Reviews
Smoky
"Smoky, sweet, refreshing, mellow. It tastes bitter after several infusions."
— Insuk H. (5/5)
This is why I drink puerh
"Love these hard hitting smokey, buttery, just delicious northern teas. Complex enough that it doesn't get boring but easy drinking enough that you can sit back and just sip. Its strong too, I had a pretty heavy meal before drinking but this tea just barreled through any other flavor in my mouth with a really strong qi. Tried a couple hai lang hao productions before and you really cant seem to go wrong with them. I think I might pick up 2 cakes I don't really want to run out of this tea."
— Theo C. (5/5)
2005 Hai Lang Hao raw Pu-erh Tea
"Earthy and fruity on the nose, to me it tastes heavily of sweet apricot jam with a very nice accompanying minerality. Beautiful! Only reason why this isn't five-star for me is because of the mouth feel, I wish it was a little bit thicker in the mouth. But im by no means an experienced sheng pu-erh drinker, for all i know it should not have a thicker mouth feel. This tea hits me real hard after about 2-3 cups, with a warming, a little stoned and almost dizzying feeling. The heaviest hit dials down after a little while but im left with this very nice feeling for the rest of the session. All in all a great drinking experience!"
— Jostein F. (4/5)
Hard-hitting qi!
"This tea has one of the strongest dry leaf aromas I have encountered in a sheng – mostly smells of honey and cookies. After the rinse, the aromas change dramatically to a smoky & earthy ones, and strangely enough the wet leaves don’t actually have such a pungent smell. They give off aromas like egg shells, bbq sauce and celery root. The taste is very strong and bitter right up front in the first few infusions (make sure you keep your initial steeps short). The quinine like bitterness quickly transforms into sweetness though. Other than that, it is a mineral tea with some notes of moss, dry grass and cranberry. The aftertaste starts off sweet but becomes slightly salty afterwards. The liquor has medium thickness and is mouth-watering, oily and a touch powdery. It is also quite warming in the throat. The most memorable aspect of the tea is definitely the cha qi though. It hits really hard, this is not a tea to drink while working. I had to lie down after 3 infusions already. The leaves are young (small) and still very green, attesting to the dry storage of the tea. It still has quite a way to go in terms of aging. I wish the mouthfeel was thicker overall. Because of the pungent taste, steeping more aggressively doesn’t seem to be a viable option to improve that. But ok, I can accept that this tea is not about the mouthfeel, rather the ‘mindfeel’ and, to a lesser extent, the strong taste. The longeticity is quite good too. Right now I am on steep 14 or so (each one of which was 90-100ml and the first few I should have done shorter tbh), and it seems like it will last for a few more at least."
— Tomáš G. (5/5)
Buttery, Grilled & Smoked Atmosphere!
"Bouquet: What I really enjoy about aged Shengs is if they develop a certain smoky aspects especially those from Bu Lang or Lincang. This buddy starts with a full thick buttery aromatic profile of smoked dark sausages, grilled smoked butterfish, sweet potato fries with rosemary & oregano, Worcestershire sauce, hints of soy sauce followed by old Whiskey wood barrels meeting up with camphor notes plus layers of brown mushrooms and tobacco. This all comes a long very promising and massively mouthwatering. Taste: His deliciously liquor walks on a quite similar path as its steaming bouquet did. Its whole aged character is based on a thick creamy buttery structure with full smoked grilled atmosphere of all the former named aromatic aspects - smoked grilled butterfish, dark sausages, camphor, tobacco Worcestershire sauce, hints of soy sauce, sweet potato fries with rosemary & oregano, nashi pear skin, old whiskey barrels, brown mushrooms within a thick buttery sauce filled with forest woodsy nuances especially of a very wet mossy forest soaked from the rain, while you can scent and taste what mother earth provides the greens, the fresh cold streams of water like fine veins spreading in every direction passing by stones, collecting minerals on its way - simply said the pure juice of mother earth. A needle forest is the best way to describe this scenery. The aftertaste is very juicy and not stopping at any point. There is a certain salty feel at the end after the last sip is long done. Like if you had eaten salted popcorn and the aftertaste of its combination is left in a very gentle way. Subtle but providing a certain sensation of its own while melting together with the echo of the forest. There is a constant but so well placed and composed bitterness to it which reminds me a lot of the actual taste of some of those bitter Schweppes lemonades like Ginger Ale or Bitter Lemon but in a much lighter and harmonic blend in way. This is quite a potent fellow which takes you on a delicious journey at least for 7-9 great infusions. More Reviews & Photos at https://www.instagram.com/zerozen_artlab/"
— ZeroZen (5/5)
Powerful, nuanced leaves!
"I got a 25 gram sample. The flavor was nuanced and deep. A robust and pleasant bitterness reminding me of yerba mate's bitterness, lots of aromatics like menthol and camphor, as well as sweet and floral notes. Stimulating and refreshing. Left my breath cool and minty fresh."
— Matthew F. (5/5)
