Friday, March 22, 2024

2004 Dragon Tea House Yiwu Gushu vs 2006





I was really excited to try this 2004 Dragon Tea House Yiwu ($520.00 for 400g cake or $1.30/g) from TeasWeLike.  I love the 2006 Dragon Tea House Yiwu but for some reason it doesn’t agree with me.  I turns out this 2004 and me get along quite nicely…

The very compressed dry leaves smell of a dry peat sweet odour.

The rinsed leaf is a sweeter peaty odour.

First infusion has a creamy talc sweetness with faint woody background.  Nice chalk finish pure clean tastes.long finish with slight sandy sticky mouth and clear sweet creamy talc and almost fruity taste.

Second infusion has a woody creamy sweet taste.  Full almost dry chalky with pops of coco creamy almost fruity sweetness.

Third is left to cool and gives off pops of sweet fruit and creamy talc.  There is a peat dry woody faint base and a long creamy sweet returning that dissolves into fruity on the breath.  The mouthfeel is a chalky not dry but almost gripping undertone.  Long deep throat and sweet taste.  Sweep of happy peace feeling with notable light limbs feeling.  Heart slow beats with mind and chest open.

Fourth infusion has a woody sweet creamy taste there is a creamy sweet return that transitions to fruity sweetness.  Chalky almost gripping mouthfeel leaves a long sweet taste in the mouth.  Peaceful focus. Light limbs and body.



5th has a sweet fruity clear onset strong euphoria happy feel good Qi.  Strong floating feeling with face flushing.  

6th has a woody slight incense smoke sweet taste. Creamy sweet return that turns into fruits.  Strong floating limbs and euphoria peace with strong slowing heart beats.  

Next day I’m flash steeping 7th infusion it is mineral sweet with a creamy talc finish in the mouth.  Almost turns fruity sweet minutes later.  Clear tastes here.  Strong happy focusing Qi.

8th is a clogged pot…. Welcome back to teapot sessions!!!! It gives off a dense incense resin woody bitter with a sweet fruity taste.  Strong woody incense resin wood with strong sweet taste underneath.  Dense taste in this accidental minutes long steeping.

9th is flash steeping and comes out very fresh fruits sweetness.  Long fruity clear sweetness. Light body strong happy feel good qi. Silty mouthfeel with deepthroat sweetness.  Lots of fresh clear fruit taste.

10th is left to cool and taste like sweet wood silty smooth mouthfeel.  Nice peace out Qi feeling.

11th has lots of clear pure sweet fruity taste but also some sour taste developing underneath.

12 is cool but has a woody incense sweetness with a returning sweet bread finish.  There is some mineral taste and some coco taste as well.  Silty amouthfeeling with mouthwatering and deep throat.

13 … 14 th …. 15th has good stamina still giving of peace vibes and sweet tastes.  Woody resin, faint incense, faint coco.  Mild silty mouthfeel.

16th is in the long mug steeping which is quite woody incense and bitter with a sweet taste underneath.  Full chest feeling.  

This has very clear long sweet tastes, nice strong peace out Qi feeling with aslow heart beats and light limbs body feeling. The mouthfeel is layered with a silty mouthfeel that is sometimes almost gripping and stimulating but also mouthwatering- a nice compliment to the long clear fresh fruity tastes.  This puerh feels like aged tea but still maintains the fresh fruity nuances of its youth.  The description on the site says it’s smokier than the 2006 but I disagree- at least my cake has some infusions with slmost no smoke and other times it’s that aged out blended in background incense smoke.

Vs 2006 Dragon Tea House Yiwu Gushu

First infusion has a creamy smoke sweetness. The creaminess is more pronounced and sweet and the smoke is stronger and less background incense than 2004.  

Second has a lubricating mouthwatering sweetness with upfront smoke balance.  Thick lubricating mouthwatering oily feel in the mouth.  Very long cool creamy sweetness.  Strong chest thumbing and surging energy is mixed with euphoric calm.  Face numb and mind floating has much stronger excitatory effect in body and mind than 2004.  

Third infusion is left to cool and gives off a smoke mesquite BBQ long creamy sweet slight mild lips tightness with an oily almost pasty texture.  Long creamy almost bready sweeetness. 

Fourth is a creamy sweet balanced with smoke long creamy sweetness. Strong chest beats and energetic euphoria.  Strong in the mind sweet taste is long.

Fifth infusion has a creamy sweetness with faint smoke background nice silty chalky mouthfeeling.  Mind expanding and big chest beats. Of note the liquor or this 2006 is quite a bit darker than the much tighter compressed but two years older 2004.

Sixth infusion is left to cool and is very creamy sweet with chalky mouthfeel long sweet creamy taste. Less smoke background.  

Seventh again consistently sweet creamy with chalky mouthfeeling smoke becomes less and sweetness holds.

Eighth has a woody sweet long creamy sweetness it kind of just snowballs into the retuning sweetness, it’s nice and long mouthwatering with more relaxing spacy qi left in here.

Ninth … 10th … 11th soooo yummy sweet with background smoke is less and less but there starts developing a bit of acidity.



Comparison: the 2006 has spent two years in my drier cooler storage but feels much younger that the more aged feeling 2004.  The 2006 has more power and intensity to it overall- it’s more acidic, it’s gives of an energetic effect on the body and mind and is a bit harsh on the body at times,  its sweetness is also strong and its smoke is more out front.  The 2004 exerts a more mellow peaceful feeling with strong but slow heart beats airy light limbs.  Its sweet taste is very clear, pure, fresh, and long.  The mouthfeel is a more complex mouthfeeling.  You can see the difference in composition of the wet leaf.  The 2006 pours a much darker colour where the 2004 is still yellowish.  For me the 2004 is the superior puerh.

Just one more note on these Dragon Tea House Yiwus that Idont think is mentioned enough.  The storage is really quite brilliantly dry.  It really captures the light nuances of a Yiwu puerh brilliantly and makes it feel almost younger than it is.  This was apparent to me in this blind testing of the 2015 Dragon Tea House Yiwu.

Not sure if I will pick up another with this price tag … but I do quite like the experience…

Marco’s (Late Steeps) Tasting Notes

Peace


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