Naka and the wild tea lasted through the week fine, but I didn't enjoy them that much.
I did a thermos of the 2011 EoT Mannuo to compare with the Naka. EoT had a bit thinner viscosity, but same texture, and the taste (lacking barnyard, meatiness) and aroma isn't as rich or complex. Flip side was that the taste and aroma are more pleasant and agreeable. Aroma had strong wood/florals component, and the taste is intensely sweet--I would like to see the face of a person who doesn't like sweet puerh drink this. It is also really rather close to the taste of a banzhang/Guangbienlaozhai--it wasn't very different from the 2020 XZH Taiji maocha, for example. Lastly, while the quality of the aftertastes are about even (tho' the Mannuo aftertaste survives cooking and is present in later pours, in a way that the Naka doesn't, the Mannuo qi and throatfeel is much better.
The shu of Friday was the 2007 Dengshihai. It was largely its usual self--not much fermentation flavor, has rather nice wood character in aroma and a slight bit in taste. Good aftertaste and qi. This was a better session than last time, and normal sourness was present.
I did a couple of fancypants sheng this weekend from Essence of Tea. And one Liubao from TeaSide.
The first sheng of the weekend was the 2006 Bingdao Lao Zhai Ancient Tree from Essence of Tea. It was a mild disappointment in that this is one of those Bingdaos that has been tweaked to have that tangerine section candy character in aroma and taste, so it was never really going to age in a significant way. Also, the storage was a bit too heavy for this sort of tea.
On to the tea... As might be expected, this tea is pretty minerally in aroma and taste. Earliest brews can have wood, dark herbal in aroma as well, but most brews are mineral with a suggestion of fruit and sugars. The taste is pretty transparent. Again, usually mineral with a touch of sugars and tangerine section candy fruitiness. If brewed hard, there is a small, narrow bitter pole with a propensity to pinch the sides of the tongue. A couple of early brews has a real tcm bitter pole, dark herbals, and aromatic woods. This tea has a tendency towards sensate sweetness when you let the soup cool a bit. Good viscosity, with the oil texture that I'm routinely recognizing as typical of more real Bingdaos. Astringency is generally moderate level. There is some mouthcooling. Most of the fun in the tea is in the dynamic yiwu-huigan-mouthcoat segue. There were a couple of yuns. The qi is strong and tends to warm the body. Late brews do not seem to continue that strength. This tea is an indefinite brewer, and I stopped at about fourteen or fifteen brews to reuse the pot.
I can't say that this is a very good value. There are lots of good substitutes that do not cost as much, albeit usually much younger--for example the 2017 XZH Peach Drunk at $518/400g will give you the same minerals, fruitiness, big mouthfeel, qi, etc in transparent taste. Puerhguy has a single 2012 Baifuzangcang Bingdao at a price well below its worth 2012 Baifuzangcang Canglu Bingdao Ancient Tree - Puerh Guy - https://www.puerhguy.com/shop/bfzc/2012-baifuzangcang-canglu-bingdao-ancient-tree/ as well as another non-Bingdao but good substitute in the 2010 Upper Cave Man Art cake 2010 Xizihao Dingji Qiaomu Yuancha - Puerh Guy - https://www.puerhguy.com/shop/xzh/2010-xizihao-mountaintop-caveman-qiaomu-yuancha/ not fruity, but should be big on mouthfeel, qi, etc, etc...
The second tea of Satuday was the 1991 HongTaiChang Liu Bao from TeaSide. The first try of this tea, I was impressed by, so when I saw that TeaSide had a Thai New Year's sale, I promptly took advantage to buy myself a cake. Pretty easy win. Affirmative good teas from around 1991 generally costs more than the $136/200g it cost me, even the shu. And I certainly think this was affirmatively good tea. Not too dynamic and not too complex so it's easy to describe. Themes are a certain sort of aromatic wood (teakwood works, I guess), caramel, a slight nuttiness, and a dark bitter herbal verging towards choco. There is a bit of black eyed peas warehouse note early. As the brews go on and the taste thins, there is a more evident wine-toned plumminess (hey, like that 88QB). Decent to good viscosity, smooth and round in the mouth. Decent to good yiwu huigan and mouthcoat. Sneaky qi at about moderate level, good quality. Very durable--probably close to twenty brews, and still worth putting into the fridge for the week.
The Sunday tea was the 2005 Bangwai Single Tree from Essence of Tea. As for whether it's *the* single tree, I don't know, but yes, this has the classic profile of a single or few trees sheng. I find the blurb to be pretty accurate here. I think the blurb does play a bit too soft on being fried too high. It is definitely over-fried, and there's something of a nudge towards yancha character as a result. Or maybe it was an intentional processing step?
Like the Bingdao, not a super complex tea in aroma and taste. It is a bit richer, especially in aroma. Aroma early was relatively rich with roasted grain, a bit of tobacco herbalness, a touch of smoke. Latter aroma is more of a mineral and plummy aroma. Taste is transparent like the Bingdao with the core of it being this yancha congwei-ish mineral note, accompanied by subtle fruit, light roasted grains. Good viscosity with pudding texture. Moderate astringency. There is a light feeling down throat, a bit of cooling in mouth, a few brews has the tonguetip being numbed. Aftertastes are quite nice, a dynamic, sweet, mouthcoat that tends to last well after cup is finished, along with yuns. Qi is of moderate strength but is of good quality, and there is some chest warming. I didn't do enough brews, maybe eleven? to tell how durable this is, but pot's going into the fridge nonetheless.
It's pretty good, but it's not something I could even come close to wanting to buy at three dollars plus a gram--any number of teas at Sanhetang I'd rather buy.
I did a thermos of the 2011 EoT Mannuo to compare with the Naka. EoT had a bit thinner viscosity, but same texture, and the taste (lacking barnyard, meatiness) and aroma isn't as rich or complex. Flip side was that the taste and aroma are more pleasant and agreeable. Aroma had strong wood/florals component, and the taste is intensely sweet--I would like to see the face of a person who doesn't like sweet puerh drink this. It is also really rather close to the taste of a banzhang/Guangbienlaozhai--it wasn't very different from the 2020 XZH Taiji maocha, for example. Lastly, while the quality of the aftertastes are about even (tho' the Mannuo aftertaste survives cooking and is present in later pours, in a way that the Naka doesn't, the Mannuo qi and throatfeel is much better.
The shu of Friday was the 2007 Dengshihai. It was largely its usual self--not much fermentation flavor, has rather nice wood character in aroma and a slight bit in taste. Good aftertaste and qi. This was a better session than last time, and normal sourness was present.
I did a couple of fancypants sheng this weekend from Essence of Tea. And one Liubao from TeaSide.
The first sheng of the weekend was the 2006 Bingdao Lao Zhai Ancient Tree from Essence of Tea. It was a mild disappointment in that this is one of those Bingdaos that has been tweaked to have that tangerine section candy character in aroma and taste, so it was never really going to age in a significant way. Also, the storage was a bit too heavy for this sort of tea.
On to the tea... As might be expected, this tea is pretty minerally in aroma and taste. Earliest brews can have wood, dark herbal in aroma as well, but most brews are mineral with a suggestion of fruit and sugars. The taste is pretty transparent. Again, usually mineral with a touch of sugars and tangerine section candy fruitiness. If brewed hard, there is a small, narrow bitter pole with a propensity to pinch the sides of the tongue. A couple of early brews has a real tcm bitter pole, dark herbals, and aromatic woods. This tea has a tendency towards sensate sweetness when you let the soup cool a bit. Good viscosity, with the oil texture that I'm routinely recognizing as typical of more real Bingdaos. Astringency is generally moderate level. There is some mouthcooling. Most of the fun in the tea is in the dynamic yiwu-huigan-mouthcoat segue. There were a couple of yuns. The qi is strong and tends to warm the body. Late brews do not seem to continue that strength. This tea is an indefinite brewer, and I stopped at about fourteen or fifteen brews to reuse the pot.
I can't say that this is a very good value. There are lots of good substitutes that do not cost as much, albeit usually much younger--for example the 2017 XZH Peach Drunk at $518/400g will give you the same minerals, fruitiness, big mouthfeel, qi, etc in transparent taste. Puerhguy has a single 2012 Baifuzangcang Bingdao at a price well below its worth 2012 Baifuzangcang Canglu Bingdao Ancient Tree - Puerh Guy - https://www.puerhguy.com/shop/bfzc/2012-baifuzangcang-canglu-bingdao-ancient-tree/ as well as another non-Bingdao but good substitute in the 2010 Upper Cave Man Art cake 2010 Xizihao Dingji Qiaomu Yuancha - Puerh Guy - https://www.puerhguy.com/shop/xzh/2010-xizihao-mountaintop-caveman-qiaomu-yuancha/ not fruity, but should be big on mouthfeel, qi, etc, etc...
The second tea of Satuday was the 1991 HongTaiChang Liu Bao from TeaSide. The first try of this tea, I was impressed by, so when I saw that TeaSide had a Thai New Year's sale, I promptly took advantage to buy myself a cake. Pretty easy win. Affirmative good teas from around 1991 generally costs more than the $136/200g it cost me, even the shu. And I certainly think this was affirmatively good tea. Not too dynamic and not too complex so it's easy to describe. Themes are a certain sort of aromatic wood (teakwood works, I guess), caramel, a slight nuttiness, and a dark bitter herbal verging towards choco. There is a bit of black eyed peas warehouse note early. As the brews go on and the taste thins, there is a more evident wine-toned plumminess (hey, like that 88QB). Decent to good viscosity, smooth and round in the mouth. Decent to good yiwu huigan and mouthcoat. Sneaky qi at about moderate level, good quality. Very durable--probably close to twenty brews, and still worth putting into the fridge for the week.
The Sunday tea was the 2005 Bangwai Single Tree from Essence of Tea. As for whether it's *the* single tree, I don't know, but yes, this has the classic profile of a single or few trees sheng. I find the blurb to be pretty accurate here. I think the blurb does play a bit too soft on being fried too high. It is definitely over-fried, and there's something of a nudge towards yancha character as a result. Or maybe it was an intentional processing step?
Like the Bingdao, not a super complex tea in aroma and taste. It is a bit richer, especially in aroma. Aroma early was relatively rich with roasted grain, a bit of tobacco herbalness, a touch of smoke. Latter aroma is more of a mineral and plummy aroma. Taste is transparent like the Bingdao with the core of it being this yancha congwei-ish mineral note, accompanied by subtle fruit, light roasted grains. Good viscosity with pudding texture. Moderate astringency. There is a light feeling down throat, a bit of cooling in mouth, a few brews has the tonguetip being numbed. Aftertastes are quite nice, a dynamic, sweet, mouthcoat that tends to last well after cup is finished, along with yuns. Qi is of moderate strength but is of good quality, and there is some chest warming. I didn't do enough brews, maybe eleven? to tell how durable this is, but pot's going into the fridge nonetheless.
It's pretty good, but it's not something I could even come close to wanting to buy at three dollars plus a gram--any number of teas at Sanhetang I'd rather buy.
