Not my typical style of dry age tea that I prefer. But it is very close. And I happen to enjoy it very much. So 4 stars and not five because it's just outside my preference. Finding a tea that's atypical for myself that I enjoy as much as this one is a rare and special thing. Pleased to have a whole cake.

This CNNP tea offers tobacco-honey smoothness. When pushed you can feel the tingling sensations of tropical fruits as well. I store some amount of loose leaves taken from the cake in ceramic jars. And after some weeks, the tea became nicer in my opinion: Less smoke (there is not much from the beginning, but a little) but more cigar leaf and leather, hints of bitterness transform quickly into fruitiness. Again, this tea is a very good value for the price! 4.5 stars so far (as you might know, impressions change as you and the tea change).

This is excellent. It’s the first middle-aged raw that, for me, rates a 10/10. I think this may be due to its storage on “the dry side of the wet spectrum” in Guangdong as described. However, when I received mine (from a fellow YS enthusiast) it seemed quite dry. A month in a jury-rigged pumidor at 65% RH and it’s become something really special. It’s a bit sweet, almost tangy, and has little to none of that wet earth smell/taste I can enjoy but don’t have a preference for. At $74 for 500 grams, it’s a darn good deal too. I will definitely order another cake or two at some point. I'd like to have enough that I'm not actually drinking so that I can age a cake even further.

I'm not the best at describing what I taste so I'll mostly leave that to the other reviewers. The only tasting note I'd really like to point out that I've only seen one other person mention is somewhat of a smokey flavor after swallowing. It's hard to describe specifically and is nothing like lapsang souchong. It's rather mild but gives the tea a subtle flavor I've yet to notice in any other pu-erh rather raw, ripe, old or new. A good general description of this tea is "smooth". My main reason for reviewing though is the warning in the description - "**wrappers may be bug bitten from humid storage conditions. If you are squeamish don't order this tea!". That warning was enough to make me not want to buy this tea but my last big order qualified for a free cake so I figured "why not?!" I'm happy to say that at least with my cake there was nothing to worry about. I think YS is just being cautious in warning customers about the potential bug bites and such. I also have another tea from them with a similar description. Both of them have arrived in perfect condition with the wrapper fully intact. It's nice to know they're transparent when it comes to potential problems but so far I've had no issues and this is a tea I'll definitely consider buying in the future when I run out. Brewed @ 1g to 15ml water. 1 rinse. 10 second steep, 15s, 20s, 25s, 30s, 45s, 60s, 90s, 120s, 180s ... It could probably go even further.

احببتها جدا