SOTD- sheng of the day
- Thread starter ouch
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Had two sessions the past two days with two very different teas from Yunnan Sourcing's 2012 lineup.
First was Mang Fei. This is an interesting tea. The first two infusions are fairly different from each other. The first cup sends a rushing vibrating feeling straight to my head where it sits behind the eyes. This teas effects were immediate and noticeable. The body of the liquor is thick and excellent throughout 7 infusions, where in the first four a good amount of astringency builds, yet the kuwei stays about the same from 3 to 6. The tea loses most of its astringency and tastes sweet at the seventh infusion. This is also where it seemed that the tea was settling down into something. The odd part about the whole experience was the lack of complexity in flavor. This tea, after the first 2 infusions at least, seemed to settle into a one note flavor pretty quickly. I can't describe what that flavor is exactly, as I haven't come across anything that tastes like this before. It's not necessarily a bad thing, but this set of flavors is somewhat new to me so I haven't quite come to grips with it yet. There is plenty familiar tasting about this tea, it's just that this is like a background flavor I remember, but only amplified in concentrate. I've had Yongde teas before, but there is something different about this one.
ManZhuan Yiwu. This tea is good. Thick, aromatic, sweet, buttery, and plenty of backbone. I haven't had a ton of experience with nicer Yiwu tea over the years, so thinking back to some of my better samples of expensive Yiwu teas this one rates very highly still. I like this very much, but I've only had one session. This tea is extremely well balanced. I'll have to try these two teas a bit more.
First was Mang Fei. This is an interesting tea. The first two infusions are fairly different from each other. The first cup sends a rushing vibrating feeling straight to my head where it sits behind the eyes. This teas effects were immediate and noticeable. The body of the liquor is thick and excellent throughout 7 infusions, where in the first four a good amount of astringency builds, yet the kuwei stays about the same from 3 to 6. The tea loses most of its astringency and tastes sweet at the seventh infusion. This is also where it seemed that the tea was settling down into something. The odd part about the whole experience was the lack of complexity in flavor. This tea, after the first 2 infusions at least, seemed to settle into a one note flavor pretty quickly. I can't describe what that flavor is exactly, as I haven't come across anything that tastes like this before. It's not necessarily a bad thing, but this set of flavors is somewhat new to me so I haven't quite come to grips with it yet. There is plenty familiar tasting about this tea, it's just that this is like a background flavor I remember, but only amplified in concentrate. I've had Yongde teas before, but there is something different about this one.
ManZhuan Yiwu. This tea is good. Thick, aromatic, sweet, buttery, and plenty of backbone. I haven't had a ton of experience with nicer Yiwu tea over the years, so thinking back to some of my better samples of expensive Yiwu teas this one rates very highly still. I like this very much, but I've only had one session. This tea is extremely well balanced. I'll have to try these two teas a bit more.
This one sounds interesting - did you enjoy it?
No, that was the last word in the preceding argument.
Compare with:
http://www.chawangshop.com/index.php/2012-mangzhi-huang-shan-cha-xiao-bing-200g.html
and reviewed here:
http://jakubtomek.blogspot.com/2012/11/2012-mingshan-th-mangzhi-huan-shan.html
And Hobbes will review it soon.
I had 2005 High Mountain brick from Best Tea House today. Still tastes mostly like a very fruity Wuliang. Nothing special aside from taste and aroma. Body and durability is ok.
Compare with:
http://www.chawangshop.com/index.php/2012-mangzhi-huang-shan-cha-xiao-bing-200g.html
and reviewed here:
http://jakubtomek.blogspot.com/2012/11/2012-mingshan-th-mangzhi-huan-shan.html
And Hobbes will review it soon.
I had 2005 High Mountain brick from Best Tea House today. Still tastes mostly like a very fruity Wuliang. Nothing special aside from taste and aroma. Body and durability is ok.
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Couldn't sleep yet. My stomach was hurting a little bit, so I decided to try another YS sample.
This time it's the 2012 Wu Jia Zhai. I didn't count how many infusions I took it to, but the last one I clocked out at 3 minutes 15 seconds even though the tea wasn't done yet. First of all, having recently tried the Mang Fei which is located not too far from Wu Jia Zhi, I'm noticing a lot of similarities here. They both have a decent amount of astringency, but I find the Mang Fei a little stronger in bitterness. The mouthfeel is excellent on both, but then again every tea I've tried from Scott from spring of this year has an excellent mouthfeel. However, they vary in two different aspects that I noticed with only a session of each. The taste evolves a little bit more in the WJZ and seems to have some complexities the Mang Fei does not. Having said that, I found an interesting tart flavor appear during the third infusion. I didn't particularly enjoy this, and it continued on coming in and out for a few infusions after that. The tea tastes slightly imbalanced with some low savory qualities and that odd high pitched tart flavor, but seemingly no middle ground in some of the intermediate infusions. While the Mang Fei may be more monotonous in flavor, I found it to be a more potent tea in qi and sheer strength. I look forward to trying a few more teas for the first time before revisiting these samples.
This time it's the 2012 Wu Jia Zhai. I didn't count how many infusions I took it to, but the last one I clocked out at 3 minutes 15 seconds even though the tea wasn't done yet. First of all, having recently tried the Mang Fei which is located not too far from Wu Jia Zhi, I'm noticing a lot of similarities here. They both have a decent amount of astringency, but I find the Mang Fei a little stronger in bitterness. The mouthfeel is excellent on both, but then again every tea I've tried from Scott from spring of this year has an excellent mouthfeel. However, they vary in two different aspects that I noticed with only a session of each. The taste evolves a little bit more in the WJZ and seems to have some complexities the Mang Fei does not. Having said that, I found an interesting tart flavor appear during the third infusion. I didn't particularly enjoy this, and it continued on coming in and out for a few infusions after that. The tea tastes slightly imbalanced with some low savory qualities and that odd high pitched tart flavor, but seemingly no middle ground in some of the intermediate infusions. While the Mang Fei may be more monotonous in flavor, I found it to be a more potent tea in qi and sheer strength. I look forward to trying a few more teas for the first time before revisiting these samples.
Admittedly interesting. Thank you.
2011 Mangfei from YS. Small white label cake, its maocha was picked in spring 2007 then aged in maocha form in Yongde until 2010. After that, aged in Kunming for another year before being pressed into these cakes. I have never tried a single estate Mangfei before recently, so I'm not terribly familiar with the areas character. Scott mentions "brutish intensity", and I guess I could see that from the Mangfei cake he has produced this spring. I don't pick up any floral in this cake which is mentioned in the description as well, but I do get a thick liquor with an excellent deeply sweet character. There is plenty of backbone in these leaves yet still, but nothing like a younger tea. The color of the brew is golden orange which lines up with the teas backstory. The tea marches on in strength, without fading quickly. There is no harshness about the taste, and looking at the well handled maocha post session reveals some meaty leaf with substance. I quite like this tea, and I love its price even more.
2012 Chen Xiang from YS. Continuing with the deluge of Yunnan Sourcing samples I've been going through, I decided to try this tea seeing as how it is also a cake pressed from aged maocha from 2007. I must confess that Wuliang is not my favorite source of pu'er. I don't mind smokey teas, but every Wuliang I've tried over the years exhibits at least some kind of smokiness, and a similar set of flavors that I'm not terribly fond of. Thankfully this one produces a sweet smokey aroma and flavor that I find agreeable. The tea itself seems darker and more aged than the Mangfei, which only makes sense. This tea has been aging in maocha form longer, and didn't suffer any Kunming super dry storage for any stretch of time. The tea is slightly sweet, smokey, and bitter. The bitterness is not the super pleasant wild arbor bitterness that I've been drinking so much of lately, and it stands out as harsh because of this. It's not super bitter, or harsh by any means as far as strength goes. It just tastes a little rough, as if it is made of "lesser" leaves. There's nothing wrong with this tea, but when you crunch some numbers it ends up being a little bit more expensive than the Mangfei. Personally, I prefer the Mangfei with it's interesting subtleties, superb mouthfeel, and superior aroma. Inspecting the leaves after my session reveals a variety of different looking leaves, which are mostly chopped up. Some leaves remind me of bigger factory plantation, but I would say the majority of leaf looks strong and healthy. This tea just isn't my thing. It's a good tea, but my shelves are already quite full of older stuff.
2012 Chen Xiang from YS. Continuing with the deluge of Yunnan Sourcing samples I've been going through, I decided to try this tea seeing as how it is also a cake pressed from aged maocha from 2007. I must confess that Wuliang is not my favorite source of pu'er. I don't mind smokey teas, but every Wuliang I've tried over the years exhibits at least some kind of smokiness, and a similar set of flavors that I'm not terribly fond of. Thankfully this one produces a sweet smokey aroma and flavor that I find agreeable. The tea itself seems darker and more aged than the Mangfei, which only makes sense. This tea has been aging in maocha form longer, and didn't suffer any Kunming super dry storage for any stretch of time. The tea is slightly sweet, smokey, and bitter. The bitterness is not the super pleasant wild arbor bitterness that I've been drinking so much of lately, and it stands out as harsh because of this. It's not super bitter, or harsh by any means as far as strength goes. It just tastes a little rough, as if it is made of "lesser" leaves. There's nothing wrong with this tea, but when you crunch some numbers it ends up being a little bit more expensive than the Mangfei. Personally, I prefer the Mangfei with it's interesting subtleties, superb mouthfeel, and superior aroma. Inspecting the leaves after my session reveals a variety of different looking leaves, which are mostly chopped up. Some leaves remind me of bigger factory plantation, but I would say the majority of leaf looks strong and healthy. This tea just isn't my thing. It's a good tea, but my shelves are already quite full of older stuff.
SOTD:
2010 YS Purple Yiwu - Had two separate sessions with this, nice tea for about 4/5 steeps, then it is done. A little bit thin in the body department, but the first 4 steeps have plenty going on, dark and fruity. Not sure what it retailed for originally, If the price was anything around $25 (+- $5), I think it's a good Yiwu for the price.
2008 Xiaguan Happy Tuo - This was more mellow than I expected, not sure where it was stored. Fairly typical Xiaguan Tuos. I wonder if anyone can actually tell these apart? They have some small character differences, but I often think those differences have just as much to do with storage as the difference in their grades. We should do a blind test with 5 tuos from 2010, and see how accurate we can guess which is which. I bet I can only hit a 40-60% success rate.
Both courtesy of Jakub
2010 YS Purple Yiwu - Had two separate sessions with this, nice tea for about 4/5 steeps, then it is done. A little bit thin in the body department, but the first 4 steeps have plenty going on, dark and fruity. Not sure what it retailed for originally, If the price was anything around $25 (+- $5), I think it's a good Yiwu for the price.
2008 Xiaguan Happy Tuo - This was more mellow than I expected, not sure where it was stored. Fairly typical Xiaguan Tuos. I wonder if anyone can actually tell these apart? They have some small character differences, but I often think those differences have just as much to do with storage as the difference in their grades. We should do a blind test with 5 tuos from 2010, and see how accurate we can guess which is which. I bet I can only hit a 40-60% success rate.
Both courtesy of Jakub
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Sheng of the yesterday today and almost certainly tomorrow 70s tong Qing hao.the last time I drank this it brewed for around six days. But this seems different than the last sample that I had. I don't know if it is because the sample sat in a sealed bag for months before consumption and this is right from a cake. It seems more dryly stored. It really amps the initial flavor up but the sample I had last felt more smooth and a little more aged. With this tea I am really more into infusions ten and up when the sweetness kicks in.
Sotd. 06 Yan Qing hao gushu Cha Wang. I have had some really good sessions with this tea lately. In fact I would say that my last two sessions where the best yet with this tea. I wonder if it is my humidor paying dividends or I just have found my rhythm with this tea. I like the fact that this is a blended tea. I think some old tree single mountain cakes while excellent young can have some serious holes develop as they age.
Sotd. 06 Yan Qing hao gushu Cha Wang. I have had some really good sessions with this tea lately. In fact I would say that my last two sessions where the best yet with this tea. I wonder if it is my humidor paying dividends or I just have found my rhythm with this tea. I like the fact that this is a blended tea. I think some old tree single mountain cakes while excellent young can have some serious holes develop as they age.
2002 Yiwu Ancient Spirit from YS. Due to heavy compression, it is not really that wet tasting, in my opinion. Actually, I'd say that it is not wet at all, tastes like normal storage to me. I still have to drink it more times to form a stronger opinion, but I like it so far.
TwoDog: Agreed that the Purple Yiwu tends to pass away a bit fast - on the other hand, as you say, the several initial steeps can be very good. When I bought it, the retail was $15 per 250g.
Funny, I thought the Happy tuo to be quite distinctive among other Xiaguan tuos. I think I bought them in 2011 so they would be a bit more than a year in the Czech Republic, they were in Kunming before that. When young, they were less smoky, more longan-like. But if they follow the trend of other Xiaguan tuos I have for observation, the smoke will be gone in a couple of years and then it could be a good tea.
TwoDog: Agreed that the Purple Yiwu tends to pass away a bit fast - on the other hand, as you say, the several initial steeps can be very good. When I bought it, the retail was $15 per 250g.
Funny, I thought the Happy tuo to be quite distinctive among other Xiaguan tuos. I think I bought them in 2011 so they would be a bit more than a year in the Czech Republic, they were in Kunming before that. When young, they were less smoky, more longan-like. But if they follow the trend of other Xiaguan tuos I have for observation, the smoke will be gone in a couple of years and then it could be a good tea.
2012 YS Zhu Peng Zhai -
Starts grassy and herbal.....very herbal.....and this persists until about the eighth infusion when a bit of grain shows up. I'm not in love with this, yet I am a bit intrigued by it. Would be interesting to see how it fairs after a little time.
Starts grassy and herbal.....very herbal.....and this persists until about the eighth infusion when a bit of grain shows up. I'm not in love with this, yet I am a bit intrigued by it. Would be interesting to see how it fairs after a little time.
For $15, I think that is a good bargain.
The Xiaguan tuo was nice, but it is very similar to most of the other 2007-2010 tuos I have. The smoke was gone after the first or second steep (+ one rinse) They have some unique characteristics, but I find them to be generally similar, unless it is an Yiwu tuo or something. The happy tuo vs teji, for example, there is a difference, however it isn't that large. I think they need more time than a year to have much change. I think they will be fun to drink in several years as a daily tea without need for fuss.
SOTD: 2012 Fall Yibang from my friend Zhou - I really liked the first few steeps of this tea, but it was too young/strong. Strong is not usually a word that I associate with the words fall or Yibang but, here we are. He sent me a cake, which appears more tip heavy than I usually care for, but the aromas of the tea are good, fruity and sugary. I want to let this sit for a month, since it was just pressed, and come back to it before I draw anymore conclusions
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Felt like drinking something really nice--XZH Youle. It was nice.
GN? My last experience with the '06 Gushu Chawang was fairly positive, and I think some components must be coming out of sleep. However, I bought two of those cakes for largely the reason you suggest--that it will age better than single mountain cakes. Now, though, I'm not really that interested. A blended cake with ALL gushu leaves, I suppose I'd want, like the '06 XZH blended cake--can't go wrong with LBZ, Yiwu, Nannuo blend... On the other hand, I just don't think the weaknesses of truly good gushu cakes are really overcome by more full tasting blended cakes. For example, I do not think that the Purple Dayi from '96 really can compete with the Fragrant Evening Jade, even though it's much fuller in taste, and a bit better in body, maybe. The Evening Fragrant Jade simply has lots better magic on its side. Better qi, better activity and flavor transitions in the mouth, intriguingly delicate complex flavors, aromas, and aftertastes. Might taste faded, but it's better in my book by some stretch. The holes in the game are ignorable, like Allen Iverson at his best. While Purple Dayi is more Bill Cartwright. I want sumptin' a little more Rookie!Shaq if you know what I mean. A little Chris Webber. I know the '01 Simplified and the 208 are both louder in flavor and more potent in qi, but they are both mostly drystored and need plenty more time.
GN? My last experience with the '06 Gushu Chawang was fairly positive, and I think some components must be coming out of sleep. However, I bought two of those cakes for largely the reason you suggest--that it will age better than single mountain cakes. Now, though, I'm not really that interested. A blended cake with ALL gushu leaves, I suppose I'd want, like the '06 XZH blended cake--can't go wrong with LBZ, Yiwu, Nannuo blend... On the other hand, I just don't think the weaknesses of truly good gushu cakes are really overcome by more full tasting blended cakes. For example, I do not think that the Purple Dayi from '96 really can compete with the Fragrant Evening Jade, even though it's much fuller in taste, and a bit better in body, maybe. The Evening Fragrant Jade simply has lots better magic on its side. Better qi, better activity and flavor transitions in the mouth, intriguingly delicate complex flavors, aromas, and aftertastes. Might taste faded, but it's better in my book by some stretch. The holes in the game are ignorable, like Allen Iverson at his best. While Purple Dayi is more Bill Cartwright. I want sumptin' a little more Rookie!Shaq if you know what I mean. A little Chris Webber. I know the '01 Simplified and the 208 are both louder in flavor and more potent in qi, but they are both mostly drystored and need plenty more time.
2006(?) Yunnan Tea Reasearch Institute mystery tuo. It was purchased in chinatown so I don't have a translation of the details... it appears that this was some special release, possibly harvested in 2005 and pressed in 2006. Very light vegetal/floral notes and some mouth-watering action. If steeped too hot or too long in early infusions the brew becomes undrinkably astringent and bitter.
Maybe I should have aged it instead of drinking? Almost done the whole tuo now.
Maybe I should have aged it instead of drinking? Almost done the whole tuo now.
Are these with "saturn logo" wrappers. If so, I know exactly this tea. Doesn't it brew up kind of like a lower end black tea - very astringent and bitter? I am not sure aging helps these, I had a few from around 2006 time, they all seem the same. How tippy was it?
I'm not confident that I could identify tippy properly even if it growled and bit me - still a bit new to this game. There are some stems and lots of large central leaf-veins.
The logo wasn't a saturn. Maybe this is a fake? Or something else altogether? The main feature looked like this: (Can't take a picture at work - I'd get fired).
Underneath it in larger letters is YUNNAN with "TUOCHA" superimposed.
Below that in a small, all caps serif font is written:
PRODUCED BY TEA-RESERCH(sic)-INSTITUTE OF YUNNAN
ACADEMY OF AGRICULTURAL- SCIENCE
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