2001 Zhongcha “Ba Zhong”: Old School Smoky Strength

*** These tasting notes were from 2021/2022… According to the Tea Urchin’s site, this was stored in Taiwan until 2014 when it was purchased and stored with Tea Urchin’s tea in Shanghai for the remainder of its life.  Pretty close to 1/2 Taiwanese storage and 1/2 Shanghai.  Belle and Eugene guess it has some Bulang leaves in the mix and the description makes it sound a bit old school, smoky, and rustic.  This 2001 Zhongcha “Ba Zhong” 357g cake goes for $265.00 or $0.74/g.

Dry leaves smell of smoke with a fair bit of creamy sweet odours and faint wood.  The dry leaf both looks and smells pretty appetizing…

The first infusion has a smoky honey-like onset. There are underlying creamy and almost strawberry cherry plum notes.  The mouthfeeling is a flat fine sandy texture.  The aftertaste is almost nutty but more faint bitter with a creamy sweetness underneath. Smoke extends long into the aftertaste.  This puerh feels a lot like 2005 Nanqiao Double Lions.  There is a strong feeling emerging with the Qi.

The 2^nd has a tangy sweet fruity onset but with a heavy dose of smoke.  The fruity taste is mainly a syrupy presentation with an incense woodiness to it and subtle faint bitterness.  There is a deep slow moving coolness in the throat which kicks out a long creamy sweetness that slowly fades into smoke.  The mouthfeeling is a thick silty dryness.  There is lots going on here with lots of complexity emerging from the storage which does this cake quite well.  The Qi is strong in the Chest and races the Heart.  It alerts the mind but I find myself taking deeper breaths.  It has a strong pull on the mind, rendering me unable to concentrate…

The 3^rd has a tangy fruity then sweet then almost savory meaty smoke taste.  There is a smoky earthy taste throughout.  The mouthfeel is really thick silty full with nice throat stimulation.  Flavour, Qi, and mouthfeeling are all quite strong.  Creamy sweet then smoky finish.

4^th is a smoky, syrupy not that sweet onset with a long cool emerging throat and subtle creamy sweet then smoky finish.  This infusion tastes and feels a lot like the 2006 Rustic Zhongcha of TeasWeLike.  Nice silty full mouthfeeling.  Some chest and alerting but also unfocusing energy.

5^th has a rich sweet syrupy caramel and strawberry plum with a decent amount of smoke.  There is some long faint cooling and some creamy emerging sweetness that fades into smoke.  Nice unfocused fuzzy head with some alerting and chest sensations.

6^th is cooled down but gives off a very nice caramel smoke taste.  The flavour is really pure and full smoky but not harsh, strong but not overwhelming. There is less cooling here and a smoke creamy caramel finish.  Nice dense taste.

7^th has a subtle bitter smoke with less dense caramel taste.  There is a grainy almost dry mouthfeeling now with the bitterness. This infusion tastes less sweet and more smoke, bitter, and a bit harsh.  Nice uplifting with fuzzy thoughts.

8^th has a lesser sweet caramel plum with some smoke and less bitter.  It has a dense and rich presentation here with sweetness almost syrupy scattered throughout under the smoke.  Nice uplifting and fuzzy thoughts.

9^th syrupy caramel not that creamy sweet with significant smoke.  Full condensed taste with a subtle cool throat.  Nice silty thick mouthcoating which sticks to teeth.  Alerting but slightly spacy here.

10^th has a juicy smoky presentation with a slight bitter dirt almost coco like finish.  The aftertaste has a sweet nutty breath but mainly just mild smoke. Sticky tongue feeling.

11^th has a juicy smoke taste to it with a subtle cooling breath and bitter smoke not sweet finish now. Thicker sticky sandy aftertaste.  Nice relaxing vibe now.

12^th a bit more syrupy onset with, yes, a bit of smoke, nice vibrant smoke finish.  Not turbid or harsh or hazy in its presentation…. Nice upbeat with a heavy thoughts feeling.  Thick sticky almost dry full mouthfeeling.

13^th has a juicy syrupy density to it but not that sweet anymore but, again, nicely smoky…

The mug steeping is a strong smoke with condensed syrupy woody sweetness and resin like taste.  Still very powerful, flavourful, and smoky.

Vs 2006 Rustic Zhongcha- very similar in most ways- both very Rustic old school productions both aged about the same with Rustic having stronger Malaysian storage and this cake with the ½ Taiwanese then drier Shanghai storage but aged a bit longer… they feel both at the same point of aging. The Rustic still has a bit more youthful harshness and is more random and impure in its blend.  I think I like this one better but hard to say.

Peace