SOTD- sheng of the day
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SotD: a maocha that I bought in some quantity from Maliandao in 2007: updated article.
It has been five years since I bought and last tried this maocha - now, its leaves have darkened to a heavy brown shade. Gone are the days of the green leaves in the images above. The flavour is husky, low, and strong - its kuwei remains potent and mouth-watering. I have been aging this maocha in a tightly-sealed cardboard tube, and a smaller amount in a rosewood box so that the majority in the tube need not be disturbed. This has turned out to be a good idea: the maocha characteristics are not dissipating, but the leaves are aging nicely.
Toodlepip,
Hobbes
It has been five years since I bought and last tried this maocha - now, its leaves have darkened to a heavy brown shade. Gone are the days of the green leaves in the images above. The flavour is husky, low, and strong - its kuwei remains potent and mouth-watering. I have been aging this maocha in a tightly-sealed cardboard tube, and a smaller amount in a rosewood box so that the majority in the tube need not be disturbed. This has turned out to be a good idea: the maocha characteristics are not dissipating, but the leaves are aging nicely.
Toodlepip,
Hobbes
1) '10 Mansai. Pleasant, thicker. If this tea wasn't so adversely affected by oxidation, it would easily be the second-best tea of Nada's '10 batch.
2) 4g XZH '07 Huangshanlin. Still obviously the best of XZH's spring '07 efforts. Virtually the only weak spot is that the top flavor could be a bit more appealing, and top flavor could be deeper. Aroma is great, the pour aroma is typically butterscotch-ish. The cup aroma has many notes and shifts with every cup. Very energetic in the mouth, and tons of fabulous huigans. Even does a bit of transformation. The soup is a bit toward the thin side, and with a touch of astringency that also converts. What I'm very curious about is that this is XZH's *only* year of production of an Ai Lao tea. They didn't make very many different teas in '08 or '09, and only made a couple of Osanzhais in '10 or '11. Those are Wuliangs that doesn't taste like what the Huangshanlin ever has, at least since I've known it. XZH never produced a Kunlushan tea or that non Diangu Da Xue Shan again. What's even more curious is that XZH hasn't made a pure Youle product since '06. Not that Youle is something anyone is typically excited about, but plenty of people do enjoy a good one.
2) 4g XZH '07 Huangshanlin. Still obviously the best of XZH's spring '07 efforts. Virtually the only weak spot is that the top flavor could be a bit more appealing, and top flavor could be deeper. Aroma is great, the pour aroma is typically butterscotch-ish. The cup aroma has many notes and shifts with every cup. Very energetic in the mouth, and tons of fabulous huigans. Even does a bit of transformation. The soup is a bit toward the thin side, and with a touch of astringency that also converts. What I'm very curious about is that this is XZH's *only* year of production of an Ai Lao tea. They didn't make very many different teas in '08 or '09, and only made a couple of Osanzhais in '10 or '11. Those are Wuliangs that doesn't taste like what the Huangshanlin ever has, at least since I've known it. XZH never produced a Kunlushan tea or that non Diangu Da Xue Shan again. What's even more curious is that XZH hasn't made a pure Youle product since '06. Not that Youle is something anyone is typically excited about, but plenty of people do enjoy a good one.
1) Secret Fragrance sheng
2) '06 Dayi JinSe YunXiang. I wanted to compare SF with another highly regarded Dayi tea. SF unexpectedly wins by a real margin. Thicker, more active feel, more cooling, more durable, sweeter, more complex, and deeper. And really? JinSe YunXiang is a nice plantation blend tea, bark-wood, wood, chocolate, and a few other things. While SE Memorial would still beat the Dayi, despite its lameness, for what Dayi actually is, it's pretty good.
This review was sort of inspired by reading GN?'s account of the 7582. I have had so little experience with known plantation sheng. There are 7582s produced in 2002 and 2008 as well, judging by Taobao.
Secret Fragrance was produced on August 2nd. A very late spring product, and I wonder if that had something to do with why it's never been done again, as it was a product created on the fly. Some of the flavor elements do actually taste like my XZH brick, so now I have a suspicion that this incorporated low grade banzhang, or higher grade Mengsong. I'm often wrong though, and obviously, all Dayi has to say is that SF has banzhang and it would fly off the shelves, so...
Collecting information across the English-speaking and Chinese-speaking worlds, my current thinking is that genuinely good teas are not promoted, outside of random comments in forums that hey, this stuff is good! They are just quietly less available for sale, and are never the subject of blog posts in China. I mean, looking everything up, the XZH '97 Yiwu is probably the best '90s Yiwu I've ever heard of, because it's pretty clear that anyone in the anglosphere that has ever had both that and the '99 black ticket, that the XZH is preferred by some margin. WRT the Zhenchunyahao, the XZH is far better processed and aging more classically. However, I never see any posts in the Sinosphere about a high end late nineties Yiwu product. It was interesting when the Haiwan '99, a tea the tuochatea blogger has posted about, was in a puerh-teapot blind-tasting, because virtually no other Yiwu other than the famous Changtai, Dadugang, Dayi, and occasionally, the Xiaguan are mentioned. Not the Chen Zhitong, or anyone other guy's Yiwu tea from '99. It's the same with tea areas. Bingdao and Xigui are talked about, relentlessly. However, they don't seem to be all that great, from what I understand. The high-end Snowy Mountains that you see from XZH and their like are the best Lincang teas, but nobody ever really blogs about tea like that. Plenty of "wild Snowy Mountains" posts, but most of that seems to be fairly low grade. As such, it was an interesting development when Cloud did a post on the S. Mengku Da Xue Shan spring tips, like what you see at thechineseteashop and reviewed by Hobbes. Even in well explored Banna, I don't think I've ever seen mention of Xikong outside of Taobao, and Xikong is substantially different than other Yibang area teas. One doesn't see Manlin either. Zhangjiawan...Zhang-who? But you'll see the upteenth post on Naka, which is a tea that generally fails to impress people in the West as a puerh. However, no posts on Man Nuo, and one can find several mentions of Man Nuo off-hand--but no real discussions on that specific area tea, which I would say is obviously better than some better known areas. And with Secret Fragrance, I wonder how many other Dayi teas are out there, like the Purloined Letter, that nobody seriously talks about 'cause they don't want competition for aquisition?
2) '06 Dayi JinSe YunXiang. I wanted to compare SF with another highly regarded Dayi tea. SF unexpectedly wins by a real margin. Thicker, more active feel, more cooling, more durable, sweeter, more complex, and deeper. And really? JinSe YunXiang is a nice plantation blend tea, bark-wood, wood, chocolate, and a few other things. While SE Memorial would still beat the Dayi, despite its lameness, for what Dayi actually is, it's pretty good.
This review was sort of inspired by reading GN?'s account of the 7582. I have had so little experience with known plantation sheng. There are 7582s produced in 2002 and 2008 as well, judging by Taobao.
Secret Fragrance was produced on August 2nd. A very late spring product, and I wonder if that had something to do with why it's never been done again, as it was a product created on the fly. Some of the flavor elements do actually taste like my XZH brick, so now I have a suspicion that this incorporated low grade banzhang, or higher grade Mengsong. I'm often wrong though, and obviously, all Dayi has to say is that SF has banzhang and it would fly off the shelves, so...
Collecting information across the English-speaking and Chinese-speaking worlds, my current thinking is that genuinely good teas are not promoted, outside of random comments in forums that hey, this stuff is good! They are just quietly less available for sale, and are never the subject of blog posts in China. I mean, looking everything up, the XZH '97 Yiwu is probably the best '90s Yiwu I've ever heard of, because it's pretty clear that anyone in the anglosphere that has ever had both that and the '99 black ticket, that the XZH is preferred by some margin. WRT the Zhenchunyahao, the XZH is far better processed and aging more classically. However, I never see any posts in the Sinosphere about a high end late nineties Yiwu product. It was interesting when the Haiwan '99, a tea the tuochatea blogger has posted about, was in a puerh-teapot blind-tasting, because virtually no other Yiwu other than the famous Changtai, Dadugang, Dayi, and occasionally, the Xiaguan are mentioned. Not the Chen Zhitong, or anyone other guy's Yiwu tea from '99. It's the same with tea areas. Bingdao and Xigui are talked about, relentlessly. However, they don't seem to be all that great, from what I understand. The high-end Snowy Mountains that you see from XZH and their like are the best Lincang teas, but nobody ever really blogs about tea like that. Plenty of "wild Snowy Mountains" posts, but most of that seems to be fairly low grade. As such, it was an interesting development when Cloud did a post on the S. Mengku Da Xue Shan spring tips, like what you see at thechineseteashop and reviewed by Hobbes. Even in well explored Banna, I don't think I've ever seen mention of Xikong outside of Taobao, and Xikong is substantially different than other Yibang area teas. One doesn't see Manlin either. Zhangjiawan...Zhang-who? But you'll see the upteenth post on Naka, which is a tea that generally fails to impress people in the West as a puerh. However, no posts on Man Nuo, and one can find several mentions of Man Nuo off-hand--but no real discussions on that specific area tea, which I would say is obviously better than some better known areas. And with Secret Fragrance, I wonder how many other Dayi teas are out there, like the Purloined Letter, that nobody seriously talks about 'cause they don't want competition for aquisition?
Nice I'll have to search out the 02 7582
today - shroomin with the 08 FT Bao Yan
Yesterday I had my first trully excellent session with the 05 Gan En LBZ. Every previous experience I could tell there was good stuff going on but it stayed just beneath the surface. This time I crammed the leaf in and got a stellar performance
today - shroomin with the 08 FT Bao Yan
Yesterday I had my first trully excellent session with the 05 Gan En LBZ. Every previous experience I could tell there was good stuff going on but it stayed just beneath the surface. This time I crammed the leaf in and got a stellar performance
Four teas the last two days...
1) Xiaguan '03 Hong Yin replica. It's an okay sheng, but absolutely unremarkable. Better example of aging and storage than tea, frankly.
2) I listened to the guy on my left shoulder and treated myself to 3.5g of XZH Nu'er Zhuan. It was fantastic. It was like drinking the visual of looking at the sunny sky through dappled forest leaves. Relatively light, but stunning complexity in taste and mouth feel, the highlight being wuyi-style narcissus and spice tastes. Herbs, light wood, light grapes, mushrooms, all of that was there and more. The fragrance was nice, and changed a bit, but it activates all parts of the mouth and palate with a firmness that bring a person to the true present. Of course, I needed that help 'cause I was knocked sideways from the qi, which is usually not this strong. Bitterness was not an issue, and astringency was quite restrained. Pretty sure this isn't pure banzhang, but what there that isn't it, is definitely meant to enhance, and not be filler. This is one of the teas that I've housed the longest, about two full years. Time has definitely done some work on it. The best part is that this session cost me 59cts. I want a time machine so I could kiss my past self for buying this tea in the first place, and slap him silly for not buying 10.
3) MYH '05 Yieh Sheng. Less Clark Kent and a touch more of that good stuff. For those of you with this cake at home, when the first and second brews are unusually thick, then you know to concentrate on the tea and brew effin' forever. If I had an anti-thermodynamic sorter, I'd buy a tong of this stuff, shred all the bings into the gadget, sort out the good leaves, and build up a couple of bings of the good stuff, and the rest be pleasant daily drinker. Because the good stuff in this tea is very, *very*, good. One of those things would be worth more than the tong it came out of...
4) CGHT Ban'E. Did 3.5g of this tea. Was measuring against the XZH brick so I was extra-critical. Came to the conclusion that this just wasn't that good, mostly because I didn't get much LBZ in that small pile of leaves. The tea is dark and heavy in the mouth, and does a lot of the things a banzhang should, but it's just not as engagingly complex as it really should be, nor does it have real qi. It's better than the brick in that it's more of a cooler, and does some moving cool. It's also more durable than the brick, but the drink is not really worth the effort it takes to **** out after the 6 or 7th brew or so. Sort of worth the money by Banzhang standards, but by general tea standards? If you have that kind of cash burning in your pocket and visiting HouDe, you're better off buying the Kuzhushan or the Jingmai than this. Or buy a tong of the Yieh Sheng--would only cost $20 more. One tip for those with this tea--you are really dependent on that LBZ to show up, and it's not that bitter, so brew with lots of leaves to get your money's worth, you can use a bigger pot and share with friends if you don't want to be hit by the friendly MAC truck. Wound up going back to the yieh sheng and drinking more of that until dinner.
1) Xiaguan '03 Hong Yin replica. It's an okay sheng, but absolutely unremarkable. Better example of aging and storage than tea, frankly.
2) I listened to the guy on my left shoulder and treated myself to 3.5g of XZH Nu'er Zhuan. It was fantastic. It was like drinking the visual of looking at the sunny sky through dappled forest leaves. Relatively light, but stunning complexity in taste and mouth feel, the highlight being wuyi-style narcissus and spice tastes. Herbs, light wood, light grapes, mushrooms, all of that was there and more. The fragrance was nice, and changed a bit, but it activates all parts of the mouth and palate with a firmness that bring a person to the true present. Of course, I needed that help 'cause I was knocked sideways from the qi, which is usually not this strong. Bitterness was not an issue, and astringency was quite restrained. Pretty sure this isn't pure banzhang, but what there that isn't it, is definitely meant to enhance, and not be filler. This is one of the teas that I've housed the longest, about two full years. Time has definitely done some work on it. The best part is that this session cost me 59cts. I want a time machine so I could kiss my past self for buying this tea in the first place, and slap him silly for not buying 10.
3) MYH '05 Yieh Sheng. Less Clark Kent and a touch more of that good stuff. For those of you with this cake at home, when the first and second brews are unusually thick, then you know to concentrate on the tea and brew effin' forever. If I had an anti-thermodynamic sorter, I'd buy a tong of this stuff, shred all the bings into the gadget, sort out the good leaves, and build up a couple of bings of the good stuff, and the rest be pleasant daily drinker. Because the good stuff in this tea is very, *very*, good. One of those things would be worth more than the tong it came out of...
4) CGHT Ban'E. Did 3.5g of this tea. Was measuring against the XZH brick so I was extra-critical. Came to the conclusion that this just wasn't that good, mostly because I didn't get much LBZ in that small pile of leaves. The tea is dark and heavy in the mouth, and does a lot of the things a banzhang should, but it's just not as engagingly complex as it really should be, nor does it have real qi. It's better than the brick in that it's more of a cooler, and does some moving cool. It's also more durable than the brick, but the drink is not really worth the effort it takes to **** out after the 6 or 7th brew or so. Sort of worth the money by Banzhang standards, but by general tea standards? If you have that kind of cash burning in your pocket and visiting HouDe, you're better off buying the Kuzhushan or the Jingmai than this. Or buy a tong of the Yieh Sheng--would only cost $20 more. One tip for those with this tea--you are really dependent on that LBZ to show up, and it's not that bitter, so brew with lots of leaves to get your money's worth, you can use a bigger pot and share with friends if you don't want to be hit by the friendly MAC truck. Wound up going back to the yieh sheng and drinking more of that until dinner.
Yeah I saw that....I think it was most of them. Making way for the 2012s I guess. A couple of those were pretty steep....lol.
11 YS spring Ban Po - nice session with emphasis on herbal and grassy notes. Seemed to peak pretty quickly, but has decent durability.
09 Changtai Qian Jian Feng - darker grain and mushroom with a hint of camphor. Soup color is moving toward amber/orange...this is coming along nicely.
Yesterday, '05 Yieh Sheng, Clark Kent
Today, '03 6FTM Youle. Reasonably pleasant, without too much of that nasty plantation edge, and with some mellow depth of age. Not quite as tasty or complex as the SE Memorial, but fundamentally pu.
GN?, There is no Bingdao being sold as such in the West, outside of YS house and the Fan Ji sold by YS, and of course, that GZZ you've just had. You will have to work something out with the Taiwanese versions of Nada to grab one, or risk Taobao.
Today, '03 6FTM Youle. Reasonably pleasant, without too much of that nasty plantation edge, and with some mellow depth of age. Not quite as tasty or complex as the SE Memorial, but fundamentally pu.
GN?, There is no Bingdao being sold as such in the West, outside of YS house and the Fan Ji sold by YS, and of course, that GZZ you've just had. You will have to work something out with the Taiwanese versions of Nada to grab one, or risk Taobao.
A most excellent session with Nadacha Manmai. Not grassy anymore, really. Slight oolong processing issue, but nowhere near as bad as that HLH Yiwu fall. Slight and pleasant qi.
This, along with the Banpen minibing, are the only young bings left available at Nadacha until the new tea is in. I was disappointed a little bit that the Mansai '11 bings finally sold out. The '10 has real processing issues that prevented it from being transcendent.
Houde has '00 Lan Yins and '03 Hong Kong Henrys in stock. Might want 'em, might not, but there's not alot!
This, along with the Banpen minibing, are the only young bings left available at Nadacha until the new tea is in. I was disappointed a little bit that the Mansai '11 bings finally sold out. The '10 has real processing issues that prevented it from being transcendent.
Houde has '00 Lan Yins and '03 Hong Kong Henrys in stock. Might want 'em, might not, but there's not alot!
SOTD: JinWong 2006 NanNuo (sample from PurePuer) - This tea is very light in taste. The dry leaf is slightly brown from age and the soup is initially very slight orange. The tea is very clean but very simple. The bitterness is very light as well. However it does have a nice energizing qi. Yesterday I had the JinWong 2006 Bulang. The dry leaf had a similar color as the NanNuo. The soup was also relatively simple in taste and light. However the qi was very strong. I don't know if this was because I drank the tea faster than usual since I didn't have as much time as normal or if it was the Bulang nature of the tea. I will have to see next time.
A flavorful session of SE Memorial.
Finished off sample of Dayi '06 Pu Ti Yuan. Better than the first time, but essentially a Dayi take on Xiaguan sensibilities, with the plus and minuses.
The Jin Wong stuff sounds incredibly expensive for what they are worth. $168? Really? Doesn't sound better than the Jin Mei Tang '07. How herby/conifer-like/floral was the Nannuo?
Finished off sample of Dayi '06 Pu Ti Yuan. Better than the first time, but essentially a Dayi take on Xiaguan sensibilities, with the plus and minuses.
The Jin Wong stuff sounds incredibly expensive for what they are worth. $168? Really? Doesn't sound better than the Jin Mei Tang '07. How herby/conifer-like/floral was the Nannuo?
2005 sheng brick from Jing, can't recall much else. Nothing special but pleasant enough to accompany gardening on the first warm and sunny day of the year. SWMBA got some fancy kitchen scales and I'm using 15g in a 4oz pot, which seems a little excessive when reviewing other parameters but will keep me going for most of the day.
Attachments
Menghai '04 Fangcha. This one is the 100gm organic "tile". I like it even better than the high grade larger fangcha of the same year, but I usually do prefer the tasty blend to the fussy achiever. The ordinary '05 non-organic is even nicer, but they all have that classic bittersweet flavour with floral nose. So tried-and-true, these fangchas.
Good sipping, guys
Rob
Good sipping, guys
Rob
mosomoso, doesn't matter anymore. Those fangchas cost more than $25 a pop, even the cheap ones. Those things do get lots of good reviews, from Taiwanese guys to Hobbes.
Today, I had some crumbs of '05 Yieh Sheng. Nice enough, if bitter all the time.
Yesterday I drank tea with BBB, but I decided not to say anything since there was puerh, oolong, and black tea all in the mix. Too many threads to jack.
I did, kinda sorta, run down some people in a MAC truck, but everyone's okay, I think. Took some walking off, though.
Today, I had some crumbs of '05 Yieh Sheng. Nice enough, if bitter all the time.
Yesterday I drank tea with BBB, but I decided not to say anything since there was puerh, oolong, and black tea all in the mix. Too many threads to jack.
I did, kinda sorta, run down some people in a MAC truck, but everyone's okay, I think. Took some walking off, though.
today 96 cnnp da ye cake from EOT big camphor similar to 03 houde brick tai lan yin and such. Very Dry stored for EOT.
Also 07 douji march spring Bada Cake this tea would be pretty good if you only judged the first three infusions. it turns very astringent after that.
yesterday 03 Bada from sunsing I think the flavor was still jetlagged as I just got it but still good at least up until the fourth infusion when someone poured water and forgot it for about fifteen min.
then 99 keyixing from cbring630 on ebay not bad for twenty two bucks will probably be decent once it airs out
Also 07 douji march spring Bada Cake this tea would be pretty good if you only judged the first three infusions. it turns very astringent after that.
yesterday 03 Bada from sunsing I think the flavor was still jetlagged as I just got it but still good at least up until the fourth infusion when someone poured water and forgot it for about fifteen min.
then 99 keyixing from cbring630 on ebay not bad for twenty two bucks will probably be decent once it airs out
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Finished off the very last of the Taipei '06 Jincha. Like the 2003 6FTM Youle, it makes a lie of the puerhness of the SE Memorial. Not so complex in taste, broadly, but very strong, and very penetrating, with real qi. The taste is deep with plenty of nuances, and late infusions were pleasantly woody. This is a really good tea for storage, but I saw it on Taobao yesterday, and it's about $30 in the shop I saw it in, and among the more expensive per-gram of all the Taipei commemoratives. Today, I saw that there are more 2005 Mengsong Peacocks, and for about $60, instead of one for $75-$80. I wonder at the clunckyness of Taobao's search algorithm, as to whether it's intentional.
The Lan Yin I had, which did not really have much in the way of camphor in my lights, was fairly complex, GN?, was the CNNP complex, at least for an 8582 blend? I like the Sunsing Bada as much as I could like anything that wet. It shouldn't be bothered by 15 minute infusions--my experience is that it'll infuse indefinitly with light nuances. I'm surprised that the '07 Douji Bada was so astringent. I'm not sure it should be that way, and I suspect you'll have to be on the watch next time, to see if this is one of those '07 green teas.
The Lan Yin I had, which did not really have much in the way of camphor in my lights, was fairly complex, GN?, was the CNNP complex, at least for an 8582 blend? I like the Sunsing Bada as much as I could like anything that wet. It shouldn't be bothered by 15 minute infusions--my experience is that it'll infuse indefinitly with light nuances. I'm surprised that the '07 Douji Bada was so astringent. I'm not sure it should be that way, and I suspect you'll have to be on the watch next time, to see if this is one of those '07 green teas.
