2018 Three Cranes "2506" Liu Bao Tea in Basket

Reliable Black Velvet

Perfect daily drinker Liu Bao. Veg tanned leather, decaying log, sweet, velvet smooth, and thick. I'm mostly enjoying it as a grandpa style thermos tea to keep me warm and energized through the day. The novelty of getting tea in a basket is also a selling point for me.

A good daily drinker

After doing a comparative tasting of a few of the different Three Cranes recipes, this one won out as my choice for an affordable daily drinker. Betelnut forward with some wet-pile flavor, but still relatively balanced for an affordable shu liu bao. It doesnt have the most stamina, getting mildly astringent and losing complexity in longer sessions, but this can be helped by brewing at higher ratios and shorter steeps, which remains practical given the cost. This is a tea that I'm happy drinking most mornings. I'll be getting a basket after I run through the bag I got.

Fantastic

First Brew is quite normal, but second brew the taste of Liu Bao is like usual, very satisfying and fantastic