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 6th 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 7th 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 8th 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.
9th 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.
10th 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.
11th 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.
12th 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.
13th oops is a good 10 second past flash steeping
is woody bland similar to the 12th 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
I totaly see, why you saved this sample for a hot day - nothing better, then an refreshing bitter young tea on such days! While there are certainly more "punishing" specemines of Ku Chas out there, this a nice one - love the bitter side of Sheng ;-)
ReplyDeleteAlex,
DeleteThere are naughty bitters and nice ones. This one is definitely the latter.
Thanks for your notes on this one!
Peace