Reviews
If it were cheaper it would be my daily drinker
"This is a wonderfully aged tea. It doesn't have the crispness of many other sheng teas but then again it was aged for a long time as mao cha, and you can't expect as much as teas aged mostly as compressed cakes. If you want that "aged flavor" in a raw tea, this is your ticket. Some say this has more of a shou character, but I've seen very similar flavor profiles and darker character from 2004 ChangTai and similar leaf. Tastes more like something aged in Guangzhou, but this doesn't have any fish or "basement" overtones. Just good tea. I may have to break down and get another."
— MSS (5/5)
Melon and Vegetable Broth
"I'm tasting this tea in January 2025, almost 18 years from when it was picked. A big, rich, complex tea. The first couple of steeps: flavors of melon and vegetable broth. Third and fourth steeps add a hint of peach. Additional steeps add a little earthiness and a hint of astringency. All make for a very enjoyable sheng pu-erh."
— Aryae C. (5/5)
Tastes older than it is
"Big burly leaves show this tea's origin from mature trees. This tea tastes very woody, mushroomy and smooth. It is indeed (as other reviewers have remarked) quite shou-like, but there is also more of the sort of bitterness and astringency (a pleasant level, not too much) that you would expect from a sheng. There are also slight fruity and floral background notes, particularly on the finish. Overall, it tastes older than it is (certainly compared to other dry stored teas). The accelerated aged taste is probably due to the aging as mao cha (which I understand is quicker than aging as cakes), and this really is a bargain if you are looking for an aged tasting sheng."
— BCM (5/5)
Reliable but unimpressive
"Overall, the tea is not bad, but not anything special either. It satisfies the itch when you want a comforting and clean stored semi-aged sheng with a very woody profile and a smooth texture. However, I feel like one can probably get a better price for comparable teas in this category as well. The mouthfeel, for one, is pretty decent. It has a buttery character and commendable thickness. The taste is woody and tangy with medium sweetness and sourness as well as a floral bitterness in the finish. Specfic flavours include ones like bread, coriander seeds, fenugreek leaves, lavender and ash. The aftertaste is spicy, cooling and herbaceous with a protracted sour bite and a faint mushroom flavour. On the other hand, the hui gan is fairly weak to be honest."
— Tomáš G. (4/5)
Big ol' buirly leaves
"I'd say this is a really good tea, definitely tastes older than 2007, more like a 2005 tea maybe. Very smooth and with leaves so large they were poking out of the top of my pot when I first put them in. Love these aged as mao cha cakes, I think you get better value out of them. Nice and thick with a bit of that graham crackery taste you get in fu cha although not overly complex. I'd recommend it though."
— Theo C. (5/5)
Super Semi-Aged Tea
"Wow! So rich and thick. Sweet, camphor and fruity. Bargain aged tea!"
— Jessie D. (5/5)
More like a ripe
"I get more shou notes than a typical sheng but that’s not a bad thing. I got some hints of woodiness and camphor, earthy, not much sweetness personally but I think this would be worth a try"
— Mariano S. (4/5)
More Shou than Sheng
"The wet leaves, smell, and taste of this tea have much more in common with a shou puer than a sheng puer. I would be very surprised if this hasn't gone through at least a short period of wet-piling if the leaf material is from 2007. There is, however, still a hint of a sheng crispness, bitterness and astringency of a sheng. Overall, this is a very decent tea for the price! It can be pushed quite hard without the bitterness overwhelming the mature sweetness. So, it is a unique and enjoyable experience."
— GaryS (4/5)
Lovely Aged Sheng
"A lovely aged sheng. Honey, spicy, earthy, warm. Red-gold soup. Good bitterness if pushed. My favourite type of pu'er. What lingers on the palette is a mineral quality combined with honey sweetness. This mineral quality can be sensed through the nose, if you swallow and exhale. The leaves are also beautiful. There are a fair few stems, it should be noted. This is not a problem, per se, but worth mentioning. I picked them all out before brewing."
— Patrick H. (5/5)
