2010 In Pursuit of Tea Phongsali Laos “Bang Laa”

Got his on a year or so after visiting the puerh producingBorder Tea region of Pongsali Laos from an outfit called In Pursuit of Tea.  I have kept this since fresh in my own very dry storage in Victoria and Regina ever since.  Sent Marco a blind sample of this one last year and wanted to compare it to 2010 Essence of Tea Cloud Watching which I quite enjoyed…

The dry leaves smell of faint smokey grassy sweetness.

The rinse is a 20 second long rise to loosen up the densely pressed bamboo form…

First infusion I start at 10 seconds… It gives off a weedy grassy onset with a long cooling sweet pure sugar taste.  There is a returning swell of pure candy and a very mild tight tongue and lips.  Very clean and pure tastes.  Nice strong Qi with relaxing focusing.  Woody dry grass and sugar edges.

The second is 20 second steeping… it gives off a woody slight faint incense with a sugar dry grass and woody almost candy like sweetness.  Nice relaxing alertness.

The third is left to cool and gives off a woody-grassy surgery sweet pure note with edges of incense.  Simple yet satisfying tastes.  Soft mossy mouthfeeling with slight drying edges.

4^th 15 sec has a clear pure grassy watery woody sugar sweet onset with a creamy sweet returning

5^th we are at flash infusions has an oily woody incense with a sugar faint candy like edge to it.  The mouthfeeling is watery and mossy and the taste has a faint juicy fruity Asian pear edge to it.  Nice deep relaxing focusing.

6^th has a woody incense body with sugary edges.  There is a faint juicy pear edges to it with a subtle smoky breath.  Nice sticky thin mossy slightly gripping mouthfeeling.

7^th  has a pear candy like peachy pop of sweet taste initially.  There are some grassy incense base tastes with a returning creamy candy sweetness. Nice mossy slightly sticky tugging mouthfeeling with a mid-deep throat opening with cool breath.  Faint smoke incense throughout.

8^th has a syrupy incense juicy fruity sweet taste that has a base of sweet grass and weeds.  Mossy mouthfeeling with lingering incense smoke.  A balance of savory, sweet, almost slightly bitter and smoke.

9^th has a sweet candy like splash of taste with a juicy sweet initial that fades into a sweet grass and incense and candy faint returning taste.  Nice mossy sticky a bit dry mouthfeeling with some euphoria relaxing.

I resume steeping the next day…

The 10^th infusion is consumed with the cooled down cups have a fruity caramel smoke incense dry grass taste to them with a bit of oily texture.  Nice relaxing vibe.

11^th also cooled down has a pear/melon/dry grassy onset in an oily texture.  It tastes mainly sweet with a cool throat and some faint sugar returning flavours.  Slight mossy dry gripping mouthfeeling with upper throat opening.

12^th also cool has a grassy incense smoke with fruity juicy taste.  The smoke is more prominent.  There are sweet flavours and smoke-incense balance with a grassy-woody sort of Border Tea base taste.  It is predominantly sweet but not very sweet.

13^th is cooled and gives off a chalky caramel melon smoke incense juicy sort of taste a bit complex in the juicy sweet and incense smoky.  Nice mossy gripping mouthfeeling. 

14^th is cooled down as well… its warm here today so the cooled down infusions are nice.  There is a woody dry grassy sweet taste with edges of faint fruit but also even fainter incense taste.  There are some chest beats and relaxing feeling.

Still lots of condensed stamina here with layerings of taste.

I mug steep out the spent leaves anyways and get some strong brews with a grassy weedy taste and sweetness that can sometimes appear as pear or faint candy but is usually a lesser sugary edge.  The smoke is really apparent in these mug steepings.  The Qi is a bit euphoric and mainly energizing.  There is a rich coffee like taste in there bitter-weedy-woody-grassy with a sweet sugar and barely pear edges.  Nice strong enlivening feeling with some face bodyfeeling and chest beating.

Overall, this puerh is a bit interesting in that it is both a bit crude in its traditional bamboo processing with a bit of traditional processing but the leaves and Qi appear to be of decent quality older leaf.  There is a nice contrast between elegance and crudeness, oily juicy sweetness and smoke incense, older style with a bit gushu feeling.  Its not an amazing puerh but none the less very satisfying to me with the slow unraveling and all these balanced and opposing dimensions.  This puerh kind of reminds me of something between Laos and Bada.

Vs 2010 Essence of Tea Cloud Watching- I drink these two back to back as they are both boarder teas, both dry stored, and have a certain grassy woody base taste that they share but they are very different in that Cloud watching has excellent processing with very clear gushu energy and profile.  Cloud watching is very elegant and deep where this Bang Laa is a balance of rough and somewhat elegant with a stronger tilt to more traditional and rough and crude.  The storage on the Cloud Watching is really nice dry storage where my own storage on the Bang Laa is on the too dry side.  I still really like Cloud Watching although I have accepted I will not buy any…

Marco’s (Late Steeps) Blind tasting notes

Peace

Teas We Like vs Liquid Proust: 2010 Dayi 7542 001

Teas We Like natural Taiwanese stored offering (purchased for 58.00 a cake but a slightly more aggressively stored version is stillavailable for $75.00 for 357g cake or $0.21/g) is first up…

Dry leaves smell of strong dried longan fruits, raison, and slight smoke.

First infusion has a watery smoky tobacco leaf onset with a slight sweet plum returning after faint flat bitterness.  Flat slightly tight tongue coating.  Lasting bitterness in the mouth.

The second infusion has a woody smoky plum taste with a mild but persistent bitterness that returns some mild sweet plum tastes.  The mouthfeeling is tight.  There are woody metallic tastes in there as well as some creamy sweet tastes as well.  The dominant tastes are bitter with plum and fainter smoky wood.  Strong energetic Qi.

The third infusion has a creamy woody slight smokey bitter-sweetness with a returning plum sweetness.  The bitterness is overarching and a bit acidic in the mouth.  There is a chalky slight tight mouthfeeling over the tongue and mouth.  Minutes later there is some caramel faintness in there under bitterness. Strong Qi.

The fourth infusion has a plum woody onset that transforms into a bitter-sweet taste.  The retuning plum is nice and is paired with a camphor coolness. The mouthfeeling is becoming a thinner tight chalky.  Bitter-sweet taste lingers in the mouth.

The fifth infusion has a sweet creamy sweet and plum onset with woody tastes combining with significant bitterness.  The bitterness lingers and has a bit of puckering tightness to the mouth.  There is a slightly cool throat.  Bread and plum tastes are in the aftertaste minutes later.  Strong alerting energy.

6^th is let to cool luke warm and gives off a tasty melon, plum, almost floral resin woodiness.  There is some mild bitterness and some faint coolness.  It finishes cool and plum over a mild sticky mouthfeeling.  Nice alerting energy.  Lots of sweeter flavours more than bitter here.

7^th has a dark bitter woody taste up front with a darker taste to it.  This infusion is a lot bitterer but also a bit creamy buttery deeper taste to it.  Plum aftertaste.  Sticky mouthfeeling.  Nice alerting energy.

8^th has a sweet onset of melon, sour plum, and sweet plum with a dark coco bittersweetness to it.  This has a nice long coco taste and aftertaste now.  Really delicious over a chalky full mouthfeeling.  Nice alertness.

9^th has a bitter woody smokey taste now with a woody bitter-creamy sweetness.  The bitterness is almost a vegetal bitterness here that you would see in a younger/ less strongly stored 7542.  Nice tight full coating.  Saliva returning creamy coco sweetness.

10^th infusion has that bitter woody smoky vegetal bitterness with a returning breath cooling and bitter-sweetness coco.  Tight mouthfeeling, slight dry.  Strong alerting.  Chocolate coco bitter-sweet aftertaste.

11^th is left to cool and gives a nice coco chocolate bitter a bit of vegetal bitterness, plum, full sticky dry coating on tongue.  Nice cooling afterwards with a nice coco plum mild bitter.  Strong alerting still.

 

Liquid Proust version ($72.00 for 357g cake or $0.20/g

whichis now sold out) is up second and is described by Liquid Proust as “near perfect storage” I believe that it could be Taiwanese dry stored by my notes below…

Dry leaves have a smoky dry woody even faint pear-melon odour.

First infusion has a melon fruity woody smoky watery taste with a cool pungent tingling vibrant finish with smoke and woody taste dominating.  The mouthfeeling is slightly numb tingling.

The second infusion has a quick pear fruity onset that turns to a dry woody smoke, very slight bitter, with a sweet fruity clear pear returning that fades into dry woody smoke.  There is a bit of mild bitter astringency.  Tight slight drying mouthfeeling.

The third infusion has a quick moving fruity pop of taste.  The fruit has a stewed jam like quality like sticky dried longan fruits.  The sweetness has a thick dense syrupiness to it- very full throughout and delivers a certain vibrancy over a slight smoky woody background.  Not much bitterness here, surprisingly sweet.

The 4^th infusion has a syrupy sweet fruity onset with a smoky syrupy dry woody under taste.  The taste is thick and smooth and oily in the mouth with a nice long coolness.  There is lots of syrupy sweetness with a bitter woody smoke underneath- a nice melded and cohesive taste.  Coco aftertaste minutes later.  Sticky mouthcoating.  Strong alertness.  Saliva returning oily sweetness.

5^th infusion has a syrupy fruity sweet taste that has a smoky dry woody long cool pungent taste.  There is some floral melon that is underneath.  There is a nice oiliness to this 7542 over a drier tight mouthfeeling.  There is surprisingly not too much bitterness.

6^th smooth creamy sweet, a bit fruity with mild bitterness.  Nice combo of fruity sweet, coco bittersweet, and creamy bread-like sweetness.  Not much woody or smoke here.

7^th has a creamy fruity pear bread taste with faint bitterness underneath.  The fruitiness returns with coolness and trails out in the breath over a slight tight/ slight dry mouthfeeling.  Nice alertness.  It’s been a very altering kind of day with both of these 2010 7542s!

8^th is cooled down and is a creamy fruity pear chocolate tasting thing.  The taste is really nice and I’m left wondering if this is the most delicious dry stored 7542 I’ve tried.  Bitterness is not as much but faintly there.  Chalky tongue coating.

9^th is a nice mix of fruity sweetness and bitter coco.  This is more fruity and sweet than the Teas We Like version.  There is a nice smoky dry woody finish.

10^th is much the same balance and mix of fruity sweetness and bitter coco.  Still more weight to the sweetness than bitter compared to most 7542 storage.

11^th infusion was left in the cup overnight and I go back to it the next day… it has a resin woody incense woody body with a syrupy sweet fruity finish in the mouth.

The spent leaves of both 7542s are left overnight then mug steeped out the next day... the Teas We Like offering is deep darker bitter with some astringent vegetable bitter taste not that sweet at all and a bit awkward.  The Liquid Proust offering has a sweet fruity vegetable bitterness with a longer cooling with a subtle more flat almost tart smoke to it.  A subtle coco bitterness comes out minutes later.  The Liquid Proust mug steeping is the better tasting and more complex mug.  The Teas We Like has a more peaty taste to it but more cohesive where the Liquid Proust version is more vibrant and changing and compartmentalized in the mug steeping of spent leaves.

Overall, this is an interesting comparison because they are both nicely stored versions of the 7542 but also dramatically different in their strengths.  The Teas We Like offering is the stronger of the two with a stronger, more condensed taste with much more intense bitterness.  The bitter taste is the dominant throughout the session.  There is also much more change from infusion to infusion with the Teas We Like offering- this is how the Teas We Like 7542 is complex.  However, the Teas We Like version has a much more narrow taste profile, less texture, and shorted aftertaste compared to the Liquid Proust version.  The Liquid Proust version is much more sweet and vibrant with much less intense bitterness.  The Liquid Proust 7542 has a thicker more oily texture and longer and more cooling and complex throatfeeling and aftertaste. Overall, they are both really nice versions of 7542!  I love the comparison!

I think that this first version on offer at Teas We Like would be nicer for aged in more humid environments but for my really dry storage that I have here in Canada the Liquid Proust Version would probably age out better for my situation. 

It’s really nice to finally see some genuine interest in the classic 7542 and I hope that both Liquid Proust and Teas We Like will continue to offer affordable 7542.  It looks like Liquid Proust has a 2016 short Natural Hongkong stored version up already.  It looks also like the Remaining Teas We Like 2010 7542s are from a batch with more aggressive storage and are going for $75.00 a cake (so basically paying more for something with a little less power, I imagine).  It is a real issue of great timing in buying 7542 as well as many factory puerh cakes in general.  This is because there is a small window in the life of a semi-aged cake where you can get a feel for how it’s going to age out and you can get a clearer read on how it’s going to age out but once enough people have this knowledge prices can shoot up quickly.  For the 7542 there is also serious speculating that you have to deal with as well- not just the taste experience.  This makes it a continual challenge too for vendors who aim to offer the best 7542 with the best quality because as soon as they find a good batch at a good price quickly it rises in price and no longer becomes worth it.  My hope is that these two vendors will be up for the challenge in the future and continue to offer us ongoing 7542 options!

Peace

2010 Bing Dao Yong Chun: Nice Traditional Bing Dao

Tea Urchin just listed a few of these a year or so ago.  I purchased a sample but the 2010 Bing Dao Yong Chun cake goes for $209.00 for 357g cake or $0.59/g.

Dry leaves smell of floral grassy lightness very sweet light and subtle.  A faint grassy candy floss and sweet floral odour.  Almost like ice creamy sweatness in a rainforest nuance slight vegetal nuance.

The first infusion has a nice dry stored peachy colour liquor with a creamy sweet vegetal approach initial.  The taste is simple in this first infusion of slight creamy vegetal forest with a sweet icing sugar candy finish.  The taste has a very mild candy even peach fruit finish.  A sweet and soft delicate presentation initially with a mild sticky mouthfeeling.

The second infusion becomes a bit stickier and very mildly astringent with vegetal forest note being the most dominant with some soft and subtle icing surgar and peachy candy in the finish.  The mouthfeel is nicely stimulating but the taste is quite simple and very subtle, sweet, and light.  The aftertaste is a very smooth very sweet long cooling with creamy, peachy, and icing sugar sweetnessess.  The Qi is relaxing and slows me down in this busy morning.

The third has an astringent obviously almost sour peach onset with vegetal underneath.  The initial burst of astringency and sweetness is strong and fast and moves slowly to a long cooling peach and icing sugar and creamy sweetness.  The Qi is relaxing and slowing, forcibly mellow.

The fourth infusion onset of stone mineral, astringent pear, and vegetal subtle bitter.  It comes as a quick burst then fades into pear, icing sugar, mild coolness, icing sugar in a long subtle aftertaste.  The mouthfeel is slippery and astringent in the mouth and the throat is mildly stimulated at the upper.  The Qi in nicely relaxing.

The fifth infusion has a quick burst of flavours fresh leaves turning to autumn, minerals, metallic, peach, moderate astringency and a bit bitter which turns to a pear like finish, slightly cooling with icing sugar, slight creaminess, The mouthfeel is a slippery almost puckering astringency.  The Qi is a nice mellow and relaxing in the mind.  I feel a calm from this puerh.

The sixth opens up with thick fruity notes, slight sour astringency, a long icing sugar cool finish.  The mouthfeel is long and slight puckering.  The Qi has a mild floating sensation.

The seventh infusion has a thick fruity sweet onset with faint vegetal bitter and some sour astringency mild and quick moving into a long fruity, icing surgar cooling sweetness.  The tastes are simple and consistent but the profile is nice and long and pops quick then ends slow.  This is a nice floating feeling to the Qi not in the body but the mind.

The eighth infusion starts of sour fruit less astringency and even less bitter then moves slowly and strongly to a pear icing sugar and almost vegetal returning sweetness.  There is a nice clarity to this puerh and the profile is long but simple.  The mouthfeeling becomes more of a mild slippery not that astringent quality now.

The 10^th infusion is a nice peachy onset with some mineral, vegetal, the sour, astringency, and bitter are less.  There is a long creamy sweetness here.

11^th starts off with sour peachy fruit with a mineral and vegitaliness faintly underneath the bitter and astringency is very very mild here.  There is a long pear and cooling sensation.

12^th has a sour pear and peach onset with slight vegitalness underneath the mouthfeel in these infusions are slippery and not really astringent.  This puerh doesn’t have a deep throat feeling or stimulation as soon as the astringency and bitter fall off.  The result is a aftertaste that is less long and flavourful.  The Qi is mild now.  A Chill relaxing feeling.

13^th has a sour sweet onset that comes fast and fades to a slightly cooling kind of vegetal astringency with a slight sweet fruit note.  The mouthfeel is becoming less complex here.

14^th a bit woody, some fruity, and a bit woody astringency with less long sweetness now.

15^th starts with a woody peachy astringency, still a nice long subtle coolness in the aftertaste.  Peach notes on a vegetal base with slight creamy edges.

I long steep the 16^th and 17^th infusions and it pushes out some bitter astringency some fruit but a nice deep pungent cooliness and stimulating throatfeeling.

Vs 2016 YS this 2010 Yong Chun is traditionally processed and has a lot more astringency and bitter which do it well but doesn’t give it as much elegance as YS.  I think interesting aspects of the YS might age out somewhat anyways.  Similar price, I think the 2010 Bing Dao Yong Chun will age better but I like the 2016 Yunnan Sourcing Bing Dao because it has way more interesting depth at 4 years of age.  The gushu modern processing and especially the Kunming Dry storage is making this one shine now.   I guess the fact that I didn’t really consider a purchase on either says, to me that these are nice Bing Dao, enjoyable for sure, but you are really just paying the premium for the Bing Dao name.  These aren’t spectacular Bing Dao puerh so you are kind of just paying for the name of a famous area for a puerh that is pretty good, Ok… very good but maybe a little bit overpriced for what you are getting but still enjoyable.  You are essentially paying for the name Bing Dao but overall nice traditional processed Bing Dao. It’s temping… you can read how I slowly talk my way down from this one…. Hahaha

Peace

2010 “Auspicious SanLin” from Emmett G.

This sample was included in a group order of Yang Qing Hao from Emmett Guzmen.  I know absolutely nothing about it…

Dry leaves smell of subtle dry sweet floral candy.

The first infusion has a dry woody clear profile there are some faint fruity nuances at the end with subtle creamy candy.  Taste like a Taiwanese dry stored Yiwu… Has a nice chalky full mouthfeeling.

The second is drier woody bark taste with a slightly astringent dry woody almost fruity not that sweet finish.  There is a subtle creamy sweetness in the finish.   The cooled liquor tastes nicely creamy sweet Yiwu woody.  The mouthfeeling is soft and chalky with a pretty vacant throatfeeling.

The third infusion has an almost pungent camphor wood up front.  There is a dry wood bark profile through and through that is undeniably Yiwu.  There is also a subtle creamy sweet almost candy finish and almost sweet orange blossom.  The mouthfeel is soft and slightly chalky.  The throat is pretty empty.  The Qi is starting to build and feel light in the body.  The profile is pretty clear likely single estate type material.  It’s pretty easy drinking and nicely dry stored.

The fourth infusion has a pungent dry woody bark onset with faint notes of persimmon, pumpkin and orange but mainly mildly astringent dry wood bark.  There is a subtle creamy sweet finish in the mid throat along with a bit of pungency.

The fifth infusion has an almost orange pumpkin onset with a dry woody finish there is a bland taste then to a creamy sweet finish in the breath. A mild and chill Qi takes hold.  This is a common Yiwu taste and feel.  The orange and pumpkin nuance makes me think it could be from Guafengzhi but doesn’t have a full feeling to convince me of it.  Nicely stored lacking in throatfeeling and aftertaste a bit.  Overall nice.

The sixth infusion is left to cool then gives off a very sweet creamy caramel edges with dry woody bark.  The creamy sweet taste with caramel edges is dominant now and this infusion is really delicious.  There is a long aftertaste in the mouth of candy long creamy sweetness.  The Qi is mildly relaxing and focusing.  This is really delicious Yiwu here.

The seventh infusion has a woody creamy sweet solid Yiwu profile.  The cooled off infusion reveals long sweet candy finish in the mouth.  This is simple but very nice Yiwu here.  Simple relaxing Qi. 

The eighth infusion has a creamy onset of woody creamy woods with a nice pungency developing with a longer candy mouth aftertaste.  The mouthfeeling is thin sticky almost tight.  The mouthfeeling is nice like this.

The 9^th has a smooth woody with a bit of candy creamy taste.  The tongue coating is really nice kinda tight chalky feeling that catches flavours.  There is a distinct peppermint candy, candy cane aftertaste that is long on the tongue.  The throat is mildly pungent but not too active but it does have some lingering coolness in these infusions.  There is an fruity dried apple taste in there somewhere too.  Nice relaxing and chest freeing Qi.  The effect makes the body feel light.  The cooled down liquor tastes creamy and candy sweet over a really nice tongue feeling.

The 10^th has a woody sweet candy like taste.  This is a nice solid Yiwu puerh not that flashy but glimmers here and there.  The taste is starting to flatten out a bit but you still get the same profile of woody dry bark, some faint hints of persimmon and orange and then a longer candy not that creamy anymore sweetness.  The Qi is nice and mild in the body.  The mouthfeeling on the tongue is starting to tighten and dry a touch.

The 11^th has touches of incense and dry woody bark with less creamy sweetness and more intense building drier tongue.  There is a faint cool pungent with some candy but fainter and thinner now.

The 12^th infusion… Damn… I can’t find the rest of my notes on this one…. What I do remember is that this one is an easy drinker enjoyable but not desirable for me.  Could probably sell for at least $200-250?  I liked the experience with this one- this is what I remember and the long candy Yiwu finish.  Very nice.  Contact him if you are interested.

Peace

 

The Long Forgotten… 2010 Yang Qing Hao Longtuan Fengmei!

I decided to drink this one without getting any information or reading any reviews before sampling it.  I had only vaguely remember this post-2007 Yang Qing Hao offering.  This puerh came in a sample package of cheaper Yang Qing Hao productions from Liquid Proust Teas  …

Very compressed very small tippy dry leaves smell of very sweet but very vegetal smelling melon odour and even a mintiness which smells really nice.  Not typical Yang storage smells.

First infusion has a watery almost fruity nuance to it with a bit of woody bark and coco finish on the breath.

The second infusion has a sticky coating on the lips and the tongue.  It has a watery creamy sweet woody taste with a subtle cooling in the aftertaste.  The taste is watery and woody and creamy sweet with the most distinct feature being a low long pungency.

The third infusion has a woody creamy sugary light sweetness to it.  There is a soft mild creamy sweetness with a soft faint long pungency.  The taste kind of just trails off into the cooling breath.  There is a mellow and quieting Qi to this puerh.  It feels really mild and harmonious in the body.

The fourth has a floral honey taste upfront very light creamy sweet floral honey with edges of melon, coco.  Over a stronger full sticky slight pulling tongue feeling and a nice pungency in the throat.  This is a nicely layered complex subtle puerh with a nice coco backbone with floral, melon, creamy sweet, sugar-honey nuances.  Reminds me of a nice Man Zhuan or Yiwu type.  The long cooling in the deeper throat indicates that this is nice material.  This infusions feels really complete, subtle and deeply relaxing.  The body feels light.

The fifth infusion has a strong honey and significant medicinal taste with a sweet almost licorice backbone.  The sweetness is highlighted in a Carmel, sugary and rich honey thick sweet taste.  The Qi is nice and sedating with a bit of a cheerful edge.  This feels and tastes like a nice forest/gushu type of puerh.

The sixth has a creamy thick caramel honey layered sweetness to it.  The mouthfeeling is a moderately thick chalky full feeling with a faint but deep throat opening sensation.  There is a long faint soft coolness on the breath that seems to stretch these layered honey tastes, somewhat floral tastes, creamy sweet tastes into the throat.  I like what this puerh is doing as far as taste, subtlety, mouth/throatfeeling, and aftertaste.  It really offers a nice full subtle light package.  The Qi is a touch lively and a bit sedating.  It is a strong deep feeling Qi.  It tastes kind of Boehetang, a bit ManZhuan, some Yiwu? Lots going on in a subtle way.  Very tasty to me.

The seventh infusion has a medicinal honey but predominately creamy sweetness that emerges strongly and is carried into the aftertaste.  There is some vegetal taste in here as well as some coco.  There is lots of interesting and subtle depth to the taste here.  With a very smooth body feeling and spacy and happy Qi sensation.  Deep subtle throat pungency and moderate coating on the tongue.  This is nice puerh.  The long sweet honey, creamy sweet, subtle coco and faint medicinal minutes later is quite enjoyable.  It has a very smooth profile through and through.

The eighth infusion has a caramel kind of coco smoothness to it.  It is nicely honey sweet and on a full tongue feelng that is chalky with a deep open throat where a faint coolness can be found and a long aftertaste resides from.  Nice lively and relaxing Qi.

The ninth infusion has a coco forest and vegetal taste with a long cooling creamy sweet with coco finish in the mouth.  The chalky mouthfeeling and mild cool deeper throat is nice.  Nice relaxing even sedating qi.  The Qi is really smooth in the body and feels really nice happy in the mind.

10^th infusion has a more bitter building up with some vegetal bitter coco taste with a creamy sweetness to it.  The tongue is a bit sharper with the increase in bitterness.  The taste feels smooth in the body despite its building bitterness.

11^th has a bitter coco almost fruity onset upfront.  This infusion strangely reminds me of sweet LaomanE with the bitterness dropped.  It has a long creamy sweet cooling throat and aftertaste with a bit more tropical fruitiness now.

12^th has a rich creamy caramel bitter coco which is mainly smooth caramel sweetness that has a long aftertaste in the mouth.

13^th has a watery fruity juicy sweetness with a coco mild bitter base.  The aftertaste is still sweet and creamy long with mainly coco base taste underneath.  The mouthfeeling is full but thinner now. 

14^th has a creamy sweet with mild bitter coco taste. It’s a rich and sweet taste with coco base is nice.  Nice smooth Qi in the body and spacy mind now.

The 15^th is cooled off and gives off a woody almost fruity creamy sweetness.  This infusion kind of reminds me of Youle region.  This is still at flash steeping and giving off nice tasting infusions here.

The 16^th is also cooled off and gives a full feeling in the mouth and nice full chalky with a cool pungent throat with edges of creamy sweetness.  There is still a nice long creamy sweet aftertaste with nuances of wood and chalky talc fruitiness.

The 17^th infusion I mug steep out and it comes off very nice.

I like this one best out of the cheaper YQH sampled from Liquid Proust.  So I go look at the price and info about this one… this 2010 Yang Qing Hao Longtuan Fengmei goes for$320.00 for 500g cake (or $0.64/g)… turns out that this one is not super cheap.  The site simply states that it’s a 6 famous tea mountain blend.  Interesting, that I could pick out some of the profiles of those mountains above.  Also, interesting that there doesn’t seem to be any reviews of this one out there…

Because it’s actually pretty good…

Peace

 

Marco’s Blind Tasting “Alpha” (2010 Youle Gushu)

A day or so after experiencing the elegance of Marco’s blind sample “Delta” then pretty much having an out of body experience later in the day with “Gamma”, I hope to tread a bit more cautiously going forward.  No more crazy two blind samples in a day type of thing.  With the weather still quite a bit warm here this summer I look for something a bit younger or dry stored and settle on the look of this sample with the symbol “Alpha” on it.  I snip open the sealed package and smell…  

The dry leaves have a meaty musk meat like odour that immediately remind me of Laos puerh.

First infusion has a peachy and very musk gamey almost salty watery meat kind of onset that tastes similar to the dry leaf odour.  Very faint pungent finish with a chalky/talc mouthfeeling and tongue coating.  It has a blank chalky finish.

The second infusion has an almost sweet almond watery clear with gamey musk onset.  There is a lubricating mouthfeeling.  The Qi is starting to swell in my chest a bit.  There is almost a creamy almond but mainly watery sweet finish.  A bland chalky talc develops in the mouth minutes later.

The third infusion has a woody sweet almond onset with a faint less obvious gamey taste.  There is a soft cloud like round sweetness to this one that is interesting.  Almost peach fruity but not really.  The finish is sweet creamy almost faint marshmallow.  The tongue coating is more sticky faint sand.  I can feel my heart racing mildly here.  This has an East Yiwu close to or even over the boarder vibe to it.  In some ways it reminds me of the Essence of Tea Tian Men Shan but not at all as substantial.

The fourth infusion has a pondy, almost blank bland woody, almost mushroom onset with almond sweetness.  There is some faint fruitiness that tries to establish itself.  The mouthfeeling is a soft almost sandy stickiness.  The throatfeeling is faint and somewhat deep.  The Qi is very calming on the mind and almost hypnotic.  The aftertaste is a walnut taste not really fruity but with a very faint not really there candy on the breath.  I can feel a mild slow heart sensation in the body.  The Qi is starting to build in the mind.

I’m having a really hard time placing this puerh.  In some ways it tastes like an old dry seal stored puerh and in other ways it tastes rather new.  In many ways it is like the 2001 Naked Yiwu.  Even the location has evaded me.  This is a tough one.

The fifth infusion has a woody and mushroom and almond onset over a pondy base taste.  There is a creamy incense building almost caramel sweetness that comes out of these tastes.  The mouthfeeling is becoming drier pucker stickiness.  There is a long solid incense base taste.  There is a long candy like sweetness developing on the breath.  The Qi is a bit hypnotic and a bit relaxing.  There is a lot of nuanced complexity that just can’t quite punch through such as orange peel, herbal tastes, and floral tastes.  My scalp feels a bit tingling.  This is a really interesting infusion.  The thought of this being a seal stored Youle crosses my mind- again this puerh is really hard for me to place.  My mind is starting to really unravel.  It has a nice deep warming Qi sensation to it which suggests age.

The sixth infusion has a pondy woody incense onset with some sweet almond and almost suppressed floral.  The mouthfeeling is becoming really engaging and has a sticky drying cotton mouth effect.  It feels almost like there is something caught in the mid-throat.  There is some faint long candy in the aftertaste as well as walnut taste and almost peach orange taste.  The mouthfeel is really intense here.  The Qi is warming and pushes me into a sweat.  I feel quite stoned from the Qi.  There is a deep strength to this puerh in its Qi, mouthfeeling, and even taste, in a subtle way.  This is a really interesting puerh to me.

The seventh infusion has an incense woody onset with some walnut taste in there as well.  There is almost fruity taste that tries to emerge.  There is also a bitterer base emerging as well as there as well.  The mouthfeel is a sticky punckery pretty engaging thing now.  The Qi is warming in the body and hypnotic in the mind.

The eighth has a fruity floral onset over wood and incense notes.  There is a bland chalky base taste then a faint coolness and a strong true apricot fruit finish almost like apricot jam.  This infusion has turned a corner and is very apricot tasting.  Very delicious.  A sticky almost puckering Qi is there. 

The ninth infusion has an almost nutty not really toffee sweet onset the woody and incense taste is less now and a fruitier and sweeter suggestion is left to enjoy.  There is a pondy aftertaste.  There is a bit of a mineral taste here and a floral and apricot fruit.  Over a slightly puckering sticky engaging coating in the mouth while the throat seems pretty absent throughout this session is carries a touch of very very faint coolness.

The tenth infusion is a pondy, kind of fruity, slightly woody incense taste initially that has an almost chalky bland midtaste before returning mild chalky apricot aftertaste.  The aftertaste is not super long not overly complex throughout any of the infusions but sometimes carries a very very faint candy suggestion like this infusion does.  The Qi is strongly warming in the body and feel like aged Qi energy.

The eleventh infusion has a fruity incense taste with a bland chalky finish with some faint florals and barely candy appearing over the bland aftertaste finish.  Mouthfeeling is thicker chalky pucker.  Warming euphoric Qi.

The 12^th infusion has a mild fruity onset with a bland almost woody creamy pondy taste.  There is a slightly sticky mouthfeeling and a faint fruity almost candy finish.  This puerh is dropping off fast.  The Qi is mild.

The 13^th infusion I steep for 30 seconds over flash… it yields a woody bland onset with a bit of creamy fruity finish with some throat coolness.

I put this in a mug to grandpa steep out. It tastes of generic smoky incense and some woody bitterness.

The wet leaves are different colours of aged olive green and coppery colours some of them are chopped leaf grade indicative of a factory production.

Overall, this puerh is really difficult for me to place.  More difficult than the others so far.    The first few infusions and the dry leaf almost remind me of Laos puerh or something East Yiwu close to the boarder with a meaty and gamey taste.  Then the next group of infusions develop a pondy woody taste to it with some fruity and creamy sweetness.  The mouthfeel builds and becomes thicker almost pucker.  The Qi is warm and indicates something more aged as does the incense base taste that develops.  These infusions remind me of a dry seal stored older more old school puerh.  In the later infusions a strong apricot sweetness is highlighted. 

This puerh changes a lot throughout the session which makes it kind of interesting.  It is definitely dry stored, likely Taiwanese dry storage, and possibly even sealed storage.  It also has a factory feel to it like a Xiaguan, maybe especially in the later infusions.  It’s more of a generic factory taste in the last half.  Not sure how this puerh would be priced which depends on how old it is really.  I think this might be an option for offering something older but more affordable at Teas We Like.  Its profile is something that I don’t think I would be too interested in buying, either way.  But if the price was low it would be a bargain.

Guess: An aged possibly seal storage very dry Taiwanese stored factory production?  This one is the hardest of the blind samples for me to place…

Answer: 2010 Youle Gushu from Teas We Like

Peace

2010 Rong Dong Da Bang Bing & How Close is Close?

This complimentary sample came from KL Wong of Teapals in an order I placed a few months back.  Mr. Wong tells me that Bang Bing is a mere 15 KM from the famous Bing Dao.   I know 15 Km sounds pretty close in proximity but if you have actually been to the tea mountains and understand a bit about terroir, it is really quite far.  There are lots of these puerh areas that are near more famous areas that try to ride off their popularity.  In a way this is harmless, but it is equally deceptive because most of these areas even ones only a few KM away have such different profiles.

KL also informs me that this cake is now sold out.  So I report here only for the purpose of recording my experience from a cake from Bang Bing, an area that I’ve only tired blended into Shuangjiang Mengku cakes  in the past… please sit down and join me at the tea table, pals…

The dry leaves smell of very clear high noted sugar notes, crisp wood and distant dry grasses.  The sweetness is pretty strong.

The first infusion starts off with vegetal tastes which are barely sweet and bitter.

The second infusion starts with a slightly bitter edge which has layers of vegetal tastes underneath.  The bitterness is notable and long as it recedes in the aftertaste a malty sweetness is paired with bitter.

The third infusion starts with a buttery sweetness then turns quickly to bitter there is a pop of fruit before a cooling wave heralds in malty sweet tones.  The tea liquor feels reasonably thick there is a bitterness found throughout.

The fourth infusion starts with a buttery malty sweetness with bitter underneath a soft cooling wave comes in and reveals interesting mix florals and fruits, creamy sweetness, the aftertaste is reasonably long here.  This infusions taste is very nicely balanced and quite delicious.  The mouth feeling is soft and sticky the throat is mildly stimulated.  The Qi sharpens the mind and concentration.  The body feels loose in the lower body and knees.

The fifth infusion is much the same as the fourth with a mainly sweet profile of malty, vegetal, bitter then after the distant coolness creamy sweetness, tropical fruit, malty sweetness and underlying bitterness over a soft sticky mouthfeeling.  This is a real nice fairly dry stored sweetness.

The sixth infusion tastes even sweeter with more of a sweet entry initially, a beautiful buttery thick sweetness which stays throughout.  There are some tropical fruits and creamy sweetnesses that appear in the long sweet aftertaste.  The bitterness has significantly reduced but is still underneath giving this tea much depth.  The saliva in the mouth pools a traps in the aftertastes even minutes later.

The seventh infusion has a light, juicy fruit mixed with malty sweet depth onset.  The liquid feels less thick in the mouth in this infusion but still stimulates the throat nicely.  The mouthfeel is grittier now.

The eighth infusion is thick, malty sweet, mild cooling and long sweetnesses throughout the profile.  There is a creaminess thoughout, some vegetalness.  The sweet aftertaste is trapped in the throat.  9^th infusion is the same, but more pronounced sweetness.  This is a very nice experience, I’m having here.

10^th is creamy sweet malty, it turns talc and slightly floral before transitioning into long sweet tastes.  The mouthfeel is really nice here, velvety coating.  The 11^th has a pronounced pungency to it.  The taste is sweet throughout with just edges of astringency and bitter barely presenting now.  The sweetness is very apparent and very nice.  The layers of sweetness is enjoyable.

12^th has a bit of a thinner profile now but has a long butterschotch sweetness throughout, a touch of coolness, nice tongue coating.  The 13^th becomes a bit sandy in feeling and less substantial.  Just flash steeping it still.

The clock of the day runs out on my session so I put this guy into an overnight session and awake the next day to some major deliciousness- thick and sweet and still very nuanced and interesting…

Great tea, very sweet, layered sweet, saliva pushing flavor up throat action, lots of depth, pure, clean, nice dry storage, good concentration enhancing Qi, too bad its gone….

I noticed that KL Wong has recently added a few different puerh to his website.  From what I’ve tried, he’s worth paying attention to…

Peace

2010 Essence of Tea Da Xue Shan Wild 1KG Brick (What’s Not To Like?)

I choose some of this in Essence of Tea’s Black Friday promotion of 20% free tea.

I have to admit, I was excited about this 2010 Essence of Tea Da Xue Shan Wild ($0.26/g) right from the start…

What’s not to like about this?

It’s from one of my favorite vendors, the Essence of Tea.

It’s of yesheng material and I do like wild tea.

It’s very tightly machine pressed, exactly the way I like high noted tea.

It’s stored on the drier end of the spectrum, most often optimal for wild tea I suspect.

It’s material is from Da Xue Shan, an area which I always seem to enjoy.

And last but not least,

It comes in an over the top 1KG Brick!

Really, it checks all the boxes for me.

The oily purple hued dry leaves give off a delicious odour…

The first infusion starts with a watery, empty taste with a slight vegetal, slight turbid\ barnyard taste there are just glimpse of juicy fruity, barely there as this compression needs to release more.  What is most noticeable is the long breath cooling and faint almost cotton candy sensation.  This wild will be quite nice, I think.

The second starts with a subtle smoky and mainly juicy fruits and subtle sour onset with layers of almost tobacco and woody notes.  There is a long cool lingering returning undulation and creamy sweet breath, slightly talc with almost cherry tastes left on tongue.

The third infusion starts off with punchy tangy fruity tastes with a nice astringent feel.  Then there is slight woody layer, tobacco and slight smoke then long cherry returning taste with decent cooling.  The slightly forest, slight wood, slight creamy taste is long.  The mouthfeel is nice and astringent but not overly so.  It’s mainly felt on the tongue and cheeks as well as mid throat.  Nice full feel for a wild tea for sure.

The fourth has a woody, juicy fruity taste with very mild smoke then to a building pungent cooling in the throat.  There is more of a full onset with woods and fruits layered in.  The mouthfeel is nicely simulating for a wild tea, much more full than even the better yesheng I’ve had.

The fifth infusion becomes very thick right from the onset.  The liquor is quite viscus and denser layers of wood, slight sour, barely noticeable barnyard/turbid taste, thick dried fruits, slight juicier fruits which stretch into the aftertaste and breath.  The long ring of cooling pungent taste makes this wild special as well. Very refreshing.  The throatfeel paired with the sour slight astringency pushes saliva into the throat along with the deep, dense, layered flavours.  The Qi is very floating but my mind feels quite sharp, a very nice qi.

The sixth infusion starts off in a vibrant soapy guy (Thrills gum) taste and turbid/wild/slight barnyard taste with woods and fruits under this almost grapy sweet soapy taste.  The long pungent returning kicks in and rolling creamy talc sweetness.  The mouth/throatfeeling are nice and do a nice thing with the saliva.  I feel so floaty but clear in the head.

The seventh starts layered, dense, complex with layering of woods, sweetnesses, chalk, forest, fruits, juicy, and is capped with a strong pungent coolness and long creamy, talc sweetness with mild dancing fruits in the distance.  The sweet taste is quite strong and long.  The throat does a capturing of taste with the saliva even minutes later.

The eighth infusion is a thick dense onset.  The thickness of the liquor and mouthfeel really make the complex interplay of flavours hold.  Instead of coming one at a time flavours come all at once.  The Qi makes my heart pound with a certain intensity but I feel slightly spacy.  Like I have lots of energy but don’t know what to do with myself.

The ninth infusion is sweet, almost juicy smokey, dense, onset, with creamy menthol sweetness long on the breath.  The taste is barely sour, faintly astringent, long dense sweetness, long cooling. The interplay and complexity of this wild make it special, I think.

This tenth and eleventh infusion is more watery fresh almost fruity juicy type I’m more familiar with.  There is a mild juicy fruity taste throughout.  The deeper tastes and rolling pungency seems less here.  This is more like a solid and more typical wild presentation but this one is especially nice.

The 12th is smooth fruity and woody to start plumb and blackcurrents come to mind.  There is a wave of menthol coolness then a long woody and subtle sweetness.  I would say the wood note is the dominant here.

13^th has a slight sour tart onset with a choke cherry like initial taste there is more of a slightly sandy and dry mouthfeeling now.

13^th starts woody mainly with fruits underneath capped by a menthol taste.  Some sweetness and fruit in the aftertaste.  14^th is much the same.

The 15^th is brilliantly fruity and long the mouthfeel is a touch slit-like.  The Qi pushes me into a sweat.

I end up long steeping this one for a few days and get brilliantly viscous fruity flavors.  It goes for a few more days like this and I quite enjoy it.

Overall, this wild is really enjoyable, it really does have everything I look for in a wild tea.  So will I be buying up a few bricks? I’m afraid not.  Why?

The reasons are many but are mainly personal reasons.

Firstly, despite what you read here on this blog, I only drink wild tea/ yesheng infrequently.  I only go for it maybe once a month, that’s it.  The other times I’m downing puerh.

Secondly, I already own over 3KG of wild tea probably enough to last me a lifetime considering how infrequently I consume it.

Thirdly, I just picked up a KG of a very similar wild from Teapals, a 2003 Shuangjiang Mengku Da Xue Shan Wild 250g (very compressed) brick for($0.16/g).

Fourthly, although I consider this 2010 Essence of Tea Da Xue Shan Wild one of the finest example of wild tea but I have a very similar tasting (although admittedly inferior) dry stored, very tightly compressed, factory-esque feeling, and similar Qi pattern.  Mine is maybe ½ as delicious, though.

Overall, this has got to be one of my favorite Northern Xishuangbanna wilds…

I just can’t rationalize buying more…

Peace