2026 Tea Encounter HeBian

 2026 Tea Encounter HeBian Goes for $155.00 for 250g or  $0.62/g.  This was the second sample of Tea Encounter’s 2026 line up that I sampled and I also sampled it blind…

The dry leaves are a deep cherry rich forest sweet odour smells like Walong/ ManZhuan with more of a MengHai  area feel sort of in notes richness but not as sweet sort of wild smelling.

Rinsed leaves have a deep rich fruity odour with creamy sweet odours and strawberry cherries…, so mouthwatering!

First infusion has very faint smoke full juicy strawberries fruity taste.  Nice fine tobacco tastes.  Full mouth tongue sticky with big chesty warming Qi.  It has a Manghai feeling but not …. It’s familiar to me but hard for me to place.

2nd has a tobacco sweet taste with mouthwatering sticky mouth.  Strawberries finish.  Big chest feeling with sticky mouth.  Juicy fruity feeling underneath with a big warming chesty feeling.

3rd is left to cool and is a sweet icing sugar with mouthwatering sweetness.  Some woody bark and lingering breath sweetness. Big chest expanding with chest beats lots of ashy chalky melon woody. Lots of energy! 

4th is a melon ashy chalky woody onset with sweet emerging melon underneath wood bark taste. Slight sandy dry roof of mouth. Big Qi swells in the chest with large heart palpitations and big qi energy.

5th is a mildly bitter with sticky slight mouth pucker.  Emerging sweet melon.  There is a spice onset with lingering long bitter now. Big chest Qi where Qi is mainly pooling.  Energetic boost.

6th is a sweet ashy woody bitter with warming qi mild face rush and big energy feeling.  Full long moderate bitterness with mouth puckering.  Chest Qi!

7th has a bitter woody onset with melon sweet taste under moderate strong long bitter taste.  Energy boost!  

8th is left to cool and is spice and sweet melon taste with full sticky taste with melon underneath.

9th is an overnight mug steeping and it is metallic and ashy with an oily juicy melon and flat background menthol.  Deeper richer notes with sweet light fruity melon and deeper menthol metalic ashy… complex feeling as if Yiwu was Menghai!  … big chest beats and out of body with body floating bodyfeeling.  

Turns out this puerh is from Laos and soon as I checked the website I thought “Of course!”  I liked this tea quite a bit especially for its price!

Peace