Tuesday, March 9, 2021

2007 Wistaria Hong Yin (Red Mark): Sweet Complexities

This is one of the more famous Wistaria productions.  A cake goes for approx



$243.00 for 357g cake(or $0.68/g).  This is a famous cake that is named and modeled after a really famous cake, the 1950s Red Mark

The dry leaves smell of very sweet cake and creamy caramel with a distant pondy like odour underneath.  Vibrant, mouthwateringly tasty, and sweet smelling.

First infusion has a smooth creamy approach with a slight sugary sweet base with slight woody taste and an almost dry woody incense finish with a pond and dry wood bark aftertaste.  The thin sugary sweetness is long in the profile but drops quickly in the aftertaste.  The mouthfeeling in a thin soft silky mouthcoating with a slight open throat.

The second infusion has a sugary sweet onset with dry wood base this time with more substantial smokiness that follows.  There is a smooth rich sweet smoky finish with a bit of pondy taste.  The mouthfeeling is thicker and more gripping and full now.  The Qi is strong in the mind and opening in the chest here.

The third infusion has a thick rich sweet sugary and thick woody presentation with a full woody thickness in the mouth.  There is a returning sugar taste with distinct moderate smoke.  Thick mouthfeeling with open top throat.  Strong powerful energy push and full woody feeling in mouth with strong heady Qi and open chest body feeling.  It has a strange Yi Wu/ Man Zhuan vibe to it.



The fourth infusion has a perfume with sweet sugar plum and fruity onset.  There are nuances of cake, plum, figs, and apricot, a nice fruity and complex sweet feeling with some chalky mouthfeeling.  There is a nice faint smoke underneath with a sweet taste left in the mouth.  Overall, quite sweet with a bit of woody, perfume and smoke to add contrast and complexity.  Nice mind focusing Qi.

The fifth infusion has a quick faint smoke with a strong sweet fruitiness.  There is a chalky mouth coating and faint smoky finish.  There are some woody nuances but overall nicely sweet and full feeling.  A bit of Heart racing and numb face sensations.  Stronger focusing Qi now and developing bodyfeelings.

The sixth infusion pretty fruity sweet onset with a nice juicy peachy and plum tastes almost creamy sweet with faint wood with some wood underneath.  The smoke can’t be detected in this infusion.  A nice thin chalky mouthfeeling with open top throat a tiny bit of returning sweetness. Nice heady and relaxing Qi.  The Qi of the body and mind are very nice.

The seventh infusion has a fruity plum and apricot that turns into a creamy peachy sweetness on the breath. The cooled cup is very creamy and fruity with a faint smoke with a woody background.  The sweet and fruity tastes are really supported by a thicker feeling in the mouth.  Nice relaxing Qi.

The 8th infusion has a creamy peach sweetness with dry woody over a chalky mouthfeeling.  The Qi is almost spacy and hypnotic now.

The 9th infusion is a watery woody slight smoky onset with some sugary faint aftertaste under a smoky woody taste.  The mouthfeeling has thinned out considerably and so has the taste.

The 10th has a pear fruity flat woody taste now.  The mouthfeel is flat and dry and aftertaste is faint.  Some pond, presumably storage aftertastes. Not that sweet anymore.

I go to a mug steeping now…

The mug steeps are very pungent resin with a woody light bitter incense no sweetness left. Kind of a spacy relaxing Qi.



Overall, this puerh has a very layered, full, and complex sweet presentation with woody, incense, resin, and smoke to provide contrast, balance and depth.  The sweet thick tastes in these first infusions are very nice.  The Qi comes fast and strong but after the first handful of infusions is really relaxing and stoning.  The Qi is also quite memorable.  The aftertaste and throat feeling is the weakest point of this puerh as well as its stamina.  I liked this puerh a lot but the lack of stamina makes me weigh a purchase…

How would I compare this to older style puerh cakes … well this is the only puerh I sampled out of the Wistaria bunch that hardly resembles old style puerh at all.  It’s too clean and elegant for this comparison.  It’s only closeness is in Qi.  To me this has a feeling of Taiwanese boutique puerh or maybe even closer to the newer style factories that were coming out of China in the mid aughts like Douji and Chenshenghao.  I guess it makes a lot of sense that Chang Tai helped produce this puerh because it kind of has that vibe to it… but it’s just really good, much better than any Changtai I have tried.

Jakob’s (T) Tasting Notes

James (TeaDB) Drinking Report notes and newer tasting notes

Shah8’s Tasting Notes

Peace

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