Category: Bitterleaf Teas

Continuing on my reviews of the entire teas that put the bitter in Bitterleaf Tea, our final tea is The Bitter End Xtra. This old tree spring sheng is in maocha loose leaf form. This was sold as a comparison of Bitterleaf Teas’ lower grade Lao Man E – The Bitter End Lite (Huang pian), and The Bitter End. Leaf and Steeping Method The Bitter End Xtra has beautiful leaves that are nice and fuzzy wisps. I took a sniff and it smells vegetal but a big huff and it’s verge eye-watering pungent. As usual, I used around 1 gram of leaf… Continue reading, hoot!

Early release, I purchased all three Bitterleaf Teas’ 2018 Spring Lao Man E teas – The Bitter End Lite brick, Bitter End, and Xtra Bitter maocha. Originally what I wanted to do was comparison drink all three teas but that would likely destroy anyone’s stomach lining from all the bitter. I’ve already reviewed The Bitter End Lite, which is the sweeter huang pian version. Today lets drink the regular Bitterleaf Teas’ The Bitter End 2018 Spring Lao Man E sheng puer. My Bitter End cake got aired out for a while, over the summer with my tea room being really… Continue reading, hoot!

From experience, I let puer rest as the flavor changes quite a bit. The best rule of thumb that you hear from many tea sellers is to let your puer rest a few weeks after shipping, about as long as it took to ship to you.   After a few weeks, I generally put the tea into the pumidor. I used to drink new teas right away but I have so much and notice tea changes so much, I tend to wait a bit. Shipping does weird things to tea, especially with longer transit times. In the warmer months, I open… Continue reading, hoot!

Today I am drinking Bitterleaf Teas‘ 2016 Alter Ego. Alter Ego is made of Huang Pian material from the Mansa, which is in North Yiwu, bordering Laos. This 2016 tea is long sold out, but there the 2017 Alter Ego available… and 2018 brought out a bunch of other Huang Pian bricks from Bitterleaf. Huang Pian material is a tea I am seeing more and more lately, and we’ll see it more in the future as it is a cost-effective tea using the “ugly” leaves. However, this is to not be confused with ugly mowed up tea barf we see in cheap… Continue reading, hoot!

Bitterleaf Teas’ 2007 Hidden Gem Mahei Huang Pian sheng puer caught my eye due to storage. Bitterleaf Tea states this tea has a controlled humid storage. Likely many of us pumidor nuts located outside humid climates is gunning for this kind of storage. I guess I am in this category, but my main tea storage goal is to not get mold. Dry Leaf and Steeping Method The dry leaf is the characteristic huang pian look with big brittle leaves but also with a dark aged look. The scent is of forest floor or a basement heavy in house plants. The… Continue reading, hoot!

I took awhile to getting around to drinking Bitterleaf Tea’s Ice Queen 2007 Spring Bing Dao Sheng puer. Every Bing Dao I’ve tried I greatly enjoyed – the sweet flavor tends to ring with my sweet tooth. Liking Bing Dao does not make me happy as it is expensive! Bitterleaf sent me Ice Queen awhile back and since the tea smelled so good, has a $0.83 per gram price tag, so I went into horde mode. Something sparked in me today urging me to drink Ice Queen. That something is dying for a sweet puer as I keep craving Korean honey rice… Continue reading, hoot!

I cannot say no to a jing mai material puer! Today’s review is Bitterleaf Teas’ 2013 Hummingbird Spring Jing Mai Sheng Puer. This puer is spring, gushu (old tree) material. Bitterleaf Teas sells their 2013 Hummingbird in a few different styles – sample, 357 gram cake, and mini coin 10 gram cakes. My sample is from a cake. Reports from my tea friends saw the coin form has smaller leaves so flavor could vary. Dry Leaf and Steeping Instructions The dry leaf smells sweet and floral. I love when puer samples give you a nice hunk of tea! Bitterleaf includes steeping instructions… Continue reading, hoot!

Ooooh yeah, more Bitter Leaf Tea! Today we are drinking Year of the Monkey 2016 Spring Mengku, a Lincang region arbor material sheng puer. This puer is promised to be a good starter puer due to low bitterness and a daily drinker. Dry Leaf and Steeping Method It is always cool when you get a prime sample piece – a perfect crescent of puer cake! The scent is strongly fruity and a little smokey. The leaf is heavy on the silver contrast, with some long leaves and some with long twig. I went with the usual steeping method, 1 gram to… Continue reading, hoot!

Bitterleaf Teas! This new puer seller has been high requested and lucky me Bitterleaf Teas contacted me and sent me goodies for me to hoot through. First up, Spring 2016 Secret Garden Sheng Puer, which is old tree jungle yiwu material. Jungle teas are so in. This tea is so jungle that apparently the teas are surrounded with banana trees. Maybe Jungle Owls? Secret Garden reminded me of this weird Garden tea I reviewed years ago. My tastes have certainly changed, but 10/10 would do it again due to weird factor. Dry Leaf and Steeping Method The scent of the puer is quite nice… Continue reading, hoot!