How do you store your tea for proper aging?I essentially did more checks on what the overall quality of the Baifuzangcangs were this weekend.
The shu of Friday was the 2006 Taipei Memorial. Quite thoroughly enjoyable, and was a good demonstration of the merits of dry storage, for me. I saw it in the clarity of aged notes in the aroma and taste. The mouthfeel was really good, with good-very good viscosity and a sort of satin texture. The aftertastes and qi were typical of this shu.
The sheng of Saturday was the 2015 W2T 72 Hours--this is a pretty Bingdao-y tea. Overall, it turned out not to be as good as the 2012 BFZC Bingdao, but it was still a pretty good session.
Through much of the session, the aroma had a sort of creme brulee sweetness, less the egg and more burnt sugar, and a light savory floralness. There can be a bit of chicory depth. Late aroma is a very light savory floralness. The taste starts off being sensate sweet, a slightly bitter and tart chicory depth, and some florals. As the session moves on, it quickly looses most sweetness, much detail, tartness/bitterness, and becomes a pleasantly generic darkness with slight chicory tone and a bit of florals. Viscosity is at good, approaching oil texture, and with astringency at about moderate most of the time. Good aftertastes are gone buy about brew seven or eight. It's pretty good while its going with good mouth aroma and dynamic mouthcoat. Mouthcoat can linger a long time. Yiwu huigan is usually soft but capable of stronger fruity character in a cup or two. Early brews has a light bit of feeling going down throat, and one brew has a slight pungent huigan going back up. More or less strong qi with no noticed specific qualities. Durability is good, but it's not a very dynamic tea and got a little boring late this session.
The sheng of Sunday was the 2006 XZH Menghai Nu'ercha. This works better for me than the BFZC Pasha for largely the same reason I like the '07 Pasha better. It's less mellow in taste and aroma, and has more aftertaste. It is still smaller than the BFZC in terms of taste and mouthfeel, and perhaps qi. I noted specific deficiencies related to the '07 XZH Pasha and concluded that the '07 has more "gushuness".
Aroma and taste are rather similar, actually to the '07 XZH Pasha. Except that the '06 has a sweet floral/cherry aspect, and the '07 Pasha has a tobacco tart-bitter going on, and so main taste being more loud and potent. Anyways, aromatic wood, cherry, deep plummy-barnyard generally in aroma and taste. There can be a bit of almond sweetness if that's not a fast yiwu huigan. Anyways, good viscosity, more or less pudding texture, fairly soft. Astringency is on the light side of moderate. Light feeling down throat and light pungent huigan back up. Seems to have both a fast and slow yiwu huigan, as well as a strong and lingering mouthcoat. Moderate to strong qi with a good comfortable feeling for me. Durability seems pretty good, but I only did about fourteen brews before packing this in the fridge for the week.
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How do you store your tea for proper aging?
Just returned from an extended bout of holiday travels. Tea, when experienced outside the familiar confines of home, takes on an entirely different dimension. Kicked off the year 2024 with a stellar choice: a Haoji tea that resonates with the palpable essence of aging. It demonstrated the undeniable potency and transformation that aging imparts. Pertaining to TinyTim's very salient question, I have also been considering it carefully.
The notion of leasing a warehouse in China to facilitate optimal tea aging tempts me. I venture to speculate that those vendors and enthusiasts dedicated to dry, cold storage setups like those in Kunming or Beijing might not have truly savored the depths of well-aged teas. Naturally, for those without access to premium storage conditions, adapting one's preferences becomes a necessity to cope, and indeed to continue selling tea, understandably so. Yet, I find myself irresistibly drawn to the exquisite sensation of aged qi and the nuanced allure of seasoned flavors.
The notion of leasing a warehouse in China to facilitate optimal tea aging tempts me. I venture to speculate that those vendors and enthusiasts dedicated to dry, cold storage setups like those in Kunming or Beijing might not have truly savored the depths of well-aged teas. Naturally, for those without access to premium storage conditions, adapting one's preferences becomes a necessity to cope, and indeed to continue selling tea, understandably so. Yet, I find myself irresistibly drawn to the exquisite sensation of aged qi and the nuanced allure of seasoned flavors.
Cardboard boxes in a sunroom (lower exposure to air con), covered, of course.
The shu of Friday was a tea from Theasophie, the 2014 Original Ecology. This was a pretty interesting shu in the sense that it's a Mengku shu that has been warehoused. The aroma can be pretty impressive--it has the Mengku shu bark-woodiness along with old-tea tcm and warehoused tea notes. The taste can be sort of dense (especially in long brews after rests) for a shu with warehoused tea (funk not there anymores). It's sort of boring, as there is nothing dynamic about the taste or the session. The mouthfeel is decent enough, and there is a bit of yiwu huigan and mouthcoat, but nothing unexpected for a shu of reasonable quality. There is a bit of qi. It's $140/357g, so for a certain sort of person that tends to like a soothing basementy dark herbal depth, this is a pretty worthwhile tea to get.
Last week's CYH 2023 Yiwu Chawang and XZH '13 "Love You" both did well over the week. I sort of overbrewed them constantly, as I really had not exhausted either tea that much during the previous weekend. Anyways, even though it's almost a dollar a gram, the '23 Yiwu Chawang performs reasonable well for the money. Yeah, it's tweaked and lots sweeter and darker than any fresh tea had a right to be, but the base material is pretty good. XZH '13 Love You seemed like it had more flavor during the week, and the nice woodiness was emphasized.
This weekend's (along with last weekend's) teas really emphasized Paul Murray's point in not being too specific about anything in W2T's pressing. The Yiwu Chawangbing probably was pretty sound because without much of a label, there was more freedom to blend where quality could be found. OTOH, while the 2015 CYH Bingdao performed reasonably well, last week's Baichayuan and this weekend's Tianmenshan were not really representative of the terroirs, I don't think, and the Baichayuan doesn't feel like a great aging prospect relative to other teas.
The first tea of the weekend was the 2015 ChenYuanHao Bingdao. Like I said, it was pretty good. Not super great, but pretty good. I noted that one could not buy a cake, so dunno the price.
It's a bit dynamic generally, so keeps interest... Aroma goes honeysuckle-> mineral and butter-> mineral and honeysuckle-> floral, mineral, buttermilk-> dry floral, mineral-> mineral and a bit of fruit/honeysuckle. Taste goes honeysuckle, snap peas-> subtle honeysuckle, fruit, mineral-> slightly sour, mineral, fruit->subtle tart-fruity, mineral, a bit bitter-> dry floral, subtle tart-fruity, mineral, slightly bitter-> mineral subtle tart-fruity-> sensate sweet, mineral, sugars the rest of the way. At least one late brew has floralness. Good viscosity, oil texture, and about moderate levels of astringency with some variance. Tends to generate a warming feeling in chest. Dynamic cooling feeling in mouth along with a dynamic mouthcoat, can be very long lingering with a slight floralness. A few early brew had a yun, there is at least one tonguetip coating of sweetness that generates salivation. Subtle yiwu huigan here and there, as well as a touch of mouth aroma here and there. Qi is generally strong of no particular character. Seems to be pretty durable.
I wanted to compare with the 2012 Baifuzhangcang Zanglu Bingdao Zhengshan, so I took that out for spin, in the same pot with about the same 6.9g quantity. BFZC kind of won.
This is also dynamic but less so than CYH and more tonal. Wood, a juniper-like savory herbalness comprise the first few brew aroma before it moves towards a sometimes fruity, sometimes not fruity blend of wood, mineral, sugars. Generally doesn't have fruit in aroma late. Early brew tastes has a plum-pit tartness without much plummy, olive oil, mineral, and a bit of savory-herbal-wood rim. Later brew taste is mineral, brown sugar, and generally shaded by a slight chicory tone. A few brews has some bitterness. While this time, the late brew were a bit sweet sugars and not that sort of olive oil neutral, the BFZC Bingdao is generally less sweet than the CYH. Good viscosity with oil texture, and astringency is generally on the high side of moderate. Can manage light feeling down throat, and very light pungent huigan back up. One brew has flavor painting the throat. There are subtle yiwu huigan and subtle mouth aroma here and there. Mouthcoat is also dynamic, but more coarse than the CYH. Qi is pretty strong.
Both teas are pretty indefinite brewers.
One of the main way the differences are marked is that the BFZC maocha is more strongly rolled and a bit more broken in leaf than the CYH--thus, some of the greater richness in aroma and taste comes from that, as well as less refinement in tastes, aftertaste. If it matters, from soup color, it seems the BFZC is more stored or more aged, whether three years is enough to cause that difference or not.
BFZC wins because aroma and taste is richer and has more depth, more things to find in it. The viscosity and qi of the BFZC is superior, and the BFZC has a bit of feeling down throat where the CYH doesn't. CYH does have more sweetness in taste, more floral if that is a plus or minus, the cooling and mouthcoat is more articulated
The first tea of today was the 2023 CYH Tianmenshan. This is more of a Wangong tea with a few gestures to more orthodox TMS notions. The primary flavor is wild honey. While TMS can do wild honey, like XZH Heart Sutra, most of them are of a particular dark herbalness. Even when it's not like that, an alternative TMS character is more of a classical Yiwu honey-florals, like the 2018 XZH TMS.
Aroma tends to be herbal, vegetal-celery spice, wild honey, mineral. There can be a sort of candy sweetness on occasion. Taste more or less follows aroma, except that wild honey depth usually dominates. One late brew had a nice Fruit Loops cereal taste. Viscosity starts off a touch light and builds to good, with a light pudding texture. Later brews has a stiffer, more velvet texture. Astringency is moderate. There is generally a strong mouthcoat, with a slight yiwu huigan here and there. Qi is light to moderate. There is a bit of a tendency for body warming. Durability seems okay at about thirteen or fourteen brews.
Last tea of the weekend before this and the TMS being put in the fridge was the "2014" version of the XZH Love You. The nature is a touch different from the 2013 last week, not least because the 2014 isn't woody, instead more of a grain syrup-berry focus.
Grain syrup is generally in aroma with sugars in earlier aromas and berry in later aroma. Taste is generally a light grain syrup, mineral, and a subtle berry. Very good viscosity with more of an oil-ish-pudding texture, and light astringency. There is a hint of feeling down throat in a couple of brews. Aftertastes are all subtle--yiwu huigan, mouthcoat, and yun. Qi is moderate of really good quality. Durability seems pretty indefinite.
Despite the light character of the tea, I had a stronger feel of gushu-ness with this Jinggu than with CYH teas--it was pretty enjoyable for me, despite the low taste and lack of complexity. Wondering if it is a random Jinggu old tree--overall behavior is similar to some "single tree" productions.
The shu of Friday was a tea from Theasophie, the 2014 Original Ecology. This was a pretty interesting shu in the sense that it's a Mengku shu that has been warehoused. The aroma can be pretty impressive--it has the Mengku shu bark-woodiness along with old-tea tcm and warehoused tea notes. The taste can be sort of dense (especially in long brews after rests) for a shu with warehoused tea (funk not there anymores). It's sort of boring, as there is nothing dynamic about the taste or the session. The mouthfeel is decent enough, and there is a bit of yiwu huigan and mouthcoat, but nothing unexpected for a shu of reasonable quality. There is a bit of qi. It's $140/357g, so for a certain sort of person that tends to like a soothing basementy dark herbal depth, this is a pretty worthwhile tea to get.
Last week's CYH 2023 Yiwu Chawang and XZH '13 "Love You" both did well over the week. I sort of overbrewed them constantly, as I really had not exhausted either tea that much during the previous weekend. Anyways, even though it's almost a dollar a gram, the '23 Yiwu Chawang performs reasonable well for the money. Yeah, it's tweaked and lots sweeter and darker than any fresh tea had a right to be, but the base material is pretty good. XZH '13 Love You seemed like it had more flavor during the week, and the nice woodiness was emphasized.
This weekend's (along with last weekend's) teas really emphasized Paul Murray's point in not being too specific about anything in W2T's pressing. The Yiwu Chawangbing probably was pretty sound because without much of a label, there was more freedom to blend where quality could be found. OTOH, while the 2015 CYH Bingdao performed reasonably well, last week's Baichayuan and this weekend's Tianmenshan were not really representative of the terroirs, I don't think, and the Baichayuan doesn't feel like a great aging prospect relative to other teas.
The first tea of the weekend was the 2015 ChenYuanHao Bingdao. Like I said, it was pretty good. Not super great, but pretty good. I noted that one could not buy a cake, so dunno the price.
It's a bit dynamic generally, so keeps interest... Aroma goes honeysuckle-> mineral and butter-> mineral and honeysuckle-> floral, mineral, buttermilk-> dry floral, mineral-> mineral and a bit of fruit/honeysuckle. Taste goes honeysuckle, snap peas-> subtle honeysuckle, fruit, mineral-> slightly sour, mineral, fruit->subtle tart-fruity, mineral, a bit bitter-> dry floral, subtle tart-fruity, mineral, slightly bitter-> mineral subtle tart-fruity-> sensate sweet, mineral, sugars the rest of the way. At least one late brew has floralness. Good viscosity, oil texture, and about moderate levels of astringency with some variance. Tends to generate a warming feeling in chest. Dynamic cooling feeling in mouth along with a dynamic mouthcoat, can be very long lingering with a slight floralness. A few early brew had a yun, there is at least one tonguetip coating of sweetness that generates salivation. Subtle yiwu huigan here and there, as well as a touch of mouth aroma here and there. Qi is generally strong of no particular character. Seems to be pretty durable.
I wanted to compare with the 2012 Baifuzhangcang Zanglu Bingdao Zhengshan, so I took that out for spin, in the same pot with about the same 6.9g quantity. BFZC kind of won.
This is also dynamic but less so than CYH and more tonal. Wood, a juniper-like savory herbalness comprise the first few brew aroma before it moves towards a sometimes fruity, sometimes not fruity blend of wood, mineral, sugars. Generally doesn't have fruit in aroma late. Early brew tastes has a plum-pit tartness without much plummy, olive oil, mineral, and a bit of savory-herbal-wood rim. Later brew taste is mineral, brown sugar, and generally shaded by a slight chicory tone. A few brews has some bitterness. While this time, the late brew were a bit sweet sugars and not that sort of olive oil neutral, the BFZC Bingdao is generally less sweet than the CYH. Good viscosity with oil texture, and astringency is generally on the high side of moderate. Can manage light feeling down throat, and very light pungent huigan back up. One brew has flavor painting the throat. There are subtle yiwu huigan and subtle mouth aroma here and there. Mouthcoat is also dynamic, but more coarse than the CYH. Qi is pretty strong.
Both teas are pretty indefinite brewers.
One of the main way the differences are marked is that the BFZC maocha is more strongly rolled and a bit more broken in leaf than the CYH--thus, some of the greater richness in aroma and taste comes from that, as well as less refinement in tastes, aftertaste. If it matters, from soup color, it seems the BFZC is more stored or more aged, whether three years is enough to cause that difference or not.
BFZC wins because aroma and taste is richer and has more depth, more things to find in it. The viscosity and qi of the BFZC is superior, and the BFZC has a bit of feeling down throat where the CYH doesn't. CYH does have more sweetness in taste, more floral if that is a plus or minus, the cooling and mouthcoat is more articulated
The first tea of today was the 2023 CYH Tianmenshan. This is more of a Wangong tea with a few gestures to more orthodox TMS notions. The primary flavor is wild honey. While TMS can do wild honey, like XZH Heart Sutra, most of them are of a particular dark herbalness. Even when it's not like that, an alternative TMS character is more of a classical Yiwu honey-florals, like the 2018 XZH TMS.
Aroma tends to be herbal, vegetal-celery spice, wild honey, mineral. There can be a sort of candy sweetness on occasion. Taste more or less follows aroma, except that wild honey depth usually dominates. One late brew had a nice Fruit Loops cereal taste. Viscosity starts off a touch light and builds to good, with a light pudding texture. Later brews has a stiffer, more velvet texture. Astringency is moderate. There is generally a strong mouthcoat, with a slight yiwu huigan here and there. Qi is light to moderate. There is a bit of a tendency for body warming. Durability seems okay at about thirteen or fourteen brews.
Last tea of the weekend before this and the TMS being put in the fridge was the "2014" version of the XZH Love You. The nature is a touch different from the 2013 last week, not least because the 2014 isn't woody, instead more of a grain syrup-berry focus.
Grain syrup is generally in aroma with sugars in earlier aromas and berry in later aroma. Taste is generally a light grain syrup, mineral, and a subtle berry. Very good viscosity with more of an oil-ish-pudding texture, and light astringency. There is a hint of feeling down throat in a couple of brews. Aftertastes are all subtle--yiwu huigan, mouthcoat, and yun. Qi is moderate of really good quality. Durability seems pretty indefinite.
Despite the light character of the tea, I had a stronger feel of gushu-ness with this Jinggu than with CYH teas--it was pretty enjoyable for me, despite the low taste and lack of complexity. Wondering if it is a random Jinggu old tree--overall behavior is similar to some "single tree" productions.
I store my packed cakes in covered clay containers, these do allow airflow for aging. I store sheng and shu in separate containers.
Broken up cakes are stored in separate clay canisters, so that aging is not interrupted. I do not have many teas in rotation: a total of four clay canisters hold four different teas at a time. Only half a cake is in each of those containers, the other half is repacked in the original paper wrap and put back into the large clay container. Keep the paper wrap, it's the best packing material for the tea.
I store the tea in a well ventilated and if needed, air-conditioned room. I have a temperature / hygrometer gauge in the room. Overall temperature is between 68 - 77 F (20 - 25 C) and humidity ranges between 50 - 70% the whole year. I live in the subtropical South of China which has the ideal climate for tea aging. In dryer climates Pu'Er humidors might be an option.
The important thing is to maintain the above temperature and humidity ranges. Too humid and mold may develop, too dry and the aging process halts at best or the tea dries out at worst. In all of these cases the tea is unlikely to be recoverable. As the leaves can absorb odors, they shouldn't be stored in kitchen cabinets or any place where they may absorb anything non-tea related.
Finally, Pu-Er teas shouldn't be stored in air-tight containers such as in Zip Loc bags. That would halt aging and possibly leach unwanted plastic odors into the tea.
The storage parameters of aged white teas are different from aged Pu'Er's. Here it is preferable that the aging process is slowed. White tea cakes are stored in zipped aluminum bags to restrict air flow. I do store my broken up white tea also in one small clay canister; that isn't the optimal storage solution though, because the porous clay allows airflow which promotes oxidation of the tea. Here a glazed airtight ceramic canister would be better. I usually drink my white tea relatively fast and do not have a large quantity in the clay canister. Temperature and humidity for white tea is also in the above mentioned ranges. However, white tea is highly odor absorbent due to its unprocessed nature and should therefore be stored separate from other teas.
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Thanks for your extensive and helpful explanation about Puerh storage. I have ceramic containers that I use. Maybe I should be thinking about a humidor.
I'm glad, I could be of some small assistance.
I have actually looked at "Pumidors" a while ago. There used to be a company which sold them for quite some money, but there are also lots of instructions how to build your own on the internet, either by using a a wood cabinet or an old fridge. Opinions on their use is divided with some saying they can make it work and others advising against it because too much can go wrong.
My humble opinion is that a Pumidor would be a risky proposition because too many factors need to be consistently maintained; light, temperature, humidity and air flow. Of all those, air flow and humidity are the most difficult parameters to be controlled constantly over time. In a relatively air-tight and humid Pumidor there is a high risk that your cakes will start to grow very undesirable organisms such as fungi and molds. I wouldn't take that risk, especially if you have spent good money on high end cakes.
In general, storing the cakes in their original paper wrap in an unglazed (that's important) and lidded clay crock should be sufficient. As the clay is porous there is a limited air-flow, it provides a dark space for the cakes, and the temperature levels would also be fairly constant. That leaves humidity, which in any case is hard to control artificially, even in a cigar humidor.
Unless you live in a very arid desert climate, your cakes should have some aging going for them. It might not be as fast as with the right humidity levels, but at least your whole stash won't be ruined by highly fluctuating humidity ranges.
As you can see from my picture below, I'm quite lucky with today's storage conditions. I'm fortunate because mother nature provides me with these constant temperature and humidity levels throughout the year, leaving me with only two factors to maintain: light and air-flow. Fortunately, these clay crocks are the right storage solution to maintain these two additional elements, and they can be a good solution for other climate conditions as well.
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Computer did one of those unwanted reboots, so lost my notes for Saturday, and did not do notes for Sunday.
Both the CYH TMS and XZH Love You performed very well over the week. The TMS was a fairly nice fruity in the long brews.
The shu of Friday was the 2023 XZH Ancient Orchid. This is a 60% fermentation Nannuo. Anywayz, not really ready to drink. Full of wodui, a somewhat pronounced tendency for a sour plumminess. This product is very similar to White2Tea's 2020 The Stranger in overall style. Very fruity with a slight wood or maybe floral edge, not too much fermentation darkness. Decent enough mouthfeel. Notably good aftertaste game with strong mouthcoat. Good qi. Will need to be bought and put on the shelf for years.
The first sheng of the weekend was the 2013 Baohongyinji/Zhou Yu of Wistaria Zhenren Yufeng, "early spring", presumably the 301 you see here: 2013 BHYJ/Wistaria Tea House Zhenren Yufeng - Puerh.uk - https://puerh.uk/product/2013-bhyj-wistaria-tea-house-zhenren-yufeng/ . I'm sad that I lost the notes, as I took a bunch of them. The upshot is that this is pretty oxidized, but the basic material could take it better. So, like those YuanYuantangs, especially the Paixihe (and not so surprising, this should be Yishanmo), but I drink this tea slower, I think because of stronger, and subtly deeper taste.
The the aroma and taste is strongly fruity, woodsap, and a bit of wood in the beginning, a touch sour, and loses fruitiness and wood as the session goes on. I seem to remember a certain root herbal note and an associated slight bitterness. Viscosity is generally decent, decent-good, not much texture? Astringency is roughly about moderate over the session. Good mouthcoat that can linger. Maybe a slight yiwu huigan. Yun in earliest brews? Qi is at about mild-moderate, but it is indeed of good quality, centering, calm alert-y. Durability is okay, tires out at about fifteen brews.
Well, if it is indeed the tea at puerh.uk, I suppose the roughly dollar a gram is an okay value. Just know it doesn't that much space to age.
The second tea of the weekend was the Yee-on 2000 7532 production. I didn't like it that much. I did not mind the Yee-on storage aroma, but I did sort of mind how heavily stored it was, and that I clearly perceive this to be primarily taidi in the way I do not like. Would vastly prefer the 2003 taipai offered at TeasWeLike.
Okay, there was storage aroma, old tea tcm, honey, mineral, a bit of wood in aroma. The taste was a sort of old tea tcm, honey, and a mineral bite familiar from post 2005 Dayi production and cheap yancha. The mineral bite does at least fade by the middle of the session. Viscosity is good-very good with a stiff cream texture. Not too much astringency? I think it had a bit of mouthcoat, but I don't remember much striking aftertastes. A little bit of low quality qi. Got bored with the tea so didn't do a huge number of brews.
The third tea of the weekend was the Yee-on 2001 Liu bao. It's pretty boring, in the sense that it is a fully fermented liu bao, much like a comparable 7572 from a similar time period. Bold aroma, of barky wood and fermentation depth, bold taste of fermentation depth, a touch of choco, not much betel nut/plummy character. Rather little nuance. Acceptable enough mouthfeel. A slight bit of yiwu huigan, of the sort traditional to decent shu and such. I did not push this far and dumped it for...
The fourth tea, the 2009 XZH Xicontianxiang sheng. This is a tea I already have from Houde back in the day, and just got a freebie cake stored mostly in TW. Main difference today is that the core taste of mine is more, honey, artisinal clay while this TW version is strongly plummy. Both teas have strong aromatic wood in aroma and taste, however the TW storage has a bit of that rubber taste that I've found in non XZH aged Jinggus that I have not liked that much. The TW version has better mouthfeel with better viscosity, while the Atlanta version is much easier to perceive and enjoy the aftertastes. Qi is about the same.
One thing I have been noting is that aggressive storage tends to bring out a slightly sour plumminess in gushu shengs with an extra dollop (or more) of oxidation. Seems that later longer term dry storage tends to have that settle down and not be as much of the flavor--well, with some, but not all of my FB XZH conquests. I'm waiting until 2026 before opening one of my 2006 XZH Menghai Nu'ercha bricks--I anticipate it to be much less plummy than the TW stored brick I'm drinking from now.
Both the CYH TMS and XZH Love You performed very well over the week. The TMS was a fairly nice fruity in the long brews.
The shu of Friday was the 2023 XZH Ancient Orchid. This is a 60% fermentation Nannuo. Anywayz, not really ready to drink. Full of wodui, a somewhat pronounced tendency for a sour plumminess. This product is very similar to White2Tea's 2020 The Stranger in overall style. Very fruity with a slight wood or maybe floral edge, not too much fermentation darkness. Decent enough mouthfeel. Notably good aftertaste game with strong mouthcoat. Good qi. Will need to be bought and put on the shelf for years.
The first sheng of the weekend was the 2013 Baohongyinji/Zhou Yu of Wistaria Zhenren Yufeng, "early spring", presumably the 301 you see here: 2013 BHYJ/Wistaria Tea House Zhenren Yufeng - Puerh.uk - https://puerh.uk/product/2013-bhyj-wistaria-tea-house-zhenren-yufeng/ . I'm sad that I lost the notes, as I took a bunch of them. The upshot is that this is pretty oxidized, but the basic material could take it better. So, like those YuanYuantangs, especially the Paixihe (and not so surprising, this should be Yishanmo), but I drink this tea slower, I think because of stronger, and subtly deeper taste.
The the aroma and taste is strongly fruity, woodsap, and a bit of wood in the beginning, a touch sour, and loses fruitiness and wood as the session goes on. I seem to remember a certain root herbal note and an associated slight bitterness. Viscosity is generally decent, decent-good, not much texture? Astringency is roughly about moderate over the session. Good mouthcoat that can linger. Maybe a slight yiwu huigan. Yun in earliest brews? Qi is at about mild-moderate, but it is indeed of good quality, centering, calm alert-y. Durability is okay, tires out at about fifteen brews.
Well, if it is indeed the tea at puerh.uk, I suppose the roughly dollar a gram is an okay value. Just know it doesn't that much space to age.
The second tea of the weekend was the Yee-on 2000 7532 production. I didn't like it that much. I did not mind the Yee-on storage aroma, but I did sort of mind how heavily stored it was, and that I clearly perceive this to be primarily taidi in the way I do not like. Would vastly prefer the 2003 taipai offered at TeasWeLike.
Okay, there was storage aroma, old tea tcm, honey, mineral, a bit of wood in aroma. The taste was a sort of old tea tcm, honey, and a mineral bite familiar from post 2005 Dayi production and cheap yancha. The mineral bite does at least fade by the middle of the session. Viscosity is good-very good with a stiff cream texture. Not too much astringency? I think it had a bit of mouthcoat, but I don't remember much striking aftertastes. A little bit of low quality qi. Got bored with the tea so didn't do a huge number of brews.
The third tea of the weekend was the Yee-on 2001 Liu bao. It's pretty boring, in the sense that it is a fully fermented liu bao, much like a comparable 7572 from a similar time period. Bold aroma, of barky wood and fermentation depth, bold taste of fermentation depth, a touch of choco, not much betel nut/plummy character. Rather little nuance. Acceptable enough mouthfeel. A slight bit of yiwu huigan, of the sort traditional to decent shu and such. I did not push this far and dumped it for...
The fourth tea, the 2009 XZH Xicontianxiang sheng. This is a tea I already have from Houde back in the day, and just got a freebie cake stored mostly in TW. Main difference today is that the core taste of mine is more, honey, artisinal clay while this TW version is strongly plummy. Both teas have strong aromatic wood in aroma and taste, however the TW storage has a bit of that rubber taste that I've found in non XZH aged Jinggus that I have not liked that much. The TW version has better mouthfeel with better viscosity, while the Atlanta version is much easier to perceive and enjoy the aftertastes. Qi is about the same.
One thing I have been noting is that aggressive storage tends to bring out a slightly sour plumminess in gushu shengs with an extra dollop (or more) of oxidation. Seems that later longer term dry storage tends to have that settle down and not be as much of the flavor--well, with some, but not all of my FB XZH conquests. I'm waiting until 2026 before opening one of my 2006 XZH Menghai Nu'ercha bricks--I anticipate it to be much less plummy than the TW stored brick I'm drinking from now.
Alright, I was a bit sick Friday and Saturday, with a somewhat diminished nose, and tastebuds not quite up to par but mostly okay. Everything was normal Sunday...
The shu of Friday was the 2015 Cookie Counselor, originally from Liquid Proust. Despite sense difficulties, it was pretty easy to see that this was a straightforward Bulang shu. While LP does mention that there is other stuff in it, if there is, then they're just a bit of frills. Deep Bulang taste, a slight bitterness, dark herbals, etc, you know the deal. There does seem to be a bit of subtle nuance in the depth of the taste. Mouthfeel isn't particularly notable, and this doesn't have much in the way of aftertaste. There might have been light, maybe moderate qi. *For the money*, $80/360g, this is a fairly respectable shu value, with the only competition being the 2019 Great Divide from W2T. It will not compete with anything high end as far as Bulang deep shu goes.
The first sheng of Saturday was the 2010 XZH Diangu. I felt pretty safe that I could handle it and know stuff without quite being able to "see" it, and so not waste the sample. Anyways, the verdict is that this is more similar to the 2011 Diangu that I had close to a decade ago than the 2009 Diangu. The difference is that the tea is a bit narrower, with a strong tcm bitter pole that dominates the profile, and not as much fruit, wood, sugars extend beyond that. The aftertaste game is not as good, either, tho' that could definitely be blocked by congestion and whatnot. There is also the sense that the tea is a bit overstored, not unexpected from the general behavior of Sanhetang's storage of other 2010 products.
The aroma was a bit muted and I had a hard time with it on top of that, but it was mostly like, a savory white character like tofu with a suggestion of stewed fruit, dark herbal, and a sense of basement. I don't think it was that dynamic. The taste was largely dominated by a tcm bitter pole, pointy end not that sharp, a bit of white savory, stewed fruit, and a hint of wood. Some late brews see a rise in the taste , unless really brewed hard to bring back bitterness, less fruit, some sugars. The viscosity was good with a bit of pudding texture. Astringency vacillated between light and moderate. There can be a strongish mouthcoat and some yiwu huigan. At least one brew had a hint of feeling down throat and light pungent huigan back up. Qi was moderate to strong early, did seem to fade in deep session? Durability is good, but undetermined.
I like this tea, and I think it would recover well in my storage, but I vastly prefer the 2007 and 2009 diangus I already have.
The second sheng of Saturday was the 2010 Essence of Tea Mansai, as a calibration test to see just how crippled the nose and taste was, and yeah, it was a bit. Anyways, not really going to go into the details, but for all of its faults, the Mansai is quite the delicious tea and was quite appreciated both on Saturday and on Sunday when things were more normal. Inferior mouthfeel, qi, and not as robust core taste as the '10 Diangu, and so probably could be considered inferior in general, but I enjoyed it very much.
The sheng of Sunday was the XZH '06 3rd Year Commemoration Yiwu made with Classical Yiwu materials. Quite enjoyable. As with other pre-2009 XZH Yiwu, not really quite there yet in terms of being qualitatively superior. However it is very agreeable and sweet.
This starts off similar to Wistaria Zipin and some of the better Changtai Yiwu in being focused on deep plummy and wood. However, the taste is sweeter. Anyways, the aroma early is deep plummy with a bit of wood, after about five or six brews, the aroma is more of a milk choco and wood for the rest of the way there. There can be a bit of camphor in the wood aroma. The taste starts off with deep plummy, some light bitterness, and a wood rim. The deep plummy can have a slight fruity and/or honey sweetness inside its own depth. In later brews, the taste rises, gets less plummy and more of a less detailed (and more quickly drunk) milk choco dominated profile with some wood taste. Again, there can be slight fruit, honey sweetness within the choco main taste. Viscosity is only decent to good and without a distinctive texture. Astringency is generally light with an occasional brew at moderate levels. Earlier brews tends to have a strong mouthcoat, and a decent yiwu huigan. One brew had a slight feeling down throat and pungent huigan at the end of a cup. Later brews don't have that much aftertaste unless brewed really hard. Qi is of light to moderate levels, of a certain quality.
Well worth having at the right price but nothing genuinely exciting. Very agreeable and sweet, while early brews especially has a good strength of taste
The shu of Friday was the 2015 Cookie Counselor, originally from Liquid Proust. Despite sense difficulties, it was pretty easy to see that this was a straightforward Bulang shu. While LP does mention that there is other stuff in it, if there is, then they're just a bit of frills. Deep Bulang taste, a slight bitterness, dark herbals, etc, you know the deal. There does seem to be a bit of subtle nuance in the depth of the taste. Mouthfeel isn't particularly notable, and this doesn't have much in the way of aftertaste. There might have been light, maybe moderate qi. *For the money*, $80/360g, this is a fairly respectable shu value, with the only competition being the 2019 Great Divide from W2T. It will not compete with anything high end as far as Bulang deep shu goes.
The first sheng of Saturday was the 2010 XZH Diangu. I felt pretty safe that I could handle it and know stuff without quite being able to "see" it, and so not waste the sample. Anyways, the verdict is that this is more similar to the 2011 Diangu that I had close to a decade ago than the 2009 Diangu. The difference is that the tea is a bit narrower, with a strong tcm bitter pole that dominates the profile, and not as much fruit, wood, sugars extend beyond that. The aftertaste game is not as good, either, tho' that could definitely be blocked by congestion and whatnot. There is also the sense that the tea is a bit overstored, not unexpected from the general behavior of Sanhetang's storage of other 2010 products.
The aroma was a bit muted and I had a hard time with it on top of that, but it was mostly like, a savory white character like tofu with a suggestion of stewed fruit, dark herbal, and a sense of basement. I don't think it was that dynamic. The taste was largely dominated by a tcm bitter pole, pointy end not that sharp, a bit of white savory, stewed fruit, and a hint of wood. Some late brews see a rise in the taste , unless really brewed hard to bring back bitterness, less fruit, some sugars. The viscosity was good with a bit of pudding texture. Astringency vacillated between light and moderate. There can be a strongish mouthcoat and some yiwu huigan. At least one brew had a hint of feeling down throat and light pungent huigan back up. Qi was moderate to strong early, did seem to fade in deep session? Durability is good, but undetermined.
I like this tea, and I think it would recover well in my storage, but I vastly prefer the 2007 and 2009 diangus I already have.
The second sheng of Saturday was the 2010 Essence of Tea Mansai, as a calibration test to see just how crippled the nose and taste was, and yeah, it was a bit. Anyways, not really going to go into the details, but for all of its faults, the Mansai is quite the delicious tea and was quite appreciated both on Saturday and on Sunday when things were more normal. Inferior mouthfeel, qi, and not as robust core taste as the '10 Diangu, and so probably could be considered inferior in general, but I enjoyed it very much.
The sheng of Sunday was the XZH '06 3rd Year Commemoration Yiwu made with Classical Yiwu materials. Quite enjoyable. As with other pre-2009 XZH Yiwu, not really quite there yet in terms of being qualitatively superior. However it is very agreeable and sweet.
This starts off similar to Wistaria Zipin and some of the better Changtai Yiwu in being focused on deep plummy and wood. However, the taste is sweeter. Anyways, the aroma early is deep plummy with a bit of wood, after about five or six brews, the aroma is more of a milk choco and wood for the rest of the way there. There can be a bit of camphor in the wood aroma. The taste starts off with deep plummy, some light bitterness, and a wood rim. The deep plummy can have a slight fruity and/or honey sweetness inside its own depth. In later brews, the taste rises, gets less plummy and more of a less detailed (and more quickly drunk) milk choco dominated profile with some wood taste. Again, there can be slight fruit, honey sweetness within the choco main taste. Viscosity is only decent to good and without a distinctive texture. Astringency is generally light with an occasional brew at moderate levels. Earlier brews tends to have a strong mouthcoat, and a decent yiwu huigan. One brew had a slight feeling down throat and pungent huigan at the end of a cup. Later brews don't have that much aftertaste unless brewed really hard. Qi is of light to moderate levels, of a certain quality.
Well worth having at the right price but nothing genuinely exciting. Very agreeable and sweet, while early brews especially has a good strength of taste
The Mansai lasted well, but the XZH 3rd Anniversary isn't particularly durable. Ah, well...
The shu of Friday was an old, perhaps 80's 7581, I suspect originally from puerh.uk. If so, judging from my previous written reviews of old 7581s, the one at that site is legit. Also like my previous reviews, this sort of tea isn't really worth the money. The benefits of age, seen in mouthfeel, a bit in the aroma, and qi, are very subtle, and is easily overpowered by shu made with better quality leaves and more modern processing. I suspect there are really good aged shu out there, but I suspect back in the 70s and 80's, people did not specifically try to make great shu as much as they did sheng, and of course, in the '90's factory tea quality went in the gutter for most of the stuff. Anyways the 7581 I drank now is pretty similar to other standard 7581s, a feeling of Mengku character, thin taste, a specific softness in texture, and a pretty good quality qi. And all the shu samples are done, gotta say, I'll be happy to go back to my own tea, none of the recent samples were that exciting. One ye-on liubao to go, tho'.
The first sheng of Saturday was the 2011 YQH Wild Big Tree. Interestingly, the leaf was not very whole like a gushu production would normally be. I also tried to guess whether if it's genuinely a wild tea, or maybe a precursor to the YehGu of the following year. I ended up thinking that this a wild tea with a dark core and strong bitterness. It's interesting how one would distinguish this from other regular tea of this type, like YehGu or an aged bitter type banzhang. This particular tea did not have much in the way of yiwu characteristics, tho', and it was most like a more dark and bitter version of the TeaSide Lynx Myanmar sheng.
Aroma starts off generally having a balanced subtle fruit, barnyard, mineral aroma. Fruit eventually dies out, and aroma can have sugar, but many late aroma have wine or violet charater, which is nice. Lid aroma is quite strong and sweet. The bitterness is present in the first few brews, and while there is darkness, there isn't really a TCM bitter pole. It's mostly a darkened sort of citrus fruity-sour. The taste eventually moves towards a more sober dark herbal, minerals, maybe sugars character. Good viscosity with a rounded feeling, verging towards maybe runny honey. Earliest brews have light astringency, but later brews have moderate or high levels of astringency. Usually generates a strong fruity mouthcoat, and sometimes have good cooling in the mouth as well. There might be a subtle yiwu huigan to sugars. Moderate level of qi. I didn't push the durability that much as I got pretty bored with the tea and wanted to move on. Did about 13 and it could have done more, easily before I pitched the leaves.
The second tea of Saturday was the 2001 Shuangjiang Mengku Yuanyexiang Thick Wrapper. Quick verdict is that it's boring (even as it's quite dynamic for such a tea) like any other warehoused tea, but it's a very tasty boring.
Aroma went: Aromatic wood, wood, blackeyedpeas-> variety of sugars, aromatic wood, wood->overripe fruit, aromatic wood, wood->aromatic wood, overripe fruit, sugars, fermentation depth most of the rest of the way. Taste went fermention depth, sugars, aromatic wood/minerals->fermentation depth, slight bitterness, overripe fruit, sugars, aromatic wood->simplifies to fermentation depth and overripe fruit the rest of the way. Mostly has good viscosity without a substantive texture, and astringency is usually at moderate. Qi is moderate to strong. Durability seems to be good, but gets a bit boring as it's an indefinite brewer of a specific profile. I did about fifteen brews.
While I like this and wouldn't mind if I had this, I think I prefer my '02 Tai Lian or at least the dry storage version of this tea. Anyways, the fame is justified, in my opinion.
The sheng of Sunday was the 2011 YQH Tiancang, which seemed to be a Lao Man'e when I first tried it, and it was very bitter. I was pretty surprised to find that much of the bitterness is gone this time around, leaving behind a potent and deep taste. I was pretty impressed with this tea, as it did better than some kucha LBZ I've tried, including the '06 YQH LBZ.
Early brews had choco in aroma and taste. Aroma: Mineral, wood, subtle choco-> wood, choco, a bit plummy-> a really nice wood and choco-> wood, choco,nutty-> wood, sweet floral-> wood, nannuo carrot, sugars->and then a lot of plummy woody mineral? in the rest of the brews. Aroma was never very strong. Taste went nannuo carrot, choco, rim of wood/mineral in earliest before-> thick tcm bitter pole with light bitter point, associated choco, deep barnyard/plummy->nannuo carrot, tcm bitter pole, less bitterness, deep barnyard/plummy-> deep herbal, barnyard/plummy in thinner taste-> tcm bitter pole back along with more wood, a deep plummy and continues mostly on the same vein. Taste is big and mouthfilling. Mouthfeel is also very good--good viscosity and runny honey texture. Light astringency. Aftertaste game is weak with a light mouthcoat and perhaps a hint of yiwu huigan. Still can be nice. Moderate-strong qi. Durability seems good. Did about fourteen before putting it in fridge.
Very similar to a very sober LBZ. Doesn't have tart deep tobacco, nor is it as fruity as an LBZ. Doesn't generate feeling down throat or have super great qi. Compared to say, '07 XZH Mengsong, it isn't as floral/aromatic wood in aroma, and aftertastes are weaker. Compared to the ChenShengHao, it is much less woody. Compared to both, the core taste is deeper, bigger, and more potent.
The shu of Friday was an old, perhaps 80's 7581, I suspect originally from puerh.uk. If so, judging from my previous written reviews of old 7581s, the one at that site is legit. Also like my previous reviews, this sort of tea isn't really worth the money. The benefits of age, seen in mouthfeel, a bit in the aroma, and qi, are very subtle, and is easily overpowered by shu made with better quality leaves and more modern processing. I suspect there are really good aged shu out there, but I suspect back in the 70s and 80's, people did not specifically try to make great shu as much as they did sheng, and of course, in the '90's factory tea quality went in the gutter for most of the stuff. Anyways the 7581 I drank now is pretty similar to other standard 7581s, a feeling of Mengku character, thin taste, a specific softness in texture, and a pretty good quality qi. And all the shu samples are done, gotta say, I'll be happy to go back to my own tea, none of the recent samples were that exciting. One ye-on liubao to go, tho'.
The first sheng of Saturday was the 2011 YQH Wild Big Tree. Interestingly, the leaf was not very whole like a gushu production would normally be. I also tried to guess whether if it's genuinely a wild tea, or maybe a precursor to the YehGu of the following year. I ended up thinking that this a wild tea with a dark core and strong bitterness. It's interesting how one would distinguish this from other regular tea of this type, like YehGu or an aged bitter type banzhang. This particular tea did not have much in the way of yiwu characteristics, tho', and it was most like a more dark and bitter version of the TeaSide Lynx Myanmar sheng.
Aroma starts off generally having a balanced subtle fruit, barnyard, mineral aroma. Fruit eventually dies out, and aroma can have sugar, but many late aroma have wine or violet charater, which is nice. Lid aroma is quite strong and sweet. The bitterness is present in the first few brews, and while there is darkness, there isn't really a TCM bitter pole. It's mostly a darkened sort of citrus fruity-sour. The taste eventually moves towards a more sober dark herbal, minerals, maybe sugars character. Good viscosity with a rounded feeling, verging towards maybe runny honey. Earliest brews have light astringency, but later brews have moderate or high levels of astringency. Usually generates a strong fruity mouthcoat, and sometimes have good cooling in the mouth as well. There might be a subtle yiwu huigan to sugars. Moderate level of qi. I didn't push the durability that much as I got pretty bored with the tea and wanted to move on. Did about 13 and it could have done more, easily before I pitched the leaves.
The second tea of Saturday was the 2001 Shuangjiang Mengku Yuanyexiang Thick Wrapper. Quick verdict is that it's boring (even as it's quite dynamic for such a tea) like any other warehoused tea, but it's a very tasty boring.
Aroma went: Aromatic wood, wood, blackeyedpeas-> variety of sugars, aromatic wood, wood->overripe fruit, aromatic wood, wood->aromatic wood, overripe fruit, sugars, fermentation depth most of the rest of the way. Taste went fermention depth, sugars, aromatic wood/minerals->fermentation depth, slight bitterness, overripe fruit, sugars, aromatic wood->simplifies to fermentation depth and overripe fruit the rest of the way. Mostly has good viscosity without a substantive texture, and astringency is usually at moderate. Qi is moderate to strong. Durability seems to be good, but gets a bit boring as it's an indefinite brewer of a specific profile. I did about fifteen brews.
While I like this and wouldn't mind if I had this, I think I prefer my '02 Tai Lian or at least the dry storage version of this tea. Anyways, the fame is justified, in my opinion.
The sheng of Sunday was the 2011 YQH Tiancang, which seemed to be a Lao Man'e when I first tried it, and it was very bitter. I was pretty surprised to find that much of the bitterness is gone this time around, leaving behind a potent and deep taste. I was pretty impressed with this tea, as it did better than some kucha LBZ I've tried, including the '06 YQH LBZ.
Early brews had choco in aroma and taste. Aroma: Mineral, wood, subtle choco-> wood, choco, a bit plummy-> a really nice wood and choco-> wood, choco,nutty-> wood, sweet floral-> wood, nannuo carrot, sugars->and then a lot of plummy woody mineral? in the rest of the brews. Aroma was never very strong. Taste went nannuo carrot, choco, rim of wood/mineral in earliest before-> thick tcm bitter pole with light bitter point, associated choco, deep barnyard/plummy->nannuo carrot, tcm bitter pole, less bitterness, deep barnyard/plummy-> deep herbal, barnyard/plummy in thinner taste-> tcm bitter pole back along with more wood, a deep plummy and continues mostly on the same vein. Taste is big and mouthfilling. Mouthfeel is also very good--good viscosity and runny honey texture. Light astringency. Aftertaste game is weak with a light mouthcoat and perhaps a hint of yiwu huigan. Still can be nice. Moderate-strong qi. Durability seems good. Did about fourteen before putting it in fridge.
Very similar to a very sober LBZ. Doesn't have tart deep tobacco, nor is it as fruity as an LBZ. Doesn't generate feeling down throat or have super great qi. Compared to say, '07 XZH Mengsong, it isn't as floral/aromatic wood in aroma, and aftertastes are weaker. Compared to the ChenShengHao, it is much less woody. Compared to both, the core taste is deeper, bigger, and more potent.
It was a pretty good weekend for tea...
Tiancang and Yuanyexiang lasted well through the week...
The shu of Friday was the '07 Dayi An Xiang, the trusty stalwart. Just extremely enjoyable for me. It's more complex than shu usually is, so it somewhat approaches warehouse sheng in nuance. It's plenty sweet for my sweet tooth. There is still a Menghai floral note hidden in the wood part of the aroma. Good aftertastes, and a genuinely great qi. Drank this until the water was pale, baybee.
The first sheng of the weekend was the YQH 2012 Teigung 666. I had the idea, when I first had it, that it was going to be like the 2005 Dayi Mengsong, and with enough time, the bitterness will fade away, leaving an easy to enjoy, delicious tea. That hasn't happened so far, and while this tea has its virtues, it's very much a non-sweet, still very bitter tea. Given how YQH high end Menghai offerings are almost all the same price at $800, and the one that isn't, the 600y Bulang is $900, this one is definitely the bottom preference.
Aroma tends to be sweet, tho', with a tendency for sugars or honey in there. Sugars, plummy, barnyard->plummy, honey, mineral, barnyard->plummy, honey, dark herbal->plummy, mineral, slight sugars->leather, mineral, a bit plummy-> plummy and honey more or less through the rest of the session. The taste has the amount of bitterness according to how firmly the brewing hand is, but it does tend to have a strong tart grip on the tongueroots like cheap asprin pills. The taste isn't that dynamic, with a large tcm bitter pole, associated dark herbalness, with the bitter point depending on the brew, along with leather and maybe a bit of deep plummy-barnyard. Early brews has a touch of honey there as well. The mouthfeel is very good, with very good viscosity and runny honey texture. Astringency is generally light with a brew or two being moderate to high. There is generally a slight, subtle yiwu huigan hidden underneath the depth of the pole, and a bit more obvious mouthcoat. Aftertaste game in general not very overt. Qi is there, but not very premium. Maybe heats the body somewhat? Very durable, did about fourteen brews and it feels like it has plenty left.
I wasn't very satisfied with the YQH session (a bit too much like work), so I had one more quick one with the '02 Tai Lian. Doesn't taste very aged, first four brews are tart, with a bright edge lingering. Excellent aroma, excellent aftertastes, excellent qi. Taste and mouthfeel are okay. Clearly partially a Bingdao or a high end Mengku of some sort, it amuses me to think of this as cheap while BokChoy LBZs costs the Moon. Of course the current deflationary experience in China today is probably whacking that price down, too.
The last tea of the weekend was the 2013 YQH Single Ancient Big Tree. This was kind of better than I expected, given the experience with the 2011 YQH Wild Big Tree. It's about as good as the 2012 XZH Risk One's Life or thereabouts. There was a bit of concern before drinking, as the dry leaf chunks had purple discoloration on one side of the chunk. Had me wondering, squashed berries? flowers? Do colors stay preserved like that over a decade of humid storage in a teacake?
Aroma is a bit dynamic: fleshy floral-> slight wood, savory white (tofu?, mushroom?), slight plummy-> fleshy floral, barnyard-> aromatic wood, fleshy floral, slight plummy, slight barnyard-> mineral, fleshy floral, fruit-> stronger mineral, less floral and fruit->general series of light fleshy florals with various nuances to finish out. The taste is pretty consistently bitter with a narrow tcm bitter pole that also tends to grip tongueroots like asprin, tho' less so than 666. In the dark herbal murk, the tea often has fleshy florals in the taste with suggestions of mineral, wood, plumminess. This tea generally follows the behavior of single tree teas, much like that 2017 XZH single tree TMS, but much stronger taste with a strong bitter pole. I.e., not really a "complex" taste, but more of a "nuanced" taste. The mouthfeel isn't that impressive, with good viscosity without much of a texture, but a couple of brews had velvet texture. Astringency is on the light side of moderate. One brew had a bit of feeling down throat. Early brews had strong cooling. There is a subtle yiwu huigan usually to sugars, but a nicely dynamic mouthcoat in contrast. One more stable mouthcoat was winey. A brew or few had mouth aroma and/or yun. Qi is strong and of somewhat good quality. Did about eleven or so brews before putting it in the fridge, I'd been drinking the tea slowly due to potency of taste and length of aftertastes.
Tiancang and Yuanyexiang lasted well through the week...
The shu of Friday was the '07 Dayi An Xiang, the trusty stalwart. Just extremely enjoyable for me. It's more complex than shu usually is, so it somewhat approaches warehouse sheng in nuance. It's plenty sweet for my sweet tooth. There is still a Menghai floral note hidden in the wood part of the aroma. Good aftertastes, and a genuinely great qi. Drank this until the water was pale, baybee.
The first sheng of the weekend was the YQH 2012 Teigung 666. I had the idea, when I first had it, that it was going to be like the 2005 Dayi Mengsong, and with enough time, the bitterness will fade away, leaving an easy to enjoy, delicious tea. That hasn't happened so far, and while this tea has its virtues, it's very much a non-sweet, still very bitter tea. Given how YQH high end Menghai offerings are almost all the same price at $800, and the one that isn't, the 600y Bulang is $900, this one is definitely the bottom preference.
Aroma tends to be sweet, tho', with a tendency for sugars or honey in there. Sugars, plummy, barnyard->plummy, honey, mineral, barnyard->plummy, honey, dark herbal->plummy, mineral, slight sugars->leather, mineral, a bit plummy-> plummy and honey more or less through the rest of the session. The taste has the amount of bitterness according to how firmly the brewing hand is, but it does tend to have a strong tart grip on the tongueroots like cheap asprin pills. The taste isn't that dynamic, with a large tcm bitter pole, associated dark herbalness, with the bitter point depending on the brew, along with leather and maybe a bit of deep plummy-barnyard. Early brews has a touch of honey there as well. The mouthfeel is very good, with very good viscosity and runny honey texture. Astringency is generally light with a brew or two being moderate to high. There is generally a slight, subtle yiwu huigan hidden underneath the depth of the pole, and a bit more obvious mouthcoat. Aftertaste game in general not very overt. Qi is there, but not very premium. Maybe heats the body somewhat? Very durable, did about fourteen brews and it feels like it has plenty left.
I wasn't very satisfied with the YQH session (a bit too much like work), so I had one more quick one with the '02 Tai Lian. Doesn't taste very aged, first four brews are tart, with a bright edge lingering. Excellent aroma, excellent aftertastes, excellent qi. Taste and mouthfeel are okay. Clearly partially a Bingdao or a high end Mengku of some sort, it amuses me to think of this as cheap while BokChoy LBZs costs the Moon. Of course the current deflationary experience in China today is probably whacking that price down, too.
The last tea of the weekend was the 2013 YQH Single Ancient Big Tree. This was kind of better than I expected, given the experience with the 2011 YQH Wild Big Tree. It's about as good as the 2012 XZH Risk One's Life or thereabouts. There was a bit of concern before drinking, as the dry leaf chunks had purple discoloration on one side of the chunk. Had me wondering, squashed berries? flowers? Do colors stay preserved like that over a decade of humid storage in a teacake?
Aroma is a bit dynamic: fleshy floral-> slight wood, savory white (tofu?, mushroom?), slight plummy-> fleshy floral, barnyard-> aromatic wood, fleshy floral, slight plummy, slight barnyard-> mineral, fleshy floral, fruit-> stronger mineral, less floral and fruit->general series of light fleshy florals with various nuances to finish out. The taste is pretty consistently bitter with a narrow tcm bitter pole that also tends to grip tongueroots like asprin, tho' less so than 666. In the dark herbal murk, the tea often has fleshy florals in the taste with suggestions of mineral, wood, plumminess. This tea generally follows the behavior of single tree teas, much like that 2017 XZH single tree TMS, but much stronger taste with a strong bitter pole. I.e., not really a "complex" taste, but more of a "nuanced" taste. The mouthfeel isn't that impressive, with good viscosity without much of a texture, but a couple of brews had velvet texture. Astringency is on the light side of moderate. One brew had a bit of feeling down throat. Early brews had strong cooling. There is a subtle yiwu huigan usually to sugars, but a nicely dynamic mouthcoat in contrast. One more stable mouthcoat was winey. A brew or few had mouth aroma and/or yun. Qi is strong and of somewhat good quality. Did about eleven or so brews before putting it in the fridge, I'd been drinking the tea slowly due to potency of taste and length of aftertastes.
Both YQHs, particularly the '13 Single Tree lasted well through the week.
The shu of Friday was the 2021 W2T Reckless Daughter. Some had mentioned that this tea was sour, and that piqued my interest in maybe wanting to try it again soon. Reckless Daughter is tart, not sour per se. I found W2T's description of the tea to be pretty accurate. Anyways. Relatively floral for a shu, has no fermentation depth, and of course it's shu-ified, so there are complex guestures of many flavors like a light watercolor rather than a normal shu Goya oil painting or a shengy Klimt. Good mouthfeel. Aftertastes not as dynamic as could be, but good mouthcoat and cooling with a bit of yiwu huigan. Strong qi. I enjoyed it, but it also paled a bit compared to last weekend's An Xiang.
The first sheng of the weekend was the 2005 Dayi 7542 with the white ribbon. While it was good, it was a bit disappointing. There really isn't a point for me to be interested in a 7542 later than 2003, or much else Dayi sheng other than a few special productions.
Early brew aromas were wood, dark herbal, plummy, while later brews tend to be wood and almond. There can be some nannuo carroty in specific brews. The taste generally follows the aroma. There is some plumminess, but the depth of the plumminess isn't as thick as a 7542 should be, and there is also a bitter-tartness of the sort I label as coming from taidi materials. The almond and wood is probably reflective of a bit of lower grade banzhang area materials blended into the traditional 7542 mix. Good viscosity with a slight runny honey texture. Astringency tends to hover a bit above moderate and clearly a bit productive. Can have yiwu huigan and mouthcoat. Mouthcoat is good, while yiwu huigan is usually subtle (or simply very fast and supplying almond sweetness to main taste). Qi is light, of no real quality. Durability isn't that great, very weak by about thirteen brews, and active phase is over relatively quickly, about five brews.
More expensive than it is worth. Mengsong Peacock is notably better.
The sheng of Sunday was the 2018 XZH Carefree. The blurb for this tea alludes to a Bingdao nature, so it's probably a Mengku or Bangdong. Anyways, this tea was thoroughly enjoyed. While it is pretty similar to, and is the same genre of sheng as the 2023 Baifuxing Tiangong, this XZH is more substantial and mushroomy in taste while also generating strong feeling and qi. Aftertastes are also significantly better.
Again, the aroma broke into an early half of sugars, vegetal, mushroom, and a latter half of dry florals and sugar. The taste is a bit complex early with subtle blend of vegetal, sugars, fruit, chicory sugars before become more of a broad mushroom-vegetal-sugars note. Good viscosity, lighter astringency early and moderate astringency late. Capable of strong feeling down throat while painting it with a bit of flavor. Some cooling feeling in mouth. This had a good mouthcoat aftertaste. Qi is or can be strong.
hmph, not too complex a weekend, just good tea with my anthem tuba jazz (say, Theon Cross Forward Progression II).
The shu of Friday was the 2021 W2T Reckless Daughter. Some had mentioned that this tea was sour, and that piqued my interest in maybe wanting to try it again soon. Reckless Daughter is tart, not sour per se. I found W2T's description of the tea to be pretty accurate. Anyways. Relatively floral for a shu, has no fermentation depth, and of course it's shu-ified, so there are complex guestures of many flavors like a light watercolor rather than a normal shu Goya oil painting or a shengy Klimt. Good mouthfeel. Aftertastes not as dynamic as could be, but good mouthcoat and cooling with a bit of yiwu huigan. Strong qi. I enjoyed it, but it also paled a bit compared to last weekend's An Xiang.
The first sheng of the weekend was the 2005 Dayi 7542 with the white ribbon. While it was good, it was a bit disappointing. There really isn't a point for me to be interested in a 7542 later than 2003, or much else Dayi sheng other than a few special productions.
Early brew aromas were wood, dark herbal, plummy, while later brews tend to be wood and almond. There can be some nannuo carroty in specific brews. The taste generally follows the aroma. There is some plumminess, but the depth of the plumminess isn't as thick as a 7542 should be, and there is also a bitter-tartness of the sort I label as coming from taidi materials. The almond and wood is probably reflective of a bit of lower grade banzhang area materials blended into the traditional 7542 mix. Good viscosity with a slight runny honey texture. Astringency tends to hover a bit above moderate and clearly a bit productive. Can have yiwu huigan and mouthcoat. Mouthcoat is good, while yiwu huigan is usually subtle (or simply very fast and supplying almond sweetness to main taste). Qi is light, of no real quality. Durability isn't that great, very weak by about thirteen brews, and active phase is over relatively quickly, about five brews.
More expensive than it is worth. Mengsong Peacock is notably better.
The sheng of Sunday was the 2018 XZH Carefree. The blurb for this tea alludes to a Bingdao nature, so it's probably a Mengku or Bangdong. Anyways, this tea was thoroughly enjoyed. While it is pretty similar to, and is the same genre of sheng as the 2023 Baifuxing Tiangong, this XZH is more substantial and mushroomy in taste while also generating strong feeling and qi. Aftertastes are also significantly better.
Again, the aroma broke into an early half of sugars, vegetal, mushroom, and a latter half of dry florals and sugar. The taste is a bit complex early with subtle blend of vegetal, sugars, fruit, chicory sugars before become more of a broad mushroom-vegetal-sugars note. Good viscosity, lighter astringency early and moderate astringency late. Capable of strong feeling down throat while painting it with a bit of flavor. Some cooling feeling in mouth. This had a good mouthcoat aftertaste. Qi is or can be strong.
hmph, not too complex a weekend, just good tea with my anthem tuba jazz (say, Theon Cross Forward Progression II).
Both Carefree and 7542 lasted well through the week with enjoyable brews--Carefree with lots of qi and Dayi with lots of taste...
I kind of wanted to think more about why I was disappointed with the '05 Dayi 7542, as it was definitely not a bad tea. One thing that was definitely a factor was that it didn't have much qi for me. I also drank two of the teas this weekend to help me think about it.
The shu of Friday was the 2016 BFZC wild tea shu. A very light and subtle tea in aroma and taste, and really doesn't have much in the way of shu flavors in the first place--as I've previously have described, more like a dancong chatou. Mouthfeel is fine, has a bit of mouthcoat, and has strong qi. I enjoyed it, at least before it truly got bland, as it was interesting to parse what flavors were there. However, gotta move this out of the shu rotation since even if it's a shu, doesn't drink like one, and I really need to be in the mood for it.
The first sheng of the weekend was the 2006 Taipei Memorial Jincha. I hadn't had a gongfu session in a while, and Houde has reposted these teas to their website. Hmph. $75 a jincha. Back in MY day, that was the price for the pack of three, which I still have one squirrelled away for aging. It is said to be a blend of Nannuo, Mengsong, and Gelanghe, but in practical terms, it's mostly a factory-ish style better materals Pasha.
The jincha I have open for drinking have had most of the mushroom cap drunk away, and I was chiseling away chunks of fragmented leaves from the densest part with effort similar to Xiaguan's finest. With that done and the tea going, aroma was something like plummy, barnyard, honey-> barnyard, honey, wood-> dark herbal, barnyard, almond->dark herbal-> wood, plummy, almond-> generally a light dark herbal the rest of the way. The taste has a very consistent them of dark herbal pretty close to a banzhang bitter tart dark tobacco profile. This dark herbal is not as bitter tart as banzhangs, and it doesn't last as deep into a session as banzhang, lastly the herbal is closer to licorice rather than tobacco. There can be a wood rim, usually has a degree of deep plumminess, and occasionally has an almond sweetness. Viscosity is good with a light runny honey texture. Astringency hangs around light-moderate astringency. Generally subtle yiwu huigan to almond. Capable of dynamic mouthcoats early, and there is often some mouth aroma involved for aftertastes. Qi is about moderate, of good quality. Durability was good, as that I enjoyed this particular session, did about fifteen or sixteen brews, broken leaf was clearly exhausted at that point.
I think I enjoyed the jincha more than the 7542, mostly because of the qi. I also sort of was intrigued by navigating the nuance in the various elements of the taste, and more so rather than the more coarse and explicit separated themes of wood, plummy, herbal in the 7542. Would I get more from Houde? Probably not, but only because I still have plenty for my own needs. I do think they are probably a good deal at Houde's price.
I did the 2003 7532, once sold at TeasWeLike, and pretty much got the same experience as I did for the previous time I had the tea, except there were more hints of fuitinesss among the plummy and herbal notes. May as well copy from the Oct 2023 entry in full "
Today's tea was the 2003 Zhongcha 7532 originally from TeasWeLike. I do not really like the tea, but had it because I didn't really have enough time for a proper session, and figured this was a nice sacrifice tea. It was okay. This tea did a lot of maturation and gotten darker since I had it last, but while that made it more interesting, it also made it less agreeable.
Aroma is generally this dark, sharp herbal that approximates spice, wood, and deep plummy. Late brews have a sugars sweetness woven in. The taste generally follows the aroma and is a deep, potent taste, with a notable deep plummy base that is similar to other aged teas that have had a bit too much oxidation in processing. Early brews are a touch sour. The taste starts thinning a bit quickly as session goes on. Mouthfeel is good. Good viscosity, fairly round feeling in mouth, and a bit of astringency. There isn't that much of an aftertaste game, but there is a bit of yiwu huigan to sugars, and a very light mouthcoat. Qi is mainly aged caffeine. I didn't press with durability, I think I only had about ten brews.
"
This wasn't close to being as good as the '05 Dayi, even tho' somehow I thought it was.
I nursed Saturday's teas, particularly the Taipei into Sunday before dumping the Taipei and trying out the TeaSide 1991 Liu Bao. I don't usually like thaipu LB or shu because I don't find them to be rich enough. I actually enjoyed this one, as a mellow lao chatou-y sort of tea. Soup color is very pretty, with dark ruby red color and strong brown highlights. Aroma tends to be various proportions of wood and caramel with a bit of warehousing roughness here and there. The earlier taste has a bitter pole and with a bitterness that lingers. Around this bitterness, and after it fades, is semisweet choco with minor caramel and wood notes. Viscosity is good, very round. Bitterness tends to hang around, and leave flavors coating the mouth. There are some brews with a caramel yiwu huigan. Qi seems to start off light, but seems to build as you drink, reasonably relaxing... I did not do a huge number of brews, nine or ten before putting it in the fridge for the week. It was rather consistent and I wanted to move to other things today...like sawing down sapling trees. Like Belleruche in Henbane--just got to deal with it.
I kind of wanted to think more about why I was disappointed with the '05 Dayi 7542, as it was definitely not a bad tea. One thing that was definitely a factor was that it didn't have much qi for me. I also drank two of the teas this weekend to help me think about it.
The shu of Friday was the 2016 BFZC wild tea shu. A very light and subtle tea in aroma and taste, and really doesn't have much in the way of shu flavors in the first place--as I've previously have described, more like a dancong chatou. Mouthfeel is fine, has a bit of mouthcoat, and has strong qi. I enjoyed it, at least before it truly got bland, as it was interesting to parse what flavors were there. However, gotta move this out of the shu rotation since even if it's a shu, doesn't drink like one, and I really need to be in the mood for it.
The first sheng of the weekend was the 2006 Taipei Memorial Jincha. I hadn't had a gongfu session in a while, and Houde has reposted these teas to their website. Hmph. $75 a jincha. Back in MY day, that was the price for the pack of three, which I still have one squirrelled away for aging. It is said to be a blend of Nannuo, Mengsong, and Gelanghe, but in practical terms, it's mostly a factory-ish style better materals Pasha.
The jincha I have open for drinking have had most of the mushroom cap drunk away, and I was chiseling away chunks of fragmented leaves from the densest part with effort similar to Xiaguan's finest. With that done and the tea going, aroma was something like plummy, barnyard, honey-> barnyard, honey, wood-> dark herbal, barnyard, almond->dark herbal-> wood, plummy, almond-> generally a light dark herbal the rest of the way. The taste has a very consistent them of dark herbal pretty close to a banzhang bitter tart dark tobacco profile. This dark herbal is not as bitter tart as banzhangs, and it doesn't last as deep into a session as banzhang, lastly the herbal is closer to licorice rather than tobacco. There can be a wood rim, usually has a degree of deep plumminess, and occasionally has an almond sweetness. Viscosity is good with a light runny honey texture. Astringency hangs around light-moderate astringency. Generally subtle yiwu huigan to almond. Capable of dynamic mouthcoats early, and there is often some mouth aroma involved for aftertastes. Qi is about moderate, of good quality. Durability was good, as that I enjoyed this particular session, did about fifteen or sixteen brews, broken leaf was clearly exhausted at that point.
I think I enjoyed the jincha more than the 7542, mostly because of the qi. I also sort of was intrigued by navigating the nuance in the various elements of the taste, and more so rather than the more coarse and explicit separated themes of wood, plummy, herbal in the 7542. Would I get more from Houde? Probably not, but only because I still have plenty for my own needs. I do think they are probably a good deal at Houde's price.
I did the 2003 7532, once sold at TeasWeLike, and pretty much got the same experience as I did for the previous time I had the tea, except there were more hints of fuitinesss among the plummy and herbal notes. May as well copy from the Oct 2023 entry in full "
Today's tea was the 2003 Zhongcha 7532 originally from TeasWeLike. I do not really like the tea, but had it because I didn't really have enough time for a proper session, and figured this was a nice sacrifice tea. It was okay. This tea did a lot of maturation and gotten darker since I had it last, but while that made it more interesting, it also made it less agreeable.
Aroma is generally this dark, sharp herbal that approximates spice, wood, and deep plummy. Late brews have a sugars sweetness woven in. The taste generally follows the aroma and is a deep, potent taste, with a notable deep plummy base that is similar to other aged teas that have had a bit too much oxidation in processing. Early brews are a touch sour. The taste starts thinning a bit quickly as session goes on. Mouthfeel is good. Good viscosity, fairly round feeling in mouth, and a bit of astringency. There isn't that much of an aftertaste game, but there is a bit of yiwu huigan to sugars, and a very light mouthcoat. Qi is mainly aged caffeine. I didn't press with durability, I think I only had about ten brews.
"
This wasn't close to being as good as the '05 Dayi, even tho' somehow I thought it was.
I nursed Saturday's teas, particularly the Taipei into Sunday before dumping the Taipei and trying out the TeaSide 1991 Liu Bao. I don't usually like thaipu LB or shu because I don't find them to be rich enough. I actually enjoyed this one, as a mellow lao chatou-y sort of tea. Soup color is very pretty, with dark ruby red color and strong brown highlights. Aroma tends to be various proportions of wood and caramel with a bit of warehousing roughness here and there. The earlier taste has a bitter pole and with a bitterness that lingers. Around this bitterness, and after it fades, is semisweet choco with minor caramel and wood notes. Viscosity is good, very round. Bitterness tends to hang around, and leave flavors coating the mouth. There are some brews with a caramel yiwu huigan. Qi seems to start off light, but seems to build as you drink, reasonably relaxing... I did not do a huge number of brews, nine or ten before putting it in the fridge for the week. It was rather consistent and I wanted to move to other things today...like sawing down sapling trees. Like Belleruche in Henbane--just got to deal with it.
I got squeezed out of the time to do the posting Sunday night, left it half written, added to it, and then B&B deleted it before I could finish it, so like the save function in the response is like only five days.
So, I gotta rewrite this, from memory...and I had been saying a lot the first time... *sigh*
The '91 Liu Bao and 7532 lasted well through that week.
The shu of Friday before last was the 2017 White2Tea Sunday Special. It has nicely settled over the years, with a bit of wodui in the aroma in the first couple of brews. It has an herbal and wood aroma, and the taste is dense with a deep herbal, woodsap, and wood. It's relatively similar to the 2013 Dayi Danqing, but is gentler, and less woodsappy-weedy. The mouthfeel is good, with good viscosity and plenty round. Light astringency, light, pleasantly lingering mouthcoat. Best part of the tea is the qi. The durability is pretty good. This wasn't as fancy as W2T's more expensive shu, or, say, similarly priced Pretty Girls, but it's a really solid shu that is better than the Pretty Girls iterations overall, and is almost as good as Modern Witch for the price. Of course, it's already sold out.
The first sheng that Saturday was the 2006 Taipei Tea Expo Commemorative 100g Xiaobing, stored from TW, I think, tho' it could be from Houde. You can find an image and review of this tea here: https://yinyautong.wordpress.com/20...-conscientious-formula-2006-臺北茶文化博覽會紀念茶-認真配/b . I was thinking about how I don't enjoy this tea as much as I do the jincha, and I was wondering why this was the case. It's supposed to a xiaobing of the best cake in the Taipei set.(the blog in the link sez that the xiaobing is the small version of the Conscientous Prescription cake rather than the top Hongtie Forever cake) The answer I came up with was that it was processed more aggressively towards the classic Taiwanese preference for softer, more oxidized tea at the time. So, after aging, this processing lowered the the thickness of taste/aftertaste, and taste is less micro-nuanced. Also the storage was the usual cleanish, deadening TW storage, but I've had this long enough that there is some recovery of liveliness.
okay, really going off memory here, the aroma is different from the jincha in that it's sort of higher with nannuo carroty, more plummy, less barnyard. Anyways, the plummy is more more contrasty with a wood rim and some deep herbal. The taste is more plummy as well, with a bit of bitterness, dark herbal, and wood. The dark herbal is generic with no bend to dark tobacco or licorice. This taste doesn't have the thickness, nuance, and depth of the jincha, nor is it as dark. Where the jincha gets to lots of dark herbal brews with lots of nuances, the xiaobing has a more coarse complexity with elements contrasting with each other rather than segueing to each other. The mouthfeel the xiaobing generates is similar to the jincha, but is less thick in viscosity. This has lighter astringency as well. The aftertaste features a lighter, less dynamic mouthcoat. Qi is much lighter, and lower in quality than with the jincha as well. Durability is very good, and lasted through the week well. The differences between the xiaobing and the jincha is much less in the very late brews. As with the jincha, this really should be a pretty decent long term ager. Overall, the Taipei stuff quality is around where the Dayi 501 7542 is. It's not as obviously good, but they do have better bones--jincha has obviously better qi, and while the strength of aftertaste is weaker, it's also more sophisticated.
I thought I got a greater sense of what oxidation does for puerh in the longer run of storage when I was comparing the jincha and the xiaobing, even though obviously, the probably differing blend and the different storage has had their impacts too.
First, in the most obvious tangent, oxidation from excessive withering can be a definite no-no. You get an unintentional (as opposed to a more controlled, intentional process) honchapu that is more likely to be sour in the future, as well as not changing all that much. Sometimes this long withering is accidental, as in takes a long time to get leaves from forest to frying pan, and sometimes, people just want things a bit more floral and fruity in the way of white/oolong/black teas and leave things out a bit. This can work out in terms of tasty aged tea if care is taken. Some people are also obviously blending maocha that has had different levels of withering done for a complex taste.
Other times, you have oxidation to plumminess that is proceeding from shaqing technique, essentially, the tea gradually spoils over the years to a flat oxidized taste. This can happen with bad frying technique on high grade leaf and buds in particular.
In general, additional processing steps tends to reduce the thickness of the tea taste. Oxidation will cut the thickness of taste some, and add plummy or other oxidized taste to the tea. Astringency gets cut such that the interestingness of the mouthfeel is reduced and any aftertaste weaker. Wodui process will cut out a ton of taste and replace much of the profile with a fermentation taste. Roasting will give you roasted leaf broad taste and will alter the aftertaste profile. Give and take going on here, and there is a lot of judgment and skill involved in making something interesting over the long term.
Alright, the second tea of that Saturday was the 1985 Liu Bao from Yeon Tea. Coarse, low leaf grade tea, heavily stored. Relatively dirty, and recommend thorough washing. You're not going to miss much, tho'. I didn't drink much of this tea because there is a clear myco issue for me and my mouth wasn't comfortable drinking it. The taste is fine, it's rather dark, and yes, as some people have noted, there is a sesame, heh, black sesame character to it, along with wood and a bit of basement funk. Not very nuanced or dynamic, and doesn't have much in the way of interesting mouthfeel, aftertaste or qi. I enjoyed the 1991 Thai liubao more. As with that thai tea, this yeeon lb did have a strong sense of heavy oxidation/aged black tea.
The tea of Sunday was the 2006 XZH Youle. Gotta consider it one of my best. As before, the main weaknesses as per top level tea is a lack of thickness in taste and viscosity. Otherwise, aroma is top notch, taste profile is great, managed some depth in the initial brews, a little sour early as well, but complex and dynamic in the mouth. Feeling goes down throat really well, and light pungent huigan comes up. There is some electric mouth Kept holding soup in mouth long such that I couldn't quite tell how much yiwu huigan there is. Dynamic and lengthy mouthcoat. Strong, high quality qi. Durability was a bit less this time out, but it still did pretty well, about fifteen good brews, and brewed decently through the week.
The shu of this last Friday was the 2004 6FTM Gold Medal Ripe (Banatea has the 2006 version). This was quite excellent this time out. It was sour a ways into the session, but it was a very good lightly fermented Menghai tea in the broad character of the 2012 XZH Dragon Brick--dark herbal, wood. Good mouthfeel, and feeling went down throat with some authority for a shu. There is a bit of mouthcoat, and lots of strong qi.
Ugh, finally done.
So, I gotta rewrite this, from memory...and I had been saying a lot the first time... *sigh*
The '91 Liu Bao and 7532 lasted well through that week.
The shu of Friday before last was the 2017 White2Tea Sunday Special. It has nicely settled over the years, with a bit of wodui in the aroma in the first couple of brews. It has an herbal and wood aroma, and the taste is dense with a deep herbal, woodsap, and wood. It's relatively similar to the 2013 Dayi Danqing, but is gentler, and less woodsappy-weedy. The mouthfeel is good, with good viscosity and plenty round. Light astringency, light, pleasantly lingering mouthcoat. Best part of the tea is the qi. The durability is pretty good. This wasn't as fancy as W2T's more expensive shu, or, say, similarly priced Pretty Girls, but it's a really solid shu that is better than the Pretty Girls iterations overall, and is almost as good as Modern Witch for the price. Of course, it's already sold out.
The first sheng that Saturday was the 2006 Taipei Tea Expo Commemorative 100g Xiaobing, stored from TW, I think, tho' it could be from Houde. You can find an image and review of this tea here: https://yinyautong.wordpress.com/20...-conscientious-formula-2006-臺北茶文化博覽會紀念茶-認真配/b . I was thinking about how I don't enjoy this tea as much as I do the jincha, and I was wondering why this was the case. It's supposed to a xiaobing of the best cake in the Taipei set.(the blog in the link sez that the xiaobing is the small version of the Conscientous Prescription cake rather than the top Hongtie Forever cake) The answer I came up with was that it was processed more aggressively towards the classic Taiwanese preference for softer, more oxidized tea at the time. So, after aging, this processing lowered the the thickness of taste/aftertaste, and taste is less micro-nuanced. Also the storage was the usual cleanish, deadening TW storage, but I've had this long enough that there is some recovery of liveliness.
okay, really going off memory here, the aroma is different from the jincha in that it's sort of higher with nannuo carroty, more plummy, less barnyard. Anyways, the plummy is more more contrasty with a wood rim and some deep herbal. The taste is more plummy as well, with a bit of bitterness, dark herbal, and wood. The dark herbal is generic with no bend to dark tobacco or licorice. This taste doesn't have the thickness, nuance, and depth of the jincha, nor is it as dark. Where the jincha gets to lots of dark herbal brews with lots of nuances, the xiaobing has a more coarse complexity with elements contrasting with each other rather than segueing to each other. The mouthfeel the xiaobing generates is similar to the jincha, but is less thick in viscosity. This has lighter astringency as well. The aftertaste features a lighter, less dynamic mouthcoat. Qi is much lighter, and lower in quality than with the jincha as well. Durability is very good, and lasted through the week well. The differences between the xiaobing and the jincha is much less in the very late brews. As with the jincha, this really should be a pretty decent long term ager. Overall, the Taipei stuff quality is around where the Dayi 501 7542 is. It's not as obviously good, but they do have better bones--jincha has obviously better qi, and while the strength of aftertaste is weaker, it's also more sophisticated.
I thought I got a greater sense of what oxidation does for puerh in the longer run of storage when I was comparing the jincha and the xiaobing, even though obviously, the probably differing blend and the different storage has had their impacts too.
First, in the most obvious tangent, oxidation from excessive withering can be a definite no-no. You get an unintentional (as opposed to a more controlled, intentional process) honchapu that is more likely to be sour in the future, as well as not changing all that much. Sometimes this long withering is accidental, as in takes a long time to get leaves from forest to frying pan, and sometimes, people just want things a bit more floral and fruity in the way of white/oolong/black teas and leave things out a bit. This can work out in terms of tasty aged tea if care is taken. Some people are also obviously blending maocha that has had different levels of withering done for a complex taste.
Other times, you have oxidation to plumminess that is proceeding from shaqing technique, essentially, the tea gradually spoils over the years to a flat oxidized taste. This can happen with bad frying technique on high grade leaf and buds in particular.
In general, additional processing steps tends to reduce the thickness of the tea taste. Oxidation will cut the thickness of taste some, and add plummy or other oxidized taste to the tea. Astringency gets cut such that the interestingness of the mouthfeel is reduced and any aftertaste weaker. Wodui process will cut out a ton of taste and replace much of the profile with a fermentation taste. Roasting will give you roasted leaf broad taste and will alter the aftertaste profile. Give and take going on here, and there is a lot of judgment and skill involved in making something interesting over the long term.
Alright, the second tea of that Saturday was the 1985 Liu Bao from Yeon Tea. Coarse, low leaf grade tea, heavily stored. Relatively dirty, and recommend thorough washing. You're not going to miss much, tho'. I didn't drink much of this tea because there is a clear myco issue for me and my mouth wasn't comfortable drinking it. The taste is fine, it's rather dark, and yes, as some people have noted, there is a sesame, heh, black sesame character to it, along with wood and a bit of basement funk. Not very nuanced or dynamic, and doesn't have much in the way of interesting mouthfeel, aftertaste or qi. I enjoyed the 1991 Thai liubao more. As with that thai tea, this yeeon lb did have a strong sense of heavy oxidation/aged black tea.
The tea of Sunday was the 2006 XZH Youle. Gotta consider it one of my best. As before, the main weaknesses as per top level tea is a lack of thickness in taste and viscosity. Otherwise, aroma is top notch, taste profile is great, managed some depth in the initial brews, a little sour early as well, but complex and dynamic in the mouth. Feeling goes down throat really well, and light pungent huigan comes up. There is some electric mouth Kept holding soup in mouth long such that I couldn't quite tell how much yiwu huigan there is. Dynamic and lengthy mouthcoat. Strong, high quality qi. Durability was a bit less this time out, but it still did pretty well, about fifteen good brews, and brewed decently through the week.
The shu of this last Friday was the 2004 6FTM Gold Medal Ripe (Banatea has the 2006 version). This was quite excellent this time out. It was sour a ways into the session, but it was a very good lightly fermented Menghai tea in the broad character of the 2012 XZH Dragon Brick--dark herbal, wood. Good mouthfeel, and feeling went down throat with some authority for a shu. There is a bit of mouthcoat, and lots of strong qi.
Ugh, finally done.
Just two teas to report for Satuday and Sunday and both were great.
Saturday's tea was the 2001 Dayi Simplified Yun 7542. This was a better session than the one I had after the 88QB session, and it's pretty clear it's a 7542 that's blended with gushu Bulang from either further south like Mannuo or maybe from the west as in Jie Liang. It's still isn't as broad as the 88QB, interesting, but this time it had a big, dense, and dark core with more bitterness than usual, and the traditional 7542 plummy flavors hidden much of the time. The difference in qi and and aftertaste game compared to the 88QB is more than that last session. The aroma was a bit different in that it was sweeter than it usually is.
Aroma consistently had sugars in it, giving it a rather sweet sense. A bit dynamic so: wet hay (ammonia), honey, plummy, barnyard, wood-> ammonia, sugars, wood-> less ammonia, mineral, sugars, light almond->sugars, plummy-> mineral, sugars, plummy-> herbals, sugars, plummy-> plummy, mineral through end. The taste generally featured a large tcm bitter pole with minerals and wood, and various nuances of plummy, fruits, other herbals slightly shows up from time to time. The mouthfeel is pretty classically aged 7542 with that phlegmatic (heh the sense, not the actual definition) velvet-pudding texture and decent-good viscosity. Astringency is generally at about moderate levels. This does well in promoting feeling down throat consistently, and there were some light pungent huigans back up. There was also a bit of electric mouth as well. Cooling feeling was relatively pronounced this session. Along with a subtle yiwu huigan, there was a strong and lasting mouthcoat. The qi was strong and of relatively high quality. It might've been a bit hard on the tummy, and for sure, it promoted a bit more hunger than a tea usually does. Think I had a bit extreme set of leaves this time. Durability was pretty good, tho' it faded pretty quickly after about twelve brews, did about fourteen or fifteen.
The sheng today was the 2006 HongTaiChang 0803. It was a touch flatter and more pedestrian in aroma and taste than it usually is, but still largely has the performance of $2+/g gushu teas, and appreciated as such. Describing is pretty simple--the aroma was prune and wood, and some time herbal as well. The taste is largely the same. Late brews lose the plum and wood, and have a sort of generic woody herb thing going. The taste also had a great deal of nuance, including some enjoyable sweet fruitiness. Viscosity is more on the decent side of good, and astringency is usually moderate to highish. The tea really shines in feeling, aftertaste and qi, tho', and I drank these slow as I did the 7542. Good feeling down throat, a little pungent huigan back up. Slight yiwu huigan, but dynamic and long lasting mouthcoat. Strong good quality qi. Tea lasts a long way, but like it usually does, late brews are harder to drink than proper puerh, getting a greater astringency with the sappiness. Did about fourteen brews.
Both teas obviously went into the fridge.
Saturday's tea was the 2001 Dayi Simplified Yun 7542. This was a better session than the one I had after the 88QB session, and it's pretty clear it's a 7542 that's blended with gushu Bulang from either further south like Mannuo or maybe from the west as in Jie Liang. It's still isn't as broad as the 88QB, interesting, but this time it had a big, dense, and dark core with more bitterness than usual, and the traditional 7542 plummy flavors hidden much of the time. The difference in qi and and aftertaste game compared to the 88QB is more than that last session. The aroma was a bit different in that it was sweeter than it usually is.
Aroma consistently had sugars in it, giving it a rather sweet sense. A bit dynamic so: wet hay (ammonia), honey, plummy, barnyard, wood-> ammonia, sugars, wood-> less ammonia, mineral, sugars, light almond->sugars, plummy-> mineral, sugars, plummy-> herbals, sugars, plummy-> plummy, mineral through end. The taste generally featured a large tcm bitter pole with minerals and wood, and various nuances of plummy, fruits, other herbals slightly shows up from time to time. The mouthfeel is pretty classically aged 7542 with that phlegmatic (heh the sense, not the actual definition) velvet-pudding texture and decent-good viscosity. Astringency is generally at about moderate levels. This does well in promoting feeling down throat consistently, and there were some light pungent huigans back up. There was also a bit of electric mouth as well. Cooling feeling was relatively pronounced this session. Along with a subtle yiwu huigan, there was a strong and lasting mouthcoat. The qi was strong and of relatively high quality. It might've been a bit hard on the tummy, and for sure, it promoted a bit more hunger than a tea usually does. Think I had a bit extreme set of leaves this time. Durability was pretty good, tho' it faded pretty quickly after about twelve brews, did about fourteen or fifteen.
The sheng today was the 2006 HongTaiChang 0803. It was a touch flatter and more pedestrian in aroma and taste than it usually is, but still largely has the performance of $2+/g gushu teas, and appreciated as such. Describing is pretty simple--the aroma was prune and wood, and some time herbal as well. The taste is largely the same. Late brews lose the plum and wood, and have a sort of generic woody herb thing going. The taste also had a great deal of nuance, including some enjoyable sweet fruitiness. Viscosity is more on the decent side of good, and astringency is usually moderate to highish. The tea really shines in feeling, aftertaste and qi, tho', and I drank these slow as I did the 7542. Good feeling down throat, a little pungent huigan back up. Slight yiwu huigan, but dynamic and long lasting mouthcoat. Strong good quality qi. Tea lasts a long way, but like it usually does, late brews are harder to drink than proper puerh, getting a greater astringency with the sappiness. Did about fourteen brews.
Both teas obviously went into the fridge.
Gonna hop into this forum and share a bit of my experiences as gongfu style brewing as almost no representation where I live (Spain) and this might help me (and maybe others) enrich and share tea knowledge.
On March 2nd I gave myself a treat having an amazing session with the YQH 600yr. I recieved a 10 grams sample directly from Emmet and used about 7'5 grams in a 110ml 90s Factory 1 hongni shuping. Very dense taste with a broad range of flavours. First infusions where downright like rose hand cream, developing to deep orange and supported by a bit of chocolate bitterness. That bitter core got stronger on subsequent infusions and a plumminess developed. From mid to late brews it had a taste of charred oak casks that translated into the empty cup aroma. Spectacular aroma from the brewed leaves. Texture was very thick till later brews, where it remained medium. Good activity of the infusions, creating strong and persisting mouthcoats, floral for the first two and chocolate bitter earthy for the rest. Also deep throat cooling at the beggining and slowly fading. Strong and persisting qi, specially head focused which let me in a good mood througout all the day. Lasted for 17 strong brews.
The tea itself doesn't remind of either Yiwu nor Bulang. I haven't tasted teas from other areas of this age and quality, so I can't really put a say on that. It definitely behaved like a more single origin tea than other YQHs of similar age. It reminded me of the 2010 Shengyun Tiancheng regarding it's behaviour, both being pretty much top quality in all aspects.
I'm looking forward to reading from Shah's opinion on this tea.
On March 2nd I gave myself a treat having an amazing session with the YQH 600yr. I recieved a 10 grams sample directly from Emmet and used about 7'5 grams in a 110ml 90s Factory 1 hongni shuping. Very dense taste with a broad range of flavours. First infusions where downright like rose hand cream, developing to deep orange and supported by a bit of chocolate bitterness. That bitter core got stronger on subsequent infusions and a plumminess developed. From mid to late brews it had a taste of charred oak casks that translated into the empty cup aroma. Spectacular aroma from the brewed leaves. Texture was very thick till later brews, where it remained medium. Good activity of the infusions, creating strong and persisting mouthcoats, floral for the first two and chocolate bitter earthy for the rest. Also deep throat cooling at the beggining and slowly fading. Strong and persisting qi, specially head focused which let me in a good mood througout all the day. Lasted for 17 strong brews.
The tea itself doesn't remind of either Yiwu nor Bulang. I haven't tasted teas from other areas of this age and quality, so I can't really put a say on that. It definitely behaved like a more single origin tea than other YQHs of similar age. It reminded me of the 2010 Shengyun Tiancheng regarding it's behaviour, both being pretty much top quality in all aspects.
I'm looking forward to reading from Shah's opinion on this tea.
Both teas from last weekend lasted very well and deliciously through the week, with a lot of qi, interestingly enough. The 7542 lost the bitter pole, and was much more of a normal 7542 taste, if light of course.
The shu of Friday was another go at the 2011 XZH Porno wrapper "Exquisite Ripened Tea". While it was a bit more settled than my first try, it was largely the same shu--way too mellow. While there is more flavor than your traditional 7581 style bigger leaf shu, even tho' this tea has finer grade leaves, it's still roughly as mellow. Okay, the aroma and taste has a small aromatic wood rim, there is a soft, deep, somewhat medicinal herbalness (a bit less like your standard warehoused sheng than the first time) and some nannuo carroty. The taste also has a slightly sweet milky/milkshake overtone that is agreeable. The mouthfeel is good, very good viscosity and nicely round. Aftertastes aren't that great, only the first few brews has the nice, if only light, kahlua yiwu huigan, and not remarkable otherwise. Moderate level qi?
The shengs of the weekend were excellent, only two teas this weekend.
The sheng of Saturday was a very lucky set of leaves from the 2006 YQH QiXiang (dry, never stored in TW). Essentially like drinking honey. Aroma was honey, celery-herbal, with a subtle rim of wood/florals. The taste was honey with suggestions of fruit, herbals, and a wood rim. More mineral later. It was very similar to how the aged Yibangs with less bitterness are, with the xiaozhong aging into flat, sweeter tastes with little dark depth or woodiness. This tea had no bitterness without aggressive brewing. and when it was brewed so, there was also more wood with that bitterness. The viscosity was good-very good with runny honey texture, and interestingly, vanishing low astringency. Early brews had the full or almost the full range of aftertastes with feeling down throat and pungent huigan back up. Qi was mild-moderate. Heh, when this tea was younger, it had quite a bit more POW in that qi. But qi is also a bit more deft and comfortable. Durability was okay, it was pretty emphatically tired at fifteen brews.
The sheng of Sunday was the 2007 XZH Huangshanlin. The XZH blurb does say Yangta, but this tea is simply not much like a Yangta tea. It is much more like a Bingdao and isn't very different from the '12 BFZC or the '02 Tai Lian, with the main difference in being less savory herbal/aromatic woody. Taste is also a bit thinner than either. Perhaps it's a blend of Yangta and Bingdao? Who knows...
The aroma and taste are really complex, and meant that I was really slow in drinking brews deep into the session. Aroma tended to have fruit, honey, dark herbal, barnyard, with occasional wisps of florals and aromatic wood. Late aroma (and aroma is a factor through the session today, very durable) tends to be more mineral. Also, the aroma is dynamic, and changes as the soup cools in notable ways. The base of the taste is a rather soft dark herbal that with the soup's natural sweetness could also be taken as a wild honey. There is an associated bitterness, but it's much lighter than the '12 BFZC or Tai Lian. Anyways, on top of the base is honey and fruit shaded in this depth, with subtle part time florals, wood, mineral notes among other indescribable items floating in and out of perception. The taste is more often simple the later in the session, but some brews will have complexity back. Viscosity is decent-good, verging on good after a few brews. Texture tends to be more silky or velvet rather than the oil feel that most other named Bingdao in my experience have had. The astringency is moderate with a few brews having high-ish astringency. Has feeling down throat and pungent huigan back up. Good cooling in mouth. There is a bit of light electric mouth here and there. More or less has the full range of aftertastes, which does take up much of the burden of being interesting from the main tastes. Mouthcoat is notable strong and durable. Later brews had stronger yiwu huigan. Yun and mouth aroma mainly appear early with a couple of appearances late. Qi is a bit tricky--this tea is no longer very strong with a head focused downer feel, but rather sneaky and much more body feel, even if it's still a mellow-izer. Strongly warming body feeling. Durability is the usual excellence. I only did about thirteen brews, but it feels like it still has plenty left.
The shu of Friday was another go at the 2011 XZH Porno wrapper "Exquisite Ripened Tea". While it was a bit more settled than my first try, it was largely the same shu--way too mellow. While there is more flavor than your traditional 7581 style bigger leaf shu, even tho' this tea has finer grade leaves, it's still roughly as mellow. Okay, the aroma and taste has a small aromatic wood rim, there is a soft, deep, somewhat medicinal herbalness (a bit less like your standard warehoused sheng than the first time) and some nannuo carroty. The taste also has a slightly sweet milky/milkshake overtone that is agreeable. The mouthfeel is good, very good viscosity and nicely round. Aftertastes aren't that great, only the first few brews has the nice, if only light, kahlua yiwu huigan, and not remarkable otherwise. Moderate level qi?
The shengs of the weekend were excellent, only two teas this weekend.
The sheng of Saturday was a very lucky set of leaves from the 2006 YQH QiXiang (dry, never stored in TW). Essentially like drinking honey. Aroma was honey, celery-herbal, with a subtle rim of wood/florals. The taste was honey with suggestions of fruit, herbals, and a wood rim. More mineral later. It was very similar to how the aged Yibangs with less bitterness are, with the xiaozhong aging into flat, sweeter tastes with little dark depth or woodiness. This tea had no bitterness without aggressive brewing. and when it was brewed so, there was also more wood with that bitterness. The viscosity was good-very good with runny honey texture, and interestingly, vanishing low astringency. Early brews had the full or almost the full range of aftertastes with feeling down throat and pungent huigan back up. Qi was mild-moderate. Heh, when this tea was younger, it had quite a bit more POW in that qi. But qi is also a bit more deft and comfortable. Durability was okay, it was pretty emphatically tired at fifteen brews.
The sheng of Sunday was the 2007 XZH Huangshanlin. The XZH blurb does say Yangta, but this tea is simply not much like a Yangta tea. It is much more like a Bingdao and isn't very different from the '12 BFZC or the '02 Tai Lian, with the main difference in being less savory herbal/aromatic woody. Taste is also a bit thinner than either. Perhaps it's a blend of Yangta and Bingdao? Who knows...
The aroma and taste are really complex, and meant that I was really slow in drinking brews deep into the session. Aroma tended to have fruit, honey, dark herbal, barnyard, with occasional wisps of florals and aromatic wood. Late aroma (and aroma is a factor through the session today, very durable) tends to be more mineral. Also, the aroma is dynamic, and changes as the soup cools in notable ways. The base of the taste is a rather soft dark herbal that with the soup's natural sweetness could also be taken as a wild honey. There is an associated bitterness, but it's much lighter than the '12 BFZC or Tai Lian. Anyways, on top of the base is honey and fruit shaded in this depth, with subtle part time florals, wood, mineral notes among other indescribable items floating in and out of perception. The taste is more often simple the later in the session, but some brews will have complexity back. Viscosity is decent-good, verging on good after a few brews. Texture tends to be more silky or velvet rather than the oil feel that most other named Bingdao in my experience have had. The astringency is moderate with a few brews having high-ish astringency. Has feeling down throat and pungent huigan back up. Good cooling in mouth. There is a bit of light electric mouth here and there. More or less has the full range of aftertastes, which does take up much of the burden of being interesting from the main tastes. Mouthcoat is notable strong and durable. Later brews had stronger yiwu huigan. Yun and mouth aroma mainly appear early with a couple of appearances late. Qi is a bit tricky--this tea is no longer very strong with a head focused downer feel, but rather sneaky and much more body feel, even if it's still a mellow-izer. Strongly warming body feeling. Durability is the usual excellence. I only did about thirteen brews, but it feels like it still has plenty left.
A fairly casual tea weekend this time around...
During the week, Huangshanlin lasted well, also tasted more Jinggu-ish. Lots of really nice qi.
The shu of Friday was the the 2012 XZH Dragon Brick shu. It was very much like the recent Sunday Special session, with the wood, deep herbal, woodsap notions in aroma and taste. There is generally more nuance in the taste with hints of other flavors like fruit. Mouthfeel was good. Tends to have good mouthcoat, and at least one cup left me with a sweet tongucoat to salivate over. Good qi.
The sheng of Saturday was the Mae Hong Son thaipu. The original chamomile floralness was absent, seemingly replaced by wood, along with a woodsap, nutty, herbal, and caramel character and with an early tart-bitter edge. Early brews had a lot of subtle notes while late brews are a sort of soft mineral herbal taste. Good viscosity with a velvet texture, more or less. Had feeling down throat, pungent huigan back up, yiwu huigan, mouthcoat, and a bit of mouth aroma. There was a lot going on and early brews had bitter-tart weight, so I was pretty slow in drinking many cups. The qi was pretty strong and enjoyable. Endurance was okay, active phase was over pretty quick, but mouthfeel, a light taste and qi lasted a pretty long way. This was sort of in an awkward phase sort of session.
The sheng of Sunday was me breaking out a 2006 XZH Menghai Nu'erCha brick that I bought from Houde a long time ago, meaning to put away until 2026 at least, but curiosity got me. The main reason I did so was that I wanted to see if something completely dry stored would be as over-oxidized plummy as the TW stored version I normally drink from. This was a largely disappointing session as that the aroma and taste were very light in the way something that's been too dry stored can be. Similar teas bought at about the same time, like EoT 2010s, 2006 Taipei Jincha, etc aren't like this, but the 2010 EoT Banpen sample I've tried was a bit like this. Not very good sessions of Taipei jincha is also a little like this. Part of the issue may be because this tea has been double-wrapped (essentially for shipping purposes, as the original wrapper was the traditional porno woodcut and XZH got in trouble for trying to ship it, so a second more acceptable, but thick wrapper was put on it) and left out generally kind of exposed on a bookcase. Maybe air changes blew away the taste through tiny wrapper gaps? Shouldn't be more than for teas in often accessed cardboard boxes.
Aroma was often too light to tell, but have have wood and sugar notes. Taste was generally wood, honey, dark herbal (especially dark early), and plumminess. Plumminess does indeed not quite dominate the taste as much, but the taste is also much less rich. Good viscosity, velvet texture. Generally moderate astringency. There is electric mouth early, some cooling as well in mouth. Plenty of feeling down throat and pungent huigan back up. Earlier brews have strong yiwu huigan and mouthcoats as well. Qi is strong.
In general, especially early in the session, this tea does do well in terms of aftertaste and qi, and maybe better than the TW stored version.
During the week, Huangshanlin lasted well, also tasted more Jinggu-ish. Lots of really nice qi.
The shu of Friday was the the 2012 XZH Dragon Brick shu. It was very much like the recent Sunday Special session, with the wood, deep herbal, woodsap notions in aroma and taste. There is generally more nuance in the taste with hints of other flavors like fruit. Mouthfeel was good. Tends to have good mouthcoat, and at least one cup left me with a sweet tongucoat to salivate over. Good qi.
The sheng of Saturday was the Mae Hong Son thaipu. The original chamomile floralness was absent, seemingly replaced by wood, along with a woodsap, nutty, herbal, and caramel character and with an early tart-bitter edge. Early brews had a lot of subtle notes while late brews are a sort of soft mineral herbal taste. Good viscosity with a velvet texture, more or less. Had feeling down throat, pungent huigan back up, yiwu huigan, mouthcoat, and a bit of mouth aroma. There was a lot going on and early brews had bitter-tart weight, so I was pretty slow in drinking many cups. The qi was pretty strong and enjoyable. Endurance was okay, active phase was over pretty quick, but mouthfeel, a light taste and qi lasted a pretty long way. This was sort of in an awkward phase sort of session.
The sheng of Sunday was me breaking out a 2006 XZH Menghai Nu'erCha brick that I bought from Houde a long time ago, meaning to put away until 2026 at least, but curiosity got me. The main reason I did so was that I wanted to see if something completely dry stored would be as over-oxidized plummy as the TW stored version I normally drink from. This was a largely disappointing session as that the aroma and taste were very light in the way something that's been too dry stored can be. Similar teas bought at about the same time, like EoT 2010s, 2006 Taipei Jincha, etc aren't like this, but the 2010 EoT Banpen sample I've tried was a bit like this. Not very good sessions of Taipei jincha is also a little like this. Part of the issue may be because this tea has been double-wrapped (essentially for shipping purposes, as the original wrapper was the traditional porno woodcut and XZH got in trouble for trying to ship it, so a second more acceptable, but thick wrapper was put on it) and left out generally kind of exposed on a bookcase. Maybe air changes blew away the taste through tiny wrapper gaps? Shouldn't be more than for teas in often accessed cardboard boxes.
Aroma was often too light to tell, but have have wood and sugar notes. Taste was generally wood, honey, dark herbal (especially dark early), and plumminess. Plumminess does indeed not quite dominate the taste as much, but the taste is also much less rich. Good viscosity, velvet texture. Generally moderate astringency. There is electric mouth early, some cooling as well in mouth. Plenty of feeling down throat and pungent huigan back up. Earlier brews have strong yiwu huigan and mouthcoats as well. Qi is strong.
In general, especially early in the session, this tea does do well in terms of aftertaste and qi, and maybe better than the TW stored version.
Okay, more intense inspection this weekend...
Before that, did a thermos of my own Houde 2006 XZH Menghai Nu'erCha, and the performance in terms of aroma and taste was a bit better. One thing thermos did make kind of clear was that the aftertaste and qi were pretty strong, reinforcing the sense that this version is genuinely superior on those points compared to the TW version.
Hmm, as another aside, I thermosed the 2007 YQH Jincha and the 2007 YQH Lingya back to back, and I'm still pretty much forced to say that I enjoy Lingya the best of of Jincha, Qizhong, Lingya, still...
Alright, the shu of Friday was the W2T 2019 Amalgamation of Capital. It was enjoyable enough--the tea has settled some, and some things became much clearer. The roasting did indeed hollow out the flavor some, in turn for some of the advantages in terms of flavors, ease of drinking, the resulting roasted tea aftertaste style. However, the bamboo flavor really fills in that gap well. This is a pretty orthodox smaller leaf shu, as has been mentioned before, but good quality and with good qi. I'm really curious about recent Swayback release, might be pretty good in a few years. Also, pretty sad I didn't get another ZTMDKZ, seems even more clear it is, and will continue to age into pretty top stuff...
The first sheng of Saturday was the 2020 XZH White Taiji maocha. It was pretty good, but it still largely behaves like a richer version of a nice Mengku and still hasn't started to acquire any darkness or depth of taste.
The aroma starts off mainly as a vegetal with a celery-spice-ish rim, and early brews have a bit of floralness in that rim, and sugars, almond, among the vegetalness. Later brew aroma simplifies from there to a softly sugary or honeyed vegetalness. Consistent main taste of vegetal and sugars with hints of fruit here and there. Early brews have a bit of floralness in the rim along with a woodiness that is associated with the bitterness. Later brews devolves to a light Menghai honey with a bit of vegetalness attached. The taste is generally pretty thick and mouthfilling. Good viscosity, with maybe a lightly stiff velvet texture. There tends to be light to moderate astringency depending on the brew. At least one brew has a light feeling down throat, and there is a bit of cooling feeling. The main aftertaste happens mostly in the early brews, and it consists of a strong yiwu huigan and strong mouthcoat. Aftertaste dies out pretty quickly as the session goes on, and later brews have a light mouthcoat. Qi starts off strong, but it seems to decline as the session goes one, and didn't revive when restarted after a rest. Most of the time, it was moderate. Durability is pretty good, late brews has many light honey brews. Probably did about sixteen brews before throwing out the pretty leaves before they were fully done.
I decide to take out the 2006 XZH Menghai Nu'erCha, TW version for a quick spin. Experience is pretty different. Very plummy, as expected, with a wood rim. What was interesting was that a couple of early brews had a wine overtone, reminding me of that last 88QB experience, and brews after this wine stuff had fruit punch overtones in aroma and taste. This was pretty nice, but also, yeah, qi and aftertaste definitely weaker, and main taste is much less nuanced for all that the Houde version is so light tasting. Mouthcoat can be dynamic, interestingly enough. Astringency seems to be much less than the Houde version as well. Mouthfeel has a bit of runny honey-velvet texture. Durability seems to be good, did at least thirteen before putting it into the fridge.
A couple of things about how these teas came to be so different. One possibility is simply storage. For example the 2009 XZH Xicontianxiang show a similar difference in that one tea is more plummy with weaker aftertaste and qi than the other. Another possibility is that the Houde has a 300g format while the TW version was 400g. The blurb for this tea is that this is banhang shengtai that is enhanced with Mengsong (presumably gushu) tips. It could be that the 400g brick got the same amount of "enhancement" as the 300g brick, and is, per gram, a fourth less "enhanced" than the 300g brick.
The last tea of the weekend was highly enjoyable. I was thinking about how expensive the 2020 XZH Taiji is, and thought about thaipu cost effectiveness again, and decided to match the 2021 The Reserve from TeaSide against the experience of the Taiji. The thaipu turned out to be smaller and less rich than the Taiji, but this was sort of to be expected. But taste is less green, generally darker and with more coarse complexity. The aftertaste game is also weaker, but it lasts well into the session. Overall experience of the Thaipu was mildly similar to the Diangu.
Aroma consistently has a sweet (honey/sugars) fruitiness, with anise and light barnyard early and mineral here and there late. One early cup's aroma had sweetness amped up with a little custard. The taste generally has dark herbal with a bit of bitterness, barnyard, and subtle fruit underneath. As the session goes one, the herbalness thins and rises, and the overall taste is more dominated by a fruitiness. Good viscosity with a light pudding texture. Astringency starts off light, but tends to grow as the session develops. Does seem to fade a bit very late. There is consistently a light feeling down throat, and rarely (and generally at the end of cups) a pungent huigan back up. There is also a touch of electric mouth. Aftertaste consists of light yiwu huigan to sugars and light mouthcoat. There might be a fast yiwu huigan to fruit. Qi is pretty consistently moderate-strong. Did about thirteen or fourteen brews before putting the put into the fridge with plenty left in it.
Thoroughly enjoyed and good value for dollar, and yet another reminder that I need to try more 40ct-50ct/g teas to compare with this Reserved.
Before that, did a thermos of my own Houde 2006 XZH Menghai Nu'erCha, and the performance in terms of aroma and taste was a bit better. One thing thermos did make kind of clear was that the aftertaste and qi were pretty strong, reinforcing the sense that this version is genuinely superior on those points compared to the TW version.
Hmm, as another aside, I thermosed the 2007 YQH Jincha and the 2007 YQH Lingya back to back, and I'm still pretty much forced to say that I enjoy Lingya the best of of Jincha, Qizhong, Lingya, still...
Alright, the shu of Friday was the W2T 2019 Amalgamation of Capital. It was enjoyable enough--the tea has settled some, and some things became much clearer. The roasting did indeed hollow out the flavor some, in turn for some of the advantages in terms of flavors, ease of drinking, the resulting roasted tea aftertaste style. However, the bamboo flavor really fills in that gap well. This is a pretty orthodox smaller leaf shu, as has been mentioned before, but good quality and with good qi. I'm really curious about recent Swayback release, might be pretty good in a few years. Also, pretty sad I didn't get another ZTMDKZ, seems even more clear it is, and will continue to age into pretty top stuff...
The first sheng of Saturday was the 2020 XZH White Taiji maocha. It was pretty good, but it still largely behaves like a richer version of a nice Mengku and still hasn't started to acquire any darkness or depth of taste.
The aroma starts off mainly as a vegetal with a celery-spice-ish rim, and early brews have a bit of floralness in that rim, and sugars, almond, among the vegetalness. Later brew aroma simplifies from there to a softly sugary or honeyed vegetalness. Consistent main taste of vegetal and sugars with hints of fruit here and there. Early brews have a bit of floralness in the rim along with a woodiness that is associated with the bitterness. Later brews devolves to a light Menghai honey with a bit of vegetalness attached. The taste is generally pretty thick and mouthfilling. Good viscosity, with maybe a lightly stiff velvet texture. There tends to be light to moderate astringency depending on the brew. At least one brew has a light feeling down throat, and there is a bit of cooling feeling. The main aftertaste happens mostly in the early brews, and it consists of a strong yiwu huigan and strong mouthcoat. Aftertaste dies out pretty quickly as the session goes on, and later brews have a light mouthcoat. Qi starts off strong, but it seems to decline as the session goes one, and didn't revive when restarted after a rest. Most of the time, it was moderate. Durability is pretty good, late brews has many light honey brews. Probably did about sixteen brews before throwing out the pretty leaves before they were fully done.
I decide to take out the 2006 XZH Menghai Nu'erCha, TW version for a quick spin. Experience is pretty different. Very plummy, as expected, with a wood rim. What was interesting was that a couple of early brews had a wine overtone, reminding me of that last 88QB experience, and brews after this wine stuff had fruit punch overtones in aroma and taste. This was pretty nice, but also, yeah, qi and aftertaste definitely weaker, and main taste is much less nuanced for all that the Houde version is so light tasting. Mouthcoat can be dynamic, interestingly enough. Astringency seems to be much less than the Houde version as well. Mouthfeel has a bit of runny honey-velvet texture. Durability seems to be good, did at least thirteen before putting it into the fridge.
A couple of things about how these teas came to be so different. One possibility is simply storage. For example the 2009 XZH Xicontianxiang show a similar difference in that one tea is more plummy with weaker aftertaste and qi than the other. Another possibility is that the Houde has a 300g format while the TW version was 400g. The blurb for this tea is that this is banhang shengtai that is enhanced with Mengsong (presumably gushu) tips. It could be that the 400g brick got the same amount of "enhancement" as the 300g brick, and is, per gram, a fourth less "enhanced" than the 300g brick.
The last tea of the weekend was highly enjoyable. I was thinking about how expensive the 2020 XZH Taiji is, and thought about thaipu cost effectiveness again, and decided to match the 2021 The Reserve from TeaSide against the experience of the Taiji. The thaipu turned out to be smaller and less rich than the Taiji, but this was sort of to be expected. But taste is less green, generally darker and with more coarse complexity. The aftertaste game is also weaker, but it lasts well into the session. Overall experience of the Thaipu was mildly similar to the Diangu.
Aroma consistently has a sweet (honey/sugars) fruitiness, with anise and light barnyard early and mineral here and there late. One early cup's aroma had sweetness amped up with a little custard. The taste generally has dark herbal with a bit of bitterness, barnyard, and subtle fruit underneath. As the session goes one, the herbalness thins and rises, and the overall taste is more dominated by a fruitiness. Good viscosity with a light pudding texture. Astringency starts off light, but tends to grow as the session develops. Does seem to fade a bit very late. There is consistently a light feeling down throat, and rarely (and generally at the end of cups) a pungent huigan back up. There is also a touch of electric mouth. Aftertaste consists of light yiwu huigan to sugars and light mouthcoat. There might be a fast yiwu huigan to fruit. Qi is pretty consistently moderate-strong. Did about thirteen or fourteen brews before putting the put into the fridge with plenty left in it.
Thoroughly enjoyed and good value for dollar, and yet another reminder that I need to try more 40ct-50ct/g teas to compare with this Reserved.
Okay, gunna try to be quick with this one despite doing a lot of teas this weekend!
First the taiji maocha and the menghai nu'ercha lasted very well through the week. For all that this storage of '06 XZH had worse qi and aftertaste, the taste was so much more nicely loud, and despite the plumminess, it had other flavors spicing it up nicely.
The shu of Friday was the 2019 W2T Modern Witch. Pretty sure it's a handful of really nice stuff mixed in with stuff of much lower quality. It's a pretty watery shu, but it has strong qi and pretty good yiwu huigan and mouthcoat. Still made for a relaxing drink that I feel like I can consume without qualms. OTOH, I appreciate how well that 2017 Sunday Special is coming along...
This was Essence of Tea Weekend. So far it's been exactly what one would expect from Essence of Tea, teas priced on the expensive side of fair. Generally nice enough, but not mindblowing.
The first tea of the weekend was the 2003 Thick Paper Qing Bing that was a free sample. Long and short of it is that it's some sort of Northern tea that gets off to a fast start and then peters out quickly. I at first compared it with the 2003 7532 taipai formerly sold at TeasWeLike, and then I compared with the Vesper Chan Stone Legend...
About the first four brews, the aroma has wood, woodsap, mineral, herbal, and the later brews had increasing caramel character, as in mineral, wood, herbal, caramel. Early tastes comprises of wood, herbal, plummy like mengku teas, mineral, and some burnt sugar notes. Later brews are mostly dominated by grain syrup with hints of wood and herbals. This is not a rich tasting tea, and it gets really thin late. Will benefit from stronger brewing hands, quicker. Decent viscosity, and never really has much distinct texture. Generally light astringency with one brew of moderate astringency. Capable of good things early: light feeling down throat, cooling, yun, yiwu huigan to sugars, and lasting mouthcoat. Aftertaste game pretty much gone by brew six. Qi seems to be decent enough, around moderate of some quality. Didn't push the durability much, not a potent tea and gets consistent, so I got bored. Twelve brews?
The second tea of the weekend was the Essence of Tea 2004 7542 taipai. I do not think this is that much like a proper 7542. It's more like '96 Rose Dayi, '98 Big Green Tree Red Stamp, various flavors of Dayi Peacock of Menghai. If brewed to a good bitterness, it can have something of a taste of a proper 7542. Never really has the mouthfeel of one, though.
Aroma has a warehousing note, some wood, a bit of mineral, and sometimes a nannuo carroty note. The taste is sort of thin with a generic darkness, a bit of wood and mineral. Sometimes nannuo carrot shows up here too. It is not bitter without very firm brewing, and when this is done, there is a plummy note. Decent to good viscosity, a bit of plumpness. Astringency is light unless firmly brewed. There can be some electric mouth. This tends to have a strong yiwu huigan to sweet almond notes and light mouthcoat. Mild-moderate qi. I also did not brew very deep into the session for this tea as well.
I checked the Yiwu dragon balls, but the one I weighed was 5.3g (and if all of them weighed that, it's a bit over 21g and not 26 for four), so on to the next tea...
2006 Naka was pretty decent. I am not inclined to think this is that gushu. It certainly has the aftertaste of gushu teas, and maybe the mouthfeel, depending, but otherwise, I got more of a sense of this being a good shengtai. While the blurd sez that this has some bitterness, I found it muted and the dark herbal core kind of softened and rounded off. What bitterness there is productive, though.
Aroma was pretty dynamic: umami meaty, barnyard, mushroom, dark herbal-> barnyard, mushroom, hint of fruit-> florals, mushroom, sugars, barnyard->roasted grains, dark herbal, light barnyard, sugars-> sweet root herbal, light wood-> late light herbals. Taste is more consistent with a broad, soft, and nuanced dark herbal core, with mushroom in the first couple of brews. This has good viscosity with a pudding texture. Light astringency early leading to moderate astringency in mid session. Some cooling feeling. Also a bit of electric mouth. Strong and fast astringency lead yiwu huigan to sugars and a bit of mouthcoat that also has good moments in a couple of brews. Aftertaste is present pretty deep into the session. I do not find the qi impressive--mild moderate with a lot of caffeine feeling. It's durable enough, but I didn't take this deep into the session, maybe thirteen or fourteen brews before this went into the fridge.
Last tea of the weekend was a mistake. I got the 2023 Wild Wuliang, when I had meant to get the 2023 version of that Bamboo Springs line (Wuliang Selected Ancient Trees) and which I already had a cake. I wanted to drink some of that without breaking open the cake.
Aaaanyways, I wasn't serious about this session, but it was nice enough for the price. You are not about to get a super nice wild tea experience at $79/200g. Anyways, this is of that thinner tasting grape-y fruity variety, but the taste had some dark notes, so it had an unexpected degree of solidity. Not much aftertaste or qi in my very casual and rushed session. Rest of this sample gunna go into my thermos. Pot is in the fridge, too...
First the taiji maocha and the menghai nu'ercha lasted very well through the week. For all that this storage of '06 XZH had worse qi and aftertaste, the taste was so much more nicely loud, and despite the plumminess, it had other flavors spicing it up nicely.
The shu of Friday was the 2019 W2T Modern Witch. Pretty sure it's a handful of really nice stuff mixed in with stuff of much lower quality. It's a pretty watery shu, but it has strong qi and pretty good yiwu huigan and mouthcoat. Still made for a relaxing drink that I feel like I can consume without qualms. OTOH, I appreciate how well that 2017 Sunday Special is coming along...
This was Essence of Tea Weekend. So far it's been exactly what one would expect from Essence of Tea, teas priced on the expensive side of fair. Generally nice enough, but not mindblowing.
The first tea of the weekend was the 2003 Thick Paper Qing Bing that was a free sample. Long and short of it is that it's some sort of Northern tea that gets off to a fast start and then peters out quickly. I at first compared it with the 2003 7532 taipai formerly sold at TeasWeLike, and then I compared with the Vesper Chan Stone Legend...
About the first four brews, the aroma has wood, woodsap, mineral, herbal, and the later brews had increasing caramel character, as in mineral, wood, herbal, caramel. Early tastes comprises of wood, herbal, plummy like mengku teas, mineral, and some burnt sugar notes. Later brews are mostly dominated by grain syrup with hints of wood and herbals. This is not a rich tasting tea, and it gets really thin late. Will benefit from stronger brewing hands, quicker. Decent viscosity, and never really has much distinct texture. Generally light astringency with one brew of moderate astringency. Capable of good things early: light feeling down throat, cooling, yun, yiwu huigan to sugars, and lasting mouthcoat. Aftertaste game pretty much gone by brew six. Qi seems to be decent enough, around moderate of some quality. Didn't push the durability much, not a potent tea and gets consistent, so I got bored. Twelve brews?
The second tea of the weekend was the Essence of Tea 2004 7542 taipai. I do not think this is that much like a proper 7542. It's more like '96 Rose Dayi, '98 Big Green Tree Red Stamp, various flavors of Dayi Peacock of Menghai. If brewed to a good bitterness, it can have something of a taste of a proper 7542. Never really has the mouthfeel of one, though.
Aroma has a warehousing note, some wood, a bit of mineral, and sometimes a nannuo carroty note. The taste is sort of thin with a generic darkness, a bit of wood and mineral. Sometimes nannuo carrot shows up here too. It is not bitter without very firm brewing, and when this is done, there is a plummy note. Decent to good viscosity, a bit of plumpness. Astringency is light unless firmly brewed. There can be some electric mouth. This tends to have a strong yiwu huigan to sweet almond notes and light mouthcoat. Mild-moderate qi. I also did not brew very deep into the session for this tea as well.
I checked the Yiwu dragon balls, but the one I weighed was 5.3g (and if all of them weighed that, it's a bit over 21g and not 26 for four), so on to the next tea...
2006 Naka was pretty decent. I am not inclined to think this is that gushu. It certainly has the aftertaste of gushu teas, and maybe the mouthfeel, depending, but otherwise, I got more of a sense of this being a good shengtai. While the blurd sez that this has some bitterness, I found it muted and the dark herbal core kind of softened and rounded off. What bitterness there is productive, though.
Aroma was pretty dynamic: umami meaty, barnyard, mushroom, dark herbal-> barnyard, mushroom, hint of fruit-> florals, mushroom, sugars, barnyard->roasted grains, dark herbal, light barnyard, sugars-> sweet root herbal, light wood-> late light herbals. Taste is more consistent with a broad, soft, and nuanced dark herbal core, with mushroom in the first couple of brews. This has good viscosity with a pudding texture. Light astringency early leading to moderate astringency in mid session. Some cooling feeling. Also a bit of electric mouth. Strong and fast astringency lead yiwu huigan to sugars and a bit of mouthcoat that also has good moments in a couple of brews. Aftertaste is present pretty deep into the session. I do not find the qi impressive--mild moderate with a lot of caffeine feeling. It's durable enough, but I didn't take this deep into the session, maybe thirteen or fourteen brews before this went into the fridge.
Last tea of the weekend was a mistake. I got the 2023 Wild Wuliang, when I had meant to get the 2023 version of that Bamboo Springs line (Wuliang Selected Ancient Trees) and which I already had a cake. I wanted to drink some of that without breaking open the cake.
Aaaanyways, I wasn't serious about this session, but it was nice enough for the price. You are not about to get a super nice wild tea experience at $79/200g. Anyways, this is of that thinner tasting grape-y fruity variety, but the taste had some dark notes, so it had an unexpected degree of solidity. Not much aftertaste or qi in my very casual and rushed session. Rest of this sample gunna go into my thermos. Pot is in the fridge, too...
