unique privilege of living for a year straight with these people with the primary goal being research, and I can tell you that they look at money as a dirty and base thing. One tea friend actually hired somebody to stand in his shop and accept money. The owner wouldn’t touch it. That is the coolest thing ever! If you like this tea, by the way, I have a few old sheng pu’ers in the works. More on that later.

TeaEqualsBliss

David! That’s an awesome story!!! So glad you shared it here! :) LOVE it!!!

Charles Thomas Draper

@ David, I admire your friends in China. I’m sipping this incredible tea and I’m at a loss for words.

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89
15267 tasting notes

sipdown on this one, though it’ll be something i drink all day long. However i didn’t want to lose sight of it, since this was what i started my morning off. The lovely terri sent this my way and i’ve been saving it for a day when i really needed something nice to get me though. Today is that day! and man..first impressions? really amazing! more to come later…

still going… wheee!

Bonnie

Had some of this the other day too. I still have about an ounce left in my stash. Great mood enhancing puerh!

Sil

yeah…i’m really digging it… totally zoning out in work mode with it..just kicking through things!

Terri HarpLady

yeah, this is my favorite puer ever probably…it is a spiritual experience :)

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99
172 tasting notes

This a great shu. Possibly the best I’ve ever had. It’s so rich while still being smooth and light on the tongue. It’s pure and sweet, complete mellow earthiness that leaves a little tingle on my tongue as I’m transported to an old library or antique shop. It makes me feel like I’m going on a mental journey back in time. I envision the leaves piled up in a tea workshop in 1998, when I was only four years old. There’s just something amazing about it to me, that the tea I’m drinking right now has been waiting for me, mellowing and maturing for me for the past fourteen years. I didn’t know when I was four years old that there was an amazing tea sitting in storage in China that was destined to fill my cup and make me happy in the future. Absolutely delicious.

Bonnie

Oh boy, this is a special Puer! It does special things that are mystical…not only tasting the best but messing with your head too! I know you enjoyed this tea. I just received some more myself I love it!!!! A must have in my book!!!!

Bonnie

Multiple steeps, a must…this and Spring Laoshan White…are WOW! Transcendental!

Spoonvonstup

I love this review! I agree with you completely… I was 11 when this tea was first picked and processed.. (6th grade, with my first locker and changing classes like a real high-schooler).

TheTeaFairy

I really enjoyed your review of his tea, love that it took you to another place, a good one…

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89
6768 tasting notes

2nd infusion…
about a minute or so
darker in color and in flavor yet still mellower than I thought it would be but I am ok with that – it’s a nice yet different tasting pu-erh. The aroma is more like a pu-erh but still not something I can’t handle…I am grateful for that, indeed!

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