2005 BiYun Hao Yiwu: Qi Extraordinaire!

I picked up this 2005 BiYun Hao quarter cake in the second release for $160.00for 95g or $1.68/g.  This is one sold out quickly in the first drop of cakes and quarters and I wonder how it could be better than the 2004 BiYun Hao Yiwu I sampled the day before… it turns out its pretty much a completely different Yiwu…

Dry leaves have a sweet hay and distant grape bubble gum candy sweetness.

The onset is woody hay with a fresh creamy candy like sweetness that is light, airy, and watery.  There is a juicy feel to this first infusion with a long expanding air and creamy Yiwu sweetness that returns very strong on the breath.  Very deep throat opening with slow salivating release.  Lots of bubble gum and creamy sweet tastes with no storage tastes or deeper tastes to ground its progression and unraveling.  Nice strong calming peace.  Very high quality, entrenched, and ethereal Yiwu qualities.  Strong deep and gentle tension relief.

The second infusion left to cool and has a creamy cooling sweetness that goes deep in the throat and candy creamy sweetness stretches out on the breath.  There is a woody sort of almost herby undertaste.  But the sweetness is long and evolving and long candy finish.  Soft out of body feeling to the Qi.  Spacy in this regard.  Nice soft chalky mouthfeeling.  Slow release saliva.

3^rd infusion has a woody creamy sweet onset that is a bit dry, a bit sour, but mainly this long evolved creamy almost candy-like sweetness.  More depth here with the drier woodier note but still slow mild saliva release.  Spacy out of body feeling.  Very very nice Yiwu here.

4^th has a melon juicy pop of sweetness with a sort of resin woody base taste.  The sweetness has a sourness to it but slowly expands and returns on the breath.  The mouthfeeling is this soft dry chalky feeling that is similar to the 2004.  The breath taste is way more ethereal and sweet.  The Qi is a spacy out of body feeling.

5^th has a rich sunny fruity onset with a coolness imbedded in the breath which pulls along the returning sweetness which is a creamy sweetness.  There are subtle melon, woody, and cookie, and sour tastes in there.  Nice sweet Yiwu profile with distinct spacy feeling.  The Qi sensation feels a lot like Wan Gong Qi- a high out of body spaciness.  Strong saught after Qi experience here!  Creamy lingering almost candy-like sweetness.

6^th has a sweet juicy and a bit syrupy sweet almost melon like creamy sweet taste pop initially.  There are nuances to the sweetness that reminds me of waffles… don’t know why?  Long sweet taste here.  The thicker richer taste is not really there so it’s just this long progressing sweet taste.  That has a melon edge to it and a fresh light juicy feeling.  Nice spaced out feeling a bit out of body experience with the intensity and deep spiritual Qi and mind floating here.

7^th has a syrupy melon sweetness that is a bit creamy and more syrup-woody tasting.  The mouthfeeling is more dry now.  Strong melon tastes now.  Mildly spacy. Soft mouthfeeling with a touch of dryness.

8^th melon and pie crust and woody sort of sweetness with a more juicy taste overall.  Spaced out tranquility now.  Subtle chest beats.  Nice soft chalky mouthfeeling.  Lesser sweet fade out.

9^th has a syrupy sweetness with distinct long menthol like creamy sweet taste.  There is a slightly dry chalky mouthfeeling.  Still a bit oily texture with an overall juicy sweetness but less obviously fresh melon and more creamy juicy vibrancy.  Nice saliva release.  Strong spacy feeling a bit out of body experiences.

10^th has a woody juicy syrupy creamy sweetness with a juicy and shining taste with a long creamy sweetness over a full slightly dry chalky mouthfeeling.  There is this lingering creamy almost melon sweetness that is really nice and nice spacy feeling.

11^th has a creamy sweet bready taste onset.  A bit of woody underneath but it moves quickly to a creamy and almost melon taste that turns to candy Yiwu sweetness.  Nice space out feeling but still somewhat focused.  Chalky bland breath finish now.

12^th has a creamy almost coco bready taste.  The sweetness is obvious throughout but has a woody bland chalky taste to it underneath with some bitterness emerging there.  Nice spacy relaxing with a bit of Heart beats.  Not too much bodyfeeling in this puerh despite its strong Psychological Qi state.  More of a body disassociation more than anything.  Some Melon and coco on the breath.

13^th infusion has a bland woody coco with some cool breath and faint bready sweetness underneath.  Some bitter chalky blandness emerges now.  Spacy relaxing here.  Cooled down it has a nice coco and creamy sweet taste with some wood and bread over a chalky full mouthfeeling.

14^th has a woody almost medicinal but more creamy sweetnesses and coco.  Still very oily and full mouthfeeling.  Spacy and relaxed.

15^th is left to cool… and gives off a juicy somewhat oily coco creamy bland woody but mainly still expanding sweet taste.  Nice relaxing feel and somewhat out of body but not unfocused. 

Mug steepings of the spent leaves gives off a honey and herbal woody slightly bitter onset with a creamy long sweet milk chocolate nuance.  The taste is still very vibrant and full.  Nice long creamy sweetness is probably the main note here.  A full chalky mouthfeeling with a touch of driness.  Nice relaxing and subtle high feeling.  Nice long aftertaste still.  Nice full feeling with creamy coco breath tastes minutes later.

Vs 2003 ChenYuan Hao (top leaves)- is a very much a feel good Yiwu to me compared to these 2004 & 2005 Yiwu.  The Chen Yuan Hao is not as complex as either of these but is more of a classic Yiwu in its pure taste and Qi.  Again very different than both BiYun below.

Vs 2004 BiYun Hao Yiwu (middle leaves) these two are actually very different which is a bit shocking to me… They are both really good but really different.  The 2004 is much rougher, intense, and complex in taste- it is almost like a factory gushu type thing where the 2005 (bottom leaves)is deep, ethereal, elegant, with long expanding sweetness and otherworldly in its Qi experience and feel more like a modern gushu production.  In some ways, the contrast represents the historical shift happening with these productions at the time.  The 2005 has a Qi experience in it that is pretty amazing and harder to come by so it’s noticeably better of the two but my factory leanings have me really enjoying the 2004 for its complexity and power.  If this 2005 becomes available again it’s possible that I might pick another quarter or even a cake-djvbdvbdv.  The price is the main deterrent for both of these Yiwu for me-its probably priced right but it ain’t cheap either.

Marco’s (Late Steeps) Tasting Notes

James & Denny’s (TeaDB) Tasting Notes

Peace