Going deeper down the rabbit hole I discover Liu Bao.

I am finding this adventure taking yet another unexpected turn as I have my first Liu Bao, a sort of tea I know nothing about even as I steeped it for the first time. It smelled like Puerh, but was choppy and 'piecey' like a Rooibos, god what a mess I made. Grumbling, 'This better be worth it' or something in a similar vein I rinsed twice, then tasted the first brew, and it was Good. Yes, with a capital 'G'. Like how God said it after he made creation.
I cannot compare it to anything else though for it truly is a one of a kind experience, all I can do is to hope to learn more and to have the opportunity to try more of this sort of tea. I can tell you this was a gift, a small sample from Camellia-Sinensis in Canada and is marked, 'Liu Bao 2008 0612-01' and its origin is indeed China.

The flavor is everything I like from a Shou Puerh, it is woodsy and leather, no astringency in the after-taste at all, very mild and almost sweet which is a huge plus for me. Of course, being a first timer with this and only having a small amount I chose to brew only 3 grams and used my smallest gaiwan of 100ml to do so. Temperature was 205f.
Delicious and very intriguing. I am now eye-balling some other Liu Bao offerings from this company and am very tempted by some of the older, and of course more pricey items for sale. efore I do that though I still have one more sample to try from them, the Liu Bao Lao Cha Po Puerh 2006. Yep, that is what the package says, lemme go look online to see if I got that right, the handwriting on the package is elegant but not as easy to read as my old eyes would prefer. Hey, that looks good too, doesn't it? Large leaf is more my personal preference so I am now off to try Liu Bao numero two!

From my first steep of Liu Bao, so messy and yet so worthy!