2020 Tea Encounter Lao Man E Kucha (Bitter) When It’s Hot Out!

I have been saving this sample throughout the winter for the first real hot day of the year.  The first day my body feels really hot, uncomfortably hot.  These days are Lao Man E days!  Today is that day…

Unfortunately, my waiting has been too long and this2020Tea Encounter Lao Man E Kucha  (200g cake was selling for $82.16 or $0.41/g) has now sold out.  It was a rather late entry into the fray, released after Black Friday. Lao Man E at this price ain’t bad at all… least not as bad as this heatwave of Above 30C…  There is still some samples left for those that want to try it. 

Dry leaves smell of a woody paper odour.

The first infusion has a mild gamey floral watery onset with a slow developing mild bitterness that returns with a bit of watermelon sweetness.  The mouthfeeling is a bit gripping but not dry.  There is a lingering floral watermelon peel on the breath.  A chest opening Qi can be felt.

The second infusion has a floral green bitter bite.  The bitterness is really strong as expected with a bitter green overwhelming taste to it with a bit of cool throat and returning slight floral and watermelon peel tastes.  The mouthfeel is gripping and full with a bit tugging on the throat.  Nice mild open chest and light limbs feeling.

The third infusion has a sweeter bread-like sweetness a burnt toast kind of sweetness over a slightly gripping mouthfeeling and relatively more mild bitterness throughout but a slightly floral and almost honeydew melon rind and almost woody returning sweetness.  The Qi makes the limbs light and airy and the body feels deeply recharged.

The fourth infusion has a bready toast sweetish onset with a moderate bitter that comes out of that.  The mouthfeeling is slight fine sand and faintly gripping.  The sweetness here goes from onset to aftertaste and is a bready sweetness.  This infusion is the least bitter so far and is much sweeter.  The Qi is nice and relaxes the body and limbs.

The fifth is more buttery milky sweet almost floral with a moderate bitterness in the mouth and a bready finish in the mouth.  The mouthfeel is slight gripping, slight sandy. There is a low level almost fruit, floral, bread sweetness throughout.  The bitterness lingers on the tongue.  The Qi is relaxing here.

The 6^th has a bitter toast sweet taste with a returning watermelon rind sweetness with a more floral finish.  Nice relaxing and slightly slowing down Qi.  Light limb bodyfeeling is pronounced and is my most enjoyable aspect of the puerh so far.

The 7^th has a creamy bready sweetness to it that comes initially then stays into the aftertaste. There is a quick splash of watermelon sweetness.  Nice light limbs and open chest feeling. An almost lime melon rind finish.  Light body feeling.

The 8^th left to cool is a mellow bread and rind soft of taste with a bit of coolness in the upper throat and on the breath with a honeydew melon rind finish.  This infusions is almost fruity sweet with faint bitter and a more juicy feeling in the mouth.

9^th is left to cool once again and gives off juicy bread and fruity almost melon with some burnt toast kind of tastes.  There is a mild bitterness that lasts long in the profile and is the last note in the mouth after the melon rind sweetness has dissipated.  Qi feels really relaxed and slow with very light limbs.

10^th has a juicy feeling with an almost rubbery moderate bitterness that puckers the mouth.  The throat feel is mild here with a bit more upper throat gripping than most infusions.  Some melon rind finish and increasingly sedate feeling from this one.

11^th has a juicy muted fruity melon mild watery bitterness to it.  It has a nice long honeydew melon taste in the aftertaste.  Some chest opening and floating limbs but very mild.

12^th is luke-warm and is a bit woody burnt toast not really sweet and only mildly bitter.  Not much flavor here but nice Qi continues to emit from this one.

13^th oops is a good 10 second past flash steeping is woody bland similar to the 12^th more floral finish… I put this into the mug..

Mug is mainly just bitter deliciousness on this end… crush that heat out with this bitterness… hahahah…

This Lao Man E is an interesting creature.  It really isn’t that bitter but nor is it as sweet as some Lao Man E I’ve tried before.  It also doesn’t really taste much like Gushu but also not plantation or Xiaoshu.  I check the site and it says its Zhongshu or middle aged tree… That makes a lot of sense… and look the description is also really similar to some of my notes… I agree with the Strong Qi and with the bread sweetness…

What it does have is a very approachable price tag for Lao Man E.  It also offers a very solid bodyfeeling of relaxed limbs and Qi that is relaxing sedating and airy.  It also offers nice variability throughout the session with lots of different and interesting tastes to enjoy throughout.  On the first really hot day of the year, I enjoy this bitter cool energy of Spring.  Very satisfying to my body on this unseasonably hot day… this is the aspect of this puerh which I enjoy the most.. the bodyfeeling… a very nice feature for this price point.

Alex’s (Teanotes) Tasting Notes

Peace