SOTD- sheng of the day

[Hobbesoxon]

[GN?]

Edob I haven't broken that cake out since last time I posted on it. I think that it is about time to revisit it.

06 hlh lbz wowzers this is strong tea. Sort of like diesel fuel but in a good way. My wife could not even drink it. Lingers in your throat for a long time. There is some underlying citrus and some mushrooms smokey ness as well. Good stuff The initial infusions I prefer to the 06 xzh black lbz. The xzh is much more refined.the tea becomes fairly harsh yet still tastes around the fifth infusion. The leaf I used did have a fair amount of broken up the leaf. In general does not look as well cared for as later hlh productions. My next session with this I plan on using a little less leaf than normal and trying to limit the broken leaf.

Sotd "98" 8582 a sample from the German vendor of this "7542" http://www.diekunstdestees.de/epages...ts/CN-PE03-365
I doubt the authenticity of the "7542" age and make. But this could be a an 8582 I am fairly sure its not from 98 though as it has been wet stored yet tastes to young for the amount of frost. I would guess it is a 8582 04-06 as it is on a similar level of development as my 04 and 05 hk stored 7532. Me thinks I might ask what she wants for a cake. If it is not expensive I would pick up a cake.nice cha qi.

[GN?]

Wow I missed that great post Hobbes.

[P_K]

2011 YS Wuliang -

Grass, herbs and fruit. Tis a good pu.

[Tofu Miso]

Extremely clean , deep , pure , refined and smooooth , with a wonderfully thick texture and some lovely creamy , buttery , nutty notes all wrapped up in some deep sweet luxurious honey . LOVELY STUFF !!! Qi ? - - - - - - - Deep , Penetrating and POWERFUL !!!! - - - STONED AGAIN !

[EdoB]

Sheng of the other day - Tried the Tea Urchin /ChaRen 2012 Spring LuoShuiDong again. The tea brews a very light yellow, lighter than most sheng I think. It is a fairly light tea with some initial sweetness but underlying bitterness (in a good way). It has a decent mouthfeel - slightly drying/astringent.

[shah8]

Just got in some new tea samples, so two worthwhile-to-report shengs of the day...

1) 2010 XZH Upper Cave Man Art Club bing. The location is specified as essentially early high place, or something ambiguous. This is essentially a Bingdao area type tea. It is ultra smooth and very thick. As with most tea of this type, it only has a fairly light flavor, and this is essentially saddle-leather, light tobacco, with a touch of masculine florals, and there is a feeling of hollowness in the flavor typical of that sort of tea. It transforms to other flavors, but only a very little. The activity is nicely peppery from the tip of the tongue to back. Cooling and throat activity is so-so, and qi is mild. There is not that much sweetness or real huigans. Bitterness gradually increases from the early brews for about 4 brews, and then drops off. Where Nada's '06 Bingdao-ish delivered rose florals, and the Tai Lian delivers sweet florals (there are similar masculine flavors, except the Tai Lian is more awkward and odd), this tea delivers very little of the sweet florals, unrefined sugars/honey, or fruit that is also typical of Bingdao-ish tea. For all of that the tea also has the general flaw of it's kind, in that the long session is repetitive and somewhat boring. The brews only changes a little bit over a session. The flavors doesn't really persist in my mouth like the Tai Lian does which delivers a nice flavor for 30min-1.5 hours. I found this a very pleasant tea, *especially* in that tactile sense of thickness and roundness. It has roughly the same appeal as the finepuer 2009 Yongde Da Xue Shan, with a different flavor profile, and should be worth about the same price of $58 + about $20, maybe, if it was really worth it.

2) 2012 Puersom Hekai maocha. Very much like really good green tea without green tea issues. Big flavor with sweet mushrooms, a very light touch of qi, a bit of fruits and florals. Not hugely complex, but very pleasing. Not much development over a session. Not much in the way of activity and huigans. Tastes lingers in the mouth some. Generally, the appeal is in the strong flavor and the robust thickness of the soup, almost as thick, and only slightly rougher than the earlier XZH. Definitely for when you feel like having a cheery chicken soup-like tea.

[ouch]

I've been drinking way too much oolong lately. Somebody snap me out of it.

[EricBNC]

I've been drinking way too much oolong lately. Somebody snap me out of it.

Since you long for another style maybe its been too long with the oolong.

Only you will know when you have gone too long with the oolong.

[netsurfr]

Since you long for another style maybe its been too long with the oolong.

Only you will know when you have gone too long with the oolong.

The long and short of it is that too long with the oolong will make you long for something besides an oolong unless it is a 10-year-old, aged oolong in which case you may have to reconsider how long is too long with an oolong. On the other hand, just when I think I have gone way too long with any kind of oolong, I break out some dancong oolong and ponder if you can really go too long with the oolong.




Now, I need to break out some good pu-erh... I really have gone too long with the oolong!

[nff]

i personally have gone too long WithOut the Oolong. its been months since my last oolong. please forgive me great oolong god of long oo's

ok really we need to quit this.... or take it to the oolong thread LOL

[shah8]

I had two shengs of the day today...

First, I had the high mountain tea brick, seen here: http://www.bestteaonline.com/store/c...roducts_id=114

I perceive this to be an oolong pu, because it has a distinctive sweet litchee note, and a distinctive aroma. The body is pretty thick, and it definitely cools like a high mountain is supposed to. Unfortunately, the taste isn't that strong or complex, and sourness generally accompanies this tea. It also gets increasingly dry as you go deeper into the session. While this is a pleasant tea, overall, it costs $48/250g, which is far too much for this sort of thing. I didn't notice much in the way of qi.

Next, I had Nadacha 2012 Baotang. I was relatively disappointed. The only truly strong quality it has, is in the strong qi, that's about 60-40 body-head ratio. It is also fairly thick. The aroma is relatively weak, as expected. However, the flavor is quite undistinguished. Just tastes like generic Menghai area tea. There aren't any real huigans (very little bitterness to my palate), and only a sort of fruity yun in the throat, like the 2010 Mansai. The tea is relatively durable, for as long as you can withstand boredom, and the leaves are extremely robust, well picked, and large. I think this probably will age very well, if the lack of hard rolling doesn't impede the aging process much. The main issue is that it costs as much as it does, at $77. I'd prefer one of those 600g XZH Bulang logs, which would be cheaper all told than this tea today. This is a tea you'd want to store and let it build some distinctness, like my feeling of 2010 YS Yakouzhai when I tried it. I do not think it will ever do much in the way of fireworks, however, and for quiet, contemplative, and immediate sipping, it is well outclassed by the 2009 finepuer DaXueShan yieh sheng and the 2010 XZH Upper Cave Art bings. I'd even want Puersom Hekai more, really, for sipping now, because it has such a hearty taste and also has some qi as well. Would crash and burn in comparison to any of last year's Nadacha teas, including the shu.

[P_K]

05 Xingfu Zhen Wei Bada Shan

Woody and herbal. A little quiet, but I kind of like it....though I'm not entirely sure. Will use more leaf next time.

[shah8]

Three teas of the day:

1) Teaurchin 2006 Yiwu. Not of interest. This is your standard wet-stored maocha pressed. Has shu-like tendencies. Thick, a little sweetness, and not much astringency. Not interesting either. For the money of $68, you can buy shu that's better, if you want shu. The underlying nature of the original leaves are bad plantation Yiwu, but the storage was good and clean.

2) Nadacha 2012 Bulang. This is good, of course, but this also did not really meet expectations. I do not find it to be of a different genre of Bulang, as Hobbes has said. I find it to have less punch than I want it to have, but it has the standard wood 'n grains taste amid general west Menghai shengyness. Aroma is a bit stronger than the Baotang. Has less qi than the Baotang. Thick, with good texture and little astringency. In previous Bulangs, I found it to be very loud in taste, but I also found alot of beauty hidden among the shrieking bitterness. I don't really find interesting notes in this tea until past the 11th brew or so, where it suddenly develops some fruit and floral notes for a couple more brews. I didn't really get but a couple of huigans, but I suspect the weather and humidity has suppressed the wanted pungency. All in all, the value for money is pretty poor. $114 is still alot of money for new tea, and I'd rather pay it for something better than this, had I money and the interest for an elite tea. I would not prefer this Bulang over items like the 2007 Jing Mei Tang Guang Bien Lao Zhai, 2010 XZH Manzhuang. It wouldn't really make sense to buy this rather than spend more to buy a couple bings of 2011 Nadacha GFZ, Bangwei (I will try this soon), or probably the Spring Xikong at YS. I'm not sure I'd buy the Best Tea House treasures 2011 over this, though. I do think as of now that the baotang is the better tea. I also think, again, that rolling was too light here, causing some flavors to wait until very late to be released.

3) Teaurchin 2012 Luol Shui Dong. It is my impression that this is a good plantation tea rather than a gushu. The body and texture are thinner and drier. There isn't a nice baroque quality, nor is there a crystalline simplicity in evidence. There is not an engaging liveliness that makes it fun to explore. There are some taste accents that makes me think it's plantation. It is a decent tea, however, with the flavors and throatfeel you'd expect from LSD. Fairly bitter, which does go away, but only into a little bit of tongue-tip sweetness, and not throat stuff. There is some body warming qi effect. A little bit of lingering. In general, it's not as good as the 2005 Yieh Sheng on its good days, with a background and stuff painted over it, in taste terms. While not rejecting it, because it's not a bad tea, this is still something that's really more appropriate as an everyday-ish sort of tea. Not really in the same class as YS or Puersom Yibangs, or a real gushu Yiwu. Costs way too much for what it is at $70. For instance, you can buy 2011 Fall Xikong for less per gram. You can buy the decent YS 2011 Lincangs. You can get any number of decent and aged Yiwus from Houde. This tea costs ten dollars more than four of those XZH 100g Yiwu cake/bricks. I haven't had those little things, but I very much doubt they would be inferior to this TeaUrchin LSD.

[EdoB]

SOTD: Maison des Trois Thés 2009 Jingmai - string initial sweetness, thick body with a nice underlying structure of bitterness. Very flavorful - the initial sweetness reminds me of the YS Autumn Xikong. Nice hui gan, fruitiness in the mouth and good mouthfeel. I bought this without sampling but it turned out to be a winner. 44€ for 200g or about $108 for 400g.

[P_K]

2010 Douji Yu Dou -

First signs of changing.....brews just a shade darker with heavy sugar cane in the aroma of brewed leaves. Grain is still there with a touch of sage-like herbs and sugar cane on the finish. Coming along nicely.

[shah8]

Two sweet shengs of the day:

1) 2001/2? S. Mengku Yellow in Green. This is a sister cake to the classic YuanYeXiang and has its own close encounter with notoriety. I broke off a bunch of relatively dark chunks and got started. It begins very much like your standard Lincang Fitness YinHao tuo or a cleaner Baoyan. Mildly sour, sorta barky aromatic wood, you get the drill. Decent aroma almost every brew, somewhat active in mouth, cools the throat, very placid taste dynamics. After about four brews, it behaves more and more like the Tai Lian, but less chunky and full in taste, and it repeatedly gives a nice, long sweet taste after the sip, with some nice aromatic woods. It's, as has been mentioned in other chinese blogs, a fairly astringent tea, though not unpleasantly so. All in all, a good experience and a good tea. Does cost about $100 in Taiwan. This makes me ever so slightly surer that my evangelism for the 2002 Tai Lian is correct. The Tai Lian is better in the sense that it is much less astringent, much more actively complex in taste and sensations--you feel the sip go down the throat with the Tai Lian and not with the Mengku. The aroma is stronger and more complex, and when it feels like it (that is, when there are more of those larger premium leaves), it is thicker. Also has more (of the same body-focused) qi. Lastly, the flavors and aromas stay in the mouth much, much longer with Tai Lian. The Mengku tastes more aged and is sweeter, but that just gives an idea of what more/wetter storage will do for the Tai Lian. Just $60, guys, so if you know you like older lincangs... Now, I need to try a YuanYeXiang!

2) Finepuer '08 Ding Jia Zhai. This is not a complex tea. It tastes very much like slightly aged Yibang teas, and the tastes are kinda boring with not that much in the aroma as well. Little qi. Cools, and there is some length in the mouth, with some of its original fruitiness. The positives with this tea is that, while not thick, the liqueur is soft, and relatively round, if a touch dry. It is a very sweet tea that persists from the start to well past 10 brews. Therefore, while this is very expensive at $140, I can see many people wanting an experience like this simple, forgiving, goodness. Don't expect woodiness, caramel, camphor, berries like many better Yiwus, but this is a pretty worthwhile tea. In a sense, it's what a TeaUrchin 2006 Yiwu is aiming for, done right (with better actual maocha).

One thing I'm beginning to pick up with finepuer--they really select for softness, thickness, sweetness, and roundness more than other traits--sorta like how XZH oftentimes neglect thick and comfortable soup in favor of more flavor, sometimes.

[Hobbesoxon]

[Tofu Miso]

It has a fairly simple aroma and flavour profile - deep smooth and clean , sweet and woody . With dark earthy notes and hints of dates in the earlier infusions , and hints of camphor in the last infusions . Medium thick and vibrant in the mouth . Nice qi - deep , penetrating , vibrant , soothing , very harmonious , and tonic like . Good Session !

[P_K]

06 Douji Organic Old Tree Yiwu -

Aroma of leaves smell heavily of rubber. This also ends up in the cup. Copper colored. Wood, spice and rubber. Not the most appealing combo.