What's new

SOTD- sheng of the day

I swear I do drink sheng from other sources than White2Tea.

2000 7532 Tiepai. I really like coming back to this cake. It's not the most fancy tea, but I know what I'm going to get. Pleasant aged sheng, woods, damp earth. It has more depth to it than most shou.

The qi isn't as strong as I remember, but after 15 brews, there's definitely something going on. What's impressive is that it isn't close to letting up on flavour. I'll go to twenty and call it a night.

Just went to the website to check the price, looks like another one's sold out. Might pick up the 8582 later on as a wet-stored replacement, though it is more expensive and possibly slightly moldy...

Picking up some Anji bai cha tomorrow. My friend had reserved the harvest from certain trees this year. I don't know when I'm going to drink green tea, but I liked the novelty of bespoke leaves.
 
That means you're special, ninepaths, though this is the first I've ever heard of reserved green tea trees...

I also liked the 2000 7532 for pretty much the same reason as you cited.

Today, I had the 2006 YangQingHao Shenpin Chawang. I think overall, it's sort of hard to describe it because it's somewhat incoherent and obviously blended. I think it's 40% filler, 40% material from the some sort stuff as the Zhencang, I think, and 20% material from the same sort of stuff as the Dingjipin. Total guess, of course, but that's what it felt like to me. I'm also more convinced that I don't like the storage. There's the sheng plumminess, right? But at the end of taste or where that taste meets the good taste proper, there is some sort of twist to it, like rubber, pickling, chlorine, or something, and that note disturbs my general satisfaction even though it's small. Teas I've had recently from EoT and that Gedeng all have had that humid sheng plumminess without the problematic part. This doesn't really affect stuff like the Qizhong or Lingya much at all, because they're too dark, leathery (and probably not the Teji, either), but more easily tasted in more delicate tea.

The Shenpin is a pretty delicate tea, and it takes a couple of brews before it even makes it off the runway, so to speak. Once it truly got going, the aroma tends to be spice, humidity, and dry florals. The taste tends to have leather in it, but it also has lots of little tastes. The aftertastes tends to be some yiwu huigans and the dingjipin's astringency generated mouthcoat, very light and generating a nice sweet floral-fruit taste. While it lasted longer than the Lingya, this didn't last that long as a very active tea--around ten brews, but it gives good flavor for a good while. Again, a couple of very late very long brews were very nicely sweet and refreshing, even if drunk fast. There was some qi, but it wasn't that strong, while being subtle. I definitely can imagine liking this tea, especially if I had a cake that could sit for a bit and dry out, maybe. I'm not sure that I'd want to blow serious money on it, though.
 
Today I had the 2006 YQH Chawangshu, and then did a half brew of the Qixiang to get an idea about storage impacts. With this session, I've now had every tea on the teadb YQH survey. Of course, I picked the dingjipin as the best tea. Chawangshu (of the teas stored in Taiwan, is the easy second best).

Okay, the Chawangshu. Fast way to say it is that it behaves much like what my Zhencang Chawang would be like if it had more humidity. There is also a very slight Tejipin sensibility. This basically means that for me, the tea was focused on delivering sweet flavors, and this Chawangshu was darker, rich, and caramel-sweet. And I like this sort of thing a lot. Aroma tends to have sweetness (something caramel), plums, leather, and soil in various configurations at least seven or eight brews deep. The taste tends to be focused on sweet flavors, with soil(sort of aromatic and pleasant) and leather to give it a little balance. As the session goes deeper, it eventually can have a stronger stone fruit sensibility. End of the session had a nice fermented cherry note. Aftertastes are predominantly yiwu huigans, a couple of cups has a nice floral mouth aroma much like the '06 CGHT Yiwu Chawang. The viscosity was pretty good. I guess it's thicker than what the texture would make me think--remembering how the XZH Pasha was thin, but had such strong texture. Qi is pretty good, not something that knocks me for a loop, but definitely strong. Good feeling down throat. Generally, I do think this tea is worth getting as a really great Yiwu. And it's considerably better than the '06 Shenpin Chawang, which, to me, is more of a cut-rate dingjipin. Shenpin Chawang does do better in having more interesting aftertastes.

I wanted to try and think about storage, so I pulled out the '06 YQH Qixiang I've bought from Houde six years ago. Not plummy at all or any sort of humid taste. I talked about it with others to check whether if their recently bought cakes were humid tasting, and the response was that the Qixiang was very hard pressed, and thereby had little humid taste from years of Taiwan storage. In general the nature of the Qixiang is of a lobular leaf tea with that 30% of Chawangshu back it up. It does behave similarly to the Gedeng or the '01 EoT Jingmai, especially in the sense that there is a lot dynamicism in terms of aroma, and a thinly fruity nature (which is thickened up by Chawangshu).

Anyways, the aroma tended to have sweet mushroom, cinnamon early on, with appearances of fruit, florals on occasion. Then it converts to a more incense and floral character, and lastly was fruity before it dies out about ten brews in. It was light-moderate and didn't reach too high. Can be penetrating. The taste through the early brews tended to be intensely sweet from both the top taste and a reasonably strong yiwu huigan. The flavors tended to be a floral mushroom, with maybe some soil or wood. After the fifth or so brew, becomes fruity, and eventually goes back to a soil and mushroom taste. Viscosity is thin, a little thinner than the Gedeng, thicker than the EoT Jingmai, and definitely notably thin compared to YQH headlining teas. Aftertastes include the aforementioned sweet yiwu huigans in the mouth, but also includes a very few pungent huigans, though mostly feeling and not much flavor. Late infusions had a sort of incense mouthcoat, and also some of that sweetness that you salivate away. Speaking of feeling, the Qixiang is much stronger going down the throat than any of the recent YQH samples I've been trying. That and the qi (which indubitably is building on the qi from the previous session) just left my body too warm and my head spinning. The first few cups were extremely intense in the sense that it was so sweet, hitting the throat so hard, and then hitting the body with both warmth and relaxation. Qi does continue for a pretty long way. Brewed more than fifteen times.

My storage may have some faults--there is a stronger, lingering citric tartness at the tongue-roots that's not pleasant around the third and fourth brew. But it does seem (thinking of the XZH as well) to emphasize sweetness, and this tea, like my memory of my Zhencang from the end of the year, is more PUNCH than the more rounded and easy experience of the taiwan stored tea. Notably, there is very little similarity between the Qixiang and the Tsangliu. The latter has a stronger soil-wood character, and the base taste is more like plummy honey than fruit-mushroom. Of course, wildly stronger qi and aftertastes. Definitely a different blend.
 
2003 Longyunhao
View attachment 652190

Haven't been able to find much about it online, I do believe it is real Yiwu though.

The dry storage is as clean as it gets. The tea has smoothed out, with astringency only appearing being if you push the brews.

The qi has a mellow caress. It was there in the first cup, but it has a subtle feel to it. Like a ninja, quietly creeping up behind you and acting before you realise. I imagine this aspect of the tea would be lost on regular civilians (if you're reading this, you aren't a regular civilian).

The flavour is complex florals on a sweet base. Long, long lasting huigans here. Très bien.
 
Interesting looking tea. Houde used to sell tea from Dadugang factory, but not a lot of people ever had much good word for the brands. Longyuanhao was pretty much a byword for tuition tea!

I decided against revisiting the '04 YQH Teji and get started on full sessions of the teas Theasophie sent me. The first tea, of course, is the fall 2011 LBZ. In short, it seems to be truly LBZ of a kucha sort, with a hint of perhaps Naka-like alkalinity. It's of pretty good quality, with the main shortfall being that it doesn't have dramatic aftertastes.

The aromas are pretty standard Menghai style--mushrooms, barnyard, a hint of forest, hint of florals. Never very high or that interesting--which is another underplaying of a traditional LBZ strength. The tastes generally centers around a forest note. Started off with more mushrooms and grains, and gained a little fruit, then deepening honey, and later stages was a sort of generic depth (as opposed to distinguishable chocolate or barnyard) and forest. Some cups had nice florals, and the general taste experience was pretty elegant and sophisticated, with some light bitterness and astringency, both pleasant. The viscosity was a bit better than good enough, not too much to texture. The aftertastes were definitely there, but kind of shimmering and muted, with sweet fruit notes, and pretty much all in the mouth. The qi is moderately strong and pleasant. Not as strong as the xinbanzhang huangpian maocha tried recently, but good enough. The feeling was assisted by a strong throatfeel all the way to the stomach and warming there, but this goes away by brew three. The durability is like that of many other lao banzhang, not super great, but it was good enough. I got around ten to twelve brews on one end, and the backend had about three decent brews.

I'd say it's worth getting. It's not as high quality as the YQH '11 Tiancang, but it's also much easier to enjoy. The big problem, of course will be the price. LBZ tends to cost north of $1.75 a gram, so who knows if Theasophie will sell, and for how much (and hey, it could even be a fake, but this is a pretty good one if so).

One thing to note in comparing super-premiums. Sanhetang never really did but three deliberately second-rate teas from 2005-2009, in 2007, the 7542, 8582, and LongFeng. YQH pretty much from the start does what XZH does now, and had wider range of tea grades. That means that only the tippy top of YQH really can be compared with XZH Yiwu at least until 2011.
 
Hmm interesting. I wouldn't call it tuition tea, but maybe I'm just a cheap drunk. Which I'm totally okay with, as I can save a fortune by buying plantation tea instead of hunting for gushu :laugh:

Looks like TIM has a 2005 version of the same cake, would be interested to see what he thought about it.

What's the deal with Theasophie anyway? I've been following them on Facebook for a while because they had pretty pictures, then they built a cool looking teashop in Kunming. Are they selling online as well?
 
I have no clue about the tea selling part of theasophie, man. I just get the tea...

With the full brew of Theasophie's 2014 Bulang and half brew of the 2015 Yiwu, I've tried all of the samples at least once...

The Bulang in short can be described as being a northern Bulang with a fairly strong alkaline bent, making it similar to a, say, broadleaf Naka. The tea started out as a dry leaf aroma of intense sweetness, but soup aroma doesn't make all that much of an impression, there but fairly typically Menghai-Bulang. The taste starts out fairly sweet tobacco-ish, and I wondered whether this is one of those Myanmar border Bulangs, but settled down to a more typically northern bulang taste. In the back end of the session, the flavor was quite sweet in an almost caramel werther's original sort of way. Fairly similar to the EoT Mannuo at its age. Viscosity is pretty good. The aftertastes had a little more oomph (less subtle and complex) than the LBZ, with a mild pungent huigan, a little behavior at the top of the throat, and some nice fruity sweetness appearing in the mouth. The qi is about 75% of the LBZ, so good to pretty good, and I definitely felt at ease. The durability is a bit better than the LBZ.

This is roughly the same broad taste and value as the white2tea Tuhao As ****. That one has stronger aftertaste and stronger feeling. This one had a more coherent and subtle taste, maaaaaybe slightly thicker. Maybe better at the tail end of the session.

The half brew of the Yiwu, which was made with Dingjiazhai, Mahei, LSD, Mansa turned out to be nice in a few ways. It was really thick, for one. Early brews had a coherent aroma, with a central feature of jasmine aroma dancong--most likely from the dingjiazhai, remembering how the Last Thoughts had magnolia... The qi was quite strong, about the same as the LBZ (but may have been boosted by earlier tea). A bit of a huigan in the throat. Beyond this though, it's a very typical classical Yiwu tea, and while I didn't quite find it boring, I think it has a LOT of very tough competition out there. There are not nearly so many good-great LBZ or Bulangs out there, but there is a smörgåsbord of really good young and old Yiwu to compete for your dollars and euros. Overall, I think it'd do okay against Last Thoughts--thicker, just as good qi, but Last Thoughts has a lot more character and is more engaging in the mouth at the same one years of age. Also, I wouldn't prefer this to more ambiguously located teas like the XZH Que Zhen or white2tea Bosch.

In general, Theasophie doesn't really do tippy top maocha, but the basic material is fairly premium. The teas are also blended and processed towards a really crisp sensibility and cleanliness. Even the Gedeng, which they didn't make, is very clear in taste and theme. In discussions with the proprietor, there was an emphasis on how there is a preference for processing Bulang like Yiwu teas, and getting the best out of them. That tidiness and balance kinda keeps it from "wild and crazy" in both the fun and not so fun sense. The three teas also all had real amounts of qi and are all on the thicker side of things. Aroma and aftertastes seems to be a bit muted.
 
Daaang, You guys know your stuff lol. And here I am "I like it because it tastes good"

Yunnan Sourcing both US and China has a Sheng sale on until noon of the 18th. 12% off with code raw12, thought you might be interested.
 
did a retaste of the YQH Teji, finished off the sample. The retired smoke is much less (and what bothered me about the storage the first time was absent this time), and the tea is plummy with a hefty fruit note with a bit of soil and leather giving substance. The aroma is fruity like the taste. Viscosity isn't as good as chawangshu, et cetera, but it's a touch better than the likes of Tsangliu or Lingya. Light astringency. There weren't much in the way of aftertastes, a light huigan in the throat here and there, a touch of yiwu huigan giving a sweet umph...One cup had a bit of nice floral mouth aroma. The qi, well, I'm not really all that much for the face numbing. I'm looking for a qi that makes me feel better and more comfortable. The Teji does that, too, but not more than Dinji, Zhencang, Qixiang, etc. The durability was more than I really tested for, since I sort of stopped out of boredom, and a did a few more long brews.

This particular session was like a much better version of the ChenGuangHeTang '07 Hongyin, instead of all those early factory tea Yiwu with a lot of retired smoke in them that I thought of after the first try. Its chief virtues to me is a broad and strong plum taste that's mostly rounded and gentle. With comfortably thick soup and good qi. This really should be a great tea with another 20 years of storage, because that aged glossy edge to the taste along with extra sensate sweetness should make this sparkle. For me, I am not a huge fan because the tea doesn't really force me to slow down my drinking, not a lot of nuance, length of taste, or lingering aftertastes, so it's not a fun driving tea in the way that, say, Shenpin Chawang could be, despite its problems.
 
Today was a testing of Guangdong storage of the dayi mengsong peacock 501. I didn't find that much of a difference--certainly not as big difference as the Tai Lians. However, it's probably easiest to do with a whole cake or a big chunk of it, rather than one sample. Tea varies from one session to another. The differences I thought I could detect was less smoke/florals, more barnyard, more wood in taste. Aroma is sort of more meaty and together rather than tending towards ethereal. Qi is about the same, notable strength early in the session and then backed off, but never stronger than my own's at its strongest. I didn't find any of the delicate butter or cream notes late in the session, but that doesn't happen every time with my cake, either. And of course, sometimes cakes are just different, with slightly different compositions, despite best efforts. Definitely enjoyed it, though, as I always do. However, it's a big drop down from what I *had* been drinking!

Speaking of which, after some thought, I'm thinking that the YQH teji is probably from a different stand of Guafengzhai trees than the Zhencang or Chawangshu. Mostly because I'm thinking about the Fall 2006 Chenguanghetang Yiwu and the 2007 Hongyin. This session of the Teji was very like the Hongyin, and there are distinct similarities to the 2006 CGHT, which should be a GFZ. Definitely not like the 2007 CGHT Yiwu Chawang. Different from how aged Yiwu normally is, usually more floral, more root herb, woodier. Anyways, wild assed guess.
 
Yesterday was '10 XZH ManLin. It wasn't very good. Same lack of punchiness as before, but the flavor was much higher than the South Carolina stored sample, emptily floral, and with only light touches of that really nice fruit flavor it can have. Slightly sour, too.

Today was the white2tea '15 If You're Reading This, It's Too Late. This seems to have had a psychic paring with Pin in terms of qualities, but it's different, and largely comparable to a Jingmai-Mangjing standard taste of heavy nuttiness and molasses. Viscosity isn't too thick, but okay texture provides substance. Not much qi. There is a sweetness in the finish/aftertaste in later brews. This is, in my mind, mostly a tea for immediate drinking.
 
Today was the white2tea '15 If You're Reading This, It's Too Late. This seems to have had a psychic paring with Pin in terms of qualities, but it's different, and largely comparable to a Jingmai-Mangjing standard taste of heavy nuttiness and molasses. Viscosity isn't too thick, but okay texture provides substance. Not much qi. There is a sweetness in the finish/aftertaste in later brews. This is, in my mind, mostly a tea for immediate drinking.

Did you find it had a strong musty basement / natural rubber smell+taste? I find this tea quite calming, and I seem to like it a lot, but only bases on 4-5 sessions. It's apparently Lincang material, does that make sense, or too vague?
 
It's a long weekend in Australia and I had some free time, so bust out some good stuff.

Saturday: 1998 dry stored Yiwu from W2T. Started brewing this in the morning, and it spaced me out for the entire day. Would have been content to sit and watch paint dry. Long after the substantial flavour had worn off, it continued to give off a sweet liquor. Don't think I've ever completely steeped this out to nothingness.

Sunday: 2007 RuiChangXiang - Only have a sample, but thought it would be interesting to compare to the 1998 from the previous day. Has some mouth drying astringency, the session went over 20 brews before I called it and went out. Did two more brews when I came home and it was still giving off flavour. This one has just started to mature. It's good to drink now, but due to the high price, I would try and save the cake for a few years down the road. Definitely has some legs for further ageing. Really pleasant on the body, this felt like really clean gushu.

Monday: 2006 XZH LBZ (black wrapper) - Drinking this as I type right now. Just love this tea. Sweet hay and mushroom flavour. The mushroom is more pronounced now, whereas previous sessions I only got it occasionally. The biggest difference in the tea is the viscosity now, it's really thickened up nicely over the last year.

Back to regular programming tomorrow.
 
Last edited:
All the best holidays are the sad ones, right? What did that '98 Yiwu taste like, can you guess?

I didn't find any unusual rubber tastes in the 2Late, but I do find it a very classical taste that rings "normal" to me. It can be Bangwei or Da Xue Shan, as both also have areas with stronger nuttiness.

Anyways, so a few days ago, I did the 1996 7532, the Orange in Orange, I believe. Aged 7532 are supposed to be fairly "floral" taste with antique furniture notes, but here I only got a kind of papery wood, which is still nice, but not as impressive. The depth tends to be of sweet root herbs. There are a few changes here and there, but that's more or less the gist. The aroma lasts about four to five worthwhile brews. The taste is a bit more indefinite, and I don't really remember how long I brewed this for. Decent enough viscosity, with some cups having more productive astringency. Some mouthcoat aftertaste as a result, but nothing too exciting. The qi is mild to decent. It was a pretty mellow time with this tea, but I'd use the money for YQH every single time.

Today, I was feeling left out of the fun of actually choosing and buying my own tea instead of window shopping and gossip. So in a fit of envy, I decided to brew my lowest production run sheng---the 2007 XZH Dinjin Nuercha, of Hobbesian infamy. This feels like a hard tea to describe. This is clearly in the Bingdao mode of tea, like the EoT '08 Mr. Feng's Selected Trees. Even more so than the Diangu that it also is clearly related to, by virtue of distinct saccharine bitterness. The thing is, it doesn't really taste or smell like anything I can easily describe. There isn't the malt that it has had before (a very light sourness, though, early), and there wasn't a distinct fruit note such as melon like the last time I brewed it. It was a sort of fleshy floral, but purple taste, with some indistinct fruit tones. Some minerality. There was little to no basic sheng taste so it was fairly like waters infused with flowers. The aroma tended to indicate the nature of the taste, and this tea went through several stages. The first is floral fruity, then it starts feeling like it might have some woodiness, a very thin, clove dominated wood. That ends quickly with a taste dominated by minerals. In the longer infusions there isn't much top taste at all. There is often a sweet cream element in the finish or close to it. Does not get caramel like the Diangu. The viscosity is only good, with a nice texture. Not nearly as gloopy as the XZH Jingmai or DaBaiCha or Diangu. The aftertastes are a bit hard to describe. There are a few huigans in the throat, but more of a strong feeling than taste. It does some sort of yun thing, some of that coat the front of the mouth with sweetness thing. Mostly to its own drumbeat. What it really does, is with its light saccharine bitterness that is really productive. You get some of this caustic oil feeling (and sort of like clove note) like what you'd get from nutmegs or cloves and generates floral aftertastes. There isn't really much in the way of cooling, but the effect definitely feels like moving air flowing around the mouth, sprouting spices and flowers. Very strong feeling in the throat, consistently. The qi is strong, but not as overwhelming as it could be, so it was fairly comfortable. Definitely lasts for a while past the sip and alters the mood somewhat like the XZH LBZ, Youle, and Xishangmeishao. So, excellent quality qi, though it doesn't make me mellow, drunk, or happy, precisely. Durability is extreme. I got into the twenties before most top flavor is gone, but viscosity, aftertaste, and qi was still going, and I didn't really stop until I've done almost thirty brews, and I still could have done the one brew a day for, like, a week, with this.

I really wish I knew where in Fengqing these teas are from.
 
All the best holidays are the sad ones, right? What did that '98 Yiwu taste like, can you guess?

It tasted like pure, unbridled capitalism.

Nah, pretty much what you'd expect from a dry-stored Yiwu. Can't remember the specifics, and I'm not much of a tasting notes guy, other than in broad strokes. Didn't get florals like I was expecting. Mellow aged tea taste, light wood in the background. Quite a subtle tea, in the sense that the value of it would be lost on most non pu-heads. The high points for me were the intense sweetness and qi. The flavour is nice don't get me wrong, but the White Whale would taste more interesting to more people for a fraction of the price.

It's completely smoothed out. Capable of some astringency if you push the brews though. I wonder how many years it would take to darken to the next stage of maturity. I also wonder how most single origin cakes would age after 20+ years, compared to a blend.

I'll write notes next time, before I float off into space.

I've got YQH envy right now. I've ignored it for the past few months, but the recent popularity has me very interested. My last email to Emmett about international shipping went unanswered, maybe because there's no current group buy going, maybe he's getting too many emails. If sampling isn't an option, I'm tempted to blind buy a few cakes for fear of missing out. Based on reviews, I'm thinking:
2004 Zhencang Chawang
2004 Dingji Yesheng
2004 Tejipin

Thoughts? Anything you'd do different? Perhaps pinch pennies and take a Bohetang instead of Tejipin, although my experience with Bohetang is zero, so It's hard to justify the cost.
 
Based on reviews, I'm thinking: 2004 Zhencang Chawang 2004 Dingji Yesheng 2004 Tejipin. Thoughts? Anything you'd do different? Perhaps pinch pennies and take a Bohetang instead of Tejipin, although my experience with Bohetang is zero, so It's hard to justify the cost.
Over on Steepster, Emmett recently wrote: "OK so here’s an update…. 09 888 and 2010 shenyuntianshen bohetang not available. The 04 teas are very low stock. Still has at least two tongs of each…. But price is definitely going up…. Jen Tsang and jinhao lowest stock….. Very limited. And Mr. Yang confirms again prices will be going up next order…." So looks like the Bohetang option is off the table.
 
Some stuff to go over...

first is a finishing off of the 2009 Yiwu from white2tea. Didn't have funky taste, mild taste more like fresh yiwu, and not very chocolate/wood-like like last time, excellent mouthfeel, and no real changes on my view of it's value for money.

I did a quick 4g session with 858 Yiwu, which wasn't fun or interesting, as it just came in the mail that day, but I don't expect it to be anything but something to drink.

Day before yesterday, I did the '04 YQH Dingjipin. I wonder why Jipin has to have a Ding? Like a King of Kings or Heaven above Heavens? Anyways, I found it an enjoyable enough tea, but I found it interesting just how restrained it is...There isn't the kind of big fruit note of the Teji or strong sweetness of the '06 Chawangshu, but it's quite balanced, and unlike those two, it has a definite wood backbone, like a dried bit of aromatic rotten wood.

The aroma tends to be wood and earth, with some potential for plum or caramel note, depending on early cups. Aroma dies down to indistinct character by fifth brew, tho' there's usually something pretty deep in. The taste did have that unpleasant rubber note that I've attributed to Taiwanese storage, but it's gone after the second brew. The taste generally has a backbone of rotten wood, soil, herbs, and it's generally is made more complex with aftertastes. The viscosity is generally decent, but not outstanding, with a soft texture. Not much of the astringency I got in my first brew, and so not as much stone-fruity aftertastes. In terms of aftertastes, early brews had a lot of cooling along with mint notes at the top of the throat (from light huigan there) and coating the mouth. There were some Yiwu style huigans offering caramel/ginseng sweetness, but not too strongly. The qi was decent and enjoyable enough. I did about twenty brews I think, with this tea, but a number of those brews only had some taste and viscosity, so while this could have gone on longer than I took it, I got a bit bored. I view this as a rather sophisticated drink enjoyed quietly and with attention. There's nothing about this session, or really the first, that truly blows anyone away. It just does more things and is more complex than most everything else. This was a session where I used seven instead of the normal eight grams, btw.

Yesterday, after blending some '06 Taipei Expo shu and some '07 ChenYuanHao half in half (which was a good blend, and Taipei obviously the stronger tea), I did a four gram gaiwan session of the XZH gift set sheng. I'm still brewing some today as I speak, after at least thirty-five brews. I was prompted after seeing Tony Chen making tea with an '07 Jingu, the Shangpin. It was all red and rusty looking and all that. Should be noted that Houde has the wrong location for this tea--it's not a Kuzhushan, which is what Tony was drinking, but something generically labeled as xiaojinggu. I doubt this was Kunlushan as described in their description, though.

Anyways, the dry leaves of this '09 xiaoJinggu labeled tea does not have have a reddish look of the Taiwanese stored '07, but a bronze look, similar to how my '07 Huangshanlin is now. When heated in the gaiwan, the leaves gave off a fruity aroma. Early brews had some tobacco, fruit, and honey aromas, but the aroma is predominantly a sort of nicely aromatic clay. You could say floral, but... The taste while this tea was dynamic more or less went with light sourness, tobacco, fruit, caramel, with a key note of aromatic clay. There is also a subtle tendency for something more definitively incense in the finish in a couple of brews. In the long brews, it's basically aromatic, floral clay and a sort of sweet, refreshing honeywater that sinks for a sec into the mouth. This tea does have some bitterness, which can generate some mild huigans in the throat as well as some lingering explicitly floral aftertastes in the mouth. Viscosity is okay early on, but thins to adequate for the rest of the way. Again, earlier on, this tea can have some rather intense cooling, and at one point, the part of the lips meant for kissing was chilled just from contact with the soup. This goes down the throat, obviously enough, but the qi is great. Got pretty drunk by brew four (tho' I did have potent shu earlier), and qi is present in every cup, even into the thirties, which is remarkable. Generally, speaking, this is a pretty great Bingdao mode substitute. Don't know why this wasn't as dark tasting and as lacking in sweetness like the last time I had this tea. The YS 2011 Jinggu, going by my notes, is definitely following in the same footsteps.

Today, I had my first full pot brew of the Theasophie 2015 Yiwu. Again, this is a very normal, classical Yiwu profile, and it's really, really good at it. While it's not really fair to compare to the 2014 ChenYuanHao Yiwu Chahuang, as that's going for a different and specific effect with all those tips, it's easily better than the 2015 CYH Yiwu Chawang. It's a gentle tasting tea with floral, straw, and a few other notes, but not the jasmine note like the first time. On the heftier side in terms of viscosity, and a tendency towards a bit of healthy drying astringency. A decent bit of quality qi in there as well. Not too strong in terms of aftertaste, but the bitterness in there contributes decently towards the overall taste. At least decent durability, with at least thirteen brews, and still more left. Essentially, though, think of this as a LuoShuiDong that's much thicker than those usually are, and a bit more outre floral and bitter. And the underlying sweetness is a bit heartier. Again, well worth aquiring as a new tea, at least on the level of Bosch, especially for the folks who don't have much exposure to decent classical Yiwu. I do have a hard time thinking this won't be at least as expensive as Bosch, though. Heh, I haven't had a fresh new Yiwu in four years, Last Thoughts aside.

As a concluding thought, though, I'd have to say that I like other regions more than Yiwu, as that they are more exciting and interesting to me. I also have to qualify that though, in the sense that when I say I like other regions, I really mean I love my XZH--the dingjin nuercha and gift set sheng are really compelling compared to the more staid excellence of YQH Dingjipin. I'm not sure I think the same way if I were drinking Chenyuanhao, for example. I think I'd want the Chenyuanhao Yiwus more than their Bingdaos, because the Bingdaos tend to be such a one trick pony. And I certainly wouldn't privilege YS Mushucha over YS Xikong...

I wonder if all the people who bought all that YQH are going to go..."well, I REALLY like Yiwu more than most other regions..." in the future, when it's really their love of YQH Yiwu...
 
Had a '14 bamboo-packed Mengsong. Nothing too special. Tastes like Mengsong, maybe a bit of bamboo. Starts off thick and thins quickly. Your standard caffeine recharge vehicle.

The 2015 Theasophie Yiwu isn't really a blend it turns out. It's actually a Gaoshanzhai, and more or less sold out.
 
2014 Lao Man'E from TeaUrchin. I'm not a huge fan of it because it's sort of gutted and tamed. Not much of the Lao Man'E bitterness or all that much of the bulang base, which is more important, as far as aging into something nice. It does have a somewhat nice aroma and taste, with stronger candy, floral, and fruit elements to some more regular grains and barnyard taste. The viscosity and texture is pretty good, and the back end of the session is very good and thick. I've found some slight fruity huigan in the mouth on occasion. The qi is only very light. The durability wasn't fully tested out, as I wasn't that into the tea, but it's somewhere more than thirteen brews.

Part of why I didn't fully test out the 2014 tea was because I wanted to test out the XZH 2010 Lao Wu Shan in a gaiwan, like the '09 gift set sheng. I guess I really should call it Happiness from Heaven, but even the chinese would be longer than "gift set sheng". Anyways, the Lao Wu Shan isn't nearly as good. It's lighter tasting in the gaiwan, like the gift set, with little of the wood, chicory, almond, or depth found in the pot session. The taste though is very fruity, and not too much else--a bit of vegetal umami, wood. There is more fruit in the length-perhaps aftertaste. Aftertaste also includes a very nice fruity yun in one cup. Viscosity isn't that great. Qi is light. The real advantage of the XiCongTianJiang is very subtle (aside from the much stronger qi and aftertaste/feeling). The taste is layered with two elements--that aromatic clay and that honey taste, and they are discrete, sort of like sky and clouds, when you're in a jet flying over land. The honey base sinks into the mouth with a sort of dimensionality thats not really normal for tea. Does it by turning sweet as you taste the honey, I think, so it's sort of a really fast aftertaste, maybe. So while XCTJ is simpler and less easily appealing in taste, it's far more engaging.

The next tea was the 2012 Naka that was sold by TeaUrchin and which I've had a couple of years ago. This was in a very compressed from near the center of the cake, and it took a while to open up. When it did, it was very nice. Some aroma, but the taste was relatively full and with a good helping of menghai floralness. Barnyard, grains, and almond sweetness underneath. Unfortunately, it does collapse after two or three good brew to a more watery constant that's not as interesting. Viscosity is decent to good. When the tea was at its best, there were some good huigans in the mouth and top of the throat. Qi was also rather decent when it was good, but didn't stay that way after the collapse. I've drunk on absentmindedly, but there was only a sort of sweet barnyard flavor and viscosity to enjoy, so durability probably has to be considered a major flaw here.

Today, I did the 2011 TeaUrchin Lao Man'E. Which was much closer to my expectations than the 2014. There was some real Lao Man'E bitterness, even though it's tamed. Also, there was a lot more of that menghai floral that makes the taste of these teas elegant, especially when aged another ten years. It wasn't so fruity, and had more of that bulang grains, alkaline taste. The first couple of cups had a nice and complex aroma, and lightens thereafter. The taste tended to be menghai mushroom, some celery, grains, light sugar-caramel, wood-florals. Viscosity decent, but not as good as the 2014 Lao Man'E. Not too much aftertaste, a very little fruit, maybe the sugar or caramel notes found in the length of taste. The qi was light, but it sort of lasted and was pleasant to the body and mind. Durability is about fifteen brews. This is an alright Lao Man'E, but it's not something to really hunt for.

The very best moments of the last few days probably was with that Naka. Too bad it's sold out. Also, real talk: Absent Houde putting on any more XZH LBZ cheeeep, the last serious banzhang you can buy is probably the stuff at Banatea as shown at teadb. Once that's gone, all'a y'all are entirely dependent on tea sellers getting desperate. It probably is really expensive, but...Lao Banzhang, in the scheme of things, is very accessible, and there aren't hidden treasures and ****. It's those five villages. Where big money men like Tony Chen can go haring off to some Yiwu huangshan state forest grove for that exclusive cake of gushu yiwu...Every drop of quality banzhang is rationed. Yang raised the prices of all of his really nice bulangs, and the only one where he didn't raise it buy a huge bit is the 2011 Tiancang, which only went up seventy dollars.
 
Top Bottom