I purchased the 1982 Aged Sun Moon Lake Black Tea with my cheap but good Taiwan clay tea pots with my last Taiwan Tea Crafts order. 1982 tea? DAMN. However I refuse to say 1982 tea is old as it is close to my birth year and I am not old.
Despite the age, this black tea wasn’t that expensive – it was very affordable at under $5 an ounce/25g. By the way, this tea is sold out, however there is a 1983 Aged Sun Moon Lake for the same price with similar notes.
Dry Leaf and Steeping Instructions
1982 Aged Sun Moon Lake smells like musty library books, very similar to old wet storage puer or liu bao. Unfortunately the leaf looks kinda awful as there is plenty of twigs.
I also found a rock! Well I guess this is why this tea didn’t cost me a fortune.
I did a pretty aggressive steeping ratio using boiling water, 1 gram to 10ml, in a tall and thin gaiwan. I used Seattle tap water for this tasting. We go all out here on Oolong Owl and I steeped the rock I found. However brewing the tea with the rock in turned out to be a problem as I can hear it plink against the lid when I pour.
Tasting of Taiwan Tea Crafts 1982 Aged Sun Moon Lake Black Tea
1982 Aged Sun Moon Lake steeps up a caramel brown with an upgraded scent of hot and musty library books.
First and Second Infusion: This black tea sips in…. weird as not as I expected. When I think Sun Moon Lake I think of a complex black with a fruity spice taste and a cooling finish. This 1982 aged Sun Moon Lake has a aged puer vibe to it as it has this musty wet storage taste to it. It totally tastes like an old wet library book held down with a piece of charcoal. The body is kind of thin and there is a bit of aftertaste of charcoal and must.
Third and Fourth Infusion: The tea is getting stronger. It is still quite thin of body, but the flavor is packing a punch. It tastes like firewood that has turned into ash, some musty books and wet pile. Ashy is the strongest flavor here. The finish has a bit of mineral aspect to it.
Fifth and Sixth Infusion: Stranger and Stranger. The aged Sun Moon Lake has a hot dirt taste to it, along with some woodsy, ash, charcoal, and musty old wet book. The steeping theme so far is like we had a stash of flooded old library books, burnt them, and now buried them. The body is still thin, the aftertaste is a bit mineral and musty.
Seventh, Eighth, Ninth, and Tenth Infusion: As this tea didn’t taste any stranger, I’m now getting very heavy wet rock notes. We’ve moved from taking the water logged books to a fire burial, earth burial, to a final water burial. The tea is strong wet stones, mineral, bit of ashy soggy wood with light musty book notes.
Eleventh, Twelfth, and Thirteenth Infusion: The 1982 Aged Sun Moon Lake is finally tasting better – it’s sweet, mineral, smooth, wild camphor, and aged in taste. No strange must, ash, and dirt notes. However these final steeps are very long, 10, 20, and 30 minutes.
Comments
Taiwan Tea Crafts‘s 1982 Aged Sun Moon Lake Black Tea is quite strange. It certainly tastes old and nothing like Sun Moon Lake, closer to a liu bao with lots of wet pile and ash flavor. What I didn’t like, but was to be expected due to the price, was the quality wasn’t there – lots of twigs, a rock, and thin body.
If you want to try an old black tea for an inexpensive price, the 1982 Aged Sun Moon Lake is your tea totally snag a 25 gram packet and split it with some tea friends to try. If you love that musty book taste you will certainly enjoy this tea! Personally, I am a little torn as I do love old Sun Moon Lake and book taste of puer and heicha, but unsure with the two elements together. Either way, an experience tea!
