A brief (5-10 seconds) steep in 90 Celsius water.
Liquor is somewhat cloudy with a deep golden caramel in color, similar to whisky.
Taste is bold with a slight herbal minty bitterness and a long sweet aftertaste that is honey-like.
Medium mouthfeel with thick dryness around the mouth and a touch of astringency.
Wet leaves are dark copper in look with an olive hue, giving off an aroma of ripen stone fruit and brown sugar.
Strength of flavor starts to mellow down by the 6th infusion, thus best to steep longer from here onwards.
A longer (1 minute) steep in the next infusion gives a deeper color hue to the liquor and brings out a woody note and a hint of smokiness.
This maybe a tea that is best to rest/age longer.
Perhaps aging it may help to soften the harshness of its character.

This one is special indeed, a lot going on during the first steeps, drink it gong fu style and you shall be intrigued by the flavours and spectrum of taste that comes by. It is a strong tea, as in a good whiskey, baring a lot in it.

If you feel like going outside the normal tea spectrum as it comes to flavour, this one is a little adventure on it's own.

Also, after a few steeps, the mint really comes to the forefront, leaving the earthy, leathery, wooden aged whiskey taste a little more behind, also giving way to a more fruitfull experience, i for one love this one. :)

A very special tea. The first steeps start with the characteristic gaba aroma’s. The further you get into your session the more special it becomes. A deep intense taste of dark fruit, cookies and the minty aftertaste of the ruby #18 cultivar. You also get a slight scent of whiskey aged on wooden barrels. A must try! Especially when you do it kung fu style with short steeps.

I prefer the Sun Moon Ruby 18 black for drinking now. The Ruby GAPU cake seems to need time to age, hopefully this helps. I expected it would need some time, that is part of the fun of investing in a press cake.

A high quality tea that I am really enjoying. If you like Ruby #18 and sheng puer you'll love this unique combination. I drink alot of Yunnan sheng puer and the sweetness of this cake is a nice contrast.