Wednesday, February 19, 2020

2001 “Naked Yiwu 001” & Optimal Storage Yiwu


The name of this cake from Teas We Like  ($160.00 for 357g cake or $0.45/g)  is a bit of a play on words.  The “Naked” is referring to both the fact that this cake has no wrapper but also to the classic nudity seen on the double happiness nefi as seen on Zhi Zi Hao productions of years ago….. hahahah… good one.

The dry leaves smell of distant plummy smoke.  Check out the deep bing hole on this one...

The first infusion has a slightly smoky and faint plummy onset with a slight tart long aftertaste.  The aftertaste has a bit of floral in it some other fruits but faint.  The mouthfeeling is chalky.  The aftertaste drops a lot of subtle little goodies out that are too early to parse out.

The second infusion starts a bit smoky with then there is this melon creamy powdered sweetness going on.  This infusion is mainly fruity and light airy floral with a bit of perfume floral layers.  There fruity floral purity of this Yiwu is really nice and plays out for a long time on the breath leaving you with a rich cherry on the breath minutes later.  There is very little wood or incense in here just sweet fruity florals very nice.  The mouthfeel is simulating enough without being too heavy.  The Qi is slightly warming and mellow here.

The third infusion has a raspberry cherry strawberry onset with a slight returning tartness there is slight smoke in the aftertaste. The sweet, floral, and fruity taste is nice with no incense, woody, dirt, peat, tastes.  A bit of smoke lingering in the aftertaste adds some classy depth.

The fourth starts with deep slightly smokey cherry tastes there is a touch of wood in here and less tart astringency as the cup cools down a few minutes.  Relaxing.

The fifth is fruity slightly tart with a slight woody taste emerging and fruity perfume floral aftertaste.  The aftertaste is long and the profile is nicely balanced between these tastes.

The sixth is a nice fruity perfume taste with a long rich finish of fruity deep cherries.  The fruity taste is long and pure and quite satisfying.  The smoke has seemingly disappeared and a long fruity floral almost deep perfume like taste is solid throughout from start to a long finish.  The taste doesn’t seem to change that much from start to finish after slurping.  The mouthfeeling and throatfeeling are a bit sandy nothing to strong but solid enough.  The Qi is a pretty mellow experience.  A slightly floating head sensation decently relaxing and sedate feeling.

The seventh has a slightly fruitier more incense nuance with faint smoke in the finish.  The incense nuance kind of interfaces with the cherry fruit.  The taste is simple across the profile but very pure and clear.  The most interesting thing for me is the lack of a pungent coolness and returning sweetness.  The sweetness is steadier throughout now.

The eighth infusion has a woody fruity almost bitter woody approach now with some incense coming mid-profile.  The mouthfeel is a bit sandy and the throat only mildly stimulated, enough to let the sweet fruit tastes and floral tastes linger.  The mouth has a slight pucker to it noticed more in this infusion.  Qi has a relaxing mild effect, slightly warming.  Overall despite the wet leaves looking green this tea is aged and warming.

The ninth infusion starts more incense, slightly woody, less fruity tastes.  There is a slight burst of initial fruit then disappears into incense and woody tastes, there is a noticeable tart bitter.   A relaxing lazy Qi to this puerh and nice relaxing aged mellow Qi.  Its rendering me quite useless.

The 10th starts with an incense woody almost orange peels and slight aged Traditional Chinese Herb market taste with a slight fruity and perfume floral nuance.  A throatiness starts to slowly develop as the session goes on- now I feel an almost numbing in the mid-throat which is quite nice.  I also starting to feel a nice relaxed not quite stoned content state that makes me smile.

11th incense and a slightly creamy sweetness now that develops a faint cooling in the mouth.  There is more creamy coolness and sweet that hasn’t showed up yet in this infusion.  The powdery creamy sweetness is a unexpected change from the predominant cherry, incense and wood.  The mouthfeeling also feel more chalky slippery here.  Very tranquil feeling Qi.

The 12th infusion has a chalky creamy sweetness up front with fruits lingering in the background.  There is more tartness here and more woodiness.  These infusions are super enjoyable with an interesting depth to it and a talc like sweet powdery dry storage finish.

The 13th infusion has a juicy fruity onset with creamy sweet finish and very faint pungency.  The taste is quite nice.  The Qi is making me feel so relaxed, I’m quite lazy…

The 14th infusion is also notable.  The fifteenth is more creamy sweet talc taste.  These later infusions are super delicious orchid creamy sweetness with no smoke, wood, just a nice pure sweetness.

The 15th has a touch of incense and woody but mainly just lots of long sweet tastes.  There is a deep mild coolness in the throat in these later infusions that really shine along with a nice long sweet taste. 

The 16th seems like its sweetness is even longer.  Nice long classic Yiwu sweetness here.  Relaxing mellow vibe with mild warmth.  No motivation to do anything while drinking this….

This puerh is nice value for what you get- very dry sealed storage preserving the best subtleties of Yiwu, undeniable Yiwu taste, classic profile and processing.  My favorite thing is how it changes throughout the infusions, this keeps me engaged and interested.  Also the sealed storage that is this old for this price you’ll never find anything like this one, it’s very rare and unique in this respect.  The sealed storage really preserves the grace in this one such as the florals and fruit notes.  I agree with Wooju’s tasting note that “one might hope one’s young Yiwu cakes will age into”.  I feel that this is really optimal storage for most Yiwu especially the lighter ones out there.

The smoke is done really classy.  When drinking this Yiwu it reminded me of one other smokey Yiwu I had tired at a tea table in Korea more than a decade ago.  I actually totally forgot about it until this puerh triggered an old puerh memory!  I have no idea what it was exactly but it likely came from Taiwan and was likely 90s Yiwu.  I didn’t get the details of it, sometimes its rude to ask.  I don’t think it was the classic Zhenchuanyahao that this cake was intended to fake but you never know…. Hahahah… either way this one unearthed a beautiful memory and had me thinking about how something like is a rare find these days.

The Qi…. Ok I have to comment on this because this is the real reason that I’ve only purchased 2 of these.  The Qi is really good but it is very relaxing then it pushes you to a point of being sedated then, well, you are quite useless… but you feel good… you are just really really useless… even hours later you feel the effect… and feel very very lazy but happy.  At work nothing got done, at home my wife was NOT impressed by my uselessness.

It looks like this one has sold out but it has been re-stocked now many times over the last year or so.  Watch for it if you are interested in these notes.  I believe the price which hasn’t risen since being listed on Teas We Like a year and a half ago is quite a deal for what you get.

Just for comparisons sake rating 7.9.



Peace

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