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SOTD- sheng of the day

Tai Lian today, managed to let it sit for a week...

Fairly mengku today, with only light suggestions of other things. Soup was the color of free range egg yolk, or darker honey. Not quite as thick as it usually is. The aroma was very nicely complex and even pleasant while being very present 9 of the 12 brews (that year has really eased that acrid edge off). Not fruity but more floral in the way mengku and some jinggus are, but there is a slight jingmai-type heaviness, if I'm not imagining things. The mengku theme goes on in the sip, with early round giving pretty big tobacco floral mouth aroma on the entrance, with honey left behind, and sweetness dancing on the tongue with all the other biting energy, instead of firm grip. Sloshes to the back of the mouth and makes strong sensations there, a kind of ben-gay feel, if not...quite...ChillMax. Some cups really made me feel the drink to the stomach. The session developed into other aromas and other tastes, but it was not very fruity today. Higher than usual qi. This was a session that had cups that are pretty similar to the example of Bingdao Nada sent me some time back, except that the floral taste was never so coherent as to allow me to call it by something. The aftertaste in the mouth lasted hours.
 
Thanks Shah8 I thought that I took care of that I geuss I missed one.
Yesterday I had a great session using three grams of crumble from the 05 YQH and six grams of EOT 2011 Bulang. I had to really brew around the bitterness but it was worth it. the yi wu mellowing the bitterness a touch and adding some depth.

Today 92 fu lu shou xi brick really pretty good. It has similar taste to 01 Tia lan yin the 03 brick at houde with a little more xiguaniness. Right now I feel its better than both but the tie lan yin only looses due to the age difference tie lan yin will be beat it out given time. It would be great if this tea had seen some more humidity but this seems to have been strictly dry stored. This has its benefits "but I love's me some shicang" It packs a pretty strong qi blast. If it had seen a little bit of humidity I would snap up a whole set but as of right now I'm on the fence as to whether. Cloude just did an article on the 99 versionhttp://translate.google.com/transla...lection.com/html/webart/webartframeset_e.html It doesn''t look like those have been relatively wet store either. The 92 version at skip4tea looks to be relatively dry stored as well. I would love to hear if anyone has tried a wet stored version of this tea.
 
Drinking a most excellent session of Yieh Sheng '05. Going further down my tin, towards the leaf I got out first, which invariably has more of the good stuff. Whatever the wild leaves are, I would guess that it's either Jiangchen or lower grade GFZ. Cools like a lancang, has the spicy woodiness of longer aged GFZ. Thick soup too, and lots of great aromas. Plenty of camphor, plum, and citrus notes on top of a slightly acid wood base. Only hints of vanilla or caramel, though.

GN?, no problem, I pretty much went woohoo and plumbed your whole site at once. I love the table you have, and the outdoors pictures makes me appreciative of my own immediate outdoors. So many places where I live has high or highland in the name, because we're on one of the southeast tips of the Appalachians, and so very high places, as far as eastern metro areas go, are close to me, and I'm in a house that sits on a hillslope over a lake. Hawks, beavers, along the that army of plotting possums are common sights.
 
My sampletea.com package came today, so two shengs of the day...

Before the mailman came, I had Yongxueshan, which was very enjoyable, and later sessions attempted some floral flavors, but never got more than a general taste. Really good tea for the price, when you don't get teadust or weird smokey leaves...

Sampletea sends their tea in little matchbook boxes, with the picture and name stickied on. One such box, the Xiaguan 2003, had the right picture, but the name of a Dayi special production. The matchbox were cellophane-wrapped, and the tea is in small ziploc bags inside the boxes.

The first tea I tried was the Dayi High Mountain Bada tuocha. Hongcha-pu, like many of Dayi's single region products from that 2003-ish time-period. Not much at all like the wet-stored Bada from Sunsing. Medium orange soup. Strong initial aroma that fades quickly. Soup is medium thick and comfortable. No determineable qi. Flavor is basically dried apples, aged plums, and a darkish medicinal herby taste (that exists in the wet-stored Bada as well). No wood, little leather, no vanilla/caramel. Nothing much on the low end. Has the standard (for hongcha pu) rising yun that fills the mouth with a sweet and fruity aftertaste, which lingers for a bit. Cools the back of the mouth. Persistently bitter througout the session. It's not a bad tea at all, but it's not at all fun to drink, like a puerh should be. Many infusions of roughly the same flavors. If it was cheap, it'd be pretty good. It's probably more expensive than better actual black teas, like Houde's blacks (the sample cost, at 35ct per gram, certainly is) or great Assams/dianhongs.
 
Two shengs of the day...

1) '03 Xiaguan Hong Yin. Smokey, decent aroma, the flavor is light with refined wood and some aged sweet flavors. Ultimately, this is about the same grade as the '08 FT, 'cept less Xiaguan'ed. Aging is decent and very clean. Not really worth spending a lot of money on, but good for casual drinks if you find it cheap. It's about $60 on Taobao, which I consider expensive. Doesn't last a long time.

2) Finepuer's '09 Yongxueshan. Mostly tip with some leaves, generally whole, very pretty and well handled--way better than, say, S. Mengku's leaves. From reserved wild forests, no claim of millenial trees. It's probably like many other Yongxueshans, like what Hailanghao has offered. I haven't had those, so I'll say that it's a touch similar to the XZH diangu and dinjin nuer, but bantam-weight, respectively. It's also darkening up in the traditional nutty and chicory lincang fashion. Early infusions have a light sour edge, less than the dinjin nuer. Not a fruity tea, nor is it inclined towards dramatic aftertastes. Very thick and smooth tea from all the tips. Slightly hongcha'ed. Good qi, especially early on. Decent complexity in flavor early on, and evolves/devolves into a very nice floral taste that lasts for many infusions. This really should have been blended with other flavorful lincangs, from Bangdong county, especially. It costs $58 at finepuer.com, and I'd say that's about right. Not cheap, but not really expensive for what it is either. At most, you might overpay by about $10, and comparable quality (I'm assuming) tea from Baichatang are about $79, including shipping. If you like the floral taste that the XZH Osanzhai tea develops, then you might like this as a cheaper alternative (sacrificing some meaty shenginess).

Red Lantern has raised the prices for ChenShenghao LBZ and S Mengku YYX. So if you're thinking about buying notorious tea, there might be price pressures...
 
Yesterday I had a session with yunnan sourcings 11 Wu Liang I way over steeped the first infusion (some thing like 9 grams in 120 ml for three min) it was strong but good.
Today 96 7582 orchid and camphor with a chilly hui gan. I hope my 06 turns out like this. My guess is it takes another twenty intead of ten. I love the 82 recipes. They may not be as nuanced as the higher grade recipes but i feel like they have a little more soul.
 
Continuing with the samples...

1) '06 Dayi Jin Se Yun Xiang 66. This was reasonably good. Started off a bit smokey, a sweet sensation for the first couple of brews, has a barkey wood taste with a mild transformation to sweet flavors, somewhat similar to the 7542-208. Some infusions were full of astringency, so I shortened a couple of brews. It eventually progresses to a nice, somewhat camphorey wood taste in the late part of the session. Decent cooling. Okay qi. It's about the same in quality as the Secret Fragrance sheng. Better than the Xiaguan '03 at doing much the same things. One thing I am coming to notice is that the 2005 and before *special productions* from Dayi are way better than post '05 special productions. The 7542-208 is *much* stronger in taste than the Jin Se Yun Xiang, and so is the simplified yun '01 (along with being much stronger in qi). The dayi bada, however hongcha it is, is much louder, with an authoritative aftertaste, than any other factory sheng sample I've had in this batch of samples so far. The '05 Mengsong peacock is also much nicer and full of qi, relative to this tea I've had today.

2) '99 Lincang tea factory Yinhao tuo. Pleasantly boring. Doesn't get as offensive or as sour as ODB, but doesn't have as nice peaks. Mildly cooling. Kinda creamy in taste. A bit of wood. I got bored and threw it out before it was truly done.
 
Two big shengs of the day...

2001 HeShiHua Jingmai. It's very good. The first infusion is much like the XZH Jingmai, and the youth fades away after that. A very jingmai flavor even if not especially fruity. Not woody, the low flavors are comprised of hazelnut skins and deep florals (like the Mengsong Peacock from 2005). Moderate qi mostly in the beginning of the session. Loud, mouth-filling flavors. Good complexity within a very firm Jingmai framework. Few huigans, and all are weak. A light touch of sweetness on the tongue, and there is decent cooling. The late middle and end of the session is *very* floral, in a different way than the late stage of the Yongxueshan I just had--less lush and actual flower-like, and more dry, almost smokey floral in a mouth-filling way. It was much like the anon 2005 Yibang BBB treated me to, in how the session handles, and especially toward the end, where the Yibang was a kind of aromatic/tarry wood.

I then compared it with my old favorite, the 2002 Tai Lian. Got ChillMax this time. More qi than usual. Can definitely say that it's not a pure high grade Jingmai, and not really mostly high grade Jingmai--at least in today's cup. The taste is quieter than the HeShiHua, but this thing kills it, as it does almost everything else, in feel and lingering aftertastes. Huge sensations in the mouth and throat, and many, many huigans as well. There are layers of flavors, transitions of flavors and that fun peekaboo dark fruits that shows up on top of the mouth at random interval. Aromas are always complex and changing all the time. I drink this tea because it's very, very, fun to drink. Now I need to compare with Yuanyexiang and other older Mengku (no, the lincang tuo doesn't count).

Two new teas tomorrow, and I'll have tried all of those 10g samples from SampleTea. I do think I can say that they are offering very clean and dry storage, to the point where some (you know who you are, wet fiends) might think is too dry.
 
awe shucks I think i'll still give them a shot anyway the 80s TQH can't be that dry. Plus I wanna compare their orange in orange. Besides starting apreciate the positives of dry storage more and more. Due to several decent dry storage cakes I've had recently.I don't think that i will ever prefer it. But you due tend to miss the strong huigans in wet stored tea's.

Today I decided to slum it and go back and revisit one of my first cakes a 2008 yin hao Bulang xiaobing from awazon's shop. This was from my one of my first cakes. Definitly not what I would be into buying nowadays. But has the strength that given a decade or so could turn into something decent. I remember really liking this when I got it.
 
Two last new shengs of the day, both unremarkable

2006 Dayi PuTiYuan: Very good aroma for factory sheng, some camphorey high wood, but very hollow and missing low tones. Little qi or anything like that. Ok thickness. Didn't try to really drink until the leaves were done.

2007 YangPinHao special production. Essentially a better Xiaguan FT. Very processed, and the taste is, as a result I think, very light. A great deal of smoke. Some warming qi. Flavor is refined. A little cooling. Good thickness, some aftertaste. Will probably not be bad when aged, but we have zillions of alternatives.

And that's Sampletea!
Best is obviously the 2001 HeShiHua Jingmai. Next is finepuer's Yongxueshan. Then Dayi Bada tuo. Then the Dayi JinSeYunXiang '06. Then Xiaguan Hong Yin '03. Yangpinhao, PuTiYuan, and Lincang tuo finishes last.
 
2003 Yi Wu brick from Houde. Really glad I grabbed the pair. this is good and the brick I got seems like it has seen more humidity than the sample I recieved .I found some big thick hairy leaves in the pot . The only real issue is that it dropps off fast.
 
2005 Yieh Sheng. Not as lovely as the last time. Your usual plantation affair probably typified by Changtai yiwus of the same era. A few leaves really make a huge difference!

Speaking of MingYuanHao, if the 2003 brick is so popular, why isn't the 2001 MYH Yiwu not popular? Of course, it costs more, but I'd think that given the paucity of other nice-to-drink sheng out there from 2001...

After dinner, I finished off 2.4g of YS '11 Yangta. Not so offensively green now. I actually enjoyed it for what it was. Aromatic and thick soup, and later infusions were quite sweet.
 
YS '10 Xikong. Deeply satisfying. Worth well more than $6 greater than the comparable Yibang and rivals/exceeds the $125 XZH '10 Manzhuan. I haven't had the Gaoshanzhai, but I wouldn't be surprised if this is the highest quality tea Scott has produced under his label.

The bing has darkened, and I got mostly internal leaf, and not much of the skin. The flavor has become a bit quieter, but more floral. While it doesn't taste like a Mengsong or Jingmai, it behaves very much in common with those teas. Very bitter in the first few rounds, to about 6. Heavy cloth/lavender-like floral element to the taste, like Jingmai--different sensation, like a sweet flower instead of dried apricots. Nicely active. Extremely complex. Sweet. Extraordinary durability, in that it was still a full-featured tea past brew 15. I *did* drink this until the cows came home, and I dumped the leaves, still unfinished. Jing Gu and some Mengku teas can be this durable, but they usually only offer a static flavor. Other gushu teas usually offer a simple taste, some qi, and aftertaste. The only potential flaw is that it could be heavier in the wood/mushroom sense, but I'm okay with the syrup bottom. Be interesting to see what Hobbes sez about the '11 version, but it sounds like he thinks it's about the same.
 
Revisiting the 2009 Nadacha "Yiwu Mahei", for the first time since 2009. It is dark, rich, and low - all in three years, which surprises me - and yet retains the power and bitterness of its original state. I like it.


Toodlepip,

Hobbes
 
Yesterday, I almost finished my 2003 Bada from Sunsing. Much weaker flavor than the high mountain versions offered by Sampletea. More deep, dark, complexity, and there were interesting light tastes deep into the session. Late infusions were nicely thick.

Today, I had some Nadacha Bangwei. After all that Jingmai, these days, I don't think Bangwei has all that much in common with Jingmai, instead being mostly like itself, and if it's like anything else, it's like good Ai Lao or certain Wuliang teas. I also thought it could be part of the blend for the Tai Lian, a bit, because the stuff does act on the back of the mouth and throat like the Tai Lian and it's sweet, but just doesn't do it as strongly. It has settled into a fairly calm and very sweet tea, where one has to seek nuances past the first few brews. Not inclined toward huigans or any other dramatics.

I was browsing through the puerh-teapot magazine reviews, reading just Aaron Davis' reviews, and I found Tai Lians mentioned! The International one is mentioned once, in this set:
http://www.puerh-teapot.com/tea-forum/article/98-teareview-27.html

And the Kunming Market Opening variety is mentioned in two others. The single international review was pretty positive, and all in all, was middling among fairly high quality teas. The Kunming Opening got one meh from Davis, and one "well, it's better than meh". Both cakes are obviously more wetstored than the ones YS were offering.
 
Shah your boys are comin up in the world. I think the international would be kick *** with some we humidity.

I had a a great session with the EOT's manmai yesterday. I am impressed with how much it has changed just in the past few months. I tried it a little while back and it still was its light grassy self. It seems to have turned the corner in that time into something more like a full fledged chunky pu-erh with some decent sweetness to it.

Today I pulled out the last of my sample of the "98" ""Banzhang"" """"arbor"""" from puerhshop. I dug it out when I saw it on tao bao @ the same shop as the Dixing and remembered it to be decent.certainly not top or even middle shelf pu-erh but for thirty bucks it is an semi aged sheng. It tastes like bulang material. I would not recomend this tea to any one that doesn't already like traditional stored tea. It is definitely is still in the basement.But given a few years I think this might come around.
 
YS '10 Yongxueshan. Good as usual.

Here's the important thing. Take one of the teas still available from the list of teas that the Tai Lian competed against...Say... 2002 Haiwan Early Spring, which Aaron Fisher loved, consistently. Check on Taobao, and it's 1500 yuan. At the price Scott is offering the Tai Lian, it's about 4X less than the Haiwan. Honestly (and widely recognized as such) good teas from 2002 sells for waaaaaaay more than $60.
 
04 Tong Chang Huang Ji Yiwu Chun Jian -

Grain, mushroom and just the right amount of accompanying storage flavors. Also has some nice mellow chaqi.
 
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