SOTD- sheng of the day

Some quick notes:

1) 2004 Jinwanghao Gedeng is very much like Dingxing products, and I suspect modern Dingxing sourced primarily from Gedeng. Not nearly so much blackberry fruitiness, though, but far cleaner than Dingxing tends to be. A nice, solid offering that is darker with a touch of wood to it. Very light qi.

2) 2006 Dayou/Mingyuanhao 858. This is a pretty nice basic Yiwu, and about the same value as the w2t 2009. It's a little over-oxidized on withering, resulting in a character that's a little too like Yongpinhao teas. However, it has an excellent soft, cotton texture, and some qi. Not much dynamicism or excitement, but a pleasurably sedate sort of tea.

3) Finished off the w2t Bosch. I don't think this tea is subtle, per se. It's just that all of the money went to depth, length, and aftertaste. This has a boring and kind of quiet top taste of mushroom, depth is fruity, of various kinds, and length-aftertaste is very nice, with it being that Menghai forest floral mouth aroma. I feel somewhat strongly that this is a nice Hekai, Southern Mengsong sort of tea. It could be Mengla, but not too many teas from Mengla can do this, in my experience. Very well worth the money as a Menghai tea, mostly because it's very difficult to buy really good Menghai tea, hence, some of the weakness in top taste.

Did a little '05 Cang'er to wake up, but...

2011 EoT Mannuo is decidedly not tuition tea. I wanted to evaluate a bit and compare with Bosch. However, it was just not very close. The only thing the w2t Bosch does better is that Menghai forest floral mouth aroma. Mannuo had better body in terms of taste, and better oily texture on that viscosity. Had better aroma. More potent in the mouth, throat, and has more qi. It's still extremely durable. Etc. Also, this tea is a bit different than what it was like when it was young, so I'm thinking it waking up a bit and heading towards the first stage of puerh maturity. Anyways, it's very similar to sweet leaf LBZ with some nods towards the XZH sort of Jingmai. Or it could be described as a sort of Menghai version of the more mushroom and honey Yibangs. Does not have Jingmai sort of flower-floral.

Nonplussed, I decided to try the EoT Douyizhai. Much more...normal. Has a nice, complex aroma, and a much more balanced taste rather than being so sweet. It's sort of low on viscosity compared to Mannuo or the YS '12 Douyizhai. Durability is okay, about thirteen brews. It's much more nice than the YS example, in taste, aroma, and aftertaste.

So far, to me, does seem like for Scott or Nada, best early stuff I've had has gotta be the '10 Xikong and '11 Mannuo. Feeling like I need to try the EoT '11 GFZ soon.

Some quick notes...

2009 Gushu Lan Xiang originally sold at YS is okay. Has a sour juice character, but also has the sort of aftertastes that makes Bosch enjoyable. Some qi.

2011 EoT Guafengzhai is generally a bust. Great viscosity though, like silk tofu. Pretty good qi. The aroma/taste, though, is pretty dead...looks to have gotten hit by some sort of processing issues that worsened as it aged. Definitely some proper bitterness. Not a genuinely bad tea, and it's also probably asleep like Yiwu is annoyingly prone to do. But still...

2011 Fall Theasophie LBZ. It's decent enough, but with the four grams in a gaiwan shtick I've been doing, it's sort of obvious that it's pretty average leaf that is well made and tastes like LBZ.

2011 EoT Bulang "Omega TaxMaster" is excellent. Fairly similar to the YQH 2011 Tiancang, except that the viscosity is thinner, not as oily, and the aroma/taste is less loud/rich. This one is sweeter and more friendly. Also pretty decent on qi. Probably a better tea than the Theasophie LBZ and is easily superior to the TU '11 Lao Man'E, except on viscosity. Can't tell for sure, because hey, it's only some of the time that the 2009 YS tea mentioned above is sour. Ideally need a few sessions to really get a grip.

Ah, learning tuition...When it's getting close to that six, seven, perhaps ten year period, you figure out which of those teas you bought all those years ago are any good. At least for 2011, the EoT to get was definitely Bulang and Mannuo. Nannuo is decent enough but not outstanding among the world's choices. I'm still not quite sure what I'd say to people buying new teas today. Mannuo was very obviously good from the start. However, it's not like the 2010 EoT that's not doing so well today were lacking in tastiness when new. Some of that seems to be a problem with the shaqing. Other is just recognizing that certain areas like the very far southwest Bulang or Bada are not that premium for a reason. One other thing--a really big huigan in the throat with new tea is a large indicator of quality. Aftertaste and feeling in the throat tends to diminish and ease, so the stuff that just does a bit, like the '10 Mansai, eventually lose interesting quality. Those XZH '05 and '06 LBZs had ah-maz-ing huigans with citrus and cherries and whatnot. None of those teas do that now, I suspect, and has a more aged throatfeel that's more scotch. It just occurred to me to wonder just how many normal people will ever get to try young LBZ like that anymore? Nada pressed his own in 2008 that also had a great throat huigan. But I haven't ever come across this sort of youthful beauty in an LBZ since 2010, effectively. Like I was the last dude to get a ticket or something.

You probably were, Shah.

I ended up putting an order in for three YQH cakes in the next group buy, never having tried them before. It's costing a pretty penny, but that's the modus operandi these daysi.

Am interested to see what's going to be in the EoT teaclub shipment.

Today I tried the first of my Chawang shop samples, the 2015 Chawangpu BaDa Old Tree (thanks for the recommendation PurplePotato).

This tea has a lot of buds/smaller leaves. It's smoother than I expected. There is some slight astringency, but I think even my mother wouldn't be bothered by it. The processing seems great to me, and there is a gentle, calming qi. Very easy on the stomach.

Would recommend for anyone who wants a young sheng to drink now. At $20/200g cake, I think it's excellent value in the current market. Don't know how these easy to drink single origin teas will age, but given their reasonable prices, I can see myself placing an order for some Chawangshop cakes. The cost is almost negligible among the other orders I've placed this year.

Tried the 2015 Chawangpu BaDa Lao Yu as a comparison to yesterday's 2015 Old Tree.

Quite a difference between the two. Much more bitterness in the Lao Yu, and the processing clearly isn't as good as the Old Tree. This is reflected in the price between the two productions.

The tea is producing heat in my chest, but I've not noticed any qi/head activity at all in the Lao Yu. This could just be me today, as I read a review saying the qi in the Lao Yu is much more potent than the Old Tree.

As a tea to drink now - the Old Tree is the clear winner. After 10 years, the Lao Yu may have stronger legs to carry it in the long term.

Had a very nice session with the unknown Bangwei that was both dark and floral.

Today, I treated myself to four grams of my '06 XZH Brick. Keeping that last TwoDog blog in mind about the current Yunnan situation, this is explicitly a shengtai tea. It couldn't have come from bushes much older than twenty years at the time of picking! Yet it is a fairly premium experience. The qi was a bit on the lighter side, but lasted past the sip well. The taste is narrower than in other gushu XZH productions of that time, and plenty of teas today. It's basically something a bit bigger than the likes of the '07 Dayi An Xiang or '05 Mengsong Peacock. But still...it has the point of banzhang. Really sweet and agreeable without being insipid like Hekai, balanced by darker and more savory flavors. The top taste is not as complex as most of the good Bulang tea to the south, but there is a sort of hidden subtle complexity in the aftertastes. Banzhang is fairly boring if you have a bad example or if you're not tracking the subtle stuff.

Yesterday morning was a sample of 2016 Nannuo maocha from Chawangshop that was a gift with my previous order. Brewed all 7g in the gaiwan. Was really enjoyable to drink, as I was in the mood for something fresh. The leaves were nice and spindly.Got definite caffeine and possibly some qi as well, but I wasn't paying enough attention to make a more formal judgement on the tea.

Night time was the 2005 White2Tea Naka. Probably the best session I've had with it yet. The last 2-ish years Ive had it have apparently been working well for it. The flavour was more complex this time around, closer to a blend.

This morning I tried the 70's Taiwan Tie Guan Yin from the Hou De aged sampler. In line with other aged Tie Guan Yin. The initial 2 brews had a touch of sourness which had me concerned it had dried out, but it quickly dissipated and I was rewarded with multiple, clean and smooth brews. Most of the complexity and flavours one would normally associate with Tie Guan Yin have faded, and it was more of a generic aged tea flavour. Noticable qi from the beginning which lasted all the way through.

And now I am having 72 hours. Last time I tried it, it still hadn't settled down. It's like a different tea now - ageing very nicely with a thick orange soup. Sweet, long aftertaste, and very potent qi. I'm not sure if it's all the 72 hours, or if the aged oolong contributed is influencing my body still. Nonetheless, I wasn't overly impressed with this tea the first time I tried it, but now I am thinking my one cake may not be enough.

2003 Keyi Xing
Have been going through this faster than any other cake I own lately.
Hadn't touched it in a while, as I feared I would have outgrown these cheaper cakes I had purchased as daily drinkers early in my sheng journey. Have been pleasantly surprised with this one though, the good storage and wood flavour is exactly what I've been in the mood for lately, when I haven't been drinking younger shengs,

W2T just released the 2016 lineup. Very exciting, I'm going to try to wait two months before placing my order. The south China humidity will do better for the tea than the aircon we have going on in winter.

I'd prefer to wait a year. Quality gets a little clearer the longer you wait.

Since I will be getting samples at some point, I thought I'd say some stuff about the tea I've been drinking...

1) '06 XZH Youle. Very good-excellent. A couple of cups with a very nice dry floral element that represents its peak. Wasn't quite as modest as the last time I drank this tea, which was a bit more modest tasting, and had more almond taste late. One thing I've been noting, lobular leaf tea tend to have an oily mouthfeel. The Youle is more of a mix of leaf types, and has the sort of mouthfeel that you find in Yiwu of similar age, and also has some of that lobular oil. I had been evaluating this tea with YQH teas in mind, and this difference to how the '04 Dingjipin was, was something that caught my interest.

2) '07 XZH Jinggu Nu'ercha. Fairly similar to the '09 gift set sheng this time, mostly because it was a bit muted this run. The soup was extremely thick, though. May be my thickest tea.

3) '09 Bulang, made with ManMu material, bought from YS. This was a bit of a disappointment, as that it was fairly tobaccoey, instead of getting nicely darker, which suggests some sort of processing issue. Has a mouth aroma aftertaste similar to Bosch, which was cool.

4) '07 XZH Xishangmeishao. This one, I got to go this time, instead of the more pedestrian effort last Christmas. Intense aroma, from the dry leaves to the empty cup. Very complex, tended to be sandlewood-ish, honey, plumminess typical of aged lancang teas, and other florals. The best thing about it was mouthfeel, very smoothly silky, and substantial feeling like cream. And in the mouth, a very active acidity dances on my tongue. I think this is one of my best teas.

5) '04 Gedeng from Theasophie. This has a solid taste and aroma that is vaguely related to molasses, with a bit of wood. Viscosity is good. I have been thinking that this is an excellent tea to measure how well a lobular leaf tea has aged. It didn't lose flavor or aroma, and isn't bitter or any of the other things that happens to lesser lobular teas. It's not so good that other teas couldn't surpass it either.

6) '04 Nanjian Zhaizipo. Not particularly good. The only real reason to drink this is for the good quality qi. It's more lively and interesting with aftertaste/qi than the Gedeng, but not as strong taste, or viscosity, and the durability is on the weaker side. So the Nanjian gets thin much quicker than the Gedeng.

7) '09 XZH Jingmai. A little on the weaker side of potential sessions, but nice enough. It wasn't as thick as I'd expected it to be. The aroma was floral in a nicely true way, instead of the handwavey way we talk about puerh notes. Early sessions also had a nice strong note of strawberry. Which was interesting in that the last time I had a weaker session, it was also fairly strawberry. In the length, it was basically a kind of honey-olive oil taste, which was nice enough for me to keep drinking, actually. Weaker than Gedeng in taste, maybe about the same aroma strength, but much much better taste and complexity.

8) '03 Bulang Jingpin. Taste is boring the first couple of brews, and it has the same basic taste throughout. Sort of a slightly earthy honey taste. However, there is a strong degree of subtle changes in taste that made this very enjoyable. The qi was notably enjoyable in terms of quality.

9) Finished off a sample of 54-46 That's My Number, the taste and viscosity had gotten thinner, but the taste had developed a very pleasant apple note. This had made me a bit more conscious of how dangerous it is to make firm judgments on new teas. Not so much that it's bad or anything, but that the first year is very much an ephemeral set of qualities, unless we are talking about very strong qualities. I'm also making judgments compared to teas that I own, and that I bought when the field was much clearer and free of competition, and I really have to calibrate down, some, not sure that I want to, though.

Because of the fact that most places that are any good are now pretty firmly locked down, everyone basically pays for every clear notch in quality, and this is extremely true of Menghai teas. This has driven a trend to teamakers focusing on brands, or on blending rather than marketing where a tea is from. One area where this is a problem, as surveying Pu-erh.sk's new selection of new teas prompted me to think about--is that we've gotten ever more into a trend of micro-runs of hugely expensive teas. These teas will never become famous--not enough people around the world will ever try it, and there's all sorts of awesome competition at its price point. So they really won't necessarily become valuable. However, Peter does things this way because it's pretty hard and very expensive to do it any other way, given the expense. When a market is like this, though, the lack of a AOC system for puerh, or a system of competition like how they do things in Taiwan makes it hard to buy anything with confidence or with the idea that you're saving money of you buy early. It also undermines what could be a vital secondary market. Lastly, the absence encourages worse care of the ancient trees that have made it so many years, instead of a more sustainable picking program. If you don't own the experience, you can't set a price on it, and must merely mine it.

Wise advice, as always Shah. I probably should sample before placing my annual Spring order, even if it is W2T, and I am a whore for them.

I recently sessioned 54-46. It was much, much thinner than I remember. Was concerned it was a storage issue, but if you're had the same experience then I guess it's just the tea. Next time I will make sure to use more leaf.

Reflecting on 2015 W2T Spring productions, the only cake I wouldn't buy again is Poundcake. This is much loved, and I'm just not seeing what all the fuss is about.
- Little Walk is the only 2015 cake I do not own. I might have a sample somewhere but have never got around to trying it.
- Undecided on Colbert Holland and 2 Late, I've only tried them a couple of times and while I'm not sold on either, I wouldn't dismiss them yet. Need to revisit these.
- Milk, Cream and Alcohol was the surprise of the bunch for me (for the price), and I picked up a tong of this. Easy drinking when young, noticeable qi, and I like aged Menghai area teas. Just hope the blend has the legs to go for ten years.
- 72 Hours - didn't love it the day it arrived (soon after it was released), but after resting a bit, I love it
- Tuhao, Last Thoughts, Bosch are great. Very keen to compare the 2015 to 2016 for these. Paul mentioned in a SnapChat video last month, that the stuff he was drinking are his best teas yet.

Based on the above, I am planning a cake of everything priced at $69 - up. I'm at the point where I have plenty of good tea to drink every day, young and aged. The only issue with waiting a year to buy, is cakes selling out. White2Tea seems to be getting more popular, and 2015 Tuhao, Bosch and Last Thoughts cakes have already sold out completely.

Just ordered the full sampleable 2016 W2T line, not including the cake as sample sample (the treachery pt. 2).

Very excited when I saw the new layout and artwork. Very cohesive look and feel, right up my alley in terms of stylistic appeal...

Drinking some 2011 Lao Man E from Tea Urchin while I wait to try the 2016 Bosch. I cannot believe the day I finish my last 5g of the 2015 sample it sold out... I won't hopefully have the same thing happen this season.

Oops, just did a 3 minute steep on the third pour of Lao Man E... tastes a little like Dawn®... I think my brain may be trying to disconnect and come out the top hatch, it feels pretty weightless and lifty from my elbows up. Let's keep going.

Let us know what your thoughts are on the 2016 lineup once you've tried it!

Getting back into the swing of things, a few more of the teas I own and enjoy once in a while...

First was EoT 2010 Manmai, which was decent. The taste isn't that great until the end, with a nice Menghai honey note, but it was mostly smooth with a decent viscosity.

Then I had the '07 XZH Huangshanlin, in the gaiwan, like some of the recent teas I've had before. It may make a difference, especially for the XZH Jingmai, which might really just work better in a pot. Anyways, this tea wasn't really for awesome flavor or aroma yesterday, though it was nice enough. It also took a few brews for the viscosity to show up to a good standard. The nice thing about this tea is the lengthy and complex aftertaste in the back of the mouth. At one point in my session, there were a number of brews where each sip had to be savored for about thirty seconds to a minute. The qi was very strong in the beginning, and then was hit or miss in the rest of the session.

Today, for the Fourth, I had the 2001 Dayi Simplified Yun 7542. It's fifteen years old now. Most of the reviews of teas I have access to now, were reviewed when they were younger than this particular tea, 88 Qing Bing being the notable exception (mostly not really, since that's '89, '90, '91 tea). There really are not very many reviews of 80's tea ten years ago. Anyways, I had a great time with this tea. It's a tea that fills the mouth with flavor, and has great dynamic taste range, high to low. Good to great viscosity. Very good quality and strong qi. Consistently strong aroma. Frankly, it's what a factory tea should be (and what you generally find in the 80s or earlier), and is much better than the '95 Orange in Orange 7532 I tried recently. This is definitely not much like many 7542s I've had before, being a bit closer to the 2003 Bulang Jingpin. It's not very plummy at all, like the 2002 7542 I have, and there were only hints of the cherry fruitiness that I remember it having (Denny of Teadb's red grapes). It's generally a very solid dark cocoa/soil, honey, maple/caramel with this wet straw high note that is really penetrating (dominant in the aroma). Doesn't have the sort of fancy aftertaste like the Bulang Jingpin, but does leave a mouthcoat. Early brews were very acid, though, like the Hong Kong Henry '03 7542. Robust tannins early, too, so yeah, as with that teadb episode with the Malaysian version of this tea, this one has the legs to get more than nuanced in age.

At first I thought you meant you drank four shengs in one day... then realised it's Independence Day in the US.

Very happy today, as my YQH order arrived - three cakes: 04 Dingji, 04 Teji, and the 06 Chawangshu. The 04 Zhenchang Chawang was unfortunately not available for the June group buy organised by Emmett (many thanks).

Of course I couldn't resist, despite the risk of shipping sickness, a session with the 2006 Chawangshu.

Flavour is very distinctly Yiwu - which may sound obvious, but is reassuring to me, as it means most of my "Yiwu" labelled cakes probably are at least from Yiwu region (although obviously not actually gushu, yesheng and whatever else is printed on the wrapper). I wouldn't be able to pick it as GFZ though, in terms of flavour, as I just haven't drunk enough GFZ to nail down the character. I do have some GFZ samples lying around, but not in any real quantity. It's all just Yiwu to me, in varying grades of quality.

Expected a little more viscosity overall, except for one notable brew out of 15+ which felt like coated my tongue was physically having oil poured over it. Real qi activity in the head/body, and at one point a feeling of heat started emanating from my chest. Good lasting aftertaste too. At first impression, I would say I like this better than 07 RuiChang Xiang.

I just looked at my stockpile over the weekend. Nice to know that so many of my bings are finally 10+ years old.

In the morning, I drank the 2004 YQH Dinji Yesheng. Apparently from Chawangshu same as yesterdays 06. This is a stronger tea, with darker woods and strong camphor. My impression that it is thicker than the 06 as well. Still obviously Yiwu character. Less obvious huigan and qi. But it's been hours since I drank it, and I am heavily under the influence still.

I should stress that these are first impressions only, the cakes have gone Taiwan > USA > Australia, and will need some time to acclimatise.

And just when the day couldn't get any better, Essence of Tea's Spring shipment for the annual teaclub just arrived. My goodness, I didn't know where to start, so I'm beginning with the loose leaf... "Secret Forest", apparently from wild ancient trees that are a nine hour trek from the nearest road. I wouldn't say this is puerh. It's just tea. Photos are on my Instagram for anyone interested (spacepirate1).

Also included in the shipment is a single tree cake, from the 15 tree blend last year. A Yibang small tree (I missed out on the old tree cake from the same garden, but got a small sample of it, an extra bag of the Secret Garden loose, and a 2015 Autumn Chawangshu). I really would have liked the cake, but I think the bounty I got more then makes up for it.

ninepaths, remember that we aren't totally confident about where everything is from, exactly, when it comes to YQH, particularly early years. Dingjipin is a more Wangong-ish sort of tea than Chawangshu.

A few days ago, I decided to go for the '07 XZH Puzhen. It was a bit of a disappointment in that the flavor and aroma was thinner, but there was only the slightest of nods to age (this did much better in a pot last New Years). The qi was very strong. Viscosity was decent, but texture wasn't remarkable. Has that bit of bad throatfeel, which it always had had, later in the session. Always had just powered through it. I enjoyed it, and can imagine that upping the leaf ratio would make this more compelling. However, compared to the progress/nature of the other northern XZH teas, there isn't a true outstanding character to this. The Jinggu Nuercha is very thick soup and sweet, the Xishangmeishao is just more...crisp all around, and more sweet too, and has a defining acidity. The Huangshanlin has that superb lengthy aftertaste... What the Puzhen was when it was young was the outstandingly agreeable taste and aroma, and that has faded a bit with age... What's interesting is that when these teas first came out in late '07-'08, the Puzhen was the favorite of MarshalN, Hobbes, Tomas, etc... I don't know how they'd think of all four teas, today, but for me, it sort of illustrates a bit of difficulty in judging what is a good tea when young. At least back then, this was basically before Bingdao modes became the big thing, as you can see from Hobbes' perplexed reaction to the Shuangjiang Mengku '08 Bingdao.

Today, I had the 2002 7542 that's almost finished--about two more sessions left, I think. It was a little similar to the 2001 I had a few days ago, but it was more bitter, astringent, and the dark depth was not as...rich. The soup wasn't that thick, and there was only a slight softness you get from age. Doesn't really have qi, other than the slightest bit. One could easily think that the Dingxing that I don't like very much is better. It certainly has a richer taste and less bitter/astringent.

A few words for those of you buying samples of new teas, figuring out which teas are the sort of things they should buy:

1) The easiest measure of quality is a potent and active aftertaste deep in the throat. Of course, this means that very few available teas will have this quality. Also, if you don't have enough experience, you might not understand how strong a feeling is strong enough. A weaker feeling in the throat merely ages away. Also, some tea areas don't really feature a strong aftertaste, while being of high quality. Anyways, here's the thing. Virtually all teas with a strong, high quality throat aftertaste age into compelling tea later on. The stuff in the throat is best, but also things like pleasantly sharp bitterness that generates lingering aftertastes in the mouth, or drying astringency that leaves flavor or sweetness for you to salivate away, that will do fine, too, but you aren't necessarily going to get teas with "good enough" other qualities. Stuff can develop a sour note or other off notes like what I've gotten in worse sessions with the '09 YS Bulangs. When things like Huangshanlin lose a lot of positive taste notes, but stays good enough in the well rounded sense, while maintaining an outstanding quality.

2) Check the aroma. If a tea is from a place that doesn't really go boom, like many Yiwus, then if it booms and rises high, be on guard about processing. Lobular leaf tea does make a stronger effort at booming aromas, and so do some northern teas. The biggest check is that the aroma above the soup should last. If you go away for like thirty seconds to a minute after pouring into cup, when you come back, do you easily get interesting smells? Now, more generally, a good tea will generate an aroma that sort of "curls" in your nostrils. It should be active feeling, a feeling of depth, even when you're not smelling very much. Puerh has never *really* been about aroma in the way green tea or oolongs are. If you sort of thing of a gaoshan oolong as big cloudy-puffy aroma, then think of puerh as a sort of gauzy silk. It should shimmer and ripple.

3) Do not focus on viscosity. Most teas that are decently made will age and get thicker. It's also fairly easy, it seems, to produce a premium tea with good thickness, at least when young. What you should do is to focus on *texture*. I've more or less found that teas with good texture keeps some aspect of that quality more readily than teas with great thickness. So take a bit of soup in your mouth, sit it between the tongue and the roof of your mouth, and gently massage the liquor, squeeze the liquor out of the trapped area, and then swallow. You want to feel if this tea has some softness to it, like cotton (many Yiwus, especially with age, will have a delicate cotton softness), feel if the tea has juicy pectin (which is common), feel if the tea has some degree of oiliness (which is good), feel if the tea has some degree of silkiness (which is best, and some of these teas have thin soups when new. When they thicken up, though...). Some teas have high surface tension soups that are fun, in a snotball way.

4) Taste is pretty easy. Does it fill the mouth, with a solid sense of taste? Many not as good teas have much of their flavor around the bitterness. Factory teas tend to have a theme, with a narrow sense of taste. Which many people do like, because they hit the notes that they are supposed to, compared to much looser tasting gushu teas! You should be happy with what the flavor is, even if you know it will be pretty different later on. If it's ticking off that holistic puerh checklist, whatever it will be, when it's older, is also likely to be something at least minimally pleasing to you. Don't get teas you don't like the taste of.

5) It is hard to measure the true quality of qi in young teas, since much of that will be caffeine. What I will suggest though, is to take a break in the middle of the session, say, after eight brews or so. If you're getting a nice calming feel in a thin tasting soup later on, that might be stuff that will keep and get better. Typically though, qi doesn't improve in strength with age. Most teas will decline in strength of qi until maybe about eight to ten years old. Then you start having the qi becoming more full of a certain kind of character, rather than the usual straightforward ennervation, relaxation, so forth and on. Don't buy tea with qi patterns you don't like.

6) Look at leaves. Don't worry too much about red leaves. Worry a bit about leaves with red margins and midribs, as that might suggest a bit of artifice. Might still not be worrisome if there aren't too many of them. Do worry about really bright green leaves. Not neon green, but close enough.

Thanks for taking the time to write that up, we should pin this up somewhere as reference.