2008 8582 801 Puer Review

I recently blind purchased a tong of this tea from a Taiwanese auction group on Facebook as I had seen pretty decent reviews of it before and was able to get it for $38/cake shipped to my door. I figured I would keep a few cakes, sell one or two to a friend, and then put the rest up for sale in some tea groups. After a few sessions with the tea, I think I am planning on keeping the 6 cakes I have left.

5g brewed in 75ml high fired duanni

First steep: Creamy old fruit aroma. The soup has a medium thickness and tastes like it has been on the drier side of Taiwanese storage. There is a resinous woody quality to this tea where the greenness comes out but this dominates as the taste is not super complex and portions of the sip feel as if something is missing. However, this is early in the session so hopefully this fades.

Second Steep: Slightly longer than a flash steep for this brew to try to get a bit more out of the tea. The woodiness of the last brew comes out more in the aroma of this brew. The front of this brew lacks some of the aged storage taste from before and it has yet to be replaced by anything. The aftertaste is longer than before and comes with a slight astringency.

Third Steep: Very fruity aroma, the taste has filled out and the mouthfeel is similar to the last two. The resinous quality from the beginning is still a major part of the brew but now happens earlier in the sip with the back half being drying and woody. The aftertaste is slightly fruitier than it was before. I am starting to feel a slight qi mainly focused in my head.

Wet leaf aroma is very typical fruity teenager sheng

Fourth Steep: This brew is warming with an appreciated sour note after the initial age taste. The aftertaste feels like a combination of the fruits and resin. This is the most interesting steep so far and I would be very happy if the tea continues with characteristics like this. My mouth is left uncomfortably dry as the aftertaste fades. As the tea cools, a nice huigan becomes evident.

qi is getting stronger

5th steep: A more savory version of #4. I still prefer that steep but this is certainly not bad.

Pu burps

qi is increasing but I think there would be more if I wasn't doing all this writing. Next time I should probably just jot down some notes and write after.

Sixth Steep: Minerality that fades into old plummy fruit and age taste. Nice huigan. Warming.

7: Everything is calming down with more fruit and sweetness. Semi aged aftertaste.

Keep forgetting to mention a slight spice/camphor note on the tail end of the aftertaste

8: Best aroma yet with strong plum and strawberry notes. The aftertaste camphor finally comes out in the taste along with the fruit from the aroma. This has beaten #4. All of this comes with a great huigan and oily texture.

9: forgot about this in the pot while I was heating water up. Aroma is like before but a bit more gentle. The taste feels like it is on the edge of bitterness with a nice cooling feeling but lacks some of the fruitiness I expected.

10: Nice immediate pineapple taste with not much after. I think I am going to call it here.

Usually, this tea turns into a bunch of mellow fruity steeps but that seems like it isnt happening as I over steeped so much on 9.

Some overall thoughts: For the price of 11c/g this is a great value. While it does not excel in any one way, it also does not fall flat in any categories. This tea is fairly easy to pick apart and understand as you drink it and would be a great one for any first time sheng drinkers that you might be drinking with. It is consistently easy to drink with a nice evolution cup to cup. TWL sells this cake for 55 + ship and I think it would definitely be worth it for that price.