SOTD- sheng of the day

Yesterday, I had a very nice unknown tea, which I estimate to be something like a 2000-2005 8582 that has had capable warehousing. It starts out fairly light, and relatively fruity, but gains in old books, herbs, as the session goes on. The huigans are really good, mostly in the mouth, and pleasantly sweet. Much, much better than the normal fare of aged 8582 usually available. Excellent relaxing qi, not too strong, but there. This lasts a long time, but not too long. The back end of the session was only good for about two brews, so...fifteen brews? The major fly in the soup is that this has a degree of unpleasant astringency (probably from the wet store period), and a number of more years is probably needed to smooth that out.

I also had something that was plastic baggie sealed. I was expecting something fairly premium, especially since the leaves were nice, but this turns out to be hongchapu, with decent hongchapu aftertaste, but little top taste of good quality. Very similar to the 2001 Chen Yuan Hao yiwu.

Today, I tested out the unknown shu cake. Yup, tastes good, smells good, entry smooth, a bit of lasting taste in the mouth and throat, later part of the session sensately sweet. However, there may be an issue with an uncomfortable feeling on the tongue and throat, and that might be why it's not on some store shelf. Sort of a caustic feel. It could very well be pollen related though, so more drinking needed.

I also did a session with something merely labeled 2006 Gushu. Has a fruity aroma, pink bubblegum taste. Not much thickness in the soup, but there is typically some huigan in the mouth. Taste becomes more intense and complex as the session goes on, but it also become bitter. This is probably Jingmai, and tightly compressed. Not too much aging other than mellowing and that progressive bitterness that some Jingmai does as they age. This also had a tinge of woodiness that comes out late in this session. Maybe a tiny bit of qi.

The tea today was from one of those baggies with absolutely no clue as to what it is. This tea also turned out to be as interesting as the tea I surmised to be an 8582. The initial brews, I thought were fairly offputting, with what I noted to be only a light taste, mostly of chlorine-wood and plumminess. A little feeling in the throat, a little huigan in the mouth. The soup was thin, though. As the brews went on, though, the tea became more floral in taste. Astringency rises too. By the seventh brew, I become convinced that this tea is a banzhang, as the tea hits its stride. The chlorine is really poorly retired smoke taste, I determine. The tea gets a darker, chocolate base to go with the wood and ex-smoke, for something more gracious for a top taste. However, the astringency is quite high. The reward for putting up with it is a lasting and complex set of flavors from a generous mouth huigan. Also some wind/water cooling effects in the mouth. About five really good brews before the deep chocolate base fades, and the huigans (astringency also fades) become simpler, and this becomes more of a light wood, smoke, plums sort of tea. The qi was pretty mild, but it was of good quality.

So my placeholder idea is that this is the 2006 Dayi Banzhang eco-tea. Drinking this tea, though makes me understand, that if it's something like that and recognizably what banzhang means to most people, then it's quite easy to understand how weird the '06 XZH LBZs were to most people, and how people might think that the Gan En might be thought of as really pure. Very jerky astringent tea that promotes a rather detailed, shallow huigan. Deeper taste... Very different to something broad and honey, with only very subtle flavor notes. With big, deep huigans, and lots of energetic feel in the mouth. The '06 XZH brick might be somewhat comparable in its astringency, but it never really had a thing for complex aftertastes and is more bitter. The '03 Jingpin has that deep taste, but it also never really went for super-complex aftertaste. All of the alternatives have much stronger positive feel in the mouth, throat, and qi, though. I really wish I knew what this was...

Yesterday, I tried a 4g session of the Yunhai LBZ. I can sort of see how it could be banzhang, with the most distinguishing factor being a certain kind of texture. It has a mushroom base in the taste, with some fruit and floral notes. If one takes care to note things carefully, one does find a bit of banzhang hanky-panky in how flavors change. This really doesn't get me excited, compared to how much I know people like to charge for any old banzhang.

Today, I had some more of that anon '04 Nannuo that was Banna-stored. I like this tea--it has some good similarities to the '90s Qingbing with a sturdy Menghai floral/wood base, and plenty of plums. The taste is generally quieter than, say, the Wisteria, but it's an all around better tea. Relatively mature taste, good texture, and definitely a present qi.

I was poking around, and saw that the "banzhang" drunk on the 19th could well be the '06 Fujin Bulang Qingbing, and the 2000-2005 8582 could be the 2010 CGHT Yiwu Chawang.

Anyways, I thought I should run a check on banzhangness and did a 4g sample of the XZH brick. Not as bitter as the last session six months ago, and no astringency like there used to be, especially five years ago. Intensely sweet and sweet flavors--apricot, something something jasmine florals, caramel, (plums didn't really happen, even in the finish, but when it did, it was pretty wine-ish), and there was only a little strand of camphor-y bamboo holding onto the flag of YANG for dear life. Aftertastes were a hybrid of yancha coating and puerh throat huigans. The texture wasn't that thick but it was substantial, and there was a very notable slick mouth quality that the soup imparts. Extremely potent in hitting the body hard and forcing it to warm and levitate(kidding). Also gave me a bad case of the munchies. There isn't any bitterness or astringency, but tons of mellowing is still needed. The sheer sweetness of the tea also makes this a rather dessert drink, like a Chateau d'Yquem wine or some Tokay.

Today was a pretty indifferent session with the '04 xiaguan iron cake. There are a couple of okay moments there, but held up to standards, it's not really as good as the White Whale, for example.

Yesterday, it was a more proper session with the maocha identified as '01 Mansong. While there are hints of Yibang-ness, it really is closer to the experience of drinking a very high end Bangdong tea, or a really good Zhenyuan County tea. But mellow.

I've been spending my time wondering the mysteries of 80's and 90's Dayi shu.

Have got a new sample of the Last Thoughts.

Has mellowed some, lost muscatel edge some, and can be plummy.

Less bitter, has some tartness to go with it. First four brews are very dynamic and fun. Pretty floral, mint aftertastes, and plenty of feeling in mouth and throat. It starts slowing down, and the fun part is more or less over by the seventh brew. However, the slow enjoyment part continues, with mild Yiwu, mineral, and hot sand sort of dry florals. Late infusions have a wonderful sweet flavor mouth huigan, after some hours of rest. Brewed this maybe more than 15 times, and put this in the fridge. Qi was very good, not quite calming, but centering. Thickness of the soup is okay, with a touch of stiff texture. This is definitely something I still lust to have a couple of cakes of. Wonderful. However, tomorrow with have the a 4g mini-try of the '13 XZH Yiwu Chawang.

4g try of the XZH was a bit of a bust, as it didn't demonstrate any of that banzhang astringency. It was really good of course, and sort of more "pure" tasting, but the Last Thoughts won this round pretty handily(a little unfair since it was 8g vs 4g), as it was much more engaging an experience for the first few brews, and still really good afterwards. It also had better thickness in the soup. The XZH, though, had a really wonderful feeling of tea going down the the stomach and warming feel rising from the stomach in several brews. It can also have some very long huigans, faintly echoing what it could do with more of the right leaf. Both of these teas are teas I lust to buy.

I've been playing with shu, these days, because I've begun to find recipe shu fascinating in terms of figuring out what size leaf and what fermentation will do after the wo dui process and after it has aged. I've concluded that the An Xiang is some sort of weird combination of 7262 and 8592, where the lightly fermented leaves are like 3rd grade, but still has the stems that the 8592 recipe calls for. Star of Menghai is basically just a 7572 on steroids. The 701 is very dark and deep with a really viscous soup, now. 7262 701 has a sort of fruit and wood taste now, sort of hollow. '08 v93 is a fairly basic shu with a nice paper/wood/soil edge, sort of like that "chen" xiang sample, only without those sheng buds. Dragon Pole '09 I've judged to be pretty age-worthy for a shu, along with An Xiang, does a very good job of mouthcoat and in general has some real substance and positive qualities. Not better than decent sheng, but better than bad ones. Hongyun is an unusually balanced and full shu, and definitely some sort of premium, if a level or two lower than Dragon Pole. The 100g thing makes aging somewhat trickey, I guess. Just tried the XZH Mengsong Gongting loose shu, and it's relatively close to the Dragon Pole in some ways. Really good aroma for a shu, very thick soup, a refined, if slight taste. Starts dying very quickly, in terms of taste but the mouthfeel keeps going. Strong qi for the first few brews.

In my (never ending) quest to snatch up big factory tea before the prices continue to go through the stratosphere even more than they already heave, I have been thinking about Shuangjiang Mengku teas. Decided to try a cake of 2010 Mengku Zhengshan from the bay, and I find what I remember from trying their teas. Astringency, some odd bitterness, and ultimately hollow. The only experience I have had with their sub branch of Mu Ye Chun was very positive. The 002 recipe from 2007 I remember being very good for the price, and it's now available for a reasonable $30 most places. I have one on order from Red Lantern, and I'm curious to see how this one is doing. Anyone have any recommendations for any Shuangjiang Mengku teas with some guts and substance?

Long time lurker, first time poster (Same PurplePotato as on teachat BTW). Recently stocked up on some Mengku myself, in particular these two from taobao: http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=41878997771 http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=41725510120. The first is the well known MuYeChun 002, and the second is the '08 MingQianChunJian. They're similar in character, with the main difference I notice being that the MuYeChun has more pronounced cooling, while the MingQianChunJian has a stronger Qi. Jakob talked about the MingQianChunJian here: http://jakubtomek.blogspot.com/2012/03/2008-mengku-bulang-chanteas.html. I think that the storage on the taobao versions are nice, though I'm guessing they are not as awesome as Hobbe's home stored cake, given his descriptions. Definitely a great value in my book.

I do wonder whether it's actually a good idea to stock up on these though. In one sense, these cakes may be approaching the turning point between youngish and adgedish, which could cause some price increase. OTOH, factory cakes may finally be going into a bit of a slump, and there doesn't seem to be too much Mengku speculation, at least not for these cakes anyways. Personally, I decided to hedge my bets in case the prices do go up, but I find these cakes fully satisfying, and won't be bummed if the prices stay about the same.

SOTD: 2012 Bada Zhanglang from Chawangshop (Insert obligatory "Bada Bing" joke here). Very satisfying session. Flavor is not as great as it has been in a previous session, where it reminded of maple syrup (Yum!), but not at all bad. Some nice active bitterness and astringency, which mixes in with some cooling; there was a bit of a hairspray in the bitterness, but only a touch. Qi affects the mind, and warms the chest, spreading out a bit to the shoulders and lower neck. A touch of numbing (well not really, but it was something like that) in the upper lip. No unpleasantness in the stomach. All that for $26? No wonder Chawangshop keeps taking my money

Okay, gotta do my part in pushing the pageviews over 100k for this thread.

So, some past shengs of the day, recently...

Last try of 2nd Memorial was very nice, wasn't as thick, but more complex with stronger set of aftertastes. Wasn't durable.

Finished off '80s Xiaguan Traditional Characters. Simply not a very good example of aged tea. It's nice enough, but it isn't anywhere as good as it could be. Nothing really wrong with it either, other than too much humidity. The sort of tea being sold as premium in the West when that's a waste of money compared to buying good shu.

'08 Dayi 8582. Other than how green it was, this was a very nice tasting session. Dayi isn't chopped liver, and another decade of storage probably would bring really nice results.

'04 Banna-stored Nannuo. Smoky, not very dynamic, but the smoke is relatively pleasant, and the taste generally good and mostly mellow. Obviously some plantation, but there is a real amount of qi that suggests some good stuff is in there as well. Durable. Smooth. Has a fair amount of bitterness, though. The general experience is pretty close to a banzhang kucha sort of tea, but less dynamic.

Finished off sample of '90s 7542 that was humid stored. Wasn't as good as the first time, in the sense that I didn't get as many good brews off the backend of the session. Had a gram of '05 Yiwu put in, though.

'06 Nannou from Imperial Court: Tastes very good today. It tasted good like a green tea before. However, it surprises me that the weight and height of a puerh are there in this tea today. It has been slowly shedding its youth and reveals a bit more robust texture. It is quenching and also has a good aftertaste. It still keeps its beautiful aroma even though its fragrance profile changes from fresh to aged. It is still a simple tea in terms of complexity as of now. The fun thing is that it seems the bitterness has emerged, which bodes well for aging. I would not say the same thing for the Bangzhang of the same year from the same vendor though, which is a dead green tea.

EoT '10 Bulang today. Has done some changes...taste profile is lower on the register with strong chocolate and plum tones. Very solid and thick taste relative to expectations. The soup texture is relatively thick and very smooth. Very much like a decent Lao Man'E. The aspirin bitterness is relatively concentrated on the tongue and not that unpleasant. Wasn't feeling well, and slightly feverish, so any qi had to cut through that. Couldn't have been too much of it, but probably some. Very solid, but not that exciting--not too much complexity with taste or aftertaste, and very durable, at least fifteen brews. One thing I am finding that when tea gets older, tiers collapse from fine ones into bigger, cruder tiers. I can't say for sure whether this bulang was better than the two '09 minicakes that YS offered some time ago. Has a more solid taste, but those teas has more complexity, in top taste or aftertaste. It's almost apples and oranges when it comes to, say, the XZH LongFeng, since it's all feeling and qi and not much taste. The '08 Taochaju Lao Man'E is a pretty good comparison, and I drank that at a similar age to the tea I had today. The '08 is a bit looser in taste, easier to drink, and has more vanillins, while this tea still has some youthful tobacco et al messing around, and more plums. Also much more durable.

The cake of dingxing has relaxed a lot since arrival, and doesn't have the strange fruity taste anymore. Still a very disposable drink, and not very durable.

Had some '90s Tongqinghao the other day. Pleasant enough, but boring.

'06 Yunhai "LBZ" is too thin tasting to be much good. What there is of the taste is pleasant enough, and it has some body and smoothness. Just no qi or anything particularly exiting.

Can't quite drink '08 8582 without risk of bad feelings. A lot of that is just how roughly broken up it is, but I'm really not that interested in young teas much anymore, and particularly young factory teas.

Three relatively aged teas in three days.

The first was the '02 Tai Lian. Not a super-great session, but interesting. There was a slight sour note in the beginning, and also a sort of aged soil mildness note. The aroma reflected some of this subdued character as well. The taste was relatively thin, as usual. Somewhat strong bitterness created lots of good aftertastes in the first six or so brews. As the bitterness ended, it became more of mellow tea. The texture wasn't as velvetty as it can get when there is enough of the really good leaf. Qi was relatively light.

I thought I should check up on the '01 Simplified Yun. The cake has a relatively strong wet straw smell that's sort of pleasant. That wet straw taste, though didn't show up until later. Think this tea is getting somewheres. The main taste much of the way was a pretty firmly woody flavor in that menghai floral way, but more of an actual flavor than a mouth aroma. There was pretty strong layering underneath the top flavor. A little chocolate tone, a bit of mushroom, some plums--really rather like a Star of Menghai underneath the aromatic woody. The aroma was present, but I didn't pay enough attention to really remember other than that it was like the taste. The thickness was okay, and it was smooth very early, then had a stretch of fairly drying astringency. The feeling was pretty good. It does that sinking into the throat/chest thing that marks a good tea. It also had a fairly strong qi, which didn't last that much past the finish of the cup, though. For a long part of the session, it wasn't that dynamic, but I wasn't having much trouble with that, as what was going was good. Then it starts becoming more hollowed out, but before fully turning into the same flavor indefinitely (I stopped when bored), it had a number of cups where the finish was a sort of cherries and sweet cream taste. That was very pleasant. Very durable tea, when plenty of wet straw/menghai-finishing honey/slight plum at the end.

Today, I decided to compare with the 2002 7542. I thought it would be tough to tell the difference between the two, but it's not. The aroma for the '02 is stronger and woodier than the '01. However, the taste is sort of honey and mushrooms and leafy funk, which I always thought was quite nice, but there isn't much menghai floral or wood taste in this session. The taste is also weaker, too, which was a surprise. The tea is less astringent than the '01, but it still has that nasty bitter-tart that I've since became cautious in brewing around. There isn't that much feeling or qi, though what is there is pleasant and relaxing. It stops being interesting MUCH faster.

The '01 7542 Simplified seems like to me has incorporated some reasonably good leaf from Banzhang/Hekai/Pasha area. It's much better than the wet-stored '95 7542 I've had recently. The nature of the plumminess is a bit different from other 7542s and is closest to the '07 An Xiang sheng, in the sense that it's a more distinctly fruit character rather than the suggestion of fruit tones that could also be a pleasant herbal tisane note that you normally find in 7542s. Also, said fruit character is strongly part of the finish rather than top taste. This tea also has little in the way of either soil or mellow wood notes (like the '93 7542 once sold by Essence of Tea) and is a bit like an early '90s 7542 I've tried in that crisp woodiness. Lastly, some 7542s, particularly those that have had humidity, tend to have almond notes, like the '96 Purple Dayi--this has almost none, except for that creamy taste along with the stone fruit in its finish. I really would need to try more 7542s, but my impression is that there is some real potential in this tea.

Linda Louie at Bana Tea has some new stuff. Including a '99 Big Green Tree! Of course, a cake of that is more than $1600. A couple of other puerhs that do not look that exciting, but what took my eye was some Vesper Chan promoted Liu An. A bit expensive, but Liu An tends to be unpredictable in quality (tho' the single example I've had was nice).

Had a really great time with the '05 Dayi Mengsong Peacock. Very much like a lighter-tasting banzhang, eg, '06 XZH brick (but smokier), down to the late brews being very sweet, plummy, and still lively in the mouth with wind-water sensation. Qi was nice, too. Drank it all freakin' day.

gotta say, the '98 XZH DXS maocha isn't particularly good. It has a nice top taste, and it's smooth and mellow. However, the top taste is short, and it doesn't offer that much else that a good tea should have. Might work better as a Western brew tea. The major problem, besides that the leaf wasn't top stuff, was that it's maocha and had been stored as such for 17 years.

A most excellent session with the YQH Gushu Chawang '06.

Flaws were: Tartness in the first four or so brews, however, it's productive for pungent huigans like bitterness would be, and there's no off sense about the tart. Some drying astringency, with a very slight catch in the throat, and again, productive for generating very lasting aftertastes. Soup texture is a bit thin after the first couple of brews.

It has a good aroma and it smells good. It has a strong, soporific, qi. Very layered taste and incredible aftertastes. It has improved in age in the sense that the tea is still interesting when the pungent huigans die down some with very nice, sweet flavored mouth huigans in later brews. The soup in these later brews is also sensately sweet. Took it about eighteen brews.

This tea is almost old enough that I can compare with my taste memories of classic teas that I had in '10 and Jan '11, when they were effectively twelve years old. Feel safe to say that this is going to be better than the well known '99 teas by a good stretch.

Other thing interesting to me is just how much this isn't an inferior tea to the '04 YQH Special Reserve. One thing age really does is collapse the finer gradations of quality that's more apparent in younger tea.

'04 Zhaizipo. Top taste isn't why you drink this. Excellent, excellent qi. Gently strong, and mellowing feeling that makes you feel extra relaxed, open, and sane.

I had some Dayi tuo today, expecting it to be not that great, but I had a good time, and a couple of cups had a lovely coconut note...

Houde put up some cakes of their old teas...

what you should get if you have the money...

http://www.houdeasianart.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=69&products_id=793 This isn't really the best of gushu Yiwu, as that it's a little thin sometimes, with a funky herbal note. However, it's gushu Yiwu, first stage of aging, with qi and aftertaste, for less than $100. I don't usually see this tea as being listed for less than $300 in Asia. Given how expensive new Yiwus are, a complete bargain.

http://www.houdeasianart.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=31&products_id=1282 A very decent Bulang from an area with rather limited amounts of gushu, as far as I know. When I had the sample long ago, it was very drying, but it could also be very nicely honey and florals. More time probably has made this more potable today. Best guess is that this is also a bargain, but I'm not quite sure.

Probable respectable teas at respectable prices:

http://www.houdeasianart.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=31&products_id=816 This has always been a crowd pleaser, it seems, especially in Asia.

http://www.houdeasianart.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=31&products_id=761 Probably uses mostly better material than what is available today at this price point.

http://www.houdeasianart.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=69&products_id=689 Entry level performing Yiwu.

http://www.houdeasianart.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=38&products_id=1263 Not an exciting tea, and probably not all that gushu, but is a smooth, aged tasting tea with brown fermentation flavor and sweetness. Definitely for those that really want their mellow and age.

One item that hasn't been reposted but still there is: http://www.houdeasianart.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=48&products_id=1234 This is a bargain, and probably more so than the 2007 CGHT. The Jinggu, while not as gushu as 2007 XZH Jinggu teas, is still more gushu than the 2007 CGHT in my perspective. That you get some shu is merely a bonus.

I cracked open the '09 XZH DianHuang, which is made of Pasha material.

Hobbes' addendum to his entry on this tea is roughly correct. This experience is much like the TeaUrchin LBZ from '13 and '14 that I've tried in that the gushu-ness of the tea is quite tame. So it's mostly a good, refined experience, but nothing too wild. While the taste isn't as full or sweet as the TU LBZ, this is the better tea. Soup is deep honey yellow now, very stiff and oily-juicy in viscosity. Aroma is slight, and is similar to the taste in a sort of expired-smoke(in the very nice way) menghai floral sense. Beginning of the session had strong bitterness, and latter part of the session had a sort of tropical-fruit cast to the aged stone fruit of that area's teas. There is some menghai floral mouth aroma, and hints of flavor in throat, but it not *that* exciting aftertaste-wise. The qi was strongest early on, but rather subtle, while it sort of fades pretty quickly as you go deep into the session.

In general, this is basically a gushu experience of a Menghai Dayi Jin Dayi. So if you sort of cross that with TU LBZ, that's how it was.

I was a little disappointed because it doesn't really reach that high, standard-wise, because of how tame it was. I mean, that '06 XZH LBZ gave a real sense of inebriation the last time I had it. I've recently had the '06 XZH Youle, and the qi was psychedelic in the sense that it made my body feel as if it was a string that got plucked and I was vibrating to the worldspirit, you know? It was also much more fruity than it usually was, too. There's a lot of surprise to be had in the really good stuff, and this doesn't ultimately feel like it would be more interesting than the XZH '07 7542, 8582, and LongFeng despite its advantage in thematic coherence and refinement. More interesting to me was that the last try of that YS '10 Xikong can be said to be a better tea. More aroma, more solid flavor, more qi...

Finished off the Xiaguan '04 iron (8653, I think). Was ok.

I wasn't feeling all that well, so I decided to dip into my stash and did the '09 XZH Jingmai. Much better session than last time. Most unique part of the session was the scent, right after the pour, of carnations with a candied apple note. The soup was thickish, but not particularly textured in any way. No or very little astringency. Flavor is essentially of that super-sweet Hekai (and not the tobaccoey version) Menghai honey. It was more interesting than such Hekais are, in that the honey is pretty similar to that honey, pear, vanilla note you get from stored Golden Delicious apple (especially the descendants with more acid to them, like Cripp's Pink). Some pungent huigans with little taste occured in the throat, but the significant aftertastes came from mouth aromas (menghai floral) generated by a sneaky, coating, slight bitterness that I only tasted after the main flavor, and not before, a little like bitter-tart, but not tart. Taste stays in mouth a long time and does stuff, so I drank this tea very slowly until the late part of the session. Good for about twelve or so brews. Qi was good, head focused, nothing too fancy, just relaxing. While there is no lower register to this tea's flavor, it really is pretty substantially better than the Pasha of the same year. More genuinely lively. The taste was also pretty appropriate for hot weather, and I found it very refreshing for a hot drink.

Hi all. I've been on TeaChat for awhile, but this is my first post here.

I've been finishing up some W2T samples I've had around for awhile prior to placing another order with Paul. I've been enjoying some of the 90s HK. The sample I've been drinking seems to have a little more storage flavor to it than the impression I've gotten from some others' reviews of it, but that aspect of it really mellowed out by the 4th or 5th steep. I've actually had this one going for several days now in a nice little unglazed 60ml pot I got from Petr Novak awhile back. I reserve it for mid to well aged sheng mostly. While I wouldn't call the mouthfeel of my 90s HK sample thick, it has stayed around through many steeps over several days now. I just placed an order for a cake of it earlier tonight.

While I really enjoy traditionally stored sheng, I've also been developing a fondness for the fruity character of many Yiwu teas lately. I sadly finished off the last of the 2012 Cangyan Gufeng sample I had, also from W2T. While not overly complex, I really enjoyed it for the price. I wish I'd taken the time to order a larger amount of it while it was still around!

Prior to that I was drinking a much younger Dayi sheng. It is '09 0622, a recipe I don't see many people drinking/reviewing, but I like it for what it is. It had relatively strong bitterness still as of last year when I received it, but that is starting to back off now compared what I remember. There is some hay/grass flavor to it and a little nuttiness. It *seems* to be headed in a decent direction, in that I enjoy it more now than I did a year ago, but I'm still new enough to puerh that I don't have much experience with getting to see how cakes change over long periods of time.