Reviews
Tasteful and Elegant
"Exotic Wood on the nose. Sharp and Bitter Dark Chocolate on the mouth. Elegant, Vertical and Upright tea — if that makes any sense…"
— Ze *. (5/5)
Nice and smooth
"This shou is on what I mentally group as the chocolate brownie taste profile but somehow farther away from the bready side of it, the bitter note in it makes it more vegetal. There's no wodui fishiness remaining in it as of now (2025). I feel like I still need to try it a few more times to understand it fully but I didn't find it as out of the ordinary as other reviewers, might be sampling bias on my end."
— Andros F. (4/5)
GREAT!
"GREAT!"
— B S. (5/5)
Top Shelf
"Clean, high quality ripe. Thick with slightly bitter dark chocolate, balanced with smooth richness and blonde fudge flavors. Drinking this blind, most people would likely consider this tea better than an every day experience, if not a special occasion tea. I’ve purchased from most of the popular online retailers and YS by far is the place to go for ripe puerh. Their selection, quality and pricing is IMHO the best you can find."
— Jim T. (5/5)
Excellent tea
"I originally bought this tea when I was new to good quality loose tea, still new to pu erh at the time. I got the Ba Wang tea in a sampler and back then I tossed it back for being too wild of a flavor, it was strong and I found it to not feel good to drink. Fast-forward a year and many different ripe teas and I come back to this tea after a year of letting it essentially sit in the back of my tea drawer, and man this tea is bursting with crazy flavor and rich body. I realized the reason why I didn't like it back then was because this tea has so much character and depth. It is astringent/bitter slightly, but in the way that dark chocolate makes your mouth feel when eating it. This tea takes some time to get used to, but once you do, you'll realize it has so much character and body. The cha qi on this is right in the center of the chest, I recommend this tea but know it may take time getting used to, but it is so worth it."
— Alec C. (5/5)
Solid one
"I'm not an expert on shu pu-ehrs, but this is probably my favourite so far. Dry leaves smell a bit of dried shrimp, but the smell disappears after first wash. The liquor has a nice colour, a bit darker than on photos here. The brew has lots of vanilla, a bit of chalk. Very pleasant mouthfeel – the tea seems to fill the mouth, but is also very soft. Empty cups have intensive smell of raisins."
— Piotr K. (5/5)
Lots of character for a shou
"Really enjoying this one. Lots of chocolate, some bitterness adds structure. A step above the average shou and one I find myself picking out of my stash frequently. I’m mostly aged sheng drinker but when I want a change and I’m looking for mellow with an edge I find this one calling out to me. For a young tea I’m finding no wodui (fishy, pile ) taste as well."
— Rik (5/5)
YS shou blends rule, Ba Wang is no exception
"Ba Wang is more complex and subtle than I expected. On the other hand, it really is very thick and has a strong warming cha qi, as mentioned in the description. Already the dry leaf smell is quite interesting and unique with notes such as sawdust, paper, meat, mint, juniper berries, and brown sugar. Strangely enough, wet leaves aroma reminds me of nuo mi xiang, even though there is none added here. On top of that I get scents of black currant, chicha morada, bamboo, and a light yeasty aroma. The taste starts off woody and sweet with flavours of bread, nettle and plant stems. There is also a purple corn flavour which I noticed in the aroma already and which persists throughout the whole session. Soon enough, light bitterness appears, but I wouldn’t call this a bitter shou at all. There is a very nice sour note developing towards the end of the session, which is quite unique. It is complemented by a medicinal character of the late steeps, which together make the session interesting all the way till the end. The texture is very thick, oily, and smooth from start to finish. It is very easy to drink despite being full bodied! At times, there is some interesting numbing mouthfeel, which makes the liquor seem to “disappear” in my mouth. The cha qi is mostly warming at first but slowly becomes very heady and stronger than you can find in most shou. I would describe the tea’s energy as of the creeping kind."
— Tomáš G. (5/5)
Good ripe.
"This one I wad really excited for. It still, to me, has some of it's sheng character, bitterness still coming through. If you're looking for a bit different of an experience, this would be a good one."
— Chris L. (4/5)
Brownies and wood!
"Nicely balanced shou with notes of camphor and dark cocoa. Slight notes of butter and tobacco. But what I found really interesting was the aroma of the wet leaves, they smelled like brownies!"
— Thomas P. (5/5)
