Friday, November 6, 2020

Can’t Stop Drinking This: 2015 Nannuo Duo Yi Zhai from Tea Encounter




This is another semiaged Nannuo tea from another famous and notable village, Duo Yi Zhai.  Duo Yi Zhai is apparently the highest village in Nannou with abundant old growth.This sample was sent to me for review, is currently being restocked on the site, and goes for $64.65 for 200g cake or $0.32/g.  You can see the inside joke that really cracked me up that Tiago printed on the sample label.  Yep, love those bing holes…. Hahha

I actually got this sample before covid times and was hoping to review it before the world fell apart.  But then it was pushed to the bottom of the pile.  With a bit of age on it I decided to sample it in the later fall.  So here we are… After I sampled this once, I simply couldn’t stop drinking it day after day until it was gone!  I like this one!

Lets get right to it…

First infusion has a very sweet buttery floral elegant smoothness to it.  There are nuances of coco and a long soft floral sweet finish.  This first infusion is quite watery from the tight compression.

The second has a sweet sugar almost vegetal but mainly long overarching sweet sugar taste.  There is a very long overarching sweet ethereal sugary taste that reaches deeper into the throat.

The third infusion is much more sugar, very long sweet aftertaste forms the backbone of this profile.  There are nuances of florals, almost peach, pear, with a long faint cooling pungency that is right up front and lingers into the breath and delves deep into the throat with a simulating throat feeling. This is a very elegant and very gushu kind of tasting and feeling puerh with a deep feel good relaxation happening here.



The fourth infusion has a nice full coating mouthfeeling with a long pungent and sugar long overarching the profile sweetness.  There are lots of subtle nuances that appear candy, pear, coco, fresh flowers, lots of subtle depth but also very long and elegant with much high notes but also lots of deeper throat sensations.  I feel very good from the very subtle Qi.  Almost euphoric happiness.  The puerh has a very pure and clear feeling.

The fifth infusion has a strong pungent and sweet onset.  The very bright tastes such as pear, candy, sugar, almost cake, and coco and florals.  It’s very long, deep, subtle, delicious but very mood influencing as well.  Has a floral and green taste minutes later in the mouth.  This is an elegant gushu type that is stored nicely dry.

Sixth infusion is drank after cooling and gives off a pear, sugary, almost dirt coco, but a long sweet and pungent taste dominates with a deep throatiness.  There is such a nice feel good Qi to this puerh along with the throat depth and long overarching pungent coolness makes this one really nice and enjoyable.

The seventh infusion has a very pure clear sugar and pungent with an almost banana sweetness to it with melon, pear, floral, and coco tastes.  This is a deliciously ethereal puerh!  Nice euphoric feel good Qi.  Nice thin full soft coating on the tongue but more felt stimulating deep into the throat.

The eighth infusion has a long coco melon pear light but strangely full taste.  The soft full mouthfeeling and deep throat entrap all these subtle nuances to enjoy along with a very happy Qi.

The 9th infusion has lots of sugar sweet and fruity pear upfront with long stretching pungency from the initial taste into the aftertaste.  A moderately thick soft coating in the mouth and deeper chalky throat tightness.  Very nice vibrant Qi.

The 10th infusion has a fruity coco onset with a long deeper pungency.  The tastes of this puerh are really interesting in that they are really complex but highnoted and ride out in the throat and aftertaste.  The Qi is so nice and happy.  Makes me feel so euphoric and happy.

11th has a vegetal fruity onset with an increasingly tight mouthfeeling.  As the tightness increases there is more of a coco nuance to the taste.  There are other more subtle notes that drop out. 

12th has more tight throat sensation but the depth of taste is waning a bit here with more of it coming out in the long soft aftertaste.  Qi remains solidly euphoric.

13th has a soft powdery sugar almost fruity elegant taste with a long pungent that is less obvious now.  The long sweetness is still the dominating taste.  There is not really any base taste just long and grounded ethereal, light, highnoted sweetnessess.  Qi is really nice.  There is a simple long lingering sugar taste in the mouth.

14th has a light almost woody watery coco sweetness to it.  Despite a weakening taste there is still a full almost tight deep throat with a long lingering sweet aftertaste.

15th is a 20 second steeping and pulls lots of yummy apricot notes out as well as coco.  Still lots of stimulating throat feeling.  This one goes into a long steeping….

Out pushes still lots of subtle delicious tastes with a bitterness that seemed to never materialize in the flash steepings.  I like the mug steeping and do so a few times with a few overnight steepings… Yummy…



Overall, this is a great puerh for its price!  First it has a very nice dry storage on it that is very clean and really benefits the very light, complex, highnoted taste.  The taste also is very fresh pungent with long pungency and very distinct and long sweetness.  All this subtlety would not make it if it weren’t for a very solid, stronger, and deeper simulating throatfeeling.  The Qi is also very nice feeling good euphoria type Qi.  It makes me feel refreshed and happy.  As a package it highlights a nice gushu type long sweet, pure, gentle puerh for those who love this kind of thing.  It also doesn’t have a lot of the features that make Nannuo not as popular such as its characteristic dirt or root veggie type taste to it.  If it were from some famous Yiwu area it would go for hundreds of dollars more.  I recommend it to those who like this type of drink now light gentle complex type of puerh strong but harmonious Qi while still being budget friendly.  I’m thinking of picking a cake up…

Tea Adventures Tasting Notes

Peace

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