2020 Tea Encounter Chawangshu: Very Chawangshu, But Very Affordable!

A theme with Tea Encounter brand puerh is offering you a puerh experience from a very famous and expensive Yiwu area but offering the young or small bush (Xiaoshu) material instead of the mid aged or ancient (Gushu) material.  This is nice in that it allows you to experience some of the taste and Qi characteristics of these famous Yiwu areas without breaking the bank on more mature materials.  It is generally believed that xiaoshu are often more flavourful when fresh and that Gushu is more complex when aged but, like everything with puerh there are other factors that play into this and it is just a rough rule of thumb.  This 2020 Tea Encounter Chawangshu goes for $107.75 for 200g cake or $0.54/g. I kindly received a free sample for review.

Dry leaves smell of icing surgar almost candy like very sweetness.

First infusion there is a musk onset with a lower spicy taste and a tingling tongue feeling.  There is a low forest base and a deep low pungency that pushes out tropical returning sweetness of banana.

The second infusion has a sweeter icing sugar onset with a full tongue tingling mouthfeeling and lingering mid-upper deep throat feel where slight cool lingers and pushes out forest and mainly banana and tropical nuances.  The mouthfeel is tingling on the tongue and reasonably chalky.  The aftertaste sweet tropical and slight musk forest is long in the mouth.  The aftertaste is quite sweet.  I feel an interesting bodyfeeling of a chest opening sensation and shoulder feel light. My mind has a nice focused and upbeat feel to it.

The third infusion has a musky pungent onset with a significant icing sugar base taste. There is a deep forest musk base taste along with the thick feeling in the mouth and tingling feeling in the tongue this puerh feels nice and full.  There is a faint cooling then returning banana musk forest icing sugar sweetness.  The taste of this puerh is really delicious.  The Qi has a nice body feeling of opening the chest, brow heaviness and almost twitchy and shoulder numb and light.  In the mind it’s nicely focusing.

The fourth infusion has a thick creamy sweet banana and icing sugar layered sweetness that is really tasty and nice.  The initial presentation is thick and very layer sweet but with also underlying faint musk and forest and a spicy pungency that faintly dives into the initial thick flavor sweetnesses.  The thickness covers the mouth in a banana taste and even the throat is nicely stimulated by the thick chalky feeling.  The Qi is building a strong focus in the mind.  The chest opens.  The returning sweetness is long and mainly icing sugar with layered banana and tropical and creamier sweetnesses.  The flavor, feel, and Qi is really full feeling.

The fifth has a thick onset of pungent forest taste mixed with a layered banana and icing sugar sweetness.  There is a lubricating taste in the mouth.  The faint coolness pushes out a sweet icing sugar and banana sweetness that is very long in the mouth.  There is faint musk, forest, even faint bitter in the aftertaste.  The Qi is really focusing and revitalizing.  The body feeling is light shoulders and brow and chest opening.  I like this experience.  Minutes later I feel a euphoric high from the qi.  The processing of these leaves is really nice leaving everything on the table.

The sixth infusion has a mild bitter almost foresty onset with a thick mainly creamy and less banana tropical sweetness to it.  The sweetness has a real syrupiness, a thick density, to it now that only seems augmented by the mild bitter.  The returning sweetness is even more spectacular with the sweet creamy banana taste expanding long in the aftertaste.  The Qi is strong and euphoric.  I break in to a sweat while the muscles of my face and scalp twitch.  The saliva pools in the upper throat and has a nice saliva producing reaction.  This is very nice Chawangshu high going on here.

The seventh has a thick buttery, juicy fruity sweet onset that splashes up into the throat with a faint suggestion of bitter over a faint forest base taste.  The aftertaste is sweet fruit and icing sugar sweetness.  The Qi is focusing and a bit warming pushing me into a bit of a sweat.

The eighth infusion has a fruity and icing sugar sweetness at the onset that splashes into a somewhat viscous then chalky reasonably full mouthfeeling.  There is a stickiness left in the mouth.  A faint bitter and subtle cool musk brings out icing sugar in the aftertaste the more tropical and creamy sweetness are fainter here in the returning and aftertastes.  The Qi is really focusing and starting to feel more relaxed.

The ninth infusion has a mild quick moving bitter that splashes buttery and creamy and fruity sweetnesses up into the throat.  A forest almost milky base gives way to a creeping coolness in the upper mid throat which returns very nice creamy almost banana tropical sweetness and faint musk forest.  The sweetness converts into faint icing sugar on the breath.

The 10^th infusion has a creamy sweet and faint bitter onset.  The creamy chalky almost banana like sweetness is real long and stretches throughout the profile.  It sticks to the upper throat as saliva pools there and a faint bitter astringency holds it there.  Then fades out real slow in the aftertaste and breath.  I like the chalky creamy banana supported by subtle forest tastes.  It feels really full and satisfying when supported by and powdery chalky thicker feeling in the mouth like this infusion does.  The Qi is warming and focusing and relaxing now with some face and scalp twitching and deep breath.

The 11^th infusion has a fruity sweet creamy sweet pop of the sip then its stretches out into the throat and later breath.  It has a sunny fruity creamy fruity vibe to it.  The mouthfeeling is sandier now.  The mind is really relaxed now.  The face feels twitchy.

12^th has a more watery juicy fruity onset with a creamier sweet base, a bit woody with a sandier stickier mouthfeeling and mainly upper throat simulating feeling.  The flavor is less intense here a sign that it’s starting to wane a bit.  Still nice overall sweetness creamy-to-juicy fruity- to-creamy-to icing sugar.  The mouthfeeling is nice and decently full with a sticky feeling now.  The Qi is relaxing.

13^th has a woodier onset with sweetness under the more bland-bitter woody taste.  The wood is dropped when the sweetness returns and is a long creamy sweetness on the breath.  The mouthfeel is becoming more dry sticky and throat a bit tight.  The Qi continues to put me out into a deep content relaxed state.  There is a sweet banana taste in the mouth even 5-10 minutes later.

The 14^th infusion has a watery buttery onset with a faint creamy sweetness that expands thoughout the profile over a chalky mouthcoating and upper throat simulation.  The aftertaste is long creamy sweetness.  This infusion is just mainly the sweet taste jaunting along with little base tastes interfering.  The Qi is deeply relaxing and I feel a slow heart beat sensation.  Long breath creamy sweetness even minutes later.

The 15^th infusion has a watery sweet fruit onset that is paired with a simple woody taste.  There is still faint cool pungent note and a soft sweetness.  The mouthfeel is light chalky now. Very little throat stimulation

16^th I put to a 30 second steeping… it push out bitter chalky woody taste with faint underlying sweetness.  There is still a cooling finish with a water creamy faint sweetness on the breath over woody tastes.  A mild relaxing feeling…

I put the rest in a mug and sip on it this way… and it supplies a nice creamy sweet faint woody and bitter with a cool breath and long sweet creamy aftertaste… Yummy!

Overall, this is a real nice small bush production that gives you an authentic experience of Chawangshu without breaking the bank.  It has a real full mouthfeeling and nice stimulating throatfeeling that works well for the long and layered sweet tastes that it pushes out.  There is also a nice Qi presence that would also confirm Chawangshu origin- it has a strong focusing feeling early on with pronounced bodyfeeling in the chest, shoulders, head and face.  It also is quite comfortable in the body and not harsh on the digestion for a young sheng so is suitable for drinking now if you are so inclined.

I really like these Tea Encounter xiao shu (Small Bush) Chawangshu and Guafengzhai productions where you get a good experience of the area with a typical Qi experience and taste profile on the cheap.  Last year, I hailed the 2019 Tea Encounter Gua Feng Zhai as my favorite of Tea Encounter’s 2019 line up (the 2019 Tea Encounter Laos Gushu is better value and is also good) this one is definitely up there for the Tea Encounter 2020s- especially considering its value for those that want to drink now.  Great work Tiago!

Peace