This is a wonderful Tea, Fresh and sweet like honeydew. No bitterness at all. ALL the teas from KTM have been OUTSTANDING! My order arrived in 12 days to the US...Couldn't be happier. Thank you

I love the shape, size, and painted fish. I use these all the time. Definitely recommend!

Eh? What do you mean it's a BLACK tea?

You got to be kidding me.

Too floral to be true. 🍵🐝

I used 15 g of tea heads and 708 ml water boiled in a pan. 1 Tbs to 3 cups. Color was a beautiful deep red amber. The taste was what I wanted, so very earthy. If allowed to get stronger it will develop a not so wanted fishy taste, if so then dilute it. Excellent. As my non drinking tea neighbor says, that stuff smells like dirt. Yes and I love it too.

Good selection and I'm enjoying teas. A bit pricey, but no fool, teas is what they claim to be. Better than average experience.

I bought this based off the first review and I am glad I did! Firstly I have to say that it did not travel so well to my country (around 4 weeks). The initial brew on the day of arrival was dank and earthy, so be aware, it may need some love before being ready to drink.

Having said that, after airing and being in humidity controlled storage, it is one of my favourite aged daily drinkers. For the price, it offers a wonderful introduction into the world of aged shengs. The description is accurate in all aspects and it is possible to brew this tea all day long. Well worth the wait and I would definitely recommend, hence the full 5 stars.

One nice thing to note is that I had a few fresh brews in the evening as a test, and I slept very well. I can only assume that the caffeine content is not so high anymore in this tea. It definitely has some Qi.

This is my first Liu Bao and having previously only had Ripe Puerh to compare it with I was very keen to try it out. It travelled well and is now developing nicely over the past couple of months in a humidity controlled storage box.

The tea brick is fairly loose and the leaves are quite small, so it does tend to make a mess when picking it apart. I like to push the first few brews on my dark teas as I love the chocolate and woody taste often associated with them. This Liu Bao is different than a ripe puerh (in a good way), perhaps with less initial astringency, but the deep flavours I look for are there. After the initial few steeps from a 200ml nixing teapot, the deepness gives way to more mellow flavours. These in turn give way to a wonderful sweetness, not unlike a quality ripe puerh. I would recommend this tea.

I made it strong to start, with 550ml/8gr liquid/leaf. Boiling water in a canning jar. Has an oily surface and smells very mild/earthy, getting a chocolate oakiness flavor. It goes and goes all day grampa style, continued with boiling water refills. Not a strong earthy brew flavor, dry leaf matter has an earthy smell. If made weaker it would be great for a newbie. Leaf did flake easy with an ice pick pry, got good chunks over all. I used all leaf matter. Letting it sit a bit longer for another trial once more acclimated to my home. Great brick overall. Good cha qi.

Oh my goodness. Excellent. The taste is what I love in an aged Pu Erh Sheng. This definitely is on my favorites list. The right amount of bitterness morph’s into a delicious sweet combination.
I’m very happy with this 2005 XiaGuan 8653. I need a whole tong. It’s all of the above and more. TY for having it available for purchase.

I’m letting it accumulate. I did have a little of the brew because I couldn’t resist it when I first received the order. It’s a nice deep aged taste, like bark deep in the woods with a little sweetness aftertaste. I think more flavor will come out a little later.
I’m glad I purchased it.

Good value for money I think, it traveled well and overall a really nice tea. The description is accurate, it is a good thick pour from my Nixing teapot. The cake is quite loose for a factory cake, which I like. The initial smell after first wash has similar earthy, warm and woody aromas to a 1 year old ripe I also have at a similar price point, but the taste of the "pile" has definitely aged out! I am storing it in a container at 65-69% humidity, with other ripe cakes of various ages, so I hope I can extract a little more flavour over time.

This tea is a little gem of a tuo (100g). It traveled very well and is thick and delicious without airing. Now it has been rested and stored properly, I can already start to taste the improvement. The returning sweetness is strong and therefore it is possible to enjoy many infusions.

I bought a whole cake, based on recommendation from TeaDB. I let the cake rest, covered and in a dark cupboard for a week before putting it in my humidity controlled storage container.

The tea is accurately described, as there were hints of smoke at the beginning. I brewed 10g in a 200ml clay teapot, using 90 degree C water for the first several brews before moving on to 95 and 100deg for the final part of the session.

I could feel the bitterness in the first instance, but it was constrained and cut short of the usual bitterness in a younger tea. It was pleasant and the overall taste quickly develops into that aged sheng taste I was expecting.

I can honestly say that even though a full cake is quite an investment, this is one I will savour for years to come. The returning sweetness is present in abundance without being overbearing. I must have brewed at least 3 litres of tea from 10g and it was still giving out flavour, even the next day.

I highly recommend!

I bought it based on earlier recommendations, and I agree with the others. It’s a very good value-for-money tea; it lasts through many infusions—over 10 for me with gong fu brewing. Its aroma is mature, slightly earthy. It has medium Cha Qi, restrained bitterness, and, especially from the third infusion onward, a distinct sweetish flavor with increased salivation. I like it very much—it’s a bargain at this price.

I had long wanted to try a Huang Pian tea, though I didn’t have high expectations. Recently, many vendors and blogs have been trying to move it to the top shelf, but essentially it is still a kind of an end-of-season workers’ tea. Yet, for me, that is exactly what gives it its charm.
I approached this tea based on an earlier review, so I used a smaller Yixing teapot from the start. I began with a longer first rinse to help open up this otherwise very tightly compressed tea. After that, instead of the usual 10-second first infusion, I started with double the time and gradually increased the brewing duration (about [****] seconds, etc.).
For me, even the first infusion already had a beautiful amber color leaning toward brown, with a strong mushroomy and only slightly earthy aroma. Even with a little longer steeping time than usual, the bitterness was minimal, while saliva production was enhanced. The sweetish flavor is absolutely detectable; it is not at all the robust, rough tea I had expected from a Huang Pian. It isn’t especially long-lasting, but 7–8 infusions can be easily coaxed out of it.
It was a surprise for me, highly recommended.