SOTD- sheng of the day

[shah8]

Okay...a long post full of great tea...

First, the 2015 XZH Hongyin was very durable during the week of brewing. And still, while it could be Mansa, Sanhetang doesn't directly say what it is, and it sort of behaves like a Mengku. If I had another try at it, I would brew and enjoy it as a really big bodied Mengku tea. I would not really say it's better than the 2014 Lanyin or Luyin, but it's certainly bigger than they are and more mouthfilling.

I thermosed the 2009 XZH Soul of Yunnan, which is Jingmai. I find it a very interesting tea in the sense that as before, it behaves much more like a certain sort of Bingdao, a bit like the 2009 Tea Refining Company version, but much smaller. Jingmai tea usually darkens as it ages, to a sort of dried longan flavor. Heck, the 2010 EoT Bangwei has passed through the low honey-fruity (from the original fruity nutty) to a much darker taste these days. This XZH Jingmai still basically has a core olive oil taste that delivers deep feeling in the throat and gently bringing back delicate florals while giving great qi. It's a really subtle and profound experience that's more reminiscent of the 2007 fall XZH Jinggu Nu'ercha, except so much smaller and more delicate. Compared to a full bodied, complex, and pleasant taste of the '07 XZH Shangpin, the Kuzhushan, which doesn't have the sort of qi or aftertaste, this Jingmai evinces the idea that one drinks with the body, with deep engagement.

Friday's shu was the '19 W2T The Great Divide. I found it to be a pleasant shu that is both dark, with an aromatic soil element, and sweet, with caramel notes. I think it's better than something like YS '19 Bawang, but not ultimately as good as the YS '19 Lao Man'e, whatever that tea's faults are. I definitely prefer Sunday Special of the similarly priced shus.

Before we get onto the main event, I wanna comment just a bit on Essence of Tea's new 2020 lineup, and all those Mansa teas. I bought samples of most of them except for the cheaper ZhangJiaWan. I bought them because I liked knowing what most of these where (except for the "guoyoulin" from last year's harvest), and can use them as tuition. I also bought the Tianmenshan because one of the consistent features of teas from there, even the bad ones, is a high quality qi, and the comment at the end of the blurb probably should be taken seriously. All of these teas aren't really priced as high as serious tall tree tea would be priced. *Good* Tianmenshan, for example, costs maybe two and a half times what EoT is selling theirs for. Zhangjiawan area trees, even from the elite areas, are distinctly not a first tier Mansa area, and of course, my experience of the XZH '19 Yellow Mark Grade A of a higher end Zhangjiawan (cheaper than the EoT Lao Jia Zi, btw) was merely an "it's pretty nice", so there's a reason why it's available and at its price point. I got me some Boundless and the Jinggu because those are really good bets to be pleasant teas like the Bamboo Springs tea I got, and they weren't much. One extra tidbit--if I were someone interested in getting a whole cake (and worried about teas selling out), the TMS, whatever the quality its price implies, is probably the safest bet to buy blind.

Now, onto all the delicious sheng of the weekend. You know this post is going to be a wall of text, given what is already written!

The first tea of the weekend was the 2013 XZH Happiness under the Sky or Happiness Pro World or however you want to translate that. This is the elite Gedeng series. Mind that there is a cheaper 2013 Classic Gedeng that you don't want to confuse this with. Anyways, this was a really awesome tea, and I was surprised because I had gotten to thinking that 2013 wasn't a great year for XZH. However, the fact that this was the most expensive tea of 2013 should have tipped me off, as well as the fact that it was more expensive than the 2012. Anways, broadly speaking, it was a really full tasting (with lots of pleasant flavors) tea with an uber-thick and pudding-like mouthfeel. It's is a bit like the 2014 Hongyin Iron, but it's a lot more gentle, and not quite as materially durable. Well worth saving up money for and purchasing, though!

The aroma tends to be varying degrees of wood and plumminess. There is often an almost violet floralness, and there is some halibut umami sometimes in the aroma as well. The early part of the session taste is mostly plummy with floral (that can grow to be very nice) and wood, with a few fruit tones here and there. The taste eventually grows deeper with bitter tcm, some halibut umami, with a little wood, and only suggestions of plumminess. After about seven brews, there is a consistent sort of simple taste that's light floral, wood, bitter, and halibut. The mouthfeel throughout is top end viscosity with a pudding texture. There is very little astringency early, and slight astringency later, all of it productive. Mostly floral mouthcoat early. Bitterness tends to generates a winey lingering feeling a bit later in the session, and more of a floral mouth aroma and yun a bit after that. The astringency tends to promote a bit of caramel yiwu huigan and mouthcoat. The qi is pretty strong, not too distinct one way or another in character, though. Active phase is pretty short, but this tea does brew with monster mouthfeel and a bit of flavor pretty indefinitely.

Again, that was a great session and I tried to get in a ton of brews. However, time had to be split with...

A four gram session of 2012 YQH Yehgu. I wanted to get in a bit of memory refresh before I tried the 2010 YQH Shengyun Tianchen today, as both were bitter teas. I definitely remain curious about where the tea is from because this session had a lot in common with those deeper GFZ like the 2012 Fenghua I just had, or the '09 XZH, Auspicious Label GFZ I had some time ago. However, it still indeed has some of that floralness that is more typical of bohetangy teas. Eh, one thing for sure, it's still one of YQH's greatest teas, and I'm still mystified I could get it.

Earliest part of the session's aroma is pretty GFZ-ish, wood, halibut-umami, barnyard, herbal, generally giving a deep and dark sense. Then the aroma become more of that savory florals one finds in BHT associated teas, but it's really high pitched and floating above that darker and deeper aroma that this tea starts out with, and the savory florals themselves are almost incensey woody rather than floral. Very complex aromatic experience. Aroma collapses down to a subtle savory floral and umami aroma that the tea is pretty consistent about maintaining. To me, the interesting thing about the taste, thinking of Mattcha's comment about this tea being watery, is that I realized that this tea has a relative narrow taste and isn't as full tasting as most truly elite teas. Could be considered a key fault. Anyways, the starts off with umami, nannuo carrot, and honey with a little bit of tcm-bitter. The tcm-bitter grows and has a choco edge to it, and the tea develops with it wood and umami flavors. The bitterness lingers after the swallow and leaves a choco sense in the mouth. Eventually the tea lightens up, and can have a sense of fruit. This session was neither as fruity or sweet, or sweet herbal as previous sessions had been. The late session is all about a very flavorful bitter core, which I consider quite pleasantly punchy. It's not bitter like Lao Man'e bitter or bitter like many other things where all you can feel/taste is the "owie" and maybe a bit of medicinal. There is a lot of flavor in these late bitter brew and a degree of nuance. Again this is in a generic broader soup, it's not full-tasting. Viscosity is medium for gushu to good, with a somewhat oily texture and a lite-ish astringency. There is some cooling in mouth early, but what this tea really did was punch through the throat to the tummy with authority. There were some deep pungent huigans coming back up with slight flavors. In midsession, the pungent huigans are shallower and more flavorful. Midsession also tended to have tremendously complex and developing mouthcoats. The bitterness develops a lot of lingering flavors after the swallow, including a bit of mouth aroma in one cup. The qi is very strong, still a kind of weird alerting nature to it, and it definitely moves around the body some. And of course, this is insanely durable, I had to stop at what was probably twenty brews.

The wet leaves can smell really awesomely herbal in a way that was missing from aroma and taste. Finished leaves were apparently really stemmy, I might have gotten less of some features because of that. I could still really only tell two sort of leaves. Yeah, this is still one of my favorite teas.

The first tea today, obviously was the 2009 YQH Shenyun Tiancheng. I had gotten another sample because it had apparently lost most of its bitterness since I had it last. It mostly certainly had! There is still a bit of tongue root biting bitterness, but not only is the bitterness gone, a lot of darker flavors had gone, too! That was interesting to me. So it's a very big, very full and plummy tea with some subtle nuances. I sort of rather liked this. It definitely does follow some senses of that BHT claim. Not a super complex tea, and doesn't have a potent aftertaste game like the Yehgu, but still a lovable big lug that one can easily compare with the 2010 BYH Wangong which is similarly claimed to be BHT or whatever. Like that tea, this one probably does need to be brewed with a very firm hand to get a bit more complexity.

One thing I definitely am prompted to think is that I think people should be pretty suspicious of any high end tea that isn't fairly bitter when new. Potent tea good for any length of time just isn't not going to be bitter, but the Mainland market is rather bitterphobic and people are constantly claiming that their expensive Yiwu has little or no bitterness. I suppose if you still get a good aftertaste game, it might still be alright, but any sort of age will have a mellow tea, maybe to the point of blandness.

Okay, let's get to the tea! It's pretty easy this time. Aroma is generally plummy and a bit sweet-custardy, with some subtle florals here and there. It can waver into genericness, and come back to its usual themes. The taste follows the aroma, plummy, custard, slight hints of barnyard, minerals, and can verge into fruitiness in various cups. It's a very mouthfilling plumminess, though, a big tea. The viscosity is very thick, slightly less than the Gedeng, with a light astringency. The early brews tends to have an interesting cooling feel and a bit of feeling down throat. The bitterness, what there is of it in the early session, tends to generate a nice winey sense that makes for a fermented plums feeling. It also contributed some choco notes. Through most of the session, it's mostly subtle floral mouthcoats, and the occasional yun, not too exciting an aftertaste game. The qi is strong, relatively straightforward. This seems to be a durable tea, and I've put in the fridge for weekly brewing.

The last tea of the day is the 2005 YQH Wushang Miaopin, four grams. This is one of the most exclusive, rare, and expensive YQH around. I think it's pretty good, it's fairly complex and engaging, but it's not hugely better than many teas, including the teas I've just tried. It's broadly similar to the southern Wangong stuff just north of Chawangshu, like Baichayuan or Yishanmo/Xiangchunlin that are very plummy-fruity but aren't super floral in the way of BHT or other Wangong further north, and also does not have the lower mushroom or barnyard notes of Chawangshu or general GFZ area teas.

Aroma is pretty consistently plummy that verges on fruity. The taste tends to be a complex one with a core of plummy-fruitiness, with a paper-y woodiness, barnyard, a bit of bitterness showing up. This can have a touch of sourness. Unlike a lot of teas I've had recently, this is on the smaller side of soup taste, so a tight ball of complexity. The viscosity is moderate with a bit of astringency. The aftertaste game includes a very fast yiwu huigan of almond that often shows itself among the main tastes. There are some subtle mouthcoats, and the lingering bitterness also generates some notes. However the primary and consistent aftertaste is a set of fruity yuns. The qi is very strong and interesting feeling and is a big point of this tea. I had not really pushed this tea, and so put this in the fridge with an eye towards brewing all week, too.

oh my god, longest post ever! To be fair, this was a weekend full of important teas, to me at least.

 

[shah8]

Three teas of the weekend, a couple of newer W2T and an older XZH.

The first tea of the weekend was the 2019 version of W2T Lucky Puppy. Broadly, I liked it, and I think it's actually a bit better than the 2018 (a bit unusual given how hard it seems to maintain quality in puerh year over year), but I did have an issue with how short the active part of the session was, and how ungainly the transition to long brews of honey soups was.

The early aroma was complex, built around fruit and barnyard and also featuring mineral, herbals, honey, and a bit of spice. This was about three to four brews before it fades into a more generic sense, tho'. The taste when it was going good was a deep barnyard and chicory base with mineral, florals, and honey. Fruit pops up here and there. After the good part, there is a bit more awkward part where it's sort of a higher, bitter chicory, mineral and a bit of honey before the good honey taste shows up firmly in late brews. Viscosity is on the thick side of medium with a short stretch of mildly increasing astringency before dropping off. A bit of cooling... The first couple of real brews had a complex aftertaste experience, and the aftertaste games lasts for about six brews. Most of the fun was in a complex mouthcoat aftertaste early and a nice more encompassing sweet herbal mouthcoat a little later. There were slight yiwu huigans, and also a bit of a run of floral yuns. The qi is a bit more than moderate strength and is of good quality. The durability is so-so, in the sense that the really fun part is over quick and there was also a stretch of awkward, thin flavors before a reliable nice brew happens again. I think this tea needs some aging, maybe...

The second tea yesterday was the 2011 XZH Yiwu Classic. I hadn't wanted to stop drinking really nice XZH just yet. This is said to be a blend of daqishu, luoshuidong, and gaoshanzhai, with a run of 600 cakes. Broadly, this mostly behaves like a Mahei, tho' it's not quite as thick as a good one, nor does it have that cottony mouthfeel stereotypical of Mahei. It's more of a delicate tea with lots of nuances that required focused attention, but I really enjoyed this session.

In the first phase, cream is the base of aroma and taste. The aroma would have cream and varying amounts of apricot, wood, cloth-floral nuances. The taste would be sensate sweet with cream, dulce de leche, high barnyard, wood, subtle [apricot, floral, and plummy tones]. A bit deeper into the session would have more of a wood note in the aroma and taste as it transitions to a more consistently plummy (with a dark element like sweet cherries or concord grape) with wood and floral notes. The taste is a delicate/transparent plumminess with a similar hint of dark fruitiness/wine, a bit of wood, vegetalness. Into the deep session the taste simplifies to a gentle and thin floral plumminess. There is a bit of anchoring tartness, but no bitterness in the session The viscosity is only about moderate until very late, with a creamy mouthfeel. Not much astringency in the mouth, but is prone to a light astringency in the throat. There is some cooling, and feeling does go down the throat here and there. The aftertaste game is considerable and quite durable, lasting at least ten brews. Early brews had some nice dulce de leche mouthcoats. There was a consistent tonguetip coating that often generated a fruity or winey (and mint at least once) sense. There was a lot of shallow pungent huigans and fairly active floral yuns. At one point, there was a couple cups generated yiwu-huigan to cream/almond. And there was least one episode of nice mouth aroma. A lot was happening. Qi was pretty great, at a strong level with high quality. Durability is something like twenty brews.

This tea is roughly on the level of the 2012 XZH Chawangbing and Fenghua, and rather different than both. And as much as it's described to be a Classical Yiwu, this set off bohetang sort of feelings too. Not really mineral, barnyardy or brown sugary enough to be so, but I think its just mostly a feeling of how gushu this stuff was. Definitely very similar to '95 Zhenchunyahao, but less oolonged, much more subtle in aroma and taste, and with a much great complexity in taste and aftertaste.

The last tea of weekend was Gore of the Forest from W2T today. I examined it from a perspective that this was a Mansa, but I now have some reason to believe that not to be the case. Anyways, the notes will treat it as a Mansa. I enjoyed this tea, and this was a better session than my first, which had a lot of bite. It's still bitter here and there, but better behaved. The taste is a bit suspiciously flat, though, so might be a bit tweaked.

Early aroma was honey, wild honey, but main aroma tends to focus around a stewed peach note, that has some wild honey around it. Taste is effectively wild honey, stewed peach, mineral, and some barnyard in varying quantities. Capable of strong bitterness with a bit of tcm-bitter associated. The viscosity tends to be thick with a touch of runny honey/pudding texture. A bit of astringency early, but is soon lost. Some good cooling at top of throat. Aftertaste tends to be mouthcoats with some stuff caused by the lingering bitterness. An occasional yun. The qi is moderate to strong. Seems to fade deep in the session. Durability is a bit tricky in that the taste fades after not so very long, but with rest, gets a couple of dark brews before fading again. Did about fifteen brews total, and put it in the fridge.

I liked this tea, especially the peachiness, and it does have reasonable prospects for storage.

 

[shah8]

Five teas I wanna talk about tonight...

The first tea is the 2019 W2T ZhenTaMaDeKuaZhang bamboo chempi shu. I really liked this shu. One thing to note, is that the tea is not that tightly packed, so there are lots of loose leaf and bigger chunks. Be careful in opening the bamboo. Anyways, I view this as a GNWL type shu with chenpi that the roasting sort of fused together. I think the roasting affected how much citrusy zest is evident, compared to the more broadly medicinal chenpi medicinal nature.

The aroma is excellent, with a pretty strongly rising and fused orange, chenpi medicinal, woodsy/bamboo, and shu character. The taste is like one of the high almond, cream, sort of GNWL shu (like the Dayi 2008 version), with a shallow fermentation depth, a bit of wood, zest, and with chenpi medicinal filling out the depth with the fermentation. The viscosity is about moderate, maybe a bit better, but it has a very nice soft feel in the mouth. The aftertastes were great. Unlike in other chenpi shu, the zest flavors the mouthcoat some, and I got some pretty vivid mouthcoats. The qi is also on the strong side, and is a bit nice. Not particularly dynamic, nor expected since it's roasted. Durability seems to be pretty good, certainly better than the O'Bitters.

If you want a cheaper version, the Channel Orange is a little close to the bamboo shu in nature, but this 2019 is well worth the money to get, and I'm thinking I want a second tube.

The first sheng of the weekend was the 2019 W2T Well, well. I am ambivalent about this one, as that this tea obviously requires a bit more skill to brew well. It is very much like the '17 W2T FWYH and the '16 Untitled02, except maybe a bit fruitier in a yellow fruit way. However, it has a pronounced tendency to have a watery feel in taste and mouthfeel. I'm wondering if it's not a fall version or something. Anyways, it's pretty decent if you can consistently brew with a firm hand to a smaller sweet spot than is true of most good puerh. It certainly thermoses very well. I can't really recommend it for collecting and aging(you're better off just getting the more expensive bulang cakes like FWYH or Swindog or whatever)--IMV, it's more of an expensive drinker.

Aroma and taste tends to be pretty sweet-mushroomy. Barnyard, herbal also tends to be in the aroma. Fruit or choco notes occasionally there too. Taste has more emphasis on yellow fruit and choco regularly and in later brews, a mineral element shows up. Taste becomes thin in some brews. Viscosity tends to be thick, but has some brews where the thickness feels watery. Astringent early, smooths out quick. What aftertaste game there is is mostly mouthcoat. Sometimes some nice cooling in mouth. Strong qi verging on qood quality. Durability is tricky because I did keep this going awhile, and it came back nicely after a rest, but I also got two or three weaker brews. Not a dynamic tea.

While this doesn't excite me, I do think I will enjoy finishing this sample off as time goes by, it's a pleasant tea.

The second sheng of the weekend is the 2003 Red Dayi 7542, that was apparently originally gotten from Toby, tho' I'm not sure if it was ever in one of his curated boxes. It is an underleafed 5.9g in a pot a bit smaller than my usual. I thought it was sort of interesting, but a disposable tea (after tinning and airing out). It did have a bit of that nice texture aged 7542s have.

There was a bit of storage that had to be washed out, so I got some black eyed peas funk in the aroma and taste the first couple of brews. More consistently, the aroma is herbal and plummy, with the herbal fading to a more hay sensibility. Aroma can also get a touch mineral. In the taste, early brews have some bitterness, tartness, depth, some storage and choco notes, but main taste is plummy. In later brews, it's generally a higher plummy and hay taste. There is some mineral in later brews. Late brews sees a shift to the classic late brew menghai honey note. Medium viscosity that builds a bit as the session goes on. Smooth. Aftertaste game is limited to light mouthcoats Qi isn't of great quality, a bit of it's qi, but there is also a caffeine feel. Durability seems ok.

The first tea today was the 2011 XZH Happiness Pro World. I wanted to compare this with the later teas. This session was a bit more like the later big gedengs than previous session. Not very much molasses action going on today. The primary differences between this and later teas is that the 2011 is a smaller tea in both taste and viscosity, and the 2011 has a strong game in the throat than the later teas. It's rather a bit like the differences between the 2011 XZH Yiwu Classic and the 2012 XZH Fenghua/Chawangbing. The qi is about the same strength as the 2012,13, but it's of better quality.

The aroma for about seven brews is really rather great. It's fairly mellow and gentle floral(verging on violets) and woodiness with fruit sometimes. The earliest brews are a melange of fleshy florals, woodiness, fruitiness, and cream (with sensate sweetness). Then it moves down with some choco notes with that woodiness. Late brew thins out to a more generic mineral, plumminess, choco nature. Viscosity is moderate early and builds up a bit as the session goes on. Aside from throat astringency in first brew, smooth. Feeling went down throat good the first six or so brews, with a very subtle feeling pungent huigan releasing florals on the way up. Complex, lingering mouthcoat flavors and yun happens as well. There was also a bitter-tartness that converted to lingering aftertastes, too. I was very slow to drink the first six brews as a result of savoring all of what was going on. Oh, and yes, the strong qi was slowing me down as well, lasting nicely after the cup is finished, too. Durability looks good, but like the 2013, it does simplify to a consistent theme at around the seven brew mark, and I put this in the fridge for weekday brewings.

The last tea of the weekend was the 2006 XZH Bulang Brick. This thermoses choco and plummy, so I was thinking I wanted to compare this with the 7542 I just had. This didn't turn out to be very plummy in a gongfu session with similar leafing as the 7542 in same pot. XZH is not as concentrated and potent in taste. More elegant and more pleasant smelling/tasting. Better mouthfeel, and much better quality qi. Not as dynamic a session as the 7542.

Aroma tends to be a robust woodsappy wood early and on firmer brews, while being more herbal and honey in other brews. Taste tends to be choco, barnyard, deep plummy, but can be woody or honey-barnyard. Viscosity is on the thick side of moderate with a tendency toward slippery or creamy texture. The aftertaste game is limited mostly to mouthcoats, tho' I did get a yun. And again the qi was strong and of good quality.

This is a rather simple tea, but quite enjoyable. Not as comparable to a 7542 as I thought. Definitely better in my book, but many people may prefer that stronger, deeper and more concentrated taste. It certainly wouldn't beat the 2005 Dayi Peacock of Mengsong or the 2001 Simplified Yun 7542, tho'.

 

[Ivo4u2]

I figure this title will be more annoying to those already perplexed by the numerous pu'er threads floating around. If you'd like, I can always change it to "Tea time with Toodlepip".

9/25
'07 Xi Zhi Hao 8582
6g, 140ml yixing- 15s, 15s, 25s, 40s, 50s, that's all, folks.

This was very nice, and better than the XZH dragon and phoenix I have. Their take on a classic recipe results in something completely different from the other 8582's I've tried. It's by no means a high end sheng, but it was delightful while it lasted, which was not all that long. I don't think this is one to hide away for a decade, but it's very approachable now.

Who's next?

Actually the title is just a bit Chinese

sheng means kidneys or mind/spirit For those who studied traditional Chinese medicine.

 

[shah8]

Plenty to talk about tonight...

First--the 2011 XZH gedeng lasted all week with great brews, taking the durability to at least twenty. It's a bit on the small side in taste and viscosity, but it's definitely among the best teas.

Second--got in the EoT order, and I did a western brew of 2018 EoT Beyond the Clouds. It's a pretty decent black tea. Going from Natural Redhead from W2T as a baseline, it's less berry tasting, more woody-floral, and it seems to have a bit more qi. So somewhat more sober a drink. I'd say it's a bit better than 2018 Natural Redhead, while being cheaper per gram.

Third--I did the W2T Cream shu coin. It's a pretty basic darker tasting bigger leaf shu, got some choco highlights. Good viscosity and smoothness, and has more qi than many shu of its general pricing. Of course, I myself would rather just have more Sunday Special.

Ooooohkay, that's done, now the sheng...

Got a bunch of higher end Yiwus and a couple of northern teas in from EoT. Here's the thing that we have to keep in mind--these Yiwu teas are $1.2-$1.5 dollars a gram. That means that we're largely going to get merely *acceptable* to *good* teas, not exciting teas. For example, Sanhetang is currently selling 400g of 2019 early spring Tianmenshan for about $850. If you go to TeaPals to take a look at what a nice new Chawangshu or Baichayuan from ChenYuanHao would be like, it's going to be around $700 for a 357g cake. Finish maocha will generally run about RMB2500-6000/kg for most of the big but not biggest name places. So $250/200g more or less $Name Yiwu is going to come with compromises one way or another. It should come as no surprise then, that the cheaper 2020 Boundless or Jinggu Forest shows off the finer points of what a really nice tea is like, better.

The first tea of the weekend was the 2020 EoT Tianmenshan. I recommended that this tea is one that can be bought safely blind. I still sort of stand by that assertion, as that the key reason for this, the unique quality qi is definitely still present in this tea. However, I gotta say it's a bit not really for novices tea, given some obvious flaws. This is still an enjoyable tea that is broadly worth the money.

The aroma is generally kind of muted, mellow and low, and usually has herbal, barnyard, wild honey character with occasional nice florals or some roasted grains. The issue is that TMS is a very Yibangy sort of Yiwu, and it should have more of a rising and penetrating floralness (with more detail) than this tea does. The taste is also sort of rounded and fuzzy as well. There is also a major issue with green bitter tartness that one recognizes from plantation teas--either the leaves are from tea trees that aren't that old, or the old trees got hit with a lot of fertilizer. I think that there has been a bit of purposeful oxidation to make the tea more palatable around this greenness, and I found a notable proportion of bruised and oxidized leaves in the finished tea. Now, back to the taste--it's choco, wild honey, root herbals more or less. Choco earlier in the session, herbals later session dominate the taste. There are fruit and floral notes lurking around. The viscosity is good with a gradually rising but still minor drying astringency. Does a decent job of cooling and feeling at the top of the throat. The early part of the session had some interesting aftertastes, like an unusual woodsy-herbal-floral mouth aroma. It also does a good mouthcoat and very shallow pungent huigans. In later brews, I've caught a slow yiwu-huigan to honey. I'm not sure how I should put the durability as this, as with other TMS, this quickly flattens out with a short active phase into a more pedestrian experience taste-wise, and I didn't push this that hard with the sameish late tastes. I probably did about twelve brews. The qi, as I've said before, is more or less for real, moderate to strong level with that valuable positive tilt to mood one finds in TMS (and YQH Shenpin Chawang).

I thought a lot about the 2019 Biyunhao MidGrade Bohetang in comparison to this TMS-- similar greenness, but not oxidized to soften it. As with that tea, I think this tea will eventually get rather nice as the green ages out.

Let's move to the Yiwu I had today before dealing with yesterday's Boundless...

I did the Eot2019 YaoZhuDi that's Yiwu Guoyoulin. I drank it from the perspective that this is broadly from the area between Chawangshu and Bohetang. I definitely enjoyed it. The compromise here is that this is just something random, and we're not talking about any tremendously awesome grove here. Not green other than because it's new, and not oxidized much. It's just a bit thinner and simpler in character than the better nearby teas. For example the 2011 EoT Chawangshu was somewhat similar and quite a bit richer when new.

Early session aroma tends to have a sort of lilies floralness high, roasted grains, mushrooms low to the soup. Cooler soups can show off a nice caramel character. The later aromas are more a simple herbal aromas. The taste is something of a bit bitter-hojicha-wild honey taste, not to thick or deep. There was often some caramel early in the session, but I'm thinking that is a very fast yiwu-huigan. The is a middle session where the taste is sort of vague and thin, but the late part of the session had a nice small and nuanced plummy taste. The viscosity is thick, with little astringency until relatively late. This had a lot of cooling at the top of the throat in the first part of the session. The aftertastes are, aside from the caramel, a good lingering taste generated from the bitterness, a mouthcoat, and a nice yun. One late cup delivered some mouth aroma. The qi is more of a normal character moderate-strong level.

I definitely liked that the tea was a year older. I'm not such a huge fan of drinking new teas. I'd say the value is okay for this tea, but while there are less faults and it feels more gushu, the TMS is the better tea that will widen the gap as it ages. Just a more rich and experienceful tea.

Okay the Northern stuff. I really rather enjoyed Boundless and consider that a relatively good value for anyone who wants something reasonably "gushu" without getting their wallets killed. It's not as high end as Wuliang H, but it is more full than that tea or the more similar Bamboo Springs.

The aroma was herbal, floral, and butter, with the butter, then florals fading as the session goes on. The taste has an edge of that Wuliang green herbalness, but is dominated by a white sweet flavor that's cream? buttery cream? white nutmilk? There is a bit of bitterness and an herbal aspect which grows to dominate the creamy sweetness. The taste can be complex and full of nuance early on. The viscosity is the weakest aspect of the tea, being only about moderate level with very low astringency. Long creamy finish, good mouthcoats, and an occasional yun for aftertastes. Qi is about moderate. It seems to be pretty durable, but I didn't push this as long as I could have, got tea'd out.

I definitely did think about whether if I'd want to buy some of this tea. I do have enough tea, though. Had there been a 100g cake option, I'd definitely been serious. This is better than Bamboo Springs, but Bamboo Springs is still the better value. I do suspect that this will likely get less pleasantly sweet and more Wuliang-y herbal as Bamboo Springs is currently doing in my storage, but that will be tolerable to many folks. This did remind me of what the '07 XZH Puzhen was like when it was young, and what the 2013 XZH Fangpuzhen was like as well. Both had a strong white sweet taste with floral accents. Puzhen did have a kudzu vegetalness, but neither were Wuliang vegetal.

The 2020 EoT Jinggu Forest is Wuliang vegetal to the max with plenty of that Solanacae character! However, what I want to point out for people out there is that this stuff isn't from overpicked bushes/trees. It is a very lively tea with a rather exceptional (and unusually active) mouthcoat aftertaste. So, not exactly a very premium tea in terms of basic nature--much like many Wuliang teas sold over the years that I've never had much interest in, but imagine what the really good aspects of this tea would be like with tea from a more premium area like, oh a Walong...

Aroma is vegetal with a bend towards a sweet tomato or tomatillo, majoram herbalness. The taste is vegetal with a more sage forward herbal nature, can be green and bitter, but not tart. A few cups have very nuanced tastes. The viscosity is thick with a smooth mouthfeel. As said before, mouthcoat that can be strong with a number of flavors and sensations. Also spotted a yiwu-huigan here and there. Mild to medium qi.

This isn't really any huge revelation of a tea, but it was a fun drink, and probably worth throwing a cake onto the pile in a big order. Play with it. If you're more serious, Bamboo Spring or Boundless are obvious better keep and savor sort of vegetal-herbal tea.

 

[shah8]

Okay, wanna keep it a little short and sweet this time... let's see...

First tea of the weekend was the EoT 2017 Yibang Gushu. I judged it against XZH Hongyin Grade A and the 2013 yibang classic and various gedengs. One thing I think is interesting is that the Malaysian storage seems to have really worked on it in a very short time. This basically comes up short to the premium XZH yibangs and gedengs in the sense that it doesn't have as much complexity, particularly in the sense that it doesn't sweet almond or much caramel. The aftertaste game is also much simpler.

Aroma is woody, wild honey, and tcm in various quantities. The tcm has an almost coffee like masculine nature. Choco notes very early, fleshy floral tones very late A bit fruity here or there. It is notably not particularly dry-floral in the way older XZH small leaf teas are, or in the way this tea was when I first had it new. The taste was tcm-bitter, wild honey, and was generally not very complex, but satisfying enough. The soup does have a tendency to become more plummy tasting as it cools. Sometimes a wood taste, too. The viscosity is roughly medium to a bit thick with a slight pudding texture. Astringency builds from a very light start. Some cooling in mouth. The aftertaste game is primarily a nicely developing mouthcoat. The qi is about medium strength and does tend to linger a while after the cup is finished. The active phase is sort of short, but the tea will make worthwhile brews a relative long way. I did about fifteen.

I'd say this tea is pretty good, and is overall of better quality than the 2020 EoT Yiwus. The price reflects this, though. The main reason one would consider them better is that this doesn't really have any flaws other than a natural smallness of taste typical of small-leaf puerhs(why a Dayi 05 mengsong peacock is less than an 05 menghai peacock).

While the SRP of XZH small leaf stuf that is good is pretty high--almost all are $1000/400g as compared to $660 for the EoT, there are generally opportunities to get the XZH at better prices. I'm not really aware of cheaper ways to get same quality yibangs/gedengs.

The second tea yesterday was the old trusty '06 XZH Youle. One of it's good days. Very much like the really expensive old stuff like 70's Conscientous Prescription. Great aroma of herbly-woody-spicy that is complex and has a bit of that gloss of old tea aroma. The taste had a strong concentrated tart note acting like a strong bitterness early, and that fades to reveal a sort of not too deep fementation note handwavingly similar to barnyard. Spectacular aftertaste and feeling in the throat, with lots of feeling from throatfeel and moving qi. A real treat that got shoved into the fridge for anticipated brewing the rest of the week.

The third tea is the EoT 2020 LaoJieZi Gaogan. I found this to be a pleasantly tea that is not really exciting to drink in terms of complexity or dyanamicsm. It's a very much purely itself sort of tea more suited as a complement to contemplation rather than being entertained by plot twists in tastes or aroma.

Aroma tends to be high barnyard, mushroom and some plumminess. Occasionally a touch of floralness. The taste is a bit green, but properly so, compared to the tianmenshan. Anways, its mostly mushroom, slight honey, plummy with a touch of fruit. Good viscosity with a slight pudding texture. Generally not astringent until about brew seven or so. Earliest brews have electric mouthfeel. Can have good cooling in some brews. The primary aftertaste is a fruity yiwu huigan, which can be fast enough to feel part of the main taste. There is also some fruity mouthcoat. The qi is moderate level. I did not push the tea durability-wise.

It was interesting to compare this tea with the '19 XZH Huangyin Grade A, which is slightly cheaper Zhangjiawan. It's less green, and is more plummy. It seems to be substantially similar teas going by memory and my notes in B&B. I do seem to remember the xzh top taste being more overtly plummy.

Of the 2020 EoT Yiwus I've just had, I prefer the Tianmenshan, despite the taidi bitter-tartness. It has the strongest qi, the best quality qi, it has some aftertaste and it has a rich and nuanced taste even if it is tweaked flat. The guoyoulin doesn't have a strong enough sense of itself, and as just said, the LaoJieZi is boring to me, such that I put this in the fridge after only about ten brews, and I probably won't be drinking too many more brews as I'll focus on the Youle.

 

[shah8]

The first tea of the long weekend was the 2018 Sunday Special. It's now a calm shu on the thinner side of things. Not much fermentation flavor, root herbal tones, very mineral for a shu. Have propensity for sweet sensation and fruitish tones in extended taste/aftertaste. Medium viscosity. Rather good qi.

The second tea of the weekend was the 2009 XZH Fengshabao. This was a pretty successful session as that it was not as vegetal in the way I didn't like, and a bit more choco that the dark vegetal notes often transform to. Good plummy-honey aroma with some wood accents. Taste is plummy-honey, vegetal, choco depth. Okay viscosity, a little astringent. Consistent good plummy mouthcoat and some cooling. Good qi. As usual, very little dynamcism in the session. I didn't push this too far, about twelve-fifteen brews. In a way, this Fengshabao is much like an obnoxious Manzhuan. It's a pretty good drinker so long as you don't have huge expectations.

The third tea of the weekend was the main event for the Fourth of July, the 2014 XZH Lanyin, which is a Bingdao take. It's more or less what it was like in my first try--the aftertaste game is extreme in the early going, gets more boring later, and isn't as good as '07 XZH northern teas in late session--more difficult to drink, less sweetness, less nuance.

The earliest brews were a pronounced dry, clothlike florals, minerals, and high barnyard in aroma. As the session goes on, the floralness in the aroma verges more towards a fleshy floral along with some barnyard. The taste early on is primarily barnyard and cream with dry floral fringes. There is a brew or two with a notable tartness. Midsession taste has a caramel note, and a bit later, some of that Bingdao propensity towards an artificial fruit flavor shows up, tho' it's more like at the intersection of fleshy floral and grape soda instead of orange Fanta. It's not dominant so you have to look for it. Late brews are barnyard, mineral, hint of fruitiness, with a quick floral kick at sip. Occassionally there is some sensate sweetness covering tongue and front of mouth. The viscosity changes around abit through the session, starts at better than moderate, gets a bit thick and then thin as the session moves on. Astringency shows up more towards the late part of the session. There are some interesting cooling feelings in the mouth, and this tea consistently punches deep down the throat in much of the session. Aftertaste game is very intense with an aggressively floral but not pungent yun at the top of the throat being the focus. Mouth aftertastes are interesting, but competes with yun for attention. There is also some floral mouth aroma adding to the what is going on at the throat. There are subtle yiwu huigans to caramel or fruit at various times. The qi is mostly just fairly strong, and I don't remember any particular qualities of it. Durability was good but late brews are fairly boring. I took forever to drink just seven brews though, because every cup was so involved, so for the whole day I probably did about 14 brews or so, with plenty still left in the tank.

I was aggressive in to keeping the lanyin in the pot because I was leaning towards some '12 YQH Yehgu, but decided to be more lowkey and have some '10 XZH Hungshan. I've grown to accept its limitations, especially in light of it's Manzhuanitude, and I've gotten to really like the tea. I like its powdery floral nature (what Tony Chen calls pollen) and it gives a very nicely sweet soup. Better than Fengshabao for mellow gongfu drinking! I had also been thinking that I like it better than a lot of aged yiwus, and I don't usually get excited to dring manzhuan teas. I have strongly wondered if it's not this sort of tea that bulks out the Hongyin and yibang-manzhuang blends, including Hongyin Grade A.

Pollen florals, honey, barnyard are in aroma. As with the Lanyin, the powdery flora moves to a more fleshy floral tone later on. The taste has some bitter-tcm and choco depth early and gradually rises as the session moves forward. There is some mineral, honey, and barnyard as well, early, with occasional cream notes. Later brews is mostly a simple and very pleasant honey-plummy with fruit accents. This tends to have moderate to good viscosity with a somewhat runny honey mouthfeel. Goes down throat a bit. This tended to have a decent mouthcoat and floral yun early on. Moderate to strong qi that was nicely calming and meditative. Durability seems to be good, tho' late brews are repetitive, but really nicely so. Put it in the fridge for more brewing during the rest of the week.

 

[shah8]

First tea was the '14 XZH Huangyin shu. My previous opinions are about the same as this session. It's a pretty delicate graham cracker-brown sugar-ish shu with an interesting aroma, bit of a complex taste and a nice fruity aftertaste. Good qi, and it's pretty durable. Still think the '08 and '09 XZH shu are better overall teas in that they are both more robust while having similar finery. '09 Blessings is less sweet and more sober than the '14, of course.

First sheng of the weekend was 72 Hours. It's been five years. Paul advertised that this tea was made from a blend that was supposed to get really sweet and thick in that time. Well, was that true? Yeah, sort of. Early brews had strong chicory bitterness. However, late brew consistently delivered a kind of honey caramel sweet taste that is indeed very pleasant. Mouthfeel is good, some good aftertastes, but the qi was also remarkable. Strong and I felt positively relaxed, and the feeling lasted well after cup was finished. Realized as I skimmed over previous postings that 72 Hours and XZH '15 Hongyin are really rather similar teas. The Hongyin is more floral in aroma and taste, where 72 hours is more vaguely floral, edging towards woody. And 72 Hours is more explicitly sweet of the two teas later brews. Hongyin is thicker viscosity. Anyways, another session that made me think that 72 Hours is one of the best teas made by a Western vendor.

The second tea of the weekend was the '07 XZH Manlin. What this tea has going for it is that it has a big and full and thick taste, that is pleasantly choco, mineral, wood, plummy and in general giving a nice bit of that wuyi yancha good vibes. It had a decent viscosity and mouthfeel, too. Everything else, it's on the weak end of high end gushu teas. As overall teas, the '04 and '05 BYH Manzhuans are clearly superior, despite inferior taste. And I gave a lot of thought to '09 XZH fengshabao being superior with a vaguely similar profile, more narrow, a little problematically vegetal in taste, but with stronger aftertaste, aroma, qi game. At this point, I definitely like the '10 XZH Hungshan better (it's supposed to be Manlin, but not so much in my book, whatever the truth is). And anyone who's looking at XZH for the classic Manzhuan goodness needs to focus on the '11-'14 teas that feature Trigemenial Qing forest manzhuans. Of course, getting a Manlin from Facebook auctions is much cheaper than either BYH or better XZH.

Third tea of the weekend was the '07 XZH Mengsong. Good narrow tasting version of deep-dark lbz character in beginning, lifts higher fairly quickly. Really rather good aromatic performance of choco, wood, subtle florals underneath wood. Good aftertaste, qi. I didn't push this too hard before putting in fridge.

Fourth tea was the '07 XZH Jipin. This was one too many teas as I did not brew nearly enough times before I was pretty much done for tea, given lateness of time and tenderness of tummy. Very mushroomy with a wood, medicinal camphor character. As session went on, taste developed more of a sweet sugar accent. Subtle fruit aftertastes. Good qi. I put this along with the Manlin and the Mengsong into the fridge.

I was doing all these teas because I should be getting a large box of samples which should be keeping me busy for a month or two. Wanted to drink some of my own familiar teas while I had the chance.

 

[shah8]

The Shu of Friday was the 2010 XZH Court shu--basically a pressed gongting style cake. This was mostly just a nice shu with nothing special about it, which was interesting, compared to the really good shu from 2008 and 2009. Frankly, XZH has not ever made better shu after 2009. They did make a very good to great shu in 2014 with the Huangyin, and there's a '15 Luyin iron that probably is very good as well. Anyways, this 2010 basically behaves exactly the same as all the other gongting pressed shu does--strong dark taste with coco in that fermentation depth, a touch of wood, and a suggestion of caramel sweetness. Good viscosity and a bit of qi.

The first tea of Saturday was the 2015 W2T Tuhao as Bleep. This is supposed to stimulate LBZ. In the thermos during the week, it does not behave much like lbz. In a gongfu session, the tea behaves like LBZ early on in a way similar to how many older Naka, nakaish teas do--dark and bitter like LBZ but narrower early, and rises quickly to more almond and plummy notes quickly. Overall, I found this a nice tea that's not worth much chasing after, even if it was available.

Aroma consistently has wood and choco in it, early brews are deeper, while later brews have more tobacco, mushroom, and plummy notes. The taste is choco, wood, bitter-tcm that develops more of a tobacco accent as the session moves forward. The taste rises as well, as the choco and bitter-tcm fades a bit. Decent viscosity with a bit of a pudding mouthfeel. It can have a strong astringency. Primary aftertaste is a fast yiwu huigan to sweet flavors. It can also have an interesting herbly-woody mouthcoat. The bitterness can linger and generate some floral notes. The qi is mild-moderate of no distinct character. The tea doesn't stay that interesting very long, and I didn't push this as long as I could have, did about ten-twelve brews.

The second tea of Saturday was a four gram Bingdao maocha from a TW procurator. This was a nice tea that was well worth drinking, but it was a long ways away from the standard of the XZH '14 Lanyin.

Aroma tends to be dry cloth florals, fleshy florals, a touch of high barnyard, a slight grape bubblegum note here and there. Early taste is this combination of sweetpea and apple that gradually turns to maybe a more savory dried apple/high barnyard character before becoming chicory and a bit bitter. The viscosity was good, smooth and soft mouthfeel. There is some cooling. Early brews had nice yiwu huigan to refined sugar taste. There were also some notably fast floral mouth aromas, and lingering bitterness generated more floral mouth aromas. There are some fruity mouthcoats as well. Qi is mild-moderate of no particular nature. The tea early is not bitter at all, but it eventually become chicory and bitter, and generally not that interesting late. I also went "meh" on this tea before it was fully done as well.

The first tea today was the 2016 Theasophie Guoyun. This was the cheapest per gram of the elite fresh Mengla teas Theasophie offered that year. The thermos I had during the week was very impressive, yielding a lot of qi and a very productive astringency that generated complex aftertastes. The gongfu was more disappointing in light of that thermos. This tea is tweaked in a way similar to that TeaHabitat Yibang I've had recently. Thus, the main taste is a bit hollow, and there is very little dynamacism in the session.

One thing that tweaking does do well is give the tea a big fleshy floral aroma that it gives consistently. There is a coffee-tinged wild honey and mushroom note underneath the florals. The taste is very consistently a wild honey-bitter-tcm(coffee leaning). There are some fruit tones here and there. It's basically the same through the session, but rises gently from bitter-tcm depth until the taste is sort of faded. Very good mouthfeel with good viscosity and a velvet mouthfeel. There is usually a bit of astringency that is very productive. This astringency tends to promote a very active aftertaste that seems to flit from yiwu huigan, to mouthcoat, to yun at the throat. Qi is about moderate. As said before, this tea doesn't really change much other than get thinner, lighter, and higher in flavor and the other qualities fading (aside from qi). I did about fourteen brews, and could have done more if I was interested.

The last tea of the weekend was the W2T 2015 Bosch. It's clearly a Gedeng (or maybe Yibang) with maybe some cheaper Yiwu filler or something. I found it easily comparable to a less good version of the 2012 XZH Gedeng. I found this tea fairly enjoyable in both thermos and gongfu. The flavor and aroma in the thermos were not striking, but the strong qi was. That qi was there in the session and the flavor was deep and solid as well. This is a tea that is doing well.

Early brew aroma had Barbq essence, similar to what you'd find in BBQ potato chips and the like. The was also mushroom and wood. The later brews are more decisively woody in an alkaline sense and root herbal. Taste is pretty consistently woody with some tcm-bitter/choco depth. There are also fruit tones tucked in places. In later brews the bitterness has some interesting nuances. Medium-good viscosity with a touch of astringency. Aftertastes include a very fast yiwu huigan that often arrives while the main taste is still enjoyed. There is a a bit of floral mouthcoat, and activity in the throat like yun and a shallow pungent huigan. Some feeling there, too. The qi is on the strong side of moderate-strong, and is enjoyable for me. Durability is pretty good, I did about ten brews and stopped with plenty left, and the pot will be going into the fridge.

 

[shah8]

Okay, basically fancy W2T weekend!

First, the shu on Friday was the XZH 2018 Revolutionary Brick copy. It's basically a take on the classic 1970s Revolutionary Bricks that evolved to your standard 7581 shu. Light fermentation, northern area material, like Jinggu, etc. The Dengshihai shu that I have a lot of is also this type of tea, even though it's in cake form.

Aaanyways, as with the 2010 Court Shu, this tea isn't close to the stuff XZH was putting out in 2008, 2009, but it does have a good bit of qi. Compared to good 7581s, this tea has more choco, cream, less camphor or fruit nature. Like them, it has less fermentation taste so it's thinner tasting and more delicate than other shus. As a value, it's okay, but it's competing in a marketplace where there is strong interest in making high quality shu, and I like a number of W2T shu more as far as newer shu goes. Although, there has not been a recent real effort on a 7581 take by the western focused vendors. Closest are some of the northern tea origin shus like W2T Lumberslut or YS Yongde shu.

First sheng of the weekend was the the W2T Queen of Clubs from 2018. I have it pegged as a mainline Wangong tea from points north of the Baichayuan to Yishanmo southern Wangong axis that delivers all that mushroom and plummy. I feel as though I'm drinking what a young version of the '11 XZH Classic Wangong would have been like when it was young. I liked it pretty well.

The aroma starts out pretty mushroom based with (kind of woody or sort of rocky)mineral and honey. It gradually deepens to a wild honey, woody herbal, mineral, root herbal, and then rises up to a light herbal aroma in late steeps. The taste is wild honey, herbal, mushroom with subtle floral, fruity, and mineral notes. In later brews the depth of wild honey fades and rises to a mineral, light floral, maybe a subtle mushroom or cream base. The mouthfeel is really good, with good viscosity and a pudding texture. There can be a tough of astringency in mid-steeps. Some cooling happens. There are fast yiwu-huigans that deliver fruity notes early and more honey notes later. Has a tendency to deliver good yuns, a little floral. One brew had a good floral mouth aroma. Some mouthcoat as well. Qi is strong, of regular character. Durability is okay, main taste and aroma gets faint fairly quickly, but mouthfeel, qi goes on, and some aftertaste help out as well.

As for value, I think it's okay. As usual, one is best off hunting older teas, but against newer stuff, I'd say it easily beats the comparably priced Eot '19 YaoZhuDi. It's more drinkable than the EoT TMS and more exciting than the EoT LaoJieZi. Both EoT are more durable and the LaoJieZi is more stable and has more integrity of character, tho' a little weaker in aftertaste and qi.

The second tea of the weekend was a 2020 Lao Wu Shan (Osanzhai) rattan bush maocha sourced by a taiwanese guy fetching his own maocha. Osan is a xiao-Jinggu area that's way northeast of the main area and on Wuliang Mountain. The XZH Osan stuff is more like Xigui and some Lincang-like Jinggu, while this tea is pretty much your usual vegetal Wuliang, a bit like the EoT Jinggu Forest tea. The main difference and point in favor is that it has a depth of toffee in the aroma and taste. There isn't too much mouthfeel, and there's a bit of yiwu huigan to some sweet notes early. However, light qi and the aroma and taste becomes generic pretty quickly within the session. Not a particularly interesting tea, more suited for daily drinking and quite inferior to EoT Wuliangs.

The first tea today was the W2T 2020 I Am. I enjoyed this tea and were I in the market for expensive new tea, like with the EoT TMS, I'd be thinking about buying it. This tea struck me as something I'd imagine as what happens if one blends a Naka with a Bingdao. It does seem to be something that has small-leaf tea as part of the blend at any rate. The blending is disparate, and the tea does oscillate wildly between some axis, but on a broad level, it seems that one set dominates early and another set dominates late with both doing stuff throughout. Aging probably would help.

The aroma swings from alkaline mushroom that can have barnyard, choco, herbal notes participating, to a more focused honey aroma and back to a more focused alkaline or mushroom nature. The mushroom in late aroma can have interesting subtones of fleshy florals/fruit. One thing of note is that this tea is unusually non-floral for a new sheng, with almost all the high notes being alkaline. The taste early has a nature similar to the XZH Mengsong, with barnyard, choco, and tcm-bitter dominating. That taste become more vaguely dark and then rises to wood, then honey, and then a more consistent light alkaline mushroom note. The mouthfeel is really good, but it starts off more moderate with a pudding feel and a bit astringent. In later brews, it's thick and feels as nice in the swallow as heavy cream. Some cooling. One late brew had a bit of unexpected electric mouth energy. There tends to be a lingering bitterness that I sort of enjoy. Strong yiwu-huigan to honey is the nicest set of aftertaste, often coming fast enough to help with the main taste. A couple of yiwu-huigan to fruit also occurs. One late brew had a strong, lovely sugar, sugarsweet yiwu-huigan. There are several episodes of a nice floral mouth aroma. A bit of mouthcoat. The qi is strong and is nice, lingering after the cup is finished. The durability is a bit weird because it feels like one component gives up a bit and another component keeps going nicely, but I'd say it's pretty dynamic and durable, I did about 13-14 or so brews and put the pot in the fridge.

Again, I think this is pretty likely to to be very nice with some longer term storage and is likely to be quite drinkable, compared to Lucky Puppy or The Box from W2T, so I'm more inclined to think of this tea with some enthusiasm. One thing to note is that this tea apparently has a lot of oxidised leaves from casual inspection, so it's probably more ready to drink now at the expense of future conversion, a bit.

I did a quickie mini-session with XZH '07 Shangpin, cause I bought a second cake, and was reading up on Changtai Jinggus. It's still obviously the weakest of XZH's northern teas, but it's really nice now. It has lost most of the off-Jinggu dept taste and is now composed of this dark and rich plummy note that's a lot like the plummy of a plummier Liubao or a Qimen hongcha. Overall, of course, it's not a super-rich or complex tea and doesn't have much qi or aftertaste, but brewed firmly? Like in thermos? Well, I've gotten to enjoying this.

The second main tea of the day was a 2005 GFZ from YQH that they didn't make too many cakes of, and which generated some huanpian cakes that got sold off a bit earlier. There's a reason they didn't make too many cakes of it--it's taidi of some sort--has that taidi bite. Presumably, this is the leftovers from the bulking agent in YQH blends (sort of what I think the deal is with W2T Snoozefest, or whatever) that got pressed into their own cakes and forgotten about until now. Aroma is good, and much like the other dark, non Chawangshu GFZs. It's sweet, with pumpkin, root herbal, aromatic soil. The taste is thin, but the same as the aroma, with an added woodiness and halibut umami, and some plantation tartness. Mouthfeel is also thin. Light qi and yiwu huigan to honey mostly early in the session. I didn't try to drink too much of this...

 

[AgedSheng]

Overall, of course, it's not a super-rich or complex tea and doesn't have much qi or aftertaste, but brewed firmly? Like in thermos?

Pardon my ignorance, but what is thermos brewing? Is it similar to grandpa style?

 

[shah8]

2.3g of tea into a 1.1 or so liter thermos, pour out tea after 2 or so hours, then four, then at six hours for the last bits.

The shu of Friday was the 2012 XZH Dragon (1kg)Brick. I thought it was pretty decent, and better than the Cultural Revolution or the Court Shu from XZH. It's made from Nannuo material, roughly third grade material or so. It brews like the third grade Dayi teas like v93, '09 Ziyin, Hongyun, etc, except that the XZH is very stemmy, while the Dayi has a darkish tasting bulking agent common to all of the 3rd grade teas I've had. That means that the XZH is more thin, high, sweet, and delicate, compared to the more robust Dayi nature. Anyways, the XZH tastes like a very standard 3rdish grade tea with little flashiness, good mouthfeel, not too much aftertaste, and good qi for a shu.

The first sheng of the weekend was a blind try, and definitely illustrated why I really don't prefer to try teas blind. There is just no such thing as any sort of "objectiveness". What I wound up doing was making guesses, evaluating the tea based on those guesses and wound up with not the best perspective. I do not think I actually misjudged the tea, what's good is good and what's bad is bad, but I wound up not not brewing, or empathizing with the tea's nature. That means important nuances that reflects the tea's best nature aren't caught like they should be.

Let's start with the notes and then I'll talk about the tea itself. The early brews tended to have dark herbals in the aroma, while the later brews were more towards the fruity side of things. Throughout, mushroom and mineral notes were underneath, maybe a touch of barnyard. The taste is generally dominated by a sort of non-concentrated tcm-bitterness that I thought of as like chicory-like dark herbal. Mushroom and mineral notes also there and becomes more obvious in the mid-part of the session before I started brewing very firmly towards tcm-bitter. Thick viscosity, with a texture that tended to be nice to swallow. What astringency that is there is fairly productive. This tea tended to produce interesting cooling feels, including cooling the outside of the lips. It also numbs the tonguetip from time to time. Aftertaste is persistently a yellow-fruit sweetness, like peach, mango from mouthcoat/yiwu huigan resulting from melting astringency. There were also some floral mouth aroma a few brews into the session. Early brews had a bit of yun, very shallow pungent huigan. The qi was on the moderate side of strong, but it did seem to tail off a bit as the session went on. The durability is okay--the active phase is over fast, about six to seven brews, but brewed firmly it will brew cups with solid character a long way.

Alright, this tea was the 2016 Theasophie LBZ, a tea that I and several others have panned four years ago. When I was drinking, I had quickly moved to the idea that this was a Fengqing tea, because it was very mineral, to the point of salt at points, and I was thinking it was sort of chicory like the way of northern teas, and mango was a consistent feature of the experience, something I associated with XZH Diangu, tho' in this tea, it was the aftertaste instead of the main taste of the Diangu. I also thought I had been drinking fresh tea, this years or last years tea. It wasn't super green or anything, but the leaves didn't look older and (especially the early brews) it didn't taste particularly aged. This tea was panned as being too green when I first had it, and I sort of think excessively high fry temps did have a negative impact (I thought about W2T Brother, Sister a bit, particularly since I like Brother and its high frying temps). The tea was less refined as a result with age, with maybe less of that nice forest floralness common to other high end Menghai teas. Some other comments: As an LBZ, I think this was a bitter leaf version, and it strikes me that the dark, bitter LBZ teas are just really close to Naka. I don't think of LBZ as the king of teas anymore, particularly without real quality (which hasn't been for sale to the public since roughly 2009). This Theasophie has a very enjoyable apricot(heh, not mango!) aftertaste, but it's really weak in terms of throatfeel and pungent huigan than should be the case (XZH '05, '06 had huge pungent huigans at this tea's age...). It does have an interesting cooling effect that I wish I could have inspected more thoroughly. While I like this tea, I think I would prefer the 2016 W2T Treachery of Storytelling more--bigger tea, more refined (florally) tea, better qi. Also, the other bitter lbz I've had is just more choco than this tea is, and I like them for that as well.

The second tea of yesterday was a TW collector's maocha that was a blend of Naka and Manlu, two northern Mengsong areas right next to each other. This was a weirdly big, clumsy oaf a tea, for a small-leaf puerh, but I rather enjoyed it.

Aroma was mostly vegetal, mushroom in character. There was some alkaline and barnyard notes from time to time. The taste was mushroom with light vegetal and fruit notes early. It transitions to having a bitter-tcm core with (yellow)fruity and floral tastes around it. Late infusions have sweet taste, lightly floral. The viscosity is about medium with a bit of productive astringency. Aftertastes are largely fruity mouthcoats. There was a brew with yun and another with some mouth aroma. The qi was moderate to strong, and it also lingers nicely after the cup is finished. I didn't really brew this out and put the gaiwan in the fridge. Doesn't seem to be super durable, but I did have at least ten brews.

This made me recall what the 2011 EoT Mannuo was like when young, at least a bit more than what the 2014 Pu-erh.sk Naka was like when young. Both teas are smaller than this one, which is relatively mouthfilling for a small-leaf sheng.

The last tea of the weekend was the 2018 EoT Gedeng. This one doesn't come close to the level of the XZH stuff, but it's okay, particularly for the price. Gotta grumble because those yearly maocha prices always talk about how Gedeng is such and such a price, like RMB1200-2400 when it's clear that the good stuff is way more than that. the EoT however is priced around the lower side of these estimates.

Aroma is a bit unpredictable early--sugar-cookie dough sweet grain, wood, spice in the first brew, then dark herbals in the second, before consistently delivering a fruity/dried fruity aroma while there was a distinct aroma. Taste in the first couple of brews were a non-concentrated bitter-tcm, a bit of sweet root herbals, and a slight fruity note. The bitter-tcm fades in later brews as a more consistent fruit note show up. Fruit in this tea is mostly like currants, sort of red berry with wine accents. There is a passive sugar cookie dough background taste. Late firmly brewed cups has the bitterness back, and it also can bite the tongue-roots. This tea does generate good viscosity with a pudding texture, but it also becomes fairly astringent. Some cooling mouthfeel. Consistently delivers a currant/winey mouthcoat, less often a nice yiwu huigan to sweet flavors. Occasionally has yun, mouth aroma. Moderate qi that lingers nicely. Durability doesn't seem to be great, especially in the sense that this tea gets really empty, bitter and astringent late. Aging is definitely needed.

For the money, this is an okay tea, but I have a few cakes of much better Gedengs. While this is definitely at least partly gushu, this also reminded me of what less exhalted Gedeng were like when I started drinking tea, like that 2010 YS Gedeng.

 

[shah8]

It's choco time, all week!

I thermosed what was left of the 2016 Theasophie LBZ. It sort of confirmed my attitude. It's more choco in the thermos, it's notably thick, and it has some aftertaste and qi. However, it's just really far from being mindblowing or great. I did some 2006 XZH Bulang Brick and Lao Man'e later in the week, and while they are less densely choco in taste and not as thick, they offer a more engaging and complex experience.

I brewed the 2018 EoT Gedeng all week, and thoroughly enjoyed them. It's not super great, and the strong bitterness and astringency it's capable of is an issue that needs aging, but tolerating that gives a really nice gedeng experience.

The shu of Friday was the trusty old '07 Dayi Anxiang. Still outstanding. Again, pretty much only the best two or three XZH shu I have is better.

Now for the CHOCO.

The first tea of the weekend was a long dreamed of and awaited try of the 2006 YangQingHao LaoBanZhang. This was a tea I've known of since the start of my hobby, because of the old pdf article talking about Lao Banzhang, and featuring a comparison between the Gan-en, Chenshenhao, Dayi Bok Choy, and the Yangqinghao was one of the teas. The reviewers weren't *that* enthusiastic about it, and thought it wasn't purely LBZ, where others like CSH (oops) were. Anyways, what do I think of it? It's a bitter LBZ that belongs mostly with the ChenYuanHaos '05 and '07. It's not as meaty as the '05 and it doesn't have as explosive an aftertaste game as the '07. It is, however, more layered in main taste than either, a bit more elegant, it is more durable, and the qi is at least as good as the others. Later brews, though, brings up a bit of nannuo carrotty like what the '05 XZH gives or the '99 BGT/'05Wujin does. I really liked this tea, but understand it's really, really, sold out. The 2007 XZH Mengsong, I was reminded again, performs very closely to bitter LBZ.

Early brew aroma was mostly choco and somewhat aromatic wood, with subtle alkaline and almond notes. After a bit, the aroma becomes more of a retired smoke and nannuo carrotty thing with a bit of choco, and late brews were mostly retired smoke in aroma. The taste starts off with choco, barnyard, wood, with a bit of mushroom and alkaline florals. The taste transitions toward mostly being retired smoke and choco in varying proportions. Mouthfeel has good viscosity with some productive astringency and a cream texture. A bit of interesting cooling early in the session, and occasionally, feeling goes down throat. The aftertaste game is subtle and not very loud, but is complex and engaging, particularly early. The mouthcoat and the way it intertwines with the cooling is complex and grabs attention. There were some very shallow pungent huigans at the top of the throat early as well. Tonguetip is coated in sweet sensation as well. In later brews, there is some floral mouth aroma, and a static, wine mouthcoat. Also a bit of yiwu huigan to almond sweetness. The qi is strong and has a complex feeling that makes me feel as if it's a rather high quality qi. Durability is excellent for a LBZ, I took this probably more than thirteen brews and put this in the fridge for weekday brewing.

The second tea of the day was a TW vendor curated 2019 Bangdong maocha. This is something of a quality and nature similar to EoT northern teas, particularly Bamboo Spring. It's a bit vegetal and very sweet. I think it's very enjoyable as a casual brew for a sweet-tooth drinker. It's substantially less fruity, floral, or dark mineral than most Bangdong I come in contact with.

The aroma is very dynamic, starts off fruity, then vegetal-fruity, then honey-vegetal, the mushroomy, then vegetal-candy-cane, then vegetal-dark-leather, then vegetal-funky-barnyard, then stabilizes late back at honey-vegetal. Taste centers around a light vegetalness, with fruit and honey being common partners, with occassional appearances of herbal, chicory, barnyard, spice and masculine floral elements. Viscosity is on the better side of moderate with a velvet feeling. There's a bit of cooling here and there. The aftertaste game is dominated by very sweet yiwu huigans, but there is a bit of floral mouth aroma early. Some nice mouthcoats late. There's a bit of qi. Durability seems pretty good, took this to about fourteen before I decided to stop as it faded.

The last tea of the weekend was a bit spectacular. 1950s Four Gold Coins LiuBao. Pushed to 10g instead of 8g. It's not that complex so I oughta be able to describe this quickly. But first, I'm going to admire the crystal clear ruby soup with citrine highlights.

Okay. Now. This tea obviously used smaller leaves, and this seems to have lead to a performance that is fairly close to small leaf shu like gongting, GNWL, 2nd grade shus like Dayi Dragon Pole.

Consistently has a wood aroma that has a bit of aromatic to it, like furniture, and some betel-nutty hints. Oddly, earlier brews has some fleshy florals. One brew also had an interesting failed winemaking barnyardy wine element in the aroma. The taste is pretty dominated with a bittersweet choco (yeah, seventy and still has a bit of bitter bite). In earlier brews, there is betelnut-plumminess earthiness, wood. In later brews, it's really just a rounded, choco core like a gongting shu with a distinct LB betel accent. Moderate viscosity, rather soft, does have some astringency, particularly when pushed. Early brews has a lot of active cooling, can numb the tonguetip. Feeling goes down throat okay. The qi felt remarkable in the beginning, like my body was being filled with helium and eventually floating up. I got used to it so by the time I stopped, it was just a really nice qi. Seems extremely durable, which was interesting given how much it tastes like shu that gives up the ghost quick. Put this pot in the fridge too, expecting lots more of a simple choco-LB that's still very pretty to look at and tasty to drink.

Obviously, if you can get it, you probably should. Might have problems getting it. More really good than super exciting. Much more compelling than a 70's LB I've had a couple of times.

 

[shah8]

The 2006 YQH LBZ lasted a pretty good while through the week, being mostly retired smoke and a little carrot. I really still haven't exhausted the 50's GGC LiuBao, tho' it tastes much more like a conventional liubao with most of the choco gone. What was interesting to me is that the qi for the late brews from both was pretty minimal, unlike many other teas's late brews through the week.

One thing I have been thinking that I want to emphasize is that banzhang is just much more like the teas to the north rather than the teas to the south. Bulang proper has a much more different flavor compared to LBZ, as opposed to Naka or Nannuo or Pasha or Hekai. Banzhang, for example, is just not very *floral* floral, though so many descriptions have it as floral. It's floral like a Naka or Nannuo, i.e., alkaline, forest floral, etc, while Bulangs are more floral. Bulangs tend to have much more barnyard and much less choco or wood. They tend to have different aftertaste games, when Banzhang shares with Hekai and a few other teas that elite astringency conversion to sweetness. So on.

I had a notably good thermos of my 2003 Bulang Wild, which is obviously banzhang material this week.

The shu of Friday was the 2004 no1 recipe 6FTM shu (of which Banatea sells the 2006 version). Second straight awesome shu session, and this is really worth getting. Light fermented shu with a ton of nuance in aroma/taste, a pleasant silt texture, and plenty of qi. I drunk a number of cups slowly.

The first sheng of the weekend was the 2020 W2T It's a Gift. As seen in other reviews around, it's a substantially weaker quality tea than the 2019. If you think you might want to get this sort of tea, you probably should be the 2019 sooner rather than later. The main issue is that the aroma and taste has less definition as yibang-y floral or fruit. Another issue is that it is pretty tart, similar to the Eot 2020 TMS, but not so green. Aftertaste game isn't as good, and the qi is a bit weaker.

Aroma is dominated by mushroom early with vegetal and barnyard tones, gradually moves to a vegetal theme and gets vague quickly, like brew six. Taste has mushroom and vegetalness very early, with subtle fruit and floral notes. Then it moves to a tcm-bitter phase with root-herbal, banyard, melon notes. The latter part of the sessions is a grains, brown sugar sort of flavor with some aromatic wood, root-herbal notes here and there. The viscosity is nicely thick, early brews aren't that astringent, but astringency does increase by a good bit over the session before declining a little. In terms of aftertastes, the strongest aftertaste is the yiwu huigans after five brews or so, to sugars. All the other aftertastes are pretty subtle--a bit of floral mouth aroma, a touch of mouthcoat, does have a nice feeling at the top of the throat with a bit of yun. The qi is moderate to strong and it tends to be pretty sneaky. I didn't push this tea too hard (12-14), but it feels like it would have decent durability.

The later part of the session recalled a lot of the YS fall Mansong in character. I do think it's a good tea, but the obvious superior alternative puts it in the shade, and it definitely can use some years to tame the tartness some.

The second tea of Saturday was some XZH wild tea hongcha. I did a western brew of this and was "ho-hum", but this tea is a lot better gongfu than expected. The good qualities are a bit subtle. I wondered if the W2T Xigui black tea sample I got sort of got stale or something. This XZH did have a similar Ovaltine malt.

Fruit, ovaltine, moss, herbal, wood in aroma and taste. Peak aspects was this really nice sweet dark cherries and woody aroma-taste. The viscosity was thick with pudding texture. Not much astringency. Early brews had a lively feel in the mouth generated by a relatively active bitterness. There was also yun and mouthcoat aftertaste. Moderate level qi. I took this about twelve brews and put this in the fridge.

Last tea of the weekend was the trusty '02 Tai Lian International. Great session, very lengthy, at least 20 brews. Very tart, but focused, and can be treated as bitterness. Really nice complexity of taste and aftertaste that made for slow drinking. Viscosity was a bit thin very early on but it built up. The qi was very enjoyable. Think this set of leaves had a bit more of the nice Bingdao-ish stuff than usual.

 

[shah8]

Okay, trying out a new tea source (Yiwu Mountain Tea) this week and weekend, so tons of things to say...

Let's get some quickies out of the way...

Thursday, I did this black tea: Yiwu Black Tea - Gushu 2019 Spring (200g loose leaf) | yiwumountaintea - https://www.yiwumountaintea.com/product-page/yiwu-black-tea-gushu-2019-spring-200g-loose-leaf brewed western style. There wasn't anything really remarkable about it cost taken into consideration. It's something a bit better than Natural RedHead, but not as good as Sugar Rush from W2T.

Sunday, I did a quick gongfu, and this largely was the same result. Aroma tends to be a deep toffee-savory ovaltine, which is more or less the taste as well. The mouthfeel was good, relatively thick and smooth. Can be sensate sweet, and can have fruity yiwu huigans. Mild qi.

It's very hard to make a really distinctive hongcha. W2T's Xigui was a dissapointment, and the XZH Wild Tea Hongcha was a surprise interesting, but it's rather subtle. That tea of the month W2T Mengsong hongcha was also fairly subtly good. I think the yiwuteamountain hongcha might have something of the bones of the W2T Mengsong, and become much nicer with a few years of age. Should get sweeter and more berry-fruitier with a solid depth under it. I bought a sample of that Astrokittens red, am quite curious as to how a bitter hongcha would work out.

Okay, now for the shu on Friday. It's this tea: 2017 Yiwu Gushu Ripe (1kg - 2x500g brick) | yiwumountaintea - https://www.yiwumountaintea.com/product-page/2017-yiwu-gushu-ripe-1kg-2x500g-brick . This wasn't to my taste, taste-wise. It's sort of a wood, herbal tea with a bit of depth and a bit of caramel sweetness. It's not *that* different from, say, the Hailanghao Yishanmo shu, but it's more distinctly herbal flavored. The mouthfeel was good and as promised, "a creamy stickiness". I wound up with a strong mouthcoat that lasted well after I finished the main session. This tea also is definitely very durable. I did brew this quite a ways, and this still had plenty when I stopped. I would not be interested in buying this shu, myself, but again, it's not that different from the Yishanmo at Yunnan Sourcing--maybe not as good flavor, that tea is more crisply woody with a bit sturdier depth, but otherwise the same quality. So this is substantially cheaper for the the quality than that tea, even as both are not especially good values overall for high quality shu.

Okay, now, onto the thermoses.

Monday was Tai Lian. It was good, and I am convinced once again, that there is a sprinkle of seriously good **** in there.

Tuesday was the 2014 Tongqinghe from YiwuMountainTea. This thermos reminded me mostly of a very souped up YQH Lingya. Soft choco, root herbal depth with some wood. Generates strong, sweet almond yiwu huigan. Has a tenacious bitterness like veggie bitters or bitter melon. Some of that bitterness does generate this interesting tonguecoat of cinnamon candy--distinctively strong spiciness. Viscosity seems like it's good, maybe a bit astringent. Strong qi. Anticipates a good gongfu session.

Wednesday was the 2017 Fall Yangjiazhai from YiwuMountainTea. First pour is intensely savory floral and is overbalanced with that feature. I got Yangjiazhai because Duoyishu, 哆依树, is part of the Yangjiazhai region and is thought of as a tea similar to Bohetang. This special savory floral character is definitely a part of many teas sold as Bohetang, including a HK merchant's BHT originally sourced by LiquidProust that I reviewed some time ago. Anyways, it was a bit much in the first pour (as well as problematically green, a little), but underneath it was a mushroom and barnyard core. It can have some subtle caramel yiwu huigan. The second pour was much less floral and the taste was more strongly barnyard in character. It can also have some fruity mouthcoats. Moderate to good viscosity, and good qi. This tea's samples are especially well priced, half price of the other super expensive Yiwus on that website, so I feel free to recommend that interested readers pick up some of this at essentially a dollar a gram. I will be careful with the gongfu session to try and have more nicely balanced tea. It'll be a bit less thick in taste and viscosity than it should be owing to fall nature, but still.

Thursday was the 2020 Bohetang Huangpian Bohetang Huangpian 2020 Spring (50g) | yiwumountaintea - https://www.yiwumountaintea.com/product-page/bohetang-huangpian-2020-spring-50g . The thermos was pretty good. It's obviously a bit thin in texture and has huangpian character, but... Anyways. Aroma is vegetal with a floralish wood, more like Yishanmo/Xiangchunlin than Yangjiazhai. Taste was layered vegetal, sweet custard/sweet nutmeat with a touch of floral and wood. The experience was relatively layered as it felt like one was exploring a lot of nuances as one drinks. Definitely aided by a complex cooling mouthfeel, yiwu huigan to caramel and interestingly fruity mouthcoats. Mouthfeel has it with a thin viscosity but a texture that is much like silk and velvet, very nice in the mouth and swallow. Second pour has the character become darker and more barnyard while still being full of sweet flavors. Also generated this really nice blackberry-ish fruity character in aroma and taste, but it's subtle and you have to look for it a bit. Qi is moderate to strong, but very comfortable and high quality.

I did a session on Saturday.

Barnyard is strongly present early, with vegetal and floral notes in the aroma. Then it goes through a quick fruity state, before aroma settling on a vegetal-sweet nutmeat aroma. This BHT's sweet nutmeat is a bit like if you made a Mangjing's nutty character more mild and sweet. Early brew taste has barnyard and sweet mushroom character with a bit of wood. Later brews settle into a sweet nutmeat taste with varying degrees of fruitiness. Throughout until late is the tart, brassy quality found in huangpian teas. Taste isn't too thick but it is solid for huangpian. The viscosity was moderate with the texture mentioned before, very enjoyable in mouth and swallow. Again, a complex cooling, tongue-numbing game, that if one squints at it, is recognizable as similar to the sort of cooling found in the '12 XZH Chawangbing. Some yiwu huigan to custard, a floral mouth aroma and yun. An interesting and dynamic fruity mouthcoat for aftertaste game. Qi is moderate to strong and is pretty great. This is very durable and does last more than fifteen brews, and is still nice after all the huanpian tartness is brewed out.

I feel like I can recommend this tea wholeheartedly, particularly for those with sweet-tooths. You will need to manage huangpian nature, but this isn't expensive for the quality. In comparison to a clearly similar 2019 BYH Bohetang mid-grade, most everything is the same, except more solid flavor, less distinct sweet nutmeat sweetness, but this BYH does not have the mouthfeel, strong fruity mouthcoat or floral aftertaste, and the qi isn't as good. I wish I bought some of the regular 2019 maocha when I had the chance and was thinking about it.

Okay, now back to thermoses. Friday was the 2019 YiwuTeaMountain Yishanmo. It's pretty stereotypical Yishanmo, tastes exactly like what a younger version of the 2010 BYH Yishanmo, that I've had before, would taste like in a thermos. We're talking barnyard with deep plumminess, a bit of wood a bit of subtle florals. This tea was a bit young and green, though, bothered me a bit. The mouthfeel was decently thick and smooth. Aftertastes were subtle. Qi was moderate to strong, but of rather high quality. For some reason, the half-cup, overcooked third pour was very relaxing and enjoyable for me, for that reason. So this projects to be pretty good in gongfu session, but I suspect that it will not be as good as the LaoJieZi gaoshan from EoT (which you can't buy now anyways because it just sold out, like how that 2019 W2T It's a Gift also recently sold out, and...I was sad that cakes of the Carbolic Soap dancong have also sold out)

Okay, finally to the weekend!

The second tea Saturday was the BHT Huangpian discussed above. The first tea Saturday was the YiwuTeaMountain Laos Gushu. I thought it was fine but I didn't like it that much. I got it definitely hoping against hope that it's one of those laos teas from right across the border, but does seem like nothing like that is actually sold as Laos tea. This is Phongsali tea once again, with it's usual combination of Wuliang, Jiangchen and Yiwu-Yibang character. Ultimately, while there is plenty to be said for its refinement, a good example of a stereotypical Wuliang tea like Bamboo Spring from Essence of Tea is a much better value in my book, for tea that isn't *that* different.

It's kind of a dynamic tea...Aromawise, it goes vegetal-mushroom-fleshyfloral nuance; delicate herbal-fruity-floral; fruit-alkalinefloral; and then goes on toward floral notes with other nuances like spicey vegetalness like what you'd find in a Wuliang. Taste is more consistent, also usually kind of delicate and refined. Usually has vegetal character, can have herbal, fruit, mushroom and alkaline floral notes. Late brews after a break had sweet mushroom and honey notes for a quick couple of brews before fading. Very thick viscosity, smooth on entrance, can have a bit of astringency issue in the throat early in the session, and can leave a mouth dry after cup is finished. Consistently delivers a fruity yiwu huigan with a bit of fruity mouthcoat here and there. Qi starts off strong, but I got used to it, and there isn't anything super nice about it.

Yeah, it's not quite my cup of tea, and I certainly have plenty of XZH '09 Fengshabao which should be what something like this will age into, maybe. I don't think it's a great value either, but I do think that certain people would like this tea a lot.

The tea today was the 2012 YiwuTeaMountain Chawangshu. A very expensive session, about $24. Was it worth it? Nah, but I did learn a lot. This tea is very similar to '04 YQH Dingji Yesheng and '06 YQH Chawangshu. Imagine a Yesheng that is softened by Chawangshu mushroom and choco, but without the plumminess both has. This is not better than the YQH and XZH you can buy at a similar price per gram, but I must note that the storage on this tea is excellent, and illuminates the more shoddy level of Yang's storage from teas 2007 and before.

There are certain natures the aroma circles around--a medicinal, woody nature that you'd find in Dingji Yesheng, mushroom, choco-barnyard depth like YQH Chawangshu. The early brews have a complex taste with mushroom barnyard, wood and honey. Then it switches to a more focused choco and bitter-tcm depth that has medicinal and wood tones. Then the taste gradually rises and thins to a more simple, higher choco and medcinal wood taste. There are bits of plumminess in a few cups, especially late. The viscosity is something like medium good with smooth entry, but for bulk of the session has considerable drying astringency. There is a bit of potency with some slight tongue-numbing and a bit of feeling down throat early in the session. The main notable aftertaste is a floral yun. It can have some medicinal or plummy mouthcoats. A dash of caramel yiwu huigan and a pinch of floral mouth aroma also shows up. Active phase in general is over pretty quick for this tea, about five or six brews, but it seems pretty durable, did about twelve, with basic pleasant flavors, and I'm putting this in the fridge for weekday brewing.

There will be another really long post next weekend, sigh.

Is Yiwu Tea Mountain worth it? I'd say that it's legit, and play roughly at a level above Essence of Tea, or Theasophie (W2T doesn't really precisely do this sort of market segment of boutique name yiwu teas), but below serious XZH or YQH teas. It certainly seems like a better value than the likes of other Mainland based tea brands like Denong.

 

[treetime]

Interesting that you had the Yiwu Tea Mountain. I just tried for the third time today the $6/g 2013 Mansong:

Mansong 曼松 2013 Spring Gushu (200g cake) | yiwumountaintea

If you want to try out our premium gushus, please try out our explorer packs or sampler sizes. It is our philosophy to let customers experience the quality for themselves. It is in the journey of exploring tea that one can better appreciate the qualities that one likes most and enjoy the...

www.yiwumountaintea.com

I have to say it is probably the worst value tea I've ever tried. The character of the tea seemed to be more oxidized. The energy was nothing special — I didn't get the transcendent energy that someone described this tea having on Steepster. Nor did I experience that when I tried it before, nor another time with a friend (unlike the 80s GYG we had the same session). Today I actually discarded the tea after two steeps, it was so uninteresting to me.

 

[shah8]

On the one hand, these guys clearly don't really have the juice to get awesome stuff. Some of it is good, though.

On the other hand, as mine and other people's experience with the XZH '14 Hongyin Grade A shows, a really good example of a Yibang can be really subtle and transparent in taste. While the qi is relatively soft, it is pretty strong for me and wouldn't be missed by anyone sensitive. Generally, high end Gedengs and Yibangs do not have unobtrusive qi.

Wouldn't be surprised if it is oxidized. Getcha a bit more floralness and a bit more tameness for a material not as good.

 

[treetime]

Your recs on the 2014 XZH Hongyin were very helpful. I think my order of preference is:

Hongyin
Hongyin Grade A
Hongyin Iron

I just had the YQH 18 Tree 2016. Great energy, but tea is too young for it to have settled. Another five years maybe.

So I prefer the 2012 Yehgu (thank you, again), which is not as enjoyable for me in flavor like the sweet complexity of the Hongyin, for example, but despite its medicinal, aspirin (I think you say choco), I find the energy to be terrific.

The Hongyin is more sweet, light, refined, complex, exquisite in character. The Yehgu more wild, transporting, and medicine-like in effect.

 

[Obritten]

Interestingly enough I had a session of the Hongyin Grade A the other day. The sample I have seems to be pretty finicky. I had a great time with it last week and then the second time it seemed a bit more normal. The storage seemed to really dampen the top taste and so I was left with a relatively thick and sweet soup with some decent aftertastes. Energy is nice though. I much prefer the Hongyin Tiebing and regular Hongyin to the grade A. Also I guess it’s time to place an order with Yiwu Mountain Teas. I was pretty skeptical about them but it sounds like it might be worth sampling. I plan on finishing up my EoT 2020 samples over the next week. I doubt I’ll buy any of them but they were interesting.

 

[shah8]

Thermosed:

That YTM Laos '19. It came out a lot nicer in the sense that it was much more Yiwu, Yiwu honey with a dash of spicey vegetalness in aroma and taste. It still had problematic greeness and astringency. Thus it feels like the tea needs a lot of pushing to get a nicely Yiwu experience gong-fu, and therefore needs quite a bit of aging before it can do that nicely. I'm also inclined to think that the price is simply too high for 200g of maocha. Compared to W2T teas, from an agnostic perspective like "Well, well"--which is similarly needing lots of pushing, but also more rewarding, this is not a good value. And even compared to other boutique Yiwu materials, there are plenty of better older teas other there for that price or less.

The '12 Chawangshu. This came out nice enough, relatively simple, though, choco, wood, mushroom. Roughly about what the gongfu promised, but maybe a little too simple.

In addition, I did more brews of the gongfu session started on Sunday, and these were rewarding, some late ones had some wine with that choco-mushroom. Good qi.

The '20 QCBZ top gushu Yiwu blend from YMT. This pegs quickly like a poor man's XZH '14 Hongyin. Has the savory florals of the '17 Yangjiazhai over a honey base, similar to the basic format of the Hongyin. Has a bit of the mouthfeel and aftertaste. Doesn't feel like the session will be as complex, durable or full of qi as the Hongyin.

'07 YQH Lingya, to compare with the thermos of the '14 Tongqinghe. It was a rather good thermos, better than usual. It was indeed sort of similar--wood, herbal, choco.

'09 XZH Fengshabao. Had a dark taste with a lot of choco and a sense of layering of fruit and almond tones in the depth. Strong qi that was very energizing, similar to how banzhang acts on my. Was wilding at work typing like a madman, but more effective. Sort of liked that.

Friday shu was the '18 YS Yiwu Rooster. I finished this one off. I didn't like it that much. It's a low fermentation shu, and while I usually like shu low fermenation, for the reasons stated by YS, that it's behave more like aged shu--this one was just too thin and delicate tasting. Capable of a pretty good wood note, and one can find classical Yiwu character subtly present. The taste is generally a bit complex and evolving. Okay mouthfeel. mild-moderate qi, more on the mild side, but little in the way of aftertaste game.

The sheng of Saturday was the 2019 YTM Yishanmo. Thoroughly enjoyed, particularly the quality of the qi. Behaves much more like sterotypical Wangong tea in a gongfu rather than the sort of experience given by the 2010 BYH Yishanmo. So a lot like W2T Last Thoughts, CYH Yiwu Chawang;Guoyoulin, 2011 XZH Wangong Classic, etc.

Aroma has wild honey, that standard Wangong "grassy floral", in later brews, has a tendency towards a dense aromatic sense like musk or incense. The taste is pretty standard Wangong--wild honey, tcm-bitter, a bit of wood, hints of fruit. As the session goes on, the bitter-tcm depth fades, and the taste rises and incorporates more fruitiness. When I brew hard late, I get a narrow deep bitter tcm taste. Viscosity is about on a good level, and while it's smooth on entry, it does have drying astringency from the start and it does grow to a bigger factor as the session goes on. A bit of cooling in the mouth and a very occassional feeling in mouth and at top of throat. The aftertaste game is pretty decent. In the early going, light floral mouth aroma, good propensity for fruity mouthcoats. Occasional yuns. Nothing to wild, but it's complementary. The qi, as I've said, is of relatively high quality, very centering and relaxing of about moderate to strong level. Durability seems pretty good, did fourteen before putting it in the fridge with plenty left.

While this is worth having, it's roughly about $50 too much at $306/200g. One the one hand, I do like this tea more than the '19 W2T Queen of Clubs, on the other, there are plenty of other opportunities, like ~$400 for 357g of CYH Wangong that should be of similar quality at Teapals.

The first sheng on Sunday was the '14 YTM Tongqinghe. This was something of a disappointment, not only for the money, but also compared to the thermos. This tea does depend a lot on the bitterness to make it worthwhile and interesting and cover what is a thin taste.

A decipherable aroma was only there in the early brews--choco, a little barnyard, and a dark herbal depth. The taste also wasn't that durable, lasting maybe six interesting brews. Now, while it is broad and mouthfilling, there isn't much depth or a sense of fullness to the taste. The taste is dynamic over that time, though. Honey-mushroom-> choco-mushroom-bitter->lots of choco with fruit, wood, barnyard, bitter-> choco-dark herbal-> herbal-fruit-choco -> generic taste handwave similar to broad character. The mouthfeel is pretty good, thick with an interesting texture. Starts off with light astringency, gets a little higher with a sort of stickiness to that drying feel, and then fades. A good deal of cooling sensation in the mouth. Bitterness generates most of the worthwhile aftertaste, a dynamic tongue-coat. There is a touch of floral mouth aroma here and there, generally later in the session, and also later in the session is some yiwu-huigan. Given the thermos, which had strong yiwu huigan to sweet nutmeat, I was expecting more of this than I got from the session. Active phase durability is about six brews, and while this tea does go on, it seems that it's pretty boring. I did put this in another pot so I can brew during the rest of the week. The gongfu session doesn't taste that much like a gongfu session of the '07 YQH Lingya, but oddly enough, the reasons I have for complaints are largely similar--active phase over quickly and turns boring, not too much depth and interestingness in the main taste.

I put together a quick session of the '09 XZH Fengshabao to calibrate my sense of what I had just had. This particular session reminded a lot of why I thought this tea was a lot like a factory tea when I first tried a sample. More narrow tasting than other gushu teas, and with a very strong taste and depth. Lots of bitterness and some astringency, and in general, needs another decade. The taste still has very odd elements--not too vegetal this time, but along with the mainstay choco and wood, early brews had a strong funky character similar to souring garbage. The taste is rather layered, and has subtle fruit and almond notes underneath the strong dark flavors on top. This had a rather excellent mouthfeel, which surprised me, good, almost thick soup with a velvet feel, a bit of astringency. Notable feature of aftertaste is a fruity yun. Of course, strong qi as well. While it's still not that dynamic, it's very durable, and it does change in the sense that the taste gets higher and less weird and more fruity as the session goes on. Roughly 11-12 brews and plenty left in it so put in fridge to brew during the week.