My sample of the cght was from right in the centerunder the knot so I ma y be wrong in this. But the moacha of. The hlh looks to be of higher quality and better cared for. Either way I would rather have two cakes. Of the hlh than one of theCGHT or even 1.5 to one but head to head I think the CGHT would win out. I need to get. Another Sample of the cght and brew them side by side.
SOTD- sheng of the day
- Thread starter ouch
- Start date
05 MING YUAN HAO yesterday I really cannot find anything I like about this tea. Nothing I dislike either except for the plantation roughness but its not that bad.
Last nite we had a gathering where I brewed the seventies Da yi from EOT. Got about twelve infusions down last nite and ten today and still going strong.
Had another go at the 08 HLH LBZ LME cake as well and I'm glad I did I was about to order a second cake on the strength of the first brewing. This sesion while decent had held no where near the excitement of the first. I also could find none of the freakishly large LBZ buds in this sesion either. Its amazing what a diference three or four top quality leaves can make.Which brings up the topic of blend stability and whether whithout chopping the leaf like menghai it is possible to have a uniform blend. My experience with the XZH yi wu lbz golden "brock" (brick) points to the negative . The sample I recieved from Guang was and still one of the best young pu-erhs I have ever tasted of chocolate cherries and tobacco with top shelf Qi and a very active mouthfeel. I'm geussing this sample that I recieved was heavy on the lbz side of things . Virtually none of this magic was present in the brick I recieved.
Last nite we had a gathering where I brewed the seventies Da yi from EOT. Got about twelve infusions down last nite and ten today and still going strong.
Had another go at the 08 HLH LBZ LME cake as well and I'm glad I did I was about to order a second cake on the strength of the first brewing. This sesion while decent had held no where near the excitement of the first. I also could find none of the freakishly large LBZ buds in this sesion either. Its amazing what a diference three or four top quality leaves can make.Which brings up the topic of blend stability and whether whithout chopping the leaf like menghai it is possible to have a uniform blend. My experience with the XZH yi wu lbz golden "brock" (brick) points to the negative . The sample I recieved from Guang was and still one of the best young pu-erhs I have ever tasted of chocolate cherries and tobacco with top shelf Qi and a very active mouthfeel. I'm geussing this sample that I recieved was heavy on the lbz side of things . Virtually none of this magic was present in the brick I recieved.
Heh, I presume GN? means the yieh sheng and not the old tree version with the huge leaves. I think it's cheap at decent 2005 plantation yiwu with some good stuff sprinkled in, if you buy 3 for $90. Good for regular drinking.
My tea of the day was the YS '11 Mu Shu Cha. I'll preface by saying that you cannot actually get decent Bingdao area sheng for $52, just as you wouldn't get a decent Yangta JingGu for $40. Bingdao itself only has a small grove, which is pretty much all spoken for (stereotypically by Koreans). Bingdao area pretty much *starts* at around $75 and the great material is well over $100. So, I have to approach this at purely what $52 gets me, even as I compare with Nada's '06 Bingdao and XZH gift set sheng (which is a JingGu that has some Bingdao elements).
It's much more together than some of Scott's other Lincangs aside from Spring '10. Has a strong eggy smell on the pour. Early brews have a somewhat interesting smell, and yeah, first couple of brews are pungent in the nose. The taste is relatively Mengku-ish, but the tobacco flavor isn't that strong and the heavier floral element, like the heirloom rose in the Nadacha, is absent. A touch of camphor. Also has a friendly sweetness. Not especially dynamic. Not a whole lot of qi, which isn't surprising (a real laoshu Lincang is a powerhouse of qi only matched by legit Bulangs). After about the 6-8th brew, it gets very bitter for a few brews. Late infusion are very thick and comfortable to drink, with a pleasant flavor.
For me, I'd say this is merely alright, and I'd be more interested in other teas. For all of it's weakness and wierdness, I find the '10 Bangma more compelling a purchase, and if the Yongxueshan wasn't stuffed with teadust, I would find that more compelling as well. I do think that the flavor will become less green and more floral with age, and that we're not tasting it at its best, right now.
My tea of the day was the YS '11 Mu Shu Cha. I'll preface by saying that you cannot actually get decent Bingdao area sheng for $52, just as you wouldn't get a decent Yangta JingGu for $40. Bingdao itself only has a small grove, which is pretty much all spoken for (stereotypically by Koreans). Bingdao area pretty much *starts* at around $75 and the great material is well over $100. So, I have to approach this at purely what $52 gets me, even as I compare with Nada's '06 Bingdao and XZH gift set sheng (which is a JingGu that has some Bingdao elements).
It's much more together than some of Scott's other Lincangs aside from Spring '10. Has a strong eggy smell on the pour. Early brews have a somewhat interesting smell, and yeah, first couple of brews are pungent in the nose. The taste is relatively Mengku-ish, but the tobacco flavor isn't that strong and the heavier floral element, like the heirloom rose in the Nadacha, is absent. A touch of camphor. Also has a friendly sweetness. Not especially dynamic. Not a whole lot of qi, which isn't surprising (a real laoshu Lincang is a powerhouse of qi only matched by legit Bulangs). After about the 6-8th brew, it gets very bitter for a few brews. Late infusion are very thick and comfortable to drink, with a pleasant flavor.
For me, I'd say this is merely alright, and I'd be more interested in other teas. For all of it's weakness and wierdness, I find the '10 Bangma more compelling a purchase, and if the Yongxueshan wasn't stuffed with teadust, I would find that more compelling as well. I do think that the flavor will become less green and more floral with age, and that we're not tasting it at its best, right now.
2002Tai Lian International tea expo. Wow These guys could give xiaguan some lessons on how to press a tight bingcha. The first infusion being about one minute long after which I still cannot pry the chunk appart and tastes like bi lo chun The leaves however smell great pungent pu-erh goodness. The second infusion swhile becoming alittlew chunkier still has that green tea taste . But now comes the frostyness which shah talked about that I failed to really notice on my first crack at this tea. That cooling sensation alone is worth the price of admission. It finally starts to taste like pu-erh around the third infusion. Nice stuff might eventually have to pick up a cake in the future but I can feel safe knowing that when I do they will still be just as fresh as the day they where pressed thanks to rock hard compression and kunming cryostasis.
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2002/3? 6FTM Youle. Needs some Singaporean lovin'. Like that bamboo wrapped Youle, straight from the plantations, and unusually agressive in the way plantation can be. I don't have trouble with '02 Tai Lian, or '02 Dayi, but I did with this one. Very sharp, woody early, astringent. It got much better for a couple of brews, with nice aged vanilla notes, for example, after the third, and then I had to leave, and do more brews 12 hours later, which didn't show much new. I didn't have to lengthen brews much at all.
Two teas of the day...
Changtai Menghai Qiao 2005. Said to be Jingmai. Doesn't really taste like a Jingmai, does have a very strong aroma. Relatively vegetal and herby, like some Wuliangs we all could name. Also nutty, but little fruit, and little honey (especially in the aroma). Strong bitterness, of not really the proper kind, in the early brews. Obviously cut with much plantation. The good stuff does last, faintly for as long as I wanted to brew it. A little rough here and there.
YS '11 Nanpozhai. Better flavor because of more nuances in the broad flavor, not so eggy in the aroma. Not as bitter. Overbrewing it makes for a bit more interesting tea in the later session, and at the end, had a nice, white sugar sweetness. Mushucha is the better tea--more qi, more cooling, stronger aroma (hopefully will aged into something better)--it's the one people should buy to age, if you want to try that. I would recommend alternatives, like Treasures of Five Mountains or Tai Lian (even though it might be pretty Jingmai at times). I think in part that this was just a bad year in general for that particular area of Yunnan.
Changtai Menghai Qiao 2005. Said to be Jingmai. Doesn't really taste like a Jingmai, does have a very strong aroma. Relatively vegetal and herby, like some Wuliangs we all could name. Also nutty, but little fruit, and little honey (especially in the aroma). Strong bitterness, of not really the proper kind, in the early brews. Obviously cut with much plantation. The good stuff does last, faintly for as long as I wanted to brew it. A little rough here and there.
YS '11 Nanpozhai. Better flavor because of more nuances in the broad flavor, not so eggy in the aroma. Not as bitter. Overbrewing it makes for a bit more interesting tea in the later session, and at the end, had a nice, white sugar sweetness. Mushucha is the better tea--more qi, more cooling, stronger aroma (hopefully will aged into something better)--it's the one people should buy to age, if you want to try that. I would recommend alternatives, like Treasures of Five Mountains or Tai Lian (even though it might be pretty Jingmai at times). I think in part that this was just a bad year in general for that particular area of Yunnan.
SOTD: 2007 XZH XiShangMeiShao - finally got a chance to have some puerh again! Well thought I would retry the sample of this I have (in addition to the one intact cake). The soup is a bit orange - more than one might expect for the age/storage. This tea starts out slowly and then remains relatively constant. I find that it has just a very light floral undertone. Today it reminded me just ever so slightly of a much weaker version of the first few steepings of the KuZhuShan (also 2007 XZH). I find that this tea coats my mouth and the taste lingers. It has just the right level of bitterness. I think this is a solid tea in terms of taste but I experienced no qi from it at all. I enjoyed it more than this year's XZH offerings (2010) from HouDe.
XiShangMeiShao is made with fall '07 Kuzhushan, Kunlushan, and Ai Lao (probably Huangshanlin '07 area). One shouldn't be surprised at certain similarities. I would also state that samples that have been sitting in bags too long becomes a bit different than the actual bing. I don't think I've ever been smashed by qi, this tea is more of an enervating (in a non-caffeine way) qi that lifts mood. Or at least it always seemed like that to me.
2 teas of the day...
2007 Naka Qiaomu bamboo packed/roast. Mostly plantation. It was okay, easier to drink than the 2003 6ftm Youle, but quieter and less interesting. Better infusions were to be had late, but keels over quite emphathetically about about infusion 9.
YS Fall '10 Yibang. This was good tea. Much, much better than '09 fall Ding Jia Zhai. Doesn't quite have a broad flavor like the Puersom Yibang or the east Mengku stuff I've just had, but it's nicely complex with plenty of stuff going on and a long taste. Not as sweet as Puersom Yibang, and not as shengy. Xikong is definitely a better tea by some degree, with a more solid taste, and a good aroma in the cup. This had good warming qi, and some brews were pleasantly thick. Not that inclined to do any huigans, but some cooling is there.
2 teas of the day...
2007 Naka Qiaomu bamboo packed/roast. Mostly plantation. It was okay, easier to drink than the 2003 6ftm Youle, but quieter and less interesting. Better infusions were to be had late, but keels over quite emphathetically about about infusion 9.
YS Fall '10 Yibang. This was good tea. Much, much better than '09 fall Ding Jia Zhai. Doesn't quite have a broad flavor like the Puersom Yibang or the east Mengku stuff I've just had, but it's nicely complex with plenty of stuff going on and a long taste. Not as sweet as Puersom Yibang, and not as shengy. Xikong is definitely a better tea by some degree, with a more solid taste, and a good aroma in the cup. This had good warming qi, and some brews were pleasantly thick. Not that inclined to do any huigans, but some cooling is there.
'10 Nadacha Manmai... Great
'10 YS Yongxueshan... got mostly leaf, but still wound up with a wierd session with a lot of smokiness, when I don't usually get that.
That Sanhetang guy put up a new cake on his facebook. The wrapping has a pair screwing each other's brains out, on a beachfront porch. All very tasteful, I assure you. I'm going to buy it for the tea, of course.
'10 YS Yongxueshan... got mostly leaf, but still wound up with a wierd session with a lot of smokiness, when I don't usually get that.
That Sanhetang guy put up a new cake on his facebook. The wrapping has a pair screwing each other's brains out, on a beachfront porch. All very tasteful, I assure you. I'm going to buy it for the tea, of course.
SOTD: 2005 Jiang Chen Factory "Gu Shu Cha Wang" - sample from HouDe - Well since the HouDe site is down until the end of the month I can't go back and look at the description for this tea. However this tea has clearly undergone some humid storage at some point. The dry leaf is brown and the liquor/soup is rather dark orange. There is no hint of mustiness at all though. The tea is rather understated and perhaps even bland. It picks up a bit several steepings in as the increasing bitterness helps to balance things out. The qi was rather gentle - more of a floating sensation and no caffeine wallop (unlike the yancha and Taiwan TGY I've also been drinking lately.) Overall this tea was not very notable but the qi was pleasant if short-lived.
2005 MYH Yieh Sheng. After all that plantation I've had recently, I could taste nothing but plantation, sorta, here. Not really bad at all, but gushu is where I firmly stand to drink. This has better stuff here and there, but I didn't get much of that today.
Some plantation is really better than other. This is better than the plantation Youle I've had. Good Dayi is better than what this is... Wonder how that works.
Linda Louie caught on about how that Treasures of Five Mountains was so reasonable, and increased the price to $55 @ Bana Tea.
The Jiang Chen is relatively famous in Taiwan. I think it's good, but yes, it's *very* understated, at the volume of a good shu. For me, the main appeal is all the different flavor notes that pop in and out.
Some plantation is really better than other. This is better than the plantation Youle I've had. Good Dayi is better than what this is... Wonder how that works.
Linda Louie caught on about how that Treasures of Five Mountains was so reasonable, and increased the price to $55 @ Bana Tea.
The Jiang Chen is relatively famous in Taiwan. I think it's good, but yes, it's *very* understated, at the volume of a good shu. For me, the main appeal is all the different flavor notes that pop in and out.
EOT 2011 mansai
I haven't. Had one of nadas teas in a while. I forgot what I was missing. good stuff more chunky than the 2010. Still has the meaty taste of the 2010 to( I like it)
Also on day four of brewing 80s Guang yuan loose leaf this stuff just keeps going even though I'm doing several hr brews it is still really interesting.
I haven't. Had one of nadas teas in a while. I forgot what I was missing. good stuff more chunky than the 2010. Still has the meaty taste of the 2010 to( I like it)
Also on day four of brewing 80s Guang yuan loose leaf this stuff just keeps going even though I'm doing several hr brews it is still really interesting.
2011 Hai Lang Hao Yiwu Qing Bing
Light with grain, mushroom and a vegetal "green" flavor that brings an umami element to it. Pretty good, but seems underpowered in the flavor department...though it does have decent chaqi.
Light with grain, mushroom and a vegetal "green" flavor that brings an umami element to it. Pretty good, but seems underpowered in the flavor department...though it does have decent chaqi.
SOTD: First up was XZH 2007 Autumn NuErCha - soup was a bit more orange than I might have expected. Overall not a bad tea but not overly complex. May have been tweaked a bit. I really did notice the qi and a bit of caffeine.
Second, from YS, I had the 2007 Zhen Si Long Autumn Harvest Yiwu - this showed the effect of the 2 years of presumably more damp storage before it made its way to Kunming. The soup was rather sweet and typical Yiwu with only light bitterness. At $35 this seems like a decent everyday drinker although I have enough tea for now (maybe).
Second, from YS, I had the 2007 Zhen Si Long Autumn Harvest Yiwu - this showed the effect of the 2 years of presumably more damp storage before it made its way to Kunming. The soup was rather sweet and typical Yiwu with only light bitterness. At $35 this seems like a decent everyday drinker although I have enough tea for now (maybe).
SOTD: 97 "Orange-in-Orange" 10 grams in 115ml zhuni shui ping. The rinse had this green herbal smell that was nice but made me nervous about the taste. The first brew was crystal clear amber brown with nice clouds and mist circling on the top. The herbal taste showed up but it was not over powering as I feared and if anything added to the complexity. The second and third infusions I over brewed and found no negative tastes just Toki's "" the granny face powder" and a incredible herbal huigan even when breathing through my nose. I might not be getting an accurate representation of the cake as I brewed a piece from the face of the cake containing all buds and very little of the larger leaf trapped in the middle of the cake. My only complaint is that it is slightly drying. Maybe some more time out of storage will solve this maybe not.
This is why I drink Pu-erh!
This is why I drink Pu-erh!
This was a good day with not elite puer...
2006 SE Memorial. Had to break more tea cake up and refill a ready-serve tin, and gave myself some leaf from the top of the bing. Was delicate in taste, with narrow flavor bands, as usual, but was also extremely thick and textured and nice to drink--a tea MarshalN would have approved of!
'10 YS Yongxueshan. Definitely a crazy schizo cake. Did a bit extra at 8.3g, of both dust and leaves, and came out with a very good, if bitter taste, with strong aroma and very long taste and aftertaste. All kinds of things tasted during that long taste. Was reasonably thick itself.
Upon reading Hobbe's take on English storage, I was thinking about Atlanta storage. I suspect that it's pretty similar to Kunming storage, but a decent margin friendlier to forming woody tastes. The really big thing is that Atlanta storage simply *kills* astringency. No matter how old or young the cake is, astringency is cut way down in a year. The Yongxueshan is generally pretty smooth these days, for instance, when it was new, it was dry as all get out after about 3 brews. Same with the XZH brick, and to a lesser extent, XZH Jingmai. *Usually*, the Dayi '05 Mengsong isn't trying to kill me these days (although the cake doesn't really try to do that nearly as much as the sample did), and I've had much less roughness out of Secret Aroma. And anything with Bulang leaves has a tendency to be more juicy. Not so much Banzhang, though. We'll have to see if BBB reports similar results next year...
2006 SE Memorial. Had to break more tea cake up and refill a ready-serve tin, and gave myself some leaf from the top of the bing. Was delicate in taste, with narrow flavor bands, as usual, but was also extremely thick and textured and nice to drink--a tea MarshalN would have approved of!
'10 YS Yongxueshan. Definitely a crazy schizo cake. Did a bit extra at 8.3g, of both dust and leaves, and came out with a very good, if bitter taste, with strong aroma and very long taste and aftertaste. All kinds of things tasted during that long taste. Was reasonably thick itself.
Upon reading Hobbe's take on English storage, I was thinking about Atlanta storage. I suspect that it's pretty similar to Kunming storage, but a decent margin friendlier to forming woody tastes. The really big thing is that Atlanta storage simply *kills* astringency. No matter how old or young the cake is, astringency is cut way down in a year. The Yongxueshan is generally pretty smooth these days, for instance, when it was new, it was dry as all get out after about 3 brews. Same with the XZH brick, and to a lesser extent, XZH Jingmai. *Usually*, the Dayi '05 Mengsong isn't trying to kill me these days (although the cake doesn't really try to do that nearly as much as the sample did), and I've had much less roughness out of Secret Aroma. And anything with Bulang leaves has a tendency to be more juicy. Not so much Banzhang, though. We'll have to see if BBB reports similar results next year...
two teas...
97/98 Da Yeh, probably Hualien. Way too dry to enjoy easily. Many interesting nuances Late infusions eased up, and the pot is saved for tomorrow.
2006 SE Memorial. Tried from the tin, for randomness, and it wasn't as nice as the pure top leaf stuff I had yesterday. More like usual. Reading MarshalN's review of this tea, I can say that there is still an unusual slight vegetal note in this.
97/98 Da Yeh, probably Hualien. Way too dry to enjoy easily. Many interesting nuances Late infusions eased up, and the pot is saved for tomorrow.
2006 SE Memorial. Tried from the tin, for randomness, and it wasn't as nice as the pure top leaf stuff I had yesterday. More like usual. Reading MarshalN's review of this tea, I can say that there is still an unusual slight vegetal note in this.
