SOTD- sheng of the day
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Well, there are some out there, like: http://teaurchin.com/shu-shi-yiwu-2006-s.html Of course, I have better things than that I'd want to pay almost a hundred for. http://www.houdeasianart.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=31&products_id=1100 is a bit less, and much drier, but has had original humid storage.
This is pretty famous: http://yunnansourcing.com/en/otherf...ent-spirit-raw-pu-erh-tea-cake-330-grams.html and you could try white2tea for http://www.white2tea.com/tea-shop/2005-gaoshan-qingbing/
Just understand that anything remotely good is going to be $$$$ from Yiwu. Wet or dry. The two teas I listed as almost a hundred aren't great Yiwus, and the ancient spirit has limitations, that are accepted by people who just want something gentle to drink.
Yo, Thanks, ask Paul @ white2tea for that whatever bangwei he has access to. For a (should be)cheap tea, and it shows up if you use a gaiwan instead of a well cured pot, it has some really good sessions in that cake. I'm enjoying such a good session right now. It's humid stored, but it's still has strong bitterness and astringency, so ultimately needs a bunch more years, but if it's cheap enough, I think it's much better drinking than any dry 8582 or some other generic factory.
This is pretty famous: http://yunnansourcing.com/en/otherf...ent-spirit-raw-pu-erh-tea-cake-330-grams.html and you could try white2tea for http://www.white2tea.com/tea-shop/2005-gaoshan-qingbing/
Just understand that anything remotely good is going to be $$$$ from Yiwu. Wet or dry. The two teas I listed as almost a hundred aren't great Yiwus, and the ancient spirit has limitations, that are accepted by people who just want something gentle to drink.
Yo, Thanks, ask Paul @ white2tea for that whatever bangwei he has access to. For a (should be)cheap tea, and it shows up if you use a gaiwan instead of a well cured pot, it has some really good sessions in that cake. I'm enjoying such a good session right now. It's humid stored, but it's still has strong bitterness and astringency, so ultimately needs a bunch more years, but if it's cheap enough, I think it's much better drinking than any dry 8582 or some other generic factory.
Those all seem to be Banna stored, so better than a lot of storage but still not traditional
. Only traditional Yiwu stuff I can find is the really old brand stuff (tongqing, songpin...)Might pick up a sample of the Ancient Spirit when/if I ever buy from the .com YS site.
People used traditional storage for factory teas, and factory teas tended to need it. Most Yiwu that was specifically traditionally stored is going to be from the '90s or very early 2k--before 2003, before the dry storage/gushu boom took off. Most teas like that are likely to be abominably expensive if they have much in the way of affirmatively good characteristics.
Will do, thanks for the recommendation. Never had a Bangwei tea before.
14 Yunnan Sourcing Qing Mei Shan - I've had the last of the sample today, and I like this tea. Still don't get much distinct flavor out of it. This tea has a lot of good qualities if you can get past the lack of flavor. Huigan is good, as is mouthfeel, duration, and general strength.
05 Mengku Da Xue Shan - This is gentle tea. Sweet, tobacco, light. Not my thing, personally. I need a little more "oomph" than this tea provides, but I could see this being an accessible tea to those newer to puerh. Brewed heavy handed it's pretty good, but I'm not too worried about not getting a cake or more.
I found a leftover 2g of the '05 CGHT Banzhang Chawang. Whoopee! So I blended that with six grams of '06 2nd SE Memorial. It definitely made for a good session, and that wonderful feeling in the throat was present. The positive qualities of the Banzhang Chawang, the loud taste and good huigan definitely were present, but the bad quality of poor durability was also there. Blending in banzhang into good bulang might be a nice way to stretch tea...or something. Good bulang is a fortune these days, too, right?
Always have a little stash of teas that do well in the throat, I say...
Always have a little stash of teas that do well in the throat, I say...
2007 White2tea Repave - I really enjoy this. Soft, sweet, and has a good mouthfeel. Decently thick enough for me, with slight woody overtones. I'm not a fan of really woody tea, so this is very nice as it seems to be more of an accent here. Almost no detectable bitterness, but I may have to have a few more sessions with this one. While gentle, I wouldn't call it weak. Good durability, and slight tobacco Menghai melony stuff going on. Might have to pick up more of this before the second pressing sells out.
But isn't the wood part of the point of aging??? ?;~)
'05 MingYuanHao Yieh Sheng here, almost finished with the second of three cakes bought in '11. An excellent session with a most excellent Yiwu finish in the back of the mouth, good texture, too--more Superman than Clark Kent, though plenty of plantation harshness, too, given the broken leaf nature--(from the heaviest press center of the bing).
'05 MingYuanHao Yieh Sheng here, almost finished with the second of three cakes bought in '11. An excellent session with a most excellent Yiwu finish in the back of the mouth, good texture, too--more Superman than Clark Kent, though plenty of plantation harshness, too, given the broken leaf nature--(from the heaviest press center of the bing).
2013 Dayi 7542 from Taobao: Have been hearing that lately Dayi produces drink-it-now teas. Decided to buy some 2013 7542 and see for myself. It smells nice, with no hint of greenness. In the mouth, it tastes good too. There is medium thick soup. Not bad at all. Very drinkable. Pleasant. No bitterness. It is soft like Charmin'. It is the same cup of tea from the first brew to the last one. It is like pepi almost flat instead of coke having some bites (make sense?) It might age too and improve even better, but definitely not in the same old path as the old versions went through. It should appeal to a lot of tea drinkers (except the hard-cores of course).
Had some '06 XZH Youle today. Better session than the last time. Strongly reminiscent of banzhang, with little of Yiwu character, other than perhaps a sort of milk character that would be almond/vanilla flavor in dark-flavored Yiwus. Fairly comparable to something like the Gan'En LBZ, such as the bamboo/paper/wood top taste, deep throat huigans, wind-water style cooling and livelyness in the mouth, overtly strong qi, and plenty of that nice kind of astringency that leaves flavor all over the mouth. How this differs is that it doesn't have a stone fruit flavor/finish, and tends towards slight Mengla plumminess. A couple of brews had an outstanding floral (lotus, I think, something you'd scent soap with, anyways) aroma mixed with wood and original cornstarch florals. Very durable, lasting twenty brews before I put it in the fridge. Late infusions are consistently lively and sweet. As with the '06 LBZ, there are very few teas that can beat this. I'm also pleased in that this is the most traditionally characteristic puerh, strictly speaking, of my gushu puerh, in that it's aging more or less like a puerh should.
Yesterday, I enjoyed a session with the 2011 EoT Douyizhai Nannuo. The taste is a little thin, and it's headed into drain-cleaner territory for the next four years or so, but I was reasonably pleased with this tea--still really far south Nannuo, but this session felt more banzhang-ish than hekai-ish, which I liked. A hint of solid plumminess, consistent sweetness and qi. Early brews are still rather leathery and tobacco-y. I really do wish Nada had gotten up to speed faster than he did, as the tea picked in 2011, including the Bangwei33, represented very solid value for the money.
Some time ago, I tested out the 2010 fall YS Xikong. The taste was thin, but it had a pretty good tropical fruit note consistently in brews. Later brews had a touch of that aged yibang tar florals showing up. A bit of qi. Obvious issues are still obvious issues from last time, and there were better teas I could have bought at the time, but this is decent enough.
Yesterday, I enjoyed a session with the 2011 EoT Douyizhai Nannuo. The taste is a little thin, and it's headed into drain-cleaner territory for the next four years or so, but I was reasonably pleased with this tea--still really far south Nannuo, but this session felt more banzhang-ish than hekai-ish, which I liked. A hint of solid plumminess, consistent sweetness and qi. Early brews are still rather leathery and tobacco-y. I really do wish Nada had gotten up to speed faster than he did, as the tea picked in 2011, including the Bangwei33, represented very solid value for the money.
Some time ago, I tested out the 2010 fall YS Xikong. The taste was thin, but it had a pretty good tropical fruit note consistently in brews. Later brews had a touch of that aged yibang tar florals showing up. A bit of qi. Obvious issues are still obvious issues from last time, and there were better teas I could have bought at the time, but this is decent enough.
The 2008 Hailanghao "Lao Man'e" seems to be growing nicely - all that rancid power has turned to deep, woody pleasure. It's still as bitter and charmingly acerbic as your proverbial mother, but it's deep now.
I recently enjoyed the 2014 EoT Longlanxu and the 2014 w2t Apple Scruffs - spring and autumn from Simao and Lincang, respectively.
Toodlepip, and Happy New Year,
Hobbes
I recently enjoyed the 2014 EoT Longlanxu and the 2014 w2t Apple Scruffs - spring and autumn from Simao and Lincang, respectively.
Toodlepip, and Happy New Year,
Hobbes
Today I had the 2005 Naka from white2tea. I was a little excited to try the tea because I always wanted to know a bit more about Naka, even though I've had two younger teas supposedly from there. However, it mostly turned out to be very similar to the 2005 Dayi Mengsong Peacock that I have. The Dayi, overall, is better, because it has a stronger taste and aroma, and opens up much faster, where this tea is very ephemeral in sensibility until about the fifth brew or maybe later. The dry leaves had lots of buds, and still retained plenty of gloss, so it wasn't stored that humid. The soup color was nice and deep honey with strong orange tones. Unlike the description, this tea didn't really decline in astringency until very late on the back end of the session. However, the astringency was most of the good kind, that contributed to a long and deep finish. Decent cooling some of the time as well. Like the Dayi, there is substantial bitterness deep into the session as well, and I found a bit of tart as well. Soup viscosity is usually pretty good, not super thick, but definite body. The flavor is usually subtle, thin Menghai taste, with very subtle fruit notes. There is usually some kind of very light smoke, or at least I thought of it as smoke, but I'm also willing to entertain that it's the sort of florals like what you get from aged Yibang. Some cups yield a light sweet sensation as well. The qi is pretty much the same as the Dayi, maybe just a fraction stronger, but it's of that subtle, body focused tea people are mostly familiar with from a Bingdao area tea. The qi isn't really that strong, though, just high quality. The back end of the session after some hours of rest had a fuller taste for two to three cups, and was fairly enjoyable. The finished leaves are fairly thick, dark, and leathery, which is nice when further aging is thought of...
Some takeaways. I like this more than the Wisteria '03 Mengsong, even though that had a stronger (but different) flavor, but definitely not like the previously mentioned '05 teas. It seems like Mengsong teas generally age to being fairly thin teas. I remember thinking that the Dayi is better than the '99 Dadugang, and having to retract that thought because the Dadugang was so much more solid, even though it's not a deep tea. Is it a good deal? Well...Donghetea sells single cakes of the '05 Peacock for about $350, which seems about right, and is cheaper than it used to be. I'd say that given this one try (I have a few more grams), that this is basically about par. Not a bargain, not overpriced, either.
Some takeaways. I like this more than the Wisteria '03 Mengsong, even though that had a stronger (but different) flavor, but definitely not like the previously mentioned '05 teas. It seems like Mengsong teas generally age to being fairly thin teas. I remember thinking that the Dayi is better than the '99 Dadugang, and having to retract that thought because the Dadugang was so much more solid, even though it's not a deep tea. Is it a good deal? Well...Donghetea sells single cakes of the '05 Peacock for about $350, which seems about right, and is cheaper than it used to be. I'd say that given this one try (I have a few more grams), that this is basically about par. Not a bargain, not overpriced, either.
Before football, I had the 54-46 Was My Number. This isn't best of the best, top of the top stuff (that I've ever had access to...), but it is quite excellent, well on the level of the Mengdai Bingdao, ChenYuanHao Bingdao, and Thai brand Xigui (perhaps beyond). The leaves don't look anything special, except with a lot of hairs on the tips. The soup from the second brew on, has an intense yellow look that sort of recall uncooked range chicken egg whites, maybe with a bit of yolk. The aroma is never particularly strong, but it grows for a short while, and has a spicy/Solanaceae character that's typical of some Wuliang teas, as well as teas in JingGu and Bangdong. The taste is vegetal initially, much like young JingGu and Wuliang, but only slightly (much like TeaUrchin Nahan from '13, but complex), and there is a good length of taste and a slight bit of shimmering that goes on. After about eight or nine brews, it takes on a very Bingdao-ish character in consistently brewing sweet flavors (something like not quite refined sugar or rock sugar flavor with a touch of actual sweetness) for pretty much as many brews as you like. Bitterness is mostly dead after about six brews, and I can have my way with this tea! The tea's body is medium thick, and most of the time, it's quite smooth. I don't think there was any astringency except when I was brewing for very long times on the back end of the session (football game, see?). The aftertastes are not that strong tastewise, but it consistently delivers a huigan in the throat, and sometimes a good bit of feeling. The qi is really good. Not quite tops, but enough that it competes with stuff like the Mengdai, and most all of it of high quality body centered relaxation.
It's really hard to say whether it's worth $175/200g. That's $350 for a proper cake of 2014 tea. To put that in perspective, you can buy two of Sanhetang's '13 cakes (other than the big Yiwu) from Houde. For something from 2014, the current year DianGu is about $380. The 2009 version of the tea would blow 54-46 out of the water (and is extremely expensive now), but I wouldn't be so sure about the 2011, which was a disappointment (especially since it's also absurdly expensive), relative to expectations. All that can really be said is that it's a serious Northern tea, that does much of what other elite Northern tea does. Whether you want some, is up to you. It's not like you guys have very many choices. That Mengdai is long gone. The CYH '12 Bingdao is more expensive, and I believe the Thai Xigui is $200/200g, if you can get it. Banatea has two teas that's also more expensive, but I can guess that the '11 Chan Harvest probably doesn't have as strong a qi, even if it has more friendly flavors (more fruitiness) based on the '07 I've had, and I have no idea on the Kunlushan. My inclination is that for many people's purposes, it's purchase-worthy. I have all of the nice Northern tea I want, and can afford to look elsewhere, but while this wouldn't make me open the imaginary wallet like the Last Thoughts would, this is something can be the jewel of many people's collections, and I would probably recommend aging, for greater sweetness, more floralness, and less vegetal character.
It's really hard to say whether it's worth $175/200g. That's $350 for a proper cake of 2014 tea. To put that in perspective, you can buy two of Sanhetang's '13 cakes (other than the big Yiwu) from Houde. For something from 2014, the current year DianGu is about $380. The 2009 version of the tea would blow 54-46 out of the water (and is extremely expensive now), but I wouldn't be so sure about the 2011, which was a disappointment (especially since it's also absurdly expensive), relative to expectations. All that can really be said is that it's a serious Northern tea, that does much of what other elite Northern tea does. Whether you want some, is up to you. It's not like you guys have very many choices. That Mengdai is long gone. The CYH '12 Bingdao is more expensive, and I believe the Thai Xigui is $200/200g, if you can get it. Banatea has two teas that's also more expensive, but I can guess that the '11 Chan Harvest probably doesn't have as strong a qi, even if it has more friendly flavors (more fruitiness) based on the '07 I've had, and I have no idea on the Kunlushan. My inclination is that for many people's purposes, it's purchase-worthy. I have all of the nice Northern tea I want, and can afford to look elsewhere, but while this wouldn't make me open the imaginary wallet like the Last Thoughts would, this is something can be the jewel of many people's collections, and I would probably recommend aging, for greater sweetness, more floralness, and less vegetal character.
Had something that was labeled 2007 ChenYuanHao GFZ, but this is likely the 2001 ChenYuanHao (and probably not GFZ) I see this tea on Hobbes to be posted list, so he might want to double check that it's actually a 2007 CHY GFZ. Perhaps I only got a mixup.
I've had this tea that was stored in Malaysia, so this version, presumably stored in Taiwan and previously sold at Origin Tea, represent the first chance I've had to understand differences in storage. This still wasn't a good tea. It's not slightly sour in the beginning like the Malaysian tea, and it seems to be less soggy with hongcha. That said, there is very little real flavor in this tea, and the one thing that the Malay-stored tea did well, which was aftertaste, did not really show up in the Taiwan version. The viscosity of today's tea was decent though, but I'm not sure if it's better.
I've had this tea that was stored in Malaysia, so this version, presumably stored in Taiwan and previously sold at Origin Tea, represent the first chance I've had to understand differences in storage. This still wasn't a good tea. It's not slightly sour in the beginning like the Malaysian tea, and it seems to be less soggy with hongcha. That said, there is very little real flavor in this tea, and the one thing that the Malay-stored tea did well, which was aftertaste, did not really show up in the Taiwan version. The viscosity of today's tea was decent though, but I'm not sure if it's better.
80's Traditional Characters. It's clean, but it's very humid, roughly at the level of the '98 Apple Green Mark tuo from TeaClassico. Very dried out and has no funk. Early brews are very thick and gloopy, light astringency in throat. Transparency takes about three brews to happen, and there is a nice golden meniscus. Badly underperforms in terms of aroma. There is some, but it's really not what it should be. The taste is very mellow and kind of not lively, and centers around TCM, cola, soil, hint of wood (think '98 tuo without the fishy, and with cola, and more of a brown sugar sweetness). There are mouth-huigans typical of such humid stored older teas. A solitary huigan from the throat did happen but not very impressive. Will coat the mouth in flavors. The qi is typical of older teas, strong, but not quite as strong as it could be. Relaxing.
A lot of people would like this tea very much. I like this tea, too, but I can't help but think how expensive these teas are. We're talking at least five dollars a gram. More than that, I've actually had a relatively dry version of this tea, which was wonderful. Thinner in taste, of course, but lively enough for me to sip the tea, and not gulp the tea. I think this is a passable, but not great example of an 80's tea. It's fully dried out and there's no funk, and it's extremely easy to drink, very rounded, and deep in flavor. It's just not the promised land.
A lot of people would like this tea very much. I like this tea, too, but I can't help but think how expensive these teas are. We're talking at least five dollars a gram. More than that, I've actually had a relatively dry version of this tea, which was wonderful. Thinner in taste, of course, but lively enough for me to sip the tea, and not gulp the tea. I think this is a passable, but not great example of an 80's tea. It's fully dried out and there's no funk, and it's extremely easy to drink, very rounded, and deep in flavor. It's just not the promised land.
I brewed the 80's Traditional another six more times, and I enjoyed it much more today, stripped of the original humidity, and reminding me of why I really liked this sort of tea. There were actual themes in the flavor to savor. With the bit I have left, I'm not going to push the first day, eight brews max, and think of it as drinkable wash. And have something a bit more when I come back to it.
I did a session of the '05 Dayi Peacock today, to compare with the Naka gushu just tried. Some differences...The flavor is not pure at all, feels like Northern Mengsong with plenty of backing from Menghai area tea like Hekai and N. Bulang. Smokier. The mush (as compared to all of the leathery mostly whole leaves w the Naka) has very tiny and tender leaves. So this has had a similarity in theme flavor, but backed by a strong Menghai sweetness, and so is a thicker and deeper taste. Aroma is definitely stronger and nicer. Qi is about the same, a bit more head focused, some ex-caffeine probably. Consistently develops a yun, even twenty brews in, and coats mouth rather well. This time, little bitterness after the first couple of brews and not much astringency at all. Viscosity is a little thinner. I'm still inclined to think that the Dayi is substantially better than the Naka, but now I appreciate the purity of taste from the Naka more than I did.
I did a session of the '05 Dayi Peacock today, to compare with the Naka gushu just tried. Some differences...The flavor is not pure at all, feels like Northern Mengsong with plenty of backing from Menghai area tea like Hekai and N. Bulang. Smokier. The mush (as compared to all of the leathery mostly whole leaves w the Naka) has very tiny and tender leaves. So this has had a similarity in theme flavor, but backed by a strong Menghai sweetness, and so is a thicker and deeper taste. Aroma is definitely stronger and nicer. Qi is about the same, a bit more head focused, some ex-caffeine probably. Consistently develops a yun, even twenty brews in, and coats mouth rather well. This time, little bitterness after the first couple of brews and not much astringency at all. Viscosity is a little thinner. I'm still inclined to think that the Dayi is substantially better than the Naka, but now I appreciate the purity of taste from the Naka more than I did.
Finished off the CYH '01 Yiwu from Malaysia. The difference between this and the taiwanese stored tea is considerable, in that the Malay version is much fuller in taste--the puerh woody core, easily tasted in the taiwanese version, is amidst a sort of lightly plummy/fruity/very light caramel flavor. Not really as good as it sounds, but... Anyways, I'm going to have to finish off the Taiwanese sample to be sure it's the same tea. A bit of yun consistently hits the top of the mouth today, as well, something I don't remember the other sample doing either.
Wuzidengke. It's on, and it's good.
These little bings are so chubby! They're fat little fellows, and they come in a superb, heavy-metal, squat tin that feels very well-made. Chubby little shupu, smooth and fine - recommended.
Toodlepip,
Hobbes
These little bings are so chubby! They're fat little fellows, and they come in a superb, heavy-metal, squat tin that feels very well-made. Chubby little shupu, smooth and fine - recommended.
Toodlepip,
Hobbes
Holy scrotes, those XZH cakes from 2013 are (i) looking good and (ii) somehow beginning to convince me that they're not extortionately priced. There must be something wrong with me.
