Awesome
"I bought this tea a couple of years ago, pulled it out again today for another tasting. Wow, super smooth, not at all acidic or tannins. so enjoyable!! I’m not great at picking tasting notes, but I love it and can highly recommend."
— Colleen (5/5)
High Quality Plantation Tea
"This is a plantation tea, but a high quality one. For a plantation tea, the body (expansiveness of flavour) and aftertaste are very good. The flavour is plummy and fairly dark, with notes of dried fruits (dates) etc. It is well aged, brewing up amber in colour, with lots of 'amber' characteristics. After swallowing the first infusion, I noticed a rather distinct aftertaste resembling brown sugar, almost like when you've just finished a sweet and sugary milky coffee. It was very interesting. It leaves a sugary smell in the empty cup too, which I always love. Plenty of sugariness going on, with good bitterness and bite. Overall, the flavour is very good. It does not disappoint in that area. The difference between this and a gushu is in the mouthfeel, complexity, the overall sense of sophistication and final body sensation. A quality gushu will exceed in all of those areas, whereas a plantation tea like this only performs passably. After a few infusions, you will start to notice the flavour dropping off, with undesired bitterness and astringency (dryness) creeping in. A good gushu will build up beautifully on the palette and reveal complexities of flavour, whereas this tea leaves a sort of 'blah' feeling in the mouth. I call it 'cotton mouth'. It is not exceedingly unpleasant, but just not great. There is no thick, sticky build up in the mouth and throat; no euphoric final body sensation that lingers for hours and takes over your system. There is energy, but it is merely that of caffeine and not much more. That is what you get with plantation tea, and that is why they're so affordable. It's your choice to make. Personally, I have learnt to avoid this type of tea altogether and focus strictly on gushu and natural growth. Age of tree, terroir, farming methods—these are paramount in determining the quality of a tea. My quest is to find truly superior teas of the highest possible quality—I will not spend my money on anything less at this point. That being said, if you are simply looking for a very drinkable and affordable pu'er, one that'll give you a very good introduction to the Yiwu character, perk you up in the morning and provide a pleasant drinking experience, you can do much worse than this Hai Lang Hao production. But bear in mind that for the price of this 400g semi-aged plantation cake, you could buy a 200g young gushu cake from a less prestigious terroir. That is the choice I would recommend."
— Patrick H. (4/5)
Nice and smooth Sheng
"Surprisingly mellow tea, with smooth but complex character, and very mild tonic effect. Great tea for the price."
— Aleksejs L. (4/5)
