The last of the 1998 Guang Yun Gong Bing from netsurfr. I'm about to go on a sample eradication diet that sees my box of random sheng samples decrease dramatically.
SOTD- sheng of the day
- Thread starter ouch
- Start date
05 Changtai Chen Hong Chang -
Strange creature...yet for some reason I like it. Medicinal and sour notes with some balancing sweetness.
Strange creature...yet for some reason I like it. Medicinal and sour notes with some balancing sweetness.
1) Dayi Secret Fragrance. Session went well with many infusion that held intensity and roughness in check.
2) YS Fall '10 Pasha. Much less intense than the XZH '09. Tastes a bit green teaish with eggy umami. Very flavorful. Decent cooling. This feels like a very drink-it-now sheng. There isn't really a core Pasha-ness around which to age--don't know if that makes sense, just my intuition.
3) Lincang Millennial Zhen Pin. Tastes like nuts and chicory. Very coffeeish. Very smooth to drink and bitterness is easy to control to desired level. Not complex, but good qi and a bit of cooling. Great everyday morning tea, I'd think.
Reading around the interwebs, there's a lot of talk about Xigui, which is a Lincang area that seems to be associated with Bangdong and close to Bingdao. I wonder if this Xigui is *in* Bangdong or *near*/*special* version of Bangdong.
2) YS Fall '10 Pasha. Much less intense than the XZH '09. Tastes a bit green teaish with eggy umami. Very flavorful. Decent cooling. This feels like a very drink-it-now sheng. There isn't really a core Pasha-ness around which to age--don't know if that makes sense, just my intuition.
3) Lincang Millennial Zhen Pin. Tastes like nuts and chicory. Very coffeeish. Very smooth to drink and bitterness is easy to control to desired level. Not complex, but good qi and a bit of cooling. Great everyday morning tea, I'd think.
Reading around the interwebs, there's a lot of talk about Xigui, which is a Lincang area that seems to be associated with Bangdong and close to Bingdao. I wonder if this Xigui is *in* Bangdong or *near*/*special* version of Bangdong.
Two teas today...
1) YS Fall Bangma. This doesn't actually taste good. Not bad, either. It's more medicine pu. The stuff you drink when you have congestion or some other ill. If I had lots of money (or really, if a smaller size was offered), I'd get some as medicine and for reading, like what that ZhaiZiPo is for. It has lots of cooling, good qi. Flavors are approachable, if kinda thin. Nothing off, except that it's kind of hollow. I suspect this is close to what good Bingdao tastes like. Just has to taste good.
2) Tai Lian yet again. ChillMax this time round. Fizzy high woods usually found in $$$-$$$$ sheng is hinted at as well. Only hints of fruits today. Bit rougher starting at round 9, but it's the kind that slow-releases flavors. Decent thickness and becoming more thick in midrounds. Sweet, but not as sweet as last time. However, last time, sweetness was really more to the end, while this afternoon, it was in from cup one. Aromatic complexity was very good today as well--I did a little mouth-smelling and tasting the aroma--sort of a hookah thing, ya know?
By the by, ChenShenghao 08 Lao Ban Zhang is now twice what a Shuangjiang Mengku 01 YuanYeXiang costs at Red Lantern. There is only one Douji 06 Lao Ban Zhang left @ Tao Bao, for what the ChenShengHao costs.
1) YS Fall Bangma. This doesn't actually taste good. Not bad, either. It's more medicine pu. The stuff you drink when you have congestion or some other ill. If I had lots of money (or really, if a smaller size was offered), I'd get some as medicine and for reading, like what that ZhaiZiPo is for. It has lots of cooling, good qi. Flavors are approachable, if kinda thin. Nothing off, except that it's kind of hollow. I suspect this is close to what good Bingdao tastes like. Just has to taste good.
2) Tai Lian yet again. ChillMax this time round. Fizzy high woods usually found in $$$-$$$$ sheng is hinted at as well. Only hints of fruits today. Bit rougher starting at round 9, but it's the kind that slow-releases flavors. Decent thickness and becoming more thick in midrounds. Sweet, but not as sweet as last time. However, last time, sweetness was really more to the end, while this afternoon, it was in from cup one. Aromatic complexity was very good today as well--I did a little mouth-smelling and tasting the aroma--sort of a hookah thing, ya know?
By the by, ChenShenghao 08 Lao Ban Zhang is now twice what a Shuangjiang Mengku 01 YuanYeXiang costs at Red Lantern. There is only one Douji 06 Lao Ban Zhang left @ Tao Bao, for what the ChenShengHao costs.
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SoTD - 2007 8582, a Menghai baseline. Steady and still brutish. What the future holds of this one? Who knows ?
Today and yesterday's tea is/was 2007 Mengku Mu ye Chun 001.
First tea was Lincang Millenial '05. Good for mornings, and pleasant, but pretty constrained, somehow.
Tai Lian '02 again. Swung towards the Jingmai side of things, and less Bingdao area Mengku. Don't think there is much Banna of any stripe in here. Limited cooling, more nice wood, beautiful fruits play peekaboo, and later rounds have an intense honey aroma as it is poured. Excellent, very long lasting Jingmai sweet banana aftertaste after the session was over, due to it being more astringent than usual. Sessions with this tea are very different from one another, aside from a basic weird acrid smell/taste that I don't associate with smoke. FeiTai #6 is a very distant cousin in taste.
Tai Lian '02 again. Swung towards the Jingmai side of things, and less Bingdao area Mengku. Don't think there is much Banna of any stripe in here. Limited cooling, more nice wood, beautiful fruits play peekaboo, and later rounds have an intense honey aroma as it is poured. Excellent, very long lasting Jingmai sweet banana aftertaste after the session was over, due to it being more astringent than usual. Sessions with this tea are very different from one another, aside from a basic weird acrid smell/taste that I don't associate with smoke. FeiTai #6 is a very distant cousin in taste.
SotD:
In a valiant attempt to finish all of my samples from Zhizheng Tea, which were ubiquitously red, I am raising my final cup in my office as the remains of the box is bid farewell. Not bad, not great - certainly not worth the really rather large asking price.
Toodlepip,
Hobbes
In a valiant attempt to finish all of my samples from Zhizheng Tea, which were ubiquitously red, I am raising my final cup in my office as the remains of the box is bid farewell. Not bad, not great - certainly not worth the really rather large asking price.
Toodlepip,
Hobbes
Today I brought more sheng samples to the office. I'm now drinking 2007 XZH Autumn Yi Wu Cha Hwang that I got from Hou De. I remember not liking any of the XZH samples that I've tried but I can't recall what I disliked about this one. I suspect I'll soon remember.
Update: Some fruity sweetness but mostly just cooling. Boring. Little kuwei. Meh.
Update: Some fruity sweetness but mostly just cooling. Boring. Little kuwei. Meh.
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1988 Xia Guan Sheng Tuo Cha
from Generation Tea
Purchased 4.5 years ago
for precisely half today's going rate.
Using 5g in my little 105ml Sutra gift-pot.
Unemployed, I can stay up late with this old stuff
and grow utterly cha zui.
~grasshopper
from Generation Tea
Purchased 4.5 years ago
for precisely half today's going rate.
Using 5g in my little 105ml Sutra gift-pot.
Unemployed, I can stay up late with this old stuff
and grow utterly cha zui.
~grasshopper
Four teas of the day...
1) YS Fall '10 Bangma. Still medicinal. Pleasant for what it is.
2) Zitenglu '05 Taihe maocha. It's basically some kind of super Jing Gu of some sort. Supreme mouth-feel, being *very* oily and pretty thick. Not so much different from a smoother, runnier honey. Flavor isn't that good, being very similar to the Simplified Red Dayi '01 in that it's primarily of wet straw (and gently sour). There can be neat little flavors, like violets. The session works largely similar to other high-end Jing Gu, mostly like a cross between Kuzhu shan and a bit of Yang Ta. The throatfeel isn't very potent, though, and in general this tea isn't that potent, relative to XZH Jing Gu. Cha Qi is nice, and it has the characteristic Jing Gu super-durability.
3) Yang Qing Hao Gu Shu Cha Wang '05. There are definitely serious flaws with this tea. I think this is because the blend is different from '04, substituting a portion of a variety of Yiwu with Jiangcheng maocha, and it didn't quite work out. It is still a very tasty tea. It is light, with a primary taste of straw. There is less aged wood in here than it should be. It has a strong and fast-arriving apricot aftertaste which is very similar to the apricot in XZH '07 8582. There is a great deal of small flavors, according to usual YQH M.O. Thickness is okay. Astringency is generally a moderate issue. This grows as the session deepens, along with a citric tang (similar to Nadacha Banpen, not merely tart or acid). There are also growing, if mild sour notes. I will err on keeping my future brews shorter than I otherwise would.
4) Zitenglu? '03 Yiwu tuocha. Needs a couple of flash brews to get rid of sour funk. In the mode of Song Charactered Changtai. Lots of broad taste, not especially subtle. It's a bit rough as well, and needs more aging before it hits the first stage of true nice. Loads of vanilla and the regular sort of aged woods. A bit of fruit sometimes pops in. Relatively easygoing. Qi is mild-moderate. Can't tell for sure in all that tea, same with YQH.
1) YS Fall '10 Bangma. Still medicinal. Pleasant for what it is.
2) Zitenglu '05 Taihe maocha. It's basically some kind of super Jing Gu of some sort. Supreme mouth-feel, being *very* oily and pretty thick. Not so much different from a smoother, runnier honey. Flavor isn't that good, being very similar to the Simplified Red Dayi '01 in that it's primarily of wet straw (and gently sour). There can be neat little flavors, like violets. The session works largely similar to other high-end Jing Gu, mostly like a cross between Kuzhu shan and a bit of Yang Ta. The throatfeel isn't very potent, though, and in general this tea isn't that potent, relative to XZH Jing Gu. Cha Qi is nice, and it has the characteristic Jing Gu super-durability.
3) Yang Qing Hao Gu Shu Cha Wang '05. There are definitely serious flaws with this tea. I think this is because the blend is different from '04, substituting a portion of a variety of Yiwu with Jiangcheng maocha, and it didn't quite work out. It is still a very tasty tea. It is light, with a primary taste of straw. There is less aged wood in here than it should be. It has a strong and fast-arriving apricot aftertaste which is very similar to the apricot in XZH '07 8582. There is a great deal of small flavors, according to usual YQH M.O. Thickness is okay. Astringency is generally a moderate issue. This grows as the session deepens, along with a citric tang (similar to Nadacha Banpen, not merely tart or acid). There are also growing, if mild sour notes. I will err on keeping my future brews shorter than I otherwise would.
4) Zitenglu? '03 Yiwu tuocha. Needs a couple of flash brews to get rid of sour funk. In the mode of Song Charactered Changtai. Lots of broad taste, not especially subtle. It's a bit rough as well, and needs more aging before it hits the first stage of true nice. Loads of vanilla and the regular sort of aged woods. A bit of fruit sometimes pops in. Relatively easygoing. Qi is mild-moderate. Can't tell for sure in all that tea, same with YQH.
2010 Douji Hong Da Dou -
This is the third day brewing on these leaves. First day the flavors were light with the usual grain and hay. The second day some astringency and dryness showed up...not as enjoyable. The third day it mellowed a bit with bigger flavors and noticable sweetness. There is proabably no reason to pick this up for another year.
This is the third day brewing on these leaves. First day the flavors were light with the usual grain and hay. The second day some astringency and dryness showed up...not as enjoyable. The third day it mellowed a bit with bigger flavors and noticable sweetness. There is proabably no reason to pick this up for another year.
Killer qi !!!!!!!! - for some reason I ordered a 7 gram sample rather than a 6 gram sample of this . Any way I threw the whole lot in and by the end of the session I could hardly see I was so stoned !!! To be honest it wasn't a very pleasant sensation and as it slowly wore off I was left feeling like I had been smacked around the head with a brick , plus a raging hang over like head ache . I've never experienced qi like this before . With hind sight I think a 4 or 5 gram sample would have been more than enough ! The aroma , flavours and textures although fairly simple were nice enough .
Three shengs of the day...
1) 2010 Fall Hai Lang Hao Qing Lian Yi. It was a soft and subtle Yiwu, with okay cooling and huigans. Tends to be a bit astringent and inconveniently sour at times. Plantation is the bulk, or at least a strong minority of the blend. I lasted seven brews before I justed wanted to end it. It probably could have done more, but I'll want to be conservative in brewing any further tries. It would be a nice Yiwu to put away for a few years, but it's just not $68 dollars nice.
2) 2006 Sunsing Mahei. MarshalN trashed it way back in 2007. It's still not any of the things he wanted, today, but it's much nicer than that HLH. Flavor takes awhile to get going, and gets really nice at about 7 brews. A touch damp, but dry-stored in HK. It has wood, vanilla, slight fruit nuances and has good cooling. At its best, it has a niiiiice floral perfume thing going. Brews forever. Moderate astringency that never really goes away.
3) 2004 YQH Special Reserve. I decided that I need to recalibrate to understand what's good and what's not. After drinking, I do know this. It's probably the best 2k+ Yiwu that was ever casually available to Western audiences, geez. It was usually fragrant with honey notes when I pour, though fragrance settles down quick. It was barely astringent, which always melts fast. It was never bitter. It is kind of thin, but more than reasonably oily and quite comfortable to drink. It was always very clean and sweet, and did it until it faded, never getting rough. Does not have citrus notes today. Is not very much like the 2005 YQH Chawang. Is not especially woody, and since there isn't much astringency, not sure if it will ever be especially woody. What wood is there serves as the backbone to many subtle fruit/floral over vanilla/straw nuances there are in the brew. There are also woody huigans, and the wood does taste good. Good qi, and occasionally, feeling does go down the throat. Also houyuns too, on occasion. Develops for 12 brews and gives good sweet water for about four more brews.
1) 2010 Fall Hai Lang Hao Qing Lian Yi. It was a soft and subtle Yiwu, with okay cooling and huigans. Tends to be a bit astringent and inconveniently sour at times. Plantation is the bulk, or at least a strong minority of the blend. I lasted seven brews before I justed wanted to end it. It probably could have done more, but I'll want to be conservative in brewing any further tries. It would be a nice Yiwu to put away for a few years, but it's just not $68 dollars nice.
2) 2006 Sunsing Mahei. MarshalN trashed it way back in 2007. It's still not any of the things he wanted, today, but it's much nicer than that HLH. Flavor takes awhile to get going, and gets really nice at about 7 brews. A touch damp, but dry-stored in HK. It has wood, vanilla, slight fruit nuances and has good cooling. At its best, it has a niiiiice floral perfume thing going. Brews forever. Moderate astringency that never really goes away.
3) 2004 YQH Special Reserve. I decided that I need to recalibrate to understand what's good and what's not. After drinking, I do know this. It's probably the best 2k+ Yiwu that was ever casually available to Western audiences, geez. It was usually fragrant with honey notes when I pour, though fragrance settles down quick. It was barely astringent, which always melts fast. It was never bitter. It is kind of thin, but more than reasonably oily and quite comfortable to drink. It was always very clean and sweet, and did it until it faded, never getting rough. Does not have citrus notes today. Is not very much like the 2005 YQH Chawang. Is not especially woody, and since there isn't much astringency, not sure if it will ever be especially woody. What wood is there serves as the backbone to many subtle fruit/floral over vanilla/straw nuances there are in the brew. There are also woody huigans, and the wood does taste good. Good qi, and occasionally, feeling does go down the throat. Also houyuns too, on occasion. Develops for 12 brews and gives good sweet water for about four more brews.
Gao Li Gong Shan 60s
from TeaSpring
Purchased six or seven years ago.
Stored in zisha, brewed in porcelain.
Mellow is the word here. Wood, sugar, and vanilla.
Soft, evocative, delicious.
from TeaSpring
Purchased six or seven years ago.
Stored in zisha, brewed in porcelain.
Mellow is the word here. Wood, sugar, and vanilla.
Soft, evocative, delicious.
2010 - Shi Kun Mu Yan Pin -
I'm just not getting this tea. Freshly cut meadow, herbal and some grain notes...but very limited flavor profile. Perhaps it's just not for me.
I'm just not getting this tea. Freshly cut meadow, herbal and some grain notes...but very limited flavor profile. Perhaps it's just not for me.
Two shengs of the day...
1) XZH '07 Yiwu Chawang. This is a very thin tea, and not that oily. It’s also a bit green. Cleaner tasting than the ’06 Mahei, and consistently sweeter. About as astringent. Nicer wood taste as well. Less cooling in the mouth. Sixth brew yields a bit thicker liquor, low caramel/butterscotch notes. I am finding that it acts considerably like the 2006 (from my vague memories, of course) this session. Takes a while to build up, gets good, has high energy in mouth, low astringency now…Yeah, I’m having a much better than average session today.
2) XZH Youle. Used more fragmentary leaf. Thicker than usual. Extremely spicy, sweet and vegetal savory early, until it hits the fourth brew when it more or less tastes like hot chocolate with cayenne. Doesn't really ever stop being spicy. Huigans are rarer, but enthusiastic body feel qi remains the same as usual. Pretty different from all the Yiwu I've been drinking, but fairly enjoyable if not complex in taste.
1) XZH '07 Yiwu Chawang. This is a very thin tea, and not that oily. It’s also a bit green. Cleaner tasting than the ’06 Mahei, and consistently sweeter. About as astringent. Nicer wood taste as well. Less cooling in the mouth. Sixth brew yields a bit thicker liquor, low caramel/butterscotch notes. I am finding that it acts considerably like the 2006 (from my vague memories, of course) this session. Takes a while to build up, gets good, has high energy in mouth, low astringency now…Yeah, I’m having a much better than average session today.
2) XZH Youle. Used more fragmentary leaf. Thicker than usual. Extremely spicy, sweet and vegetal savory early, until it hits the fourth brew when it more or less tastes like hot chocolate with cayenne. Doesn't really ever stop being spicy. Huigans are rarer, but enthusiastic body feel qi remains the same as usual. Pretty different from all the Yiwu I've been drinking, but fairly enjoyable if not complex in taste.
Two shengs of the day...
1) YQH '06 Gushu Chawang. It was pretty cool, but it was very much not durable, and the qi in this session was just high, instead of overwhelming. After about 8 brews, it was more or less done.
2) Tai Lian 2002 International. My tastes buds argue to me that this uses a majority to all gushu leaf. Strong, complex, and aroma-filling flavor, intense mouth/throat action, great qi that really involves my body, and lasts past 16 brews somewheres, before I got tired. I really wish I had the money to buy a tong more of this before Scott realizes his insanity. I just don't remember the tea being this good when I first got it. There was a moderate sour note in the beginning, and there was some kind of odd, oily sour aftertaste after a later brew, around 9. However, one highlight was the lighting off of firecracker sweetness around the side rims of my tongue. It's hard not to be very charmed by memorable things like that. I definitly have to try more teas of that age before I can *really* be sure it's so head and shoulders above comparable teas.
1) YQH '06 Gushu Chawang. It was pretty cool, but it was very much not durable, and the qi in this session was just high, instead of overwhelming. After about 8 brews, it was more or less done.
2) Tai Lian 2002 International. My tastes buds argue to me that this uses a majority to all gushu leaf. Strong, complex, and aroma-filling flavor, intense mouth/throat action, great qi that really involves my body, and lasts past 16 brews somewheres, before I got tired. I really wish I had the money to buy a tong more of this before Scott realizes his insanity. I just don't remember the tea being this good when I first got it. There was a moderate sour note in the beginning, and there was some kind of odd, oily sour aftertaste after a later brew, around 9. However, one highlight was the lighting off of firecracker sweetness around the side rims of my tongue. It's hard not to be very charmed by memorable things like that. I definitly have to try more teas of that age before I can *really* be sure it's so head and shoulders above comparable teas.
2008 Xiaguan XY Yiwu Big Green Tree from Steve. Most of the smoke has left this sample but it has kept it's bitterness. Session interruptus. I'll have at it again tomorrow.
