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SOTD- sheng of the day

YS Fall '10 Xikong. Definitely hongchapu now, with the typical aftertaste style as well. Nice texture, a little thickness. Does have decent qi. Great aroma for the first brew, sugar, pastries, etc, declines into something okay to good. Taste is a bit more savory than it used to be.
 
I got a 2006 Xaiguan Jai ji Tou, this was a lot less copper penny then the 5 year old 8582, and a little bit of a smoke taste to it, very well blended a little sweet not astringent, but no sweet hit in the back of the throat, its not bad by any means, been in a gaiwan I am thinking the yixing will smooth out some of the smoke a bit. I have also grabbed a 50g loose leaf sample of 7542 that im really lookong forward to
 
Did a few more late brews of Xikong today. It's a good tea, but now and forevermore, firmly capped in how good it can be. Very nice texture and body.

One of the small Taiwanese forums had a thread on '04 YQH, and in it, it noted that the 400g version uses less good material than the 500g version. This is gossip, so I wouldn't know for sure, but passing along.

Best Tea House has raised their prices further into nosebleed territory. Some people are already in Yunnan or are about to leave for Yunnan.
 
EoT Pesticide tea. Worst thing about it, is that like my first session, the first brew is clearly the best, because it will give a fruity yun. But that's the brew you really sorta have to dump. I make do with overpouring the pot, but it would be nice if the yun comes back in subsequent brews. This is an alright tea, but it really sorta has to be thought of as a meaty and durable green tea.

I think in general, the glory sunshiney days of puerh is over--there's no price disparity against quality oolongs, greens, etc anymore, and the tea most new drinkers will get a shot at will be like the constraint limited darjeelings that you'd find even at expensive places, and the hobby will swerve more to serve the every day needs of eye-opening, pleasantly.
 
EoT Pesticide tea. Worst thing about it, is that like my first session, the first brew is clearly the best, because it will give a fruity yun. But that's the brew you really sorta have to dump. I make do with overpouring the pot, but it would be nice if the yun comes back in subsequent brews. This is an alright tea, but it really sorta has to be thought of as a meaty and durable green tea.

I think in general, the glory sunshiney days of puerh is over--there's no price disparity against quality oolongs, greens, etc anymore, and the tea most new drinkers will get a shot at will be like the constraint limited darjeelings that you'd find even at expensive places, and the hobby will swerve more to serve the every day needs of eye-opening, pleasantly.

Too bad about the pesticides, that they are found alongside the steeping with the best flavors.

Not sure I followed your comment about puerh, are you saying that the good & better cakes are getting bid up in price? That better relative value is to be found in the oolongs, greens, etc.
 
It's the feeling that it's explored and settled territory.

The quality of the cakes have been doing two things. We're getting fewer and fewer cakes that can be seen as reasonably authentic, as more and more of the best maocha is taken off the market. However, we're seeing a different taste and behavior spectrum represent the norms of what we thought of as Banzhang, Jingmai, Yibang, etc--essentially recipe cakes representing regions becomes standardized. Areas that came late in the game, like Bingdao and especially Xigui, do not have a firm community consciousness of what they are supposed to be like.

We don't hunt for tea together anymore, like those big tea-buys Steven Shelton put together way back when. We talk less and less about specific cakes and flavors...We've become atomized and paralyzed by the choices and the expense and unfamiliarity of them, far more than what productive bloggers can help with.

Over time, most places will be offering puerh the way Mandala teas offers sheng. A few pretty words, decent enough tea, and very mindful of what the customer considers expensive. They will take marketshare from people trying to sell the best puerh they can find. Nowadays, you can find a rooibos/puerh/chai blend, just like funky monkey-loving picked oolong with a little additive flavoring, to make it more milky or more buttery, or more fruity-whathaveyou. It'll be in these dank forums, where friend chat, and people IM each other to hook up with the best stuff, even though this **** ain't illegal. Like with Kava, the good stuff, like Hawai'ian Purple Mo'i, Solomon Isle best grade, etc, only show up occasionally, and what's not internally consumed only comes into your reach intermittently.
 
One thing that really doesn't get enough discussion is the quality of the qi or something to that effect. Drank some An Xiang sheng, and like the other times I've done so, it tends to seriously diminish the natural state of ADD, and I concentrate much better on tasks or hard reading. This would be really useful if this tea wasn't so expensive as it is now.
 

ouch

Stjynnkii membörd dummpsjterd
Woke up with a bit of a pounding in me gulliver- nothing a few cups of old dirty brick couldn't handle.

I should have bought a hundred of those when they were five bucks a pop.
 
Managed to dig out some old stuff that was forgotten.
Xiaguan Baoyan "Mushroom" tea. Did 10 brews and I had to give up because I was too full.
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'12 Pudi Manxiu from SampleTea. This was very pleasant with reasonable thickness, texture, and a solid fruity flavor. The back end even had a bit of qi.

Cymbidium orchids are blooming in the sunroom. The fragrance isn't very much like Jingmai or Ba Xian Dancong. '07 XZH Huangshanlin is closest. Still pretty weird to me to describe tea as "orchid", not least because there are so many species.
 
'13 Xigui maocha collected for teashop...

There seems to be a diversity of leaf-type in the maocha, and it's not quite pretty. The tea session itself has the singular major flaw that it is very citric until deep into the session. The aroma of the soup tends to be a bit like the '11 Mushucha and Nanpozhai with overtones that are "eggy" to me. There is depth in that aroma, that, depending on the brew, reveals fruit, fleshy sweet florals, sugary candy. There is some of the lower fragrances that remind of wood, or maybe yeast like some Chinese people suggest, but any yeast is more woody than yeasty. The aroma doesn't rise, and it's not that strong, but it does last even as the soup cools. The basic taste is fairly similar to young JingGu teas, with that vegetal note that you'd find in YS Yangta '11, XZH LaoWuShan '10, EoT Zhenyuan pesticide tea, etc. The body is moderately thick, about what other good JingGu teas are like. This tea does a good job of being dynamic, changing from brew to brew--not really in the basic taste, but in the different nuanced flavors that show up layered in the basic taste. Basil, candy flavors, florals, not much fruit. There are no sensations from deep within the throat, no strong huigans. However, there consistently is a lingering sensation, either from a nice yun, a long finish from a mouth coat, or very shallow and weak huigans. These flavors typically last until the next cup is ready. One brew relatively deep into the session strongly numbed my tongue and the front tip of the hard palate behind my teeth. Not much energy otherwise. The qi, especially early in the session was fairly strong, affecting the forehead, a bit like the XZH Huangshanlin but not quite so easing--perhaps plenty of caffeine. The tea lasted as long as I wanted to brew it, and I roughly brewed about 15 times overall.

After the session was over, I looked at the finished leaves, and I concluded that there is a reasonable shot that the Tai Lian '02 I like so much has a lot of Xigui in it. The leaves were rolled the same way, and the young leaves look exactly the same. I think that the larger leaves occassionally found in the Tai Lian pile is from somewhere else. The teas share the same sort of shifting, layered secret smells and fragrances, same with the taste. It's easy to think that this maocha could have aged similarly to the tailian. Differences are that the tailian's fragrance is much more solid, wood-->patchouli and rising. There is also a stronger huigan and aftertaste. Much more mouth aroma, and not quite so much citric bite. You'd think that the younger tea would be stronger in everything but the citric quality. Does have a stronger and broader taste. The qi is also different, with the Tai Lian being weaker and body focused, while this Xigui is stronger and head focused. Again, age could be the difference here.

I don't know how much this tea went for and presume it's not for sale. I have trouble thinking that this tea is worth getting because it's hard to enjoy, especially as it's more of a sophisticated tea than most JingGu or Mengku I've had. I think that the XZH LaoWu Shan is probably a better tea overall, even though it's not quite as fun. Easier to enjoy, with only a bit less qi and sophistication. I can also imagine that the price of the Xigui in comparable amounts of 400g would cost more than $95. However, there are plenty of cheap "Xigui" around, and we don't actually know the social pull of whoever acquired this batch.
 
New orders came in and one of them is a comparison set ( 3 Yuwis: One is from Mahei 2009, second Lo Shu Dong 2012, and the third Generic 2011.)
The tasting notes which came along with the order did give a new insight into Yuwi, which is one of the most difficult tea to understand when it is young. The mahei is already tasty and is becoming complex. I am eyeing the older sibling Mahei 2003 on the site. There are some beautiful tea pictures on this tea store site.
 
Anon 2013 "Bingdao". As you might can guess, disappointingly normal, and comparable to the Shuangjiang Mengku Certified Organic cake from 2007. With less bitterness, astringency, and faster evolution to sweet flavors with fruit note in the finish. So somewhat better. All in all, probably fairly inferior to the Mushucha/Nanpozhai '11 from YS.
 
Another tea from tea heavenly. This time it is their store benchmark. It has a lot of strength: a sign of a great tea. Based on their tasting note, it has a lot of complexity and great stuff. Well, it probably takes more than 2 brewing sessions to assess them all. It might become my benchmark to assess other puerhs too... so far good and interesting teas from them. Way better than just random picks from else where.
 
Yesterday was not a particularly good session with the TeaUrchin LBZ.

Today, I finished off the last 6g of the Xigui. Not as citric, and thus very pleasant. Much less active aftertaste like yuns or huigans, less fruit notes, sugar bakery notes are stronger (something like sweet tapioca). Qi is less (though it might have been strong the first time because I had an xiang shu that morning), but good and comfortable. Still pretty close to a Yangta in character. Definitely a buyable (if you can afford it) tea.
 
Had a strong Bulang and then the store benchmark from Tea Heavenly. Strange thing happened that the Bulang couldn't cover up the benchmark, which tasted mellow on its own as a true tea made from premium arbor tea leaves. It showed how much strength/energy in the latter. From what they say, Tea Heavenly intend to keep this tea available for the next 10-20 years for the customers so they could follow the development over the years.

They also mentioned that one of the Yiwus in the comparison set was made in the modern tea-making style: drink-it-now. They didn't point out which one so I have to look more carefully and see if I could nail it down. Good challenge! Apparently their goal is for customers to learn appreciation of fine puerh teas from their tasting notes and samples. An online self-learning course?
 
Finished off the remaining 7.5g of the recent Bingdao sample that didn't fare so well first time around. It did much better on this round, mostly in having a consistent nongeneric base taste that was sweet and slightly fruity (woody, spicy hints show up randomly). Doesn't really reliably have much of an aroma. Taste does linger, and there are some slight throat feelings. There was some mild qi, mostly body. The soup was moderately thick and had a nice, soft, texture, particularly in the later rounds. There was definitely some cooling, but mostly in the mouth and not too deep in the throat.. No real huigans or yuns. This is better than the YS teas I referenced in post 6733, I now think. The Xigui is still authoritatively better. This tea is much like the descriptions I've read about Bingdao, so that was interesting. I still think the 2010 Mendai Bingdao Yihao is still the superior tea, despite how not-quite-Bingdao it is. Better thickness, much better qi. Where ever it's actually from should get some fame...
 
Had a session of the 2005 LBZ 100g brick from his truly YS. Still very pungent but has mellowed out a lot since its very beginning youth. Looked up the tasting note on the LBZ in Tea Heavenly and compared, the 2005 had something similar described in the TN but not quite. Could be the age gap here? From fading memory, when it's young the 2005 was remotely close to the LBZ of TH. Good to have another reference source here to look up. There are so many so-called LBZ nowadays, which only a few know what a true LBZ is like. On another note, not sure why TH has tasting notes on their web pages for some of their teas but not others like the comparison of 3 Yiwus which came with the order.
 
Had a strong Bulang and then the store benchmark from Tea Heavenly. Strange thing happened that the Bulang couldn't cover up the benchmark, which tasted mellow on its own as a true tea made from premium arbor tea leaves. It showed how much strength/energy in the latter. From what they say, Tea Heavenly intend to keep this tea available for the next 10-20 years for the customers so they could follow the development over the years.They also mentioned that one of the Yiwus in the comparison set was made in the modern tea-making style: drink-it-now. They didn't point out which one so I have to look more carefully and see if I could nail it down. Good challenge! Apparently their goal is for customers to learn appreciation of fine puerh teas from their tasting notes and samples. An online self-learning course?
I smell....I smell....SPAM!!
 
There are so many so-called LBZ nowadays, which only a few know what a true LBZ is like. On another note, not sure why TH has tasting notes on their web pages for some of their teas but not others like the comparison of 3 Yiwus which came with the order.

There is this guy I ran into who has been selling Mengson tea as LBZ for several years. (We ran into him in LBZ, but my friend told me about his racket) He obviously has his loyal customer base who are all adamant that Laobanzhang has Mengsong characteristics. So much confusion in the world!
 
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