I wash my car once and drink the second glass, and my body sweats pleasantly. It's a refreshing feeling that the table energy of the body is escaping. After eating 25g a few months ago, I ordered 250g this time. When I put it on the scale, it was 229g, so I thought about where 21 went. ^^ I want to order again and eat it.

Great old Shu! This tea is more about feeling than taste for me. Thick and oily, a bit "foresty", and a light fermented taste. A very pleasent and grounded feeling in the body when drinking this.

OMG! If the Israelites had been sent this instead of manna, they would have made it to Israel in half the time! This is a 9.5 out of 10. First, be prepared for a very dense brick that you will have to be patient to tease apart. The first infusion (wash) was light, but subsequent infusions were darker and intensely flavorful. It took 4 infusions before all tea leaves were separated. My 6th infusion was milder, still enjoyable. I ended up ordering a 250gm brick that I will treasure this winter.

I'm not typically a huge fan of older ripes but often find myself picking up smaller samples to find if I can get some of that level of enjoyment others have with it. Usually my feeling is that ripes as old as the 90s and beyond have often lost more than they have gained for my personal tastes in terms of flavour profile and I get much more from the body sensation and energy in the tea than the flavours or the mouthfeel. Lots of mustiness, tannic qualities and a thick body which put together aren't all that pleasant to me, pulling too much towards one direction and lacking balance. Put simply; they're boring. The price here undeniably still ugly for me (but not unreasonable for a tea of this age) but this has an amazing creaminess and sweetness at the back that are just so enjoyable and balance the earthy and wood notes of many ripes this age. There's also a pungency and extremely enjoyable lingering aftertaste with vanilla and dark fruity sweetness. It comes across as so much more youthful than many ripes a decade younger that merely taste like drinking ancient library books. This appears to have only reaped the best elements of age with very clean, light and earthy mushroom notes and woodiness but not in a way that dominates where the tea has started from. I think together with the balance of flavour and pleasantness of the drinking experience really effect the Qi in a way that it comes together in an extremely relaxing experience. Definite feelings of lightheadedness warming, and calm in the body. Humble, balanced and clean.

My absolute favorite ripe of all time. Even comparing to similarly aged teas, this tea goes on and on and on. Very serene cha qi, and surprisingly complex fruity and musty tones layer over each other and the mouth feel is rich, like no other. Or, as my girlfriend likes to say "You've GOT to try this tea! It tastes like dirt! But...in a good way, I swear!"