2021 Essence of Tea Morsels (or Pieces?)

 

This 2021 Essence of Tea Morsels goes for $168.00 for 200g cake or $0.84/g but it was my free gift included with sample purchase.  It’s by far the most unusual of Essence of Tea’s spring releases, maybe one of their most unique offerings ever?  Comprised of small morsels (in North America they usually say “pieces”) of this and morsels of that- must be how it got its name. “It's all from ancient trees, from Yiwu Guoyoulin gardens, Guafengzhai, Bulang and some other single trees.”

Dry leaves smell of very sweet fruity berries and creamy sweetness.

First infusion has a very fruity, hay, woody, mushroom onset with an emerging bitter bland that converts to a very sweet berry, strawberry and peach fruity finish in the long aftertaste.  There is lots of depth of taste and a leaning toward fruity sweetness.  Sticky sandy full mouthcoating with some pungent cool in the deeper throat.  There is lots going on but it tastes nice together.  You can feel a bit of bitter astringency in the empty stomach.  The Qi in the Chest and alerted mind.  Strong energetic Qi feels lots like a bulang energy here.

The second has a medicinal very pungent camphor cooling sweet bread onset where fruity tastes like plum and peach emerge as well as woody-dirt bitter flat taste that reminds me of Bulang. There is a sticky full loose chalky feeling in the mouth with a deep cooling throat and some saliva producing.  There are some fruity tastes like plum and bread that come out later in the aftertaste.  Strong heart pounding Qi- very energetic.

The third infusion has a creamier sweet very pungent medicinal woody camphor onset its very strong and concentrated.  It ends both with a bitter-wood-dirt flat as well as a creamy sweet, some plum, and bread almost apricot.  The full onset really comes on thick and coats the thick sticky-cottony mouth with lots of full and lasting throughout the profile taste.  Strong Qi in the chest and very stimulating on the mind.  It’s a powerful blend.  There is also some bodyfeeling in the arms like a tingling floating thing going on.  Strong but only a touch harsh on my empty stomach.

The 4^th is left to cool and has a thick woody syrupy concentrated woody camphor taste with a lot of coolness then turns to a flat-woody-dirt bitter that is totally Bulang.  There is some florals and plum and lots of cool pungent camphor that emerges out of the strong champhor bitter woody taste.  There is a certain sweetness, bread-like, to the taste throughout.  The mouthfeeling is sticky and full with some saliva forming.  Strong and powerful Qi with Heartbeats and limb numbness.

5^th infusion has a melon woody coco bitter with a long fruity melon and peach finish within the mild dirt-woody-bitter.  The taste is pretty condensed with a saliva producing effect and fruity coco finish in the mouth.  Nice strong energy in the mind.

6^th has a fruitier peach, pear, melon that comes just before and over a long mild woody-dirt-coco-woody bitterness.  The mouithfeeling is sticky almost drying full coating with an open cool throat and some gripping of the throat with a mild saliva producing effect.  Kind of a metallic woody taste on the tongue.

7^th infusion has a fruity, medicinal, bitter-dirt-woody taste to it that has a flat bitter medicinal finish and some subtle fruity tastes.  The main taste here is a medicinal woody kind of taste.  The Qi is strong and sedating at the same time now.  Some lesser chest sensations.  Tighter almost dry mouthcoating with slight saliva producing effect.

8^th is cooled down and is a very peachy apricot syrupy taste with a woody medicinal menthol camphor taste.  The sweet taste is thick and goes the distance in the taste profile with a melon coolness on the breath.  The mouthfeeling is sticky and cottony and full.  Nice strong Qi feeling.

9^th has a melon then woody onset taste with a dry woody coolness on the breath.  There is a creamy sweetness almost mushroom taste that returns and the bitterness is mild kind of coco and medicinal taste.  These last few infusions taste like Yiwu material.  There are nuances of potato and bread.  Nice full sticky feeling with a nice oily texture here.  Nice sedating effect now.

10^th is cooled down… there is a almond, syrypy sweetness that comes along with mild dirt-coco bitterness nice long cool coco sweet finish.  Nice relaxing sedating feeling with some Heart racing and alertness.  Limbs feel a bit heavy.  Melon and potato on breath reminds me of Gua Feng Zhi in the blend.

11^th has a melon chocolate onset along with a creamy yogurt melon taste.  There is a bland potato taste, woody taste, melon, creamy sweet, dirt-coco, subtle medicinal.  Lots of soft faint flavours in there now as the aftertaste fades to a blander woody dirt-coco.  The mouthfeeling remains dry.

12^th is left to cool and sit a while and it is a syrupy bitter woody coco dirt camphor taste.  It feels really full but with a softer mineral melon aftertaste.  The recent material comes out in the aftertaste now and the initial taste is more semi-aged or at least a few years aged. 

13^th has a dirt coco woody dirt onset with a light fresh mineral and melon finish.  Almost potato in the finish.  Aftertaste reminds me of Gua Feng Zhi and the onset reminds me of bulang/ Menghai.  There is a long fresh aftertaste.  These infusions taste like a semi-aged Bulang initial taste with a young Gua Feng Zhi or Yiwu finish.  It leaves me wondering if this is the composition on the blend?

14^th has a fresh fruity onset with a bitter-dirt-coco that follows.  The taste is pretty stable the last handful of infusions despite this being a blend.  Soft dry sandy mouthfeeling now.  With a calming Qi sensation without any bodyfeeling now.

I end up mug steeping out the rest and its pretty similar to the last few infusions.  More bitter and more gripping dry mouthfeeling than previously but not too too strong.  I can feel it in my guts a tinny bit and the Qi is strongly energizing with strong Heart beats.  Vigorous energy when steeping strongly for sure.

The overnight steeping is mainly a nice melon woody sweet taste.  Still surprisingly lots of taste in there.  This one has some good stamina, I think.

Overall, this puerh is unusual, it has some really good tastes in there and even better energy.  I think a bit of powerful semi-aged Bulang that is showcased as the infusions get more bitter and then as the session progresses it has the bitter strength up front with the younger, fresher, Yiwu/ Gua Feng Zhi sedating and very sweet finish.  Often the polarities present simultaneously for an unusual but full effect.  The young and a bit older material along with the Menghai and Yiwu blend is interesting but really disjointed.  I think this has great material in it and would probably taste better with a bit of age on it and give the time for the desperate pieces to come together more harmoniously.  It has interesting movement throughout the session and uniq combination of energizing then sedating Qi.  I find puerh like this hard to purchase before I can clearly see how it’s going to come together.  One thing is for certain this puerh has good bones.  Would love to try this one again in 10 years!

Alex’s (Tea Notes) Tasting Notes

Peace

Revisit: 2006 Nan Qiao “Bulang Beauty”

I wanted to sample this one immediately after the 2006 Zi XiHao “Yin Cake” (aka “Black Label”) ( pictured right in the below wet leaves) because they are of the same year and kind of similar storage but also to try to detect some Banzhang blended material which this one is thought to possibly have.  Initially I claimed to have not detected any Banzhang in the blind sampling (link).  When I look back on myblind sampling of this one I think I really nailed it.  I think Marco would have had a chuckle as I questioned why on earth I couldn’t come up with the right Menghai Factory (Dayi) recipe when it was in fact a different yet very similar Menghai puerh factory! Hahahah…

The factory tight compression of dry leaves smell of smoky and fruity sweet odours.  Menghai factory type odours.  I leaf it much much lighter than my initial assessment which was way too strong and even harsh.  I use about ½ the leaf I usually use because this factory puerh is terribly powerful!  Most definitely the raw power could suggest Banzhang. First group of infusions give off a light fruity-honey woody taste with faint edges of smoky bbq in the distance with a watery almost drying mouthfeeling.  Fairly strong factory style Qi up front.  The mid-session develops some florals and fruity sweetness with honey- it’s really a typical classic factory character.  Dry-tightish stronger stimulating thin full coat mouthfeeling and slight tight throatfeeling.  Faint floralish candy lingers in the throat.  

I mug steep out the leaves and can feel a distinct alertness and chest pounding Qi especially in these longer infusions.  There is a small bit of smoke but mainly this woody not-that-sweet kind of bitter taste.  I still can’t really sense the banzhang material although it is known that Nan Qiao owns some land in Ban Zhang so blending some in is not out of the question.  Overall, this is not overly exciting puerh but enjoyable for what it is.  Personally I’d rather drink Dayi or the other Nanqiao Bulang offerings at Teas We Like.

Peace

2011 Yang Qing Hao Guyun Bulang: Fail!

I just received my sampler of bottom to less popular mid-range Yang Qing Hao puerh from Liquid Proust Teas.  I wanted to include this 2011Yang Qing Hao Guyun Bulang ($225.00 for 500g cake or $0.45/g) as a part of the Bulang sampling I have been doing here as of late…

Very very tight compressed dry leaves smell of familiar Yang storage smells and some mild creamy sweetness and a vegetal like foresty odour.  There almost looks like there are some purplish leaves blended into the mix as you can see from the photo.  The purple leaves immediately remind me of the 2012 Yang Qing Hao Ye Gu…

The first infusion has a creamy milky sweet onset with a flat milk almost bitterness throughout.  There is a muted sweetness and a slight tingling chalky mouthfeeling especially on the tongue.  There is a mild creamy almost powdery chalky sweetness on the breath that has some very vague suggestions of fruits.  The mouthfeeling is interestingly thin but tingling chalky.  There is a rolling moca like chocolate milk finish off this one that is really delicious.

The second infusion has a milky sweet foresty onset that slowly crests into something sweeter.  Simple tastes.  There is a clear purity to the taste not muddled.  The creamy sweet milky note is long and deep and very satisfying.  The mouthfeel is thin but chalky and tingling. The throat carries a deep and very faint pungency.

Third steep… pot clogged about 1/3 way through the pour and the tea sat in there for a good minute… this will be a stronger one… yes… quite strong.. there is a coffee ground onset bitter and roasted like nutty taste with a deep medicinal Traditional Chinese Medicine bitterness.  There is also some sweetness nutty sweetness and creamy bitter milk sweetness.  A peaty musky depth to it.  The mouthfeeling is tart on the tongue.  The mouthfeeling isn’t that thick nor is the throat feeling that stimulating.  There is a faint deep reach which gives this tea something.  There is a lingering returning sweetness in the breath- a milky flat sweetness. 

The fourth infusion has a coffee mild bitter nutty almost but not really toffee like onset with a long milky sweet note that fades out into the aftertaste.  Milky smooth sweet with a coffee, nutty bitter with some faint TCM nuances.  The taste has a certain simple shallowness to it.  The Qi is really subtle and not very Bulang like at all.  It has a more typically Gushu like relaxing thing going on.  Almost like a gentle rocking soothing feeling.  I can feel my face puffy.  I feel relaxed and happy.  The Qi is mild and subtle.

The fifth infusion has a flat sweet blank faint sweetness that transitions to a creamy milky sweetness.  There is a storage taste that is pretty strong and a faint buttery taste.  The tastes are very mild here.  The forest base is the strongest but it feels more like a background taste.  There is a faint bitterness in this one as well.  The mouthfeel is thin and kind of mossy.  The throat feel is faint and weak but reasonably deep.  This one reminds me a lot of 2012 Yang Qing Hao Yegu like budget Yegu but the divide between the two is vast.

The sixth infusion has a dirt like taste with storage onset that slides into a more typical but very muted bitter sweet creamy Bulang suggestion.  The mouthfeel is chalky and mossy but fuller here.  It ends in a foresty storage tastes with a faint thread of the bitter sweet.  This puerh is really neither bitter nor sweet but more medicinal forest.   A mild relaxing Qi.  Can feel it just a touch in the chest.  This puerh is filled with mild and simple things.

The seventh has a rich nutty foresty dirt like onset with a longer bitter coffee grounds almost nut like not that creamy sweetness. There is a forest and dirt like edge with a mild mossy mouthcoating with faint, almost non-throat feeling.  The Qi is relaxing and tranquil.  Not to much going on with this one.

The eighth infusion has a foresty almost dirt and storage taste with a touch of bitter herbal medicine nuance.  There is a subtle creamy bitter sweetness but it is faint.  The taste is shallow and simple.

The ninth infusion is very soft muted barely sweet barely bitter barely medicinal and forest tasting.  The Storage taste is probably the strongest taste here.  The next infusion I will push harder…

The 10^th infusion I put to a minute long infusion and it pushes out some coffee ground tastes, some bitter milk tastes even some low lying pungency.  There is an overarching forest taste as well as coffee bitter.  The Qi is mild and relaxing almost sleepy.

The 11^th infusion I do a few minutes long infusion a longer one and get a bitter coffee grounds bitter almost nutty flat dirt bitter.   There is a mild pungency but with a thin mouthfeeling and absence of throat feeling- this taste doesn’t do that much.  There are some vague suggestions so milky sweet…

The 12^th infusion is very long infused and pushes out much of the same…. Something kind of funny happens here… I notice a faint and unusual euphoria lingering in my mind… I kind of feel a bit lazy but also high in a not that obvious sense… The Qi is sneaky but it’s most definitely doing something…

My guess is that Yang was trying to press a unique possibly a wild like forest production much like his 2012 Yang Qing Hao Ye Gu.  But this one kind of failed, I think.  The purple leaf material is very nice much like the 2012 Ye Gu.  I have no question that this is gushu, it just doesn’t do much.  Overall, its uniqueness is accomplished as I would never guess to be Bulang and I would say it is almost more like a medicinal tasting Bulang.  It has a typical gushu like Qi sensation that seems foreign compared to a usually powerful Bulang Qi.  I can kind of see where this tea was going but I just am not a fan and don’t think that this one will age into anything very exciting either.  Just like I said before all vendors press both very good puerh and not as good puerh…. Everyone knows that Yang presses some of the best but sometimes nature dictates that things just don’t turn out as planned.  Even Yang probably knows this by now- you can’t win em all.

Steepster Reviews here.

Grill and James' (TeaDB) Tasting notes.

Peace

2000 Hai Lang Hao Bulang “Mushroom Tuo”: Nice Aged Kunming Dry

Kunming dry stored for whole life- check.

Super crazy tight compression- check.

BuLang Bulang-E-ness- check.

While this one checks a lot of boxes for me.  The description on Yunnan Sourcing’s site says that good ol’ Hai Lang picked this up in Menghai in 2000.  It currently goes for $102.00 for 250gmushroom or $0.41/g a price determined by Hai Lang Hao and passed on to us by Yunnan Sourcing.  Yunnan Sourcing has many options for Bulang puerh.  This one seemed to be the most interesting to me so I picked up a sample…

Dry leaves smell of classic smokey barely sweet fruit odour.

First has a nice mellow very faint smoke with mainly sweet tasting thin layer of dried pear, and a base of wood.  The mouthfeel is slightly sticky and sandy with the sensation more on the tongue than in the throat.

The second has a nice sweet approach with a very faint mild woody smokiness left. The taste is mainly this monotone sweetness that is almost a woody, grassy, and non-distinct almost not-really there dried pear taste.  There is faint smoke on the breath.

The third gains a bit of strength as a slight bitterness where a sweet grassy woodiness comes out.  The sweet fruitiness is overtaken by bitter and woody grass here.  There is a nice powdery dry storage nuance in here now.  There is a deep underlying menthol that start to generate over a flat sandy stimulating tongue feeling and less active throat.  A very faint candy breath can be found.

The fourth develops a rich nutty sweet onset that is mainly sweet but in a nutty and rich woody type of way.  There is a deep underlying pungency which pushes an almost cherry like sweetness out in the breath.  The mouthfeel is this almost sandy full tongue sensation that is not overpowering but still significant.  The aftertaste turns into a longer running sweetness.  The smokiness is pretty much non-existent now.

The fifth has a thick mushroom almost pecan onset with grassy woodiness underneath.  The overall taste is sweet but it’s hard to describe it almost like a dried/ dehydrated pear sweetness that melds with the mushroom, nutty, woody and grassiness.  There is a slight richness to the taste.  The mild building pungency is apparent in the aftertaste that pushes out a mild candy sweetness.  The smokiness is pretty mild and more in the aftertaste.

The sixth infusion has a mild bitterness with woody and mushroom and it turns into a nice sweetness.  The sweetness is almost a nutty rich sweetness like how a nut butter is sweet.  The mouthfeeling is full and kind of a dry tight mild coating especially on the tongue.  The throat is more opening at the top and mid level.  There is an extension of the sweetness in the aftertaste as a powdery almost cherry like and very faint candy lingering on the breath.  The overall taste is rich, warming, clean, woody and mushroom almost but not really dried pear.  The Qi is mildly relaxing.

The seventh infusion has a woody rich menthol onset with a strong nuttiness in there as well.  There is barely any bitterness here more of a grassy woody menthol type with a strong clear almost plum richer sweetness. There is some candy on the breath and a good powdery-ness in there as well. 

The eighth infusion has a very woody lumber rich taste to it.  There is a honey almost smoked maple syrup edge to it.  The mouthfeel is slightly sandy and dry on the tongue but feels somewhat full. There isn’t really a bitterness now its more of a drier, sharper finish.  This infusion has a nice mild powdery cherry nuance. The Qi is a moderate harmonious Qi not a typical strong Bulang Qi sensation. 

The ninth has a sandalwood taste with mushroom and sweetness to it.  The sweetness is hard to describe it taste so blended into the profile it feels like sweet wood.  The mouthfeel is slippery and thicker.  The menthol incense wood nuance is nice and echoes deep into the throat.  Dry menthol wood and mild sweetness.

The tenth has a sweet dense dry woody presentation.  The taste is almost a syrupy maple syrup taste intertwined with wood tastes.  The mouthfeel is a powdery, dry, sandiness on the tongue.  The Qi is super mild but really harmonious it is a touch alerting and a touch relaxing.  The tea feels really nice in the body, gentle but I can feel something relax my face.  It has a cozy aged warmth to it.  Smoke is gone now.  The fruity aftertaste is long on the breath.  There is nice cherry powdery fruity tastes here.

The 11^th infusion has woody sweetness, at times it almost seems like dry pear there is this low reaching pungency to the taste which pushes out a faint sweetness on the breath.  Overall this puerh feels somewhat dense, full and complete but harmonious in the body and mind. 

The 12^th infusion has a strong woody with faint smokey nuance.  The taste is full and tastes of woody notes and chestnuts.  The Qi makes me feel good.  Relaxed and content. 

The 13^th infusion has a pine wood taste to it with a pungent sweetness that emerges in the aftertaste.  The mouthfeel is really stable throughout all the infusions it remains full and a sticky powdery sandy on the tongue.

The 14^th has a fruity mainly woody mushroom onset.  Still full mouthfeeling with a low rising pungency and a bit of sweetness under wood mushroom to finish.  There is a flat woodiness throughout now. 

The 15^th infusion has a pine woody sweetness the taste is really dense and feels full on the mouthcoating.  This is a nice harmonious jincha.  The low lying pungency is nice and pushes some sweetness out of the woodiness.  There is a nice peachy sweetness pushed out somehow.

I put this one into overnight steeping as I run out of time in my day…

This one tastes like a bit of a sweeter, lighter Bulang with a mild suggestion of a more bitter and sweet with distant smokey classic Bulang nuance.  This is partly because the bitterness and smoke have aged out a bit and the dry storage and compression is favorable for the sweetness.  This Bulang has a really mellow Qi sensation even for a two decade aged Bulang.  The Qi is not typical of my experience of Bulang.  Either way it works nicely..  for a nice easy drinking dry aged puerh.

In some ways this mushroom reminds me of a bit of the Bada puerh producing region with a mild sweet profile and nice mellow Qi.  I don’t know that I’ve ever tried an aged Bulang that tasted this mild and smooth.  There is something satisfying about this.  On the plus side the dry storage tastes of candy and sweet flavours are nice to behold in something like this due to its nice dry storage.  The storage of this mushroom is ideal Kunming dry storage.  Nicely tight compressed.  I think the storage and compression work well for a lighter and sweeter Bulang like this.  I think this is fair price for what you get considering this is 20 years aged nicely dry Kunming stored puerh.  For me it’s an easy drinker Bulang- just not exactly what I’m looking for.  Anyone interested in clean dry storage on a truly aged Bulang with a smooth mild presentation should give it a try.

Peace

2004 Nan Qiao Bulang King: Strong Qi!

This ($110.00 for 357g cake or $0.31/g) is a drier Taiwanese stored Bulang option sourced by Teas We Like from Nan Qiao’s inaugural year.  Nan Qiao factory is most famous for its Bulang and is also famous for using lots of cleaner and organic certified material.  If you look around, a lot of vendors actually carry puerh from Nan Qiao Factory.  This should be some of the top of the brand, literally the King (Chawang) of Bulang…

The very tight machine pressed dry leaves smell of a very peat mossy type of smell with a very faint incense almost smokiness.

First infusion is a slightly fishy seaweed and incense with a peat fresh wood-chips-like taste.  The taste is kind of unique and finishes with a faint pungent and sour wood finish.  The mouthfeel is tight and the throat feel hasn’t really been activated yet- just mild sensations in the top throat.  There is not really much bitter here surprisingly no smoke.  The first infusion tells me that this was really nicely processed for a Bulang.  I like the tight compression on this one too.

The second infusion has a richer incense almost bitter coco suggestion with a slight pondy fishy nuance in the back ground.  There is a distinct salty taste to this puerh throughout.  There is a very faint pungency on the breath then suppressed coco tastes in the aftertaste along with wood chips and faint pond/ marshland.  A subtle bread-like sweetness is hard to grasp at here.  The Qi starts to build in the mind and I can feel the warmth of this puerh start to generate internally.  This will be strong…

The third infusion starts with a woody incense taste with the fishy pond nuance becoming less here.  There is a long salty base taste then a sour wood taste.  There is a soft pungency that pushes wood chips, faint coco, almost a hard to grasp milky coco taste, wood chips, and incense.  There is a lingering bread like sweetness like raison bread. There is a kind of soft flat bitterness that kind of comes much later after swallowing.  The mouthfeel is nicely full and tight, the throat has a upper-mid level opening.  Saliva is kind of trapped at the top of the throat extending these unusual tastes for quite some time.  The Qi is pretty strong here and makes the head and body wobble and heat is generated at the core.  I can feel my chest start to pound loudly.

The fourth infusion has a bitter incense woody onset the pond/ marshland is almost gone and the initial taste is mild bitter wood chips, incense and coco bitterness.  The full tight mouthfeel tugs at the throat and fills the mouth.  The Qi is very very strong and I am flushed in the face, I feel almost dizzy, like I could faint if I exert myself.  The heart pounds.  This is very strong Qi.  The aftertaste has a bread like sweetness to it that emerges under the bitter.  This infusion is still quite salty underneath.

The fifth infusion starts with incense, slight pond, wood chips, and moderate bitter.  It turns slightly sour and salty then a faint but building pungent coolness.  The aftertaste is bitterer than the initial taste and there is a mix of pond, wood, incense, faint coco and bread sweetness.  There is a lingering metallic taste in the aftertaste as well.  The Qi is big, staggeringly large in the mind.

The sixth infusion starts with a strong bitter taste with wood and coco and incense.  The pondy fishiness is gone.  The aftertaste come after an undulating coolness hits and expands.  The result is long bread and coco bitter sweetnesses.  This infusion hits the spot.  Big Qi along with bitterness slows me down considerably and I consider removing leaf from the pot…

The seventh infusion… Ok I didn’t remove leaf (I will not admit defeat quite yet) just took a 40 min rest… the first has an almost raison and faint coco onset that is balanced bitter and sweet.  The taste is a flat coco with incense, saltiness, woodiness much more background.  The taste here is nice with a lingering coolness and incense and bread sweet type of finish.  The mouth feeling is now chalkier.  The aftertaste is also mineral here.

The eighth infusion starts a nice smooth almost milky sweet onset with bitter less here and incense in there too.  This infusion has a classic Bulang onset.  It stretches into a mineral milky flat bitter.  A pungent coolness then sweet bread. Not much coco here and much less bitterness.  The bitterness is receding.  The Qi races the chest, pounds it hard.  This one really tastes like classic Bulang.

The ninth has a slight creamy milky flat sweet and subtle pond/ marshland.  There are faint suggestions of coco and a nice long creamy sweetness.  The coolness is less and pushes a stronger sweetness out of the flat milk tastes.  There is a faint bit of mineral and even less saltiness now.  Overall this infusion is milky sweet with touches of mild bitter and coco.  The mouthfeeling becomes more chalky and full.  The throat feel is not too deep with this one but it mainly gets stimulated with the intense bitter early in the session.

The tenth is milky sweet initially with a mild woody flat bitter and a mineral taste as well as incense coming out mid profile.  The mouthfeel is a sticky chalky now and bitter-sweet coco comes after a mild coolness.  The qi is still in the chest- like a good Bulang should.  It has less intensity and almost a relaxing effect now.

The 11^th is bitter-sweetness, milky, almost incense and herbaceous tastes.  There is some sour and even some mineral later into the session.  The aftertaste is becoming less.  Still some woods and incense and milk sweetness.  This infusion was more herb tasting.

The 12^th onset is more herbaceous onset with incense and flat milk sweetness.  There is a lessening bitterness as well as full mouthfeeling.  Qi is less and extends into a relaxed feeling with some chest heart palpitations.

The 13^th is an herbaceous incense woodyiness initially with more a faint coco and milk finish.  The profile has leveled out here and it’s pretty easy straight forward drinking.

The 14^th is much more of the same herbaceous, incense, this more has a bit more milky coco swetnesss, faint cooling, woody, pretty tasty stuff with a relaxing feeling now.  These infusions get less bitter as they go, less complex, less sweet.  But still delicious with more of a relaxing Qi after all that stimulation.

I throw in the towel early with this one and put it into overnight steepings which seem to pull out a pretty bitter herby soup.

Overall a nice Bulang.  To me a classic Bulang should have a full bitter peak early in the session with a nice coco taste and milky/creamy sweet balance, there should be earth shattering Qi that must make the heart race, the mouthfeel should be full and stimulating, and there should be some faint smoke in there to indicate the more rudimentary production.  Then after the first handful of steeps the bitter should give way to milky flat sweetness and woodiness.  These are the qualities I look for in a quality classic Bulang.  This 2004 Nan Qiao Chawang Bulang mainly has the earth shattering Qi … but man is it every satisfyingly strong and clear!

This 2004 Nan Qiao Bulang starts a bit unique with some interesting pond tastes that I don’t usually see in Bulang.  I don’t think this is storage taste although that flavor usually indicates off storage- I think it is a part of the profile and where this tea is in the aging.  Plus there is no smoke.  These are not necessarily bad things, they are just things… unique and complex things actually.

This Bulang has a very intense Qi which to me is everything in a Bulang.  It does this part very very well. Its bitterness is strong and creamy/milky sweetness is low-moderate.  It is a very nicely processed, very clean drier Taiwanese storage, with a pure clean feeling in the body.  There is actually a lot of interesting notes in this Bulang which give it a different type of herby, pondy, mineral, and medicial wood-like complexity.  They are just not notes I really like nor are they notes that I am looking for in a Bulang.

I don’t think I will be purchasing another but it is nice to have a good example of a dry stored herbaceous, woody, medicinal Bulang.  From what I have read, most Nan Qiao seem to be low on the sweetness and high on the herbal, woody, medicinal tastes.  I think the price is about right for something like this.  The interesting thing about this Bulang is that it is so powerful and clean and kind of unusual that I caught myself going back for a few more sessions over the last few weeks when I was looking for a power boost and/or for some unusual puerh tastes.

Rating 6.8.

Marco’s (Late Steeps) Tasting Notes

Peace

Ways I Appreciate/Evaluate Bulang

I am finally getting around to replacing my dwindling stock of aged and semi aged Bulang.  I must only have around a cake left of aged Bulang at my disposal.  I have a few more cakes of some semi-aged that I dip into but that isn’t aged out enough yet to drink.  At this rate the drinkable stuff will be gone in a year or so- not good.  In a way, composing this post is also guiding or putting into print exactly what I am looking for in some replacement Bulang.

I do have a bit of experience with the Bulang area.  Interestingly, most of my experience with Bulang was around 15 years ago so the stuff I was drinking at that time was mainly 90s more humidly stored Bulang.  A lot of it was sometimes hard to for me to distinguish from aged Menghai.  What is going on now with Bulang is probably a lot different than what I’m used to.  It seems like not that much is actually going on with Western puerh vendors pressing fresh Bulang these days.  I predict a resurgence in interest in Bulang over the next few years for Westren puerh drinkers much in the same way Lao Man E experienced a surge in the West over the last 2 years.   New trends aside, I’m used to classic Bulang character anyways and that’s what I’m after…

The simplest reduction of the Bulang character for me is that it has a bitter profile in the first handful of infusions which then turn into sweet infusions around steeps 5-8 onward.  There is always a strong, alerting chaqi which is especially apparent in the chest.  There is always smoke even if just faintly or on the dry leaf but sometimes the smoke on Bulang can be a bit aggressive.  It is my understanding that the reason that (at least historically) Bulang had some smokey notes is because of the remoteness of Bulang.  The processing was done a lot more crudely by local minorities that were geographically isolated from puerh factories.    Anyways, most bulang are this: always bitter, then sweet, and have strong qi and some smoke.

When I think about Bulang I usually think about three different character types of Bulang puerh.  Bulang is a huge producing area and covers a lot of territory and there is much more variability in its overall character than some smaller puerh regions.  In reality these character types can overlap or can even contain a bit of each but for clarity’s sake I keep them separate in my head:

1-      The bitter and creamy sweet Bulang.

This bulang starts with a distinct flat bitterness from which a creamy often coco or milky sweetness emerges in the returning sweetness after a pungent coolness.  This profile is highlights the balance of bitter and sweet leaning to more bitter usually.  This profile seems to be accentuated by/ or as a result of more humid than dry aging.

2-      The herbaceous, woody, and medicinal Bulang.

This bulang has very little if any sweetness but still has bitter and tastes woody, herby, sometimes like cooking herbs and other times like medicinal herbs.  This profile highlights subtle medicinal nuances.  As it ages it develops Traditional Chinese Medicine like tastes.

3-      The fruity, floral and less bitter Bulang.

This Bulang has some brighter fruit and/or floral sweetnesses throughout the profile that are often brought out by the bitterness.  This profile highlights lighter and sweeter notes such as fruits and florals but often the flat bitterness is still the main taste.  This profile has a subtle and distant resemblance to the Ban Zhang producing area and some even reminds me of Lao Ban Zhang.  This profile seems to do better with drier storage, I believe.

Personally, I prefer mainly the first profile but that is mainly due to my exposure and purchasing that stuff many years ago.  This is my bias towards more classic tasting Bulang.  I think I would be open to the other profiles as well if it were done well or nicely integrated with the first profile.

Ok… we got some really great Bulang Mountain puerh coming up here... let’s start Bulang sampling…

Peace

The Familiar and Unfamiliar- 2005 Long Yuan Hao Bulang and 2005 Long Yuan Hao Gelanghe

The Bulang is no longer pictured on the website but had a near identical wrapper to the Gelanghe (below) with the only major difference is the area name and color of the wrapper was a blue/green color, I believe.  Actually, I did not receive a cake of the Bulang instead I cleared out their last four large and intact 90g samples (360g in total for $27.96 or $0.08/gram).  2005 puerh with this price tag is seriously cheap!

Please, sit down and join me in drinking this 2005 Long Yuan Hao Bulang…

The leaves smell of lingering cherry fruits.

The first infusion starts with nice cinnamon and slightly pungent note which has a soft creamy, barely cooling aftertaste.   There is a slightly lingering astringency underneath and rounds out the taste.  The monthfeel and thoatfeel is fairly full chalky and smooth.

The second infusion is full of pungent, sweet creamy cherry and notes up front which transition to creamy full sweet aftertaste.  There is a just a noticeable cooling through the profile with the creamy sweetness in the aftertaste.  Underneath the taste there is just barely a lingering resemblance of aged Bulangesque bitterness that very faintly skirts around.

The third infusion has more of that slightly edgy slight fullness over a balance of creamy sweetness and slight strongish taste.  The cherry fruit note is distinct here.  It has a nice opening mouthfeel full of sweet creamy fruits and starts to finish a bit milky-creamy tasting as well. 

The fourth is much the same very long fruity finish now. There is some bitterness to this tea but it is more of a full flavor than a true bitterness.  This is how bitterness should evolve from a fresh newly pressed puerh to an 11 year aged purh.  It is more of a bitter fullness than an intolerable bitter taste.  There is a rubbery feeling left in the mouth.

The fifth and infusion has much less complexity.  Things really fall off and thin out here.  There are still some bright berry tastes to enjoy but they are less vibrant.

The sixth becomes much more of that astringent, barely milky-creamy, bitterness with just slight suggestions of sweetness and even fainter cooling aftertastes.

Any infusion beyond six is just pushing barely milky bitter tastes along.

This Bulang has very classic Bulang tastes but sadly no stamina.  Nevertheless, it is a great daily drinker and a real deal for the price.  More importantly it has reminded me how much I love the Bulang profile.  I have a few Bulang cakes from the 90s that I managed to not drink through that I now have quite an appetite for.  This puerh has also sparked some interest in my next puerh mission- to find good semi-aged Bulang tea.  Any suggestions?

Up next….

A google search for Gelanghe puerh only gets one English hit- a 2003 Six Famous Mountains cake on the Half-Dipper.  This is really a mysterious or forgotten Menghai region.  I paid just $35.50 forthe last 400g cake at Awazon in my second order from them ($0.09/gram).

The dry leaves smell of sweet aged dates.

The first infusion is very watery with a strong sweet sugar cane taste that slowly evolves into soft date tastes.  The mouthfeel is soft and slightly chalky.  The aftertaste is mild with a sweet melon taste slowly evolving minutes later.

The second infusion starts sweet again but has a slight counterbalance of very mild sour and slighty bitter notes that are barely noticeable.  The juicy sweet taste evolves in the mouth and from more sugar to honey to melon fruit.  The mouthfeel remains a touch chalky in the mouth and tongue.  A mild floral coolness faintly skirts the tongue and lingers in the breath.

The third infusion has nice full juicy sweet notes melded with slight bitter.  The mouthfeel is full and chalky the groundwork where the sweet honey taste evolves into floral.  There is a mild coolness on the breath along with a juicy melon finish.  There are interesting minty tastes in this infusion as well.

The fourth infusion is more woody now with suggestions of sweet sugar evolving to melon tastes under the wood notes.  The aftertaste is also woody with a slight cooling mint and cardamom suggestion.

The fifth infusion has a balance of juicy sweet and woody notes with a nice evolving melon taste.  The aftertaste has a nice long cooling almost minty sweetness.  There is some interesting faint suggestions of moss, wood, and even spices in this tea that are more apparent in some infusions over others.  A melon cooling sweetness is left on the breath minutes later.  The qi of this tea is quite mild and has a nice soft sensation in the body and mind.

The sixth infusion presents with a woody and almost spicy taste with the sweetness mainly pushed to the aftertaste as a slow to evolve sweet melon and mild coolness wash over the mouth and breath.

The seventh infusion there is more of a flater, juicier taste than wood but still quite a balance.  The sweet tastes evolve nicely into a juicy melon taste with long cool aftertaste.  The mouthfeel stays chalky and even a bit viscus but not drying.  The throat doesn’t open up to much with this tea.  A sour cherry taste is found on the breath minutes later.

The eighth infusion continues to be more sweet and starts with a nice melon notes over faint wood.  The tastes evolve into something juicier, slightly floral and cool in the breath.  Even minutes later there in a nice fruity taste on the breath.

The ninth infusion has similar profile and is still quite full of nice long sweet flavors.

The tenth starts to lose its tastes but still retains nice juicy fruity notes in slight wood and a long cooling fruity aftertaste.

This tea is steeped into eleven, twelve, thirteen, infusions still yielding quite flavourful and fullish tea with long cooling aftertaste.

This tea has a good taste and excellent stamina and has some decent complexity to it especially for the price.  Overall I’m quite happy with it for its price and age.  If there was more for sale for that price, I would not hesitate to buy a tong of it.  It feels like it could be consumed now or aged a bit longer.

I am also left wondering why there are not more Gelanghe cakes being pressed out there?  With just two reviews on the internet being both favorable for Gelanghe both pre 2006, I wonder why the modern trend for small pressings have passed Gelanghe?  I hope to try to find more Gelanghe puerh in the future.  Maybe one of the Westren producers will read this and press something in the years to come?

Overall, I quite enjoyed both the 2005 Bulang and Gelanghe from Dadugang Long Yuan Hao tea factory.  I have been drinking them on and off.  I hope to age them further but don’t know how long they will last the way I’m drinking them.  If anything they confirm that at least the older puerh of a budget company like Long Yuan Hao should at least be given a chance.

Peace