Okay, I know Tiago and me are both strong believers of the benefits
of full size puerh cakes. But, let’s be honest…
there are also many advantages to offering Xiao Bings too. Maybe one of the biggest advantages is that a
cake can be had at a much lower buy in price.
Okay, I know Tiago and me are both strong believers of the benefits
of Spring cakes. But, let’s be honest…
there are also many advantages to offering Autumn puerh too. Maybe one of the biggest advantages is that a
cake can be had at a much lower buy in price.
Okay, I know I kind of just repeated myself there. But you can see where I am going with this
right? The combo of xiao bing with Autumn production makes for a really
affordable option for those who can’t afford or don’t want to spend the money
on fresh puerh these days. Zheng Si Long
offers a solid Yiwu single origin puerh experience for those who wish to
explore single regions on the cheap all the while having your very own cake
which is kind of fun.
Tiago sent me a complimentary sample for review of one of
these autumnal 2019 Zheng Si Long- the 2019 Zheng Si Long Autumn Mang Zhi($46.47 for 200g cake or $0.23/g). I
imaged he probably sent this one because he knows I really enjoy the Zheng SiLong Mang Zhi and also because
Dry leaves smell of creamy, woody, florally, fruity complex
odour that is not particularly strong but complex.
First infusion starts with a pondy woody watery onset with
hay notes underneath. There is a clear
vegetal base to this first infusion almost rubbery woody and almost
floral. Not that much sweetness. The mouthfeel starts to fill up with a
rubbery squeaky kind of feeling.
The second infusion starts with a very present woody taste
slight rubbery woody and almost a woody floral type of finish. The mouthfeel is full and squeaky. There is a puckering full sensation in the
mouth with a very faint floral, not that much sweetness. The cooled cup is a floral orange creamy
butter sweetness over a vegetal base.
The Qi comes off pretty relaxing.
The third infusion has a lime fruit sour orange woody floral
taste. There is some complexity coming
out in the taste with sour, salty, and not quite sweet notes emerging
here. The taste is both interesting and
enjoyable and ends in a faint sugary woody floral cream woody. The mouthfeeling is a bit sandy and soft not
too full with a vacuous throat. The Qi
is relaxing to the point of zoning out chill.
The fourth has a jazzy fruity perfume woody strong condensed
initial taste. The base is woody and
vegetal there is a sugar sweetness in the finish with a fruity sweet
layering. The mouthfeeling is chalky
with sticky lips.
The fifth infusion has a woody slight bitter juicy condensed
fruity perfume onset. The initial tastes
kind of drops leaving a vegetal and woody base and some floral tastes with a
faint sugar. The mouthfeeling is a thick
chalky coating not much of anything really goes on in the throat.
The sixth infusion has a chalky floral orange fruit taste
over a vegetal woody base flavor. The
initial taste is a spark of tastes then it fades into a creamy sweet almost orange
creamsicle flavor over woody vegetal taste.
The mouthfeeling is thin chalky and the throat is empty.
The seventh infusion has a mild bitter wood with vegetal and
faint orange floral underneath. The
mouthfeeling is a chalky thin puckering with a cottony full finish. It finishes vegetal and almost creamy sweet.
There is lots of flavor here for sure just not as much mouthfeeling and absent
of much throatfeeeling. The Qi is quite
mild and relaxing almost hazy in the mind.
The eighth infusion has a woody slight bitter onset with
sour orange and floral finish. The dense
flavor over stimulating mouthfeeling are enjoyable. There is also a metallic taste developing in
the mouth over a flat sticky dry thin mouthfeeling. Hazy mild relaxing downer Qi on this overcast
day- my mind feels overcast.
The ninth infusion has a bitter woody onset that quickly
leaves an orange sour sweetness behind in the tight chalky thin
mouthcoating. There is a vegetal bitter
woodiness underneath. A cool cup is more
creamy sweet woody slight orange sour savory taste. The taste is complex and interesting but has
little to root on a thin tight chalky mouthfeeling and empty
throatfeeling. Relaxing.
The 10th has a woody slight bitter orange not
that creamy floral taste. It’s like all
the interesting flavours come at the same time and don’t stick around much but
that initial blast is really nice. Flat
tight full coating.
The 11th infusion has a sour sweet orange woody
vegetal taste. Tight slight chalky full
mouthfeeling. Relaxing Qi. This puerh is very stable throughout the
infusions. I like the interesting burst
of flavours here- bitter, savory, and sour.
`12th has a watery, vegetal, slight bitter orange
taste with some woody almost coco base woody profile. There is a grain/ hay subtle nuance that pops
up in the aftertaste minutes later.
I mug steep out the rest and it gives off thick olive
vegetal slight bitterness with a wood-floral nuance. The taste is still quite concentrated and
give me a calm alert feeling inside.
I overnight steep it and it is actually quite complex in
flavor the next day with chalky, woody, creamy sweet, fruity, bitter, lots of
tastes in there over a thick full chalkiness.
The fruitiness is quite long in the mouth and lingers for a long
time. It’s interesting that the gongfu
had not much aftertaste where the overnight steeping of the spent leaf had lots
of aftertaste which tells me that it will grow into its aftertaste as it ages a
bit more.
Overall, this Autumn Mang Zhi offers a dense complex burst
of varied tastes initially that fade quickly but are quite satisfying and thick
when they arrive all at once. Like a big
blast of flavor and then quick fade.
This aspect is nice and enjoyable.
There isn’t much for either length of taste, aftertaste, nor is there
much throatfeeling. The Qi is a relaxing
hazy mind effect. In the end I liked the
contrast between flavor bursts and relaxing haze. I still think a much better Autumal Mang Zhi
is the 2016 Zheng Si Long Autumn Mang Zhi offered at Tea Encounter that was
selected by Tiago after a wider sampling of Zheng Si Long Autumal productions
over the years. Still this is a solid
autumnal puerh single origin puerh for its 2020 price- if that is what you are
looking for. I enjoyed it.
Peace
2 comments:
Yeah, that's a nice autumn Sheng, that doesn't feel too much autumn-like (autumn Shengs oftentimes have a distinct velvet texture and feel quite flat apart from that) - in fact I like it even more then the 2019 spring version, which had an unpleasant texture (at least at the time I tried it)! Had the 2019 Autumn Yibang Ma Li Shu yesterday, that one is even better because it has a very interesting taste :-)
Alex,
I just read your review of it today:
https://puerh.blog/teanotes/2019-autumn-mang-zhi-zsl
This is a tippy and sweet and surprisingly deep taste for an 2020 autumn for this price. The most interesting thing was all the complexity and feeling that was still present in the spent leaves. I recommend pushing this one hard at the end of the session and you will really get rewarded- I did!
I agree with you that the 2020 Zheng Si Long Spring Mang Zhi is better but at a higher price.
I have not tried the 2019 Zheng Si Long Autumn Ma Li Shu yet but it was quick to sell out of the bunch. Restocked now.
Interestingly, I just finished a very nice 2013 Gushu Ma Li Shu from a different vendor- must post soon on that one!
I look forward to reading your review on the Ma Li Shu. I will check your blog for it now....
Peace
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