Readers would know that I am a big fan of Xiaguan pu erh tea. My collection of Xiaguan tea are mainly from the years 2003-2009. It is a fairly large collection of Xiaguan as I tend to buy them in bulk more than 12 years ago.
Xiaguan pu erh tea is not expensive. With time in storage, the tea produced an aroma and taste that I considered high quality compared to other pu erh brands of the same age. I particularly enjoy the smoky offerings by Xiaguan. Some of these tea age to a camphor like aroma finish which I enjoyed tremendously.
I am also intrigued by the various traditional compressed pu erh tea shapes from Xiaguan; from the iron cakes, nest tuos, melon and mushroom shaped tea.
I just opened a 2007 gold ribbon tuo. This tea is not smoky but it has nice honey and floral notes in the tea. A sweet aftertaste. The 19 year old tea now brews to a dark amber colour. I call this tea the 'honey tuo'. I recommend.
