Jean Pierre Cardinal
August 2025
It tastes to me exactly like an old leather belt smells...in a good way. My first pu-ehr, offputing at first then after a few sips I was smitten.
My favourite tea on the site so far
Something like my 30th tea from this site so far and definitely my favourite
Richard Waskiewicz
June 2023
This is a very nice pu'erh. I found it earthy and satisfying. For context, my favorite (non-flavored) tea is Irish Breakfast style. It's easy to over-steep this ripe pu'erh - but I still like a rich flavor, so I typically bring the water to 200 then take ~1 tsp/350ml and steep for 3 minutes. On the second steep, I'll let it sit for 5 minutes. A third steep is possible, but by then most of the rich flavors I enjoy are gone - although it's still a nice mild tea. Highly recommend, but be sure to watch the steep times closely.
I really like this tea. Normally I find a slight bitterness in pu erh teas but this is very mellow and sweet. There is a smoky wood flavour about it. And the second brew is as delicious as the first.
Stephane Dudart
March 2016
Sweet wetland to the taste. This is how tastes a chinese pu-erh but this one is really sweet with a lightly smoky odor. Perfect.
This is my favorite Pu erh. It reminds of a rich glass of bourbon. Very complex, hints of honey, and just strong enough. I find the 5 year old naked Pu erh to to be too weak, and the 1980's Liu Bao tastes like dirt. This one is just right.
Also, the longer you steep this tea, the sweeter it gets. Leaving the tea alone for an hour or more is just fine, it won't get bitter.
I was drinking this at work yesterday. This is really good – unusual, for me anyway.
I’m not even sure how to describe it. WOW smooth is where I want to start. Mellow, gentle, barely pu’erh. It’s just a touch earthy – and I don’t know what the rest of the flavor is, but I like it. It’s not really a black, it’s barely pu’erh, but it still has lots of flavor – just different from anything else I’ve tried.
I would consider getting more of this so that I can play with it some more.
This was my first time trying this type of tea and I am not a fan of the notes. The notes are woody, smokey, and muddy. I didn't find that it gives me same caffeine kick which Matcha Iri Sencha and Creme Earl grey Pureh do.
Simon Haiduk
December 2021
Mild though very high caffeine!
This has a really smooth mild flavor, but packs a serious caffeine punch.
I give it a 4 because the flavour is a bit lacking on its own, but I've also been enjoying mixing it with Harmoic Arts powder mushroom blends that have various flavours and it's perfect for that.
It's been a year now since I began drinking this tea and it's still my favorite of the pu'erh I have tried. I just bought more as my supply was dwindling and was happy to see it was still available. I live with n a very dry environment so it is difficult to age raw pu'erh properly so tea like this is perfect. I've switched to a gaiwan and I'm glad I did. It doesn't take long to develop the one hand technique. Recommended.
This has quickly become a favorite pu-er of mine. It has a nice balance between fresh turned soil, leather, sweetness, fascinating aroma. I love smelling the lid of my teapot after brewing. I usually get four or five steeps easily before it starts to fade. I begin at 2 minutes and increase 30 seconds for each steep.
Kasper Vendler
January 2024
Smeels a tiny bit of "dried squid" but actually much more like a ton mushrooms. It dosn´t have much taste, despite me brewing 8 grams of it in 300ml teapot for 3½ minuts with allmost boiling water.
At second brew with the same leafs for more than 5 min, it tastes: less intense, except more of wood and much less of mushroom, it seems a lot better through.
Its not the sweet woody tastes that im used to for well aged quality whiskey or rum, but more like a really dry and slightly bitter shallow spectrum woody taste, like unaged schrubbery wich is less perferable compared to what im used to from other mediums.
Ripe pu´erh tea is infamous for being bad unless its pretty expensive, for the price of this tea, i recon it to be a decent deal, but still not what i hoped for.
Hence 3 out of 5 stars.
Very earthy smokey flavour. Slightly bitter and almost a savoury taste. Bought this on whim to try out new types of teas. It's not quite for me so I won't be buying it again but it was interesting to try.
Tasted very very fishy. I only got half way thru the first and 2nd infusions before dumping both out after a few sips.
Maybe I got a poor batch, but when I opened the bag, I was hit with a strong moldy smell. I found the tea itself rather gritty (even on the second steep). Given the others' positive reviews, I must have just gotten unlucky.
