Review topics: ["taste","aroma","bitterness","tea","texture","smell","ripe","pu'er","cha qi","shou","profile","steeps","liquor"].
Reviews
very special
"The tea is not alike anything that I've tasted, it totally worth a try. I wouldn't say it is sweet, no sweetness at all, and it's not a con. Very chocolatey taste, woodiness and coffee-like texture. Liquor is thick and darker than usual."
— Yegor M. (5/5)
Among the best ripes I
"Among the best ripes I have ever tasted. Thick, sweet, bitter but in the good sense, dark chocolate bitterness, complex aromas. This is the second brick I purchased."
— István B. (5/5)
Top-Tier Ripe
"Wow, what an experience. Extraordinarily complex aroma and taste, and a mouthfeel that is thick, coating, and cooling, Perfect bitterness. One of the most floral shou pu'ers I've ever had. Floral is not the first thing most tea drinkers think of with ripes, but this one has it in spades, along with the usual spices and earthiness. Expensive but worth every cent."
— Nicholas R. (5/5)
Incredible
"To preface, I am very new to pu-erh, so I'll try my best to convey my thoughts. This tea is INCREDIBLE. The unbrewed leaves have a wet pile aroma, but it doesn't have any wet pile taste whatsoever. The other aromas of the unbrewed leaves are primarily of dates, plumb, black cherry, brown sugar, and possibly some molasses. The rinsed leaves have the fruity/sugary aromas, but also some smoky, earthy, camphor aromas as well, whereas the tea soup has the fruity/sugary aromas without much of the smokiness or camphor. The flavor of the tea soup is my favorite part of this tea! Its flavor matches its aroma more closely than any other pu-erh I've tried to date. Upon a base flavor very reminiscent of black tea are the fruity flavors and brown sugar/molasses flavors mentioned above; however, there is also some light woodiness (although I do not know which kind of wood), a little bit of that sharp nuttiness that walnuts have, and a light camphor cooling effect on the back of the mouth. This tea has a very light bitterness which benefits the overall flavor."
— Ben T. (5/5)
WOW!!
"This was an excellent ripe that had depth and complexity of flavors and extremely rich. After my first session with this I have since learned to keep steeps slightly shorter than I would for most ripes this age. The shorter steeps extracted as much flavor and allowed for longer session. This tea has plenty of flavor and power. When I pushed, the flavors were pungent and incredible. Sweet and oaky with some earth tones. Velvety thick texture with slight camphor background notes. Well balanced and great depth of flavor. No wet pile taste at all. Cha Qi was moderate."
— Kyle S. (5/5)
Amazing ripe, definitely a must try.
"Contrary to other reviewers, I did not pick up any strong bitterness, maybe a hint of it at most. I got thick, warm, sweet walnut. Very rounded, long lasting warm, happy feeling in the mouth and throat. Fantastic cha qi, awake and motivated, focused. A remarkable ripe that is strongly tempting me to order more... Highly recommended !"
— Peter S. (5/5)
Wow Man E
"Very tasty, smooth, viscous satisfying tea. I am new to the Hai Lang Hao vintage and am enjoying each of the 8 samples I bought. I put 8g in a 115ml clay pot and got 8 nice steeps. If you are a shou lover you should at least buy a sample. I think after sampling all 8, I will choose one or two to order a brick."
— Gary T. (5/5)
Amazing ripe pu'er
"I find that Hai Lan Hao’s ripe teas are often atypical and this one fits that. It is a very high quality tea with no weak points and I am contemplating buying the 1kg brick, even though that’s a lot of tea and it’s not exactly cheap. The aromas of this shou are not super strong, but it has a nice sweet fruity smell of dark cherries and red wine. The taste is great though, it has a bitterness that I am often missing in other ripe pu’er teas, and a sweet finish. The profile is somewhat medicinal and metallic with notes of black currant leaves, coffee, malt, and dark chocolate. In later infusions, the bitterness tends to fade and higher notes emerge. The character changes to more savoury one with a strong walnut flavour. The taste remains interesting until the end of the session as it doesn’t become too flat. Another memorable aspect of the tea is its strong and evolving aftertaste. I am going to just scratch the surface of its complexity by mentioning some associations like bread crust, cinnamon, honey, butter, okra, and raspberry. It changes a lot, has a nice camphor feel in the throat and a very long-lasting sweetness. There is also an interesting sourness to it that I cannot associate to anything I am familiar with. As is often the case with higher end shou, the mouthfeel is awesome too. It is thick (like REALLY thick) and creamy, numbing, and at times a little chalky and foamy. I find it to be on the harder side, as opposed to being velvety or smooth. Late infusions have more of a buttery texture to them. The cha qi is not not too overpowering, but I can feel it in my whole body. It makes me feel light headed and relaxed with somewhat delayed reactions."
— Tomáš G. (5/5)
Incredible Shu PuErh
"Brick is expensive.... but if you are a shu lover you should try at least a sample! Delicious"
— Luca B. (5/5)
Excellent
"Excellent tea. Perfect packaging and fast shipping. Will order again."
— Charisse R. (5/5)
