2020 Essence of Tea Jinggu Forest: Thick Vegetal

I got this complimentary sample with my re-order of the powerful 2020 Essence of Tea TianMenShan GaoGan which is currently out of stock.  This 2020 Essence of Tea Jinggu Forest used to sell for $40.00 for 200g cake or $0.20/g and is also out of stock.  David and YingXi have put a great line up together this year and it looks like 4 of the 11 are already sold out.  This Jinggu was billed as a budget option that came from a wild forest environment…

Very compressed chunk of dry leaves smell of very vegetal sweetness with a creamy sweet edge.

First infusion has a smooth creamy vegetal taste with a cooling pungency which brings a wave of creamy sweet pea like vegetal in the aftertaste.  There is a slight soapy finish in the mouth.  Nice soft slippery slicky mouthfeeling.   There are edges of candy tastes that aren’t ready to come out in this first infusion.

The second infusion has a creamy buttercup milky vegetal that reminds me of Alishan Oolong.  There is a thick oily mouthcoating and a mild cooling pungent that pushes creamy, vegetal, and almost candy like sweetness out on to the breath.  The throat feel is mildly mid sticky opening.  This puerh has a very full and smooth presentation.

The third infusion has a vegetal buttery sweetness but a bit of mild bitter vegetal appears.  There is a very mild cool pungency that returns a vegetal and still slightly bitter creamy almost sweet dandelion buttery creamy sweetness.  The mouthfeel is a touch more engaging with a slight simulating throat.  There is a hypnotic Qi developing…

The fourth infusion has a bitter vegetal onset with a buttery creamy sweetness almost sweet pea.  Mild breath pungency brings a returning creamy sweetness with vegetal bitterness.  The texture is moderately oily and the mouthfeeling is mildly gripping which nicely simulates the upper and mid throat.  An almost candy like taste quickly moves out before the mainly vegetal somewhat bitter and sweet aftertaste.  A spacy and hypnotic Qi starts to build mildly.

The fifth has a buttery vegetal grassy taste with a slight bitterness creamy lime taste.  It has a really refreshing feel to it and a somewhat oily presentation with a slighter gripping mouthfeeling.  Tastes grassy and lime here.  The Qi is really nice smooth relaxing even dozy, hypnotic feeling.  The mouthfeeling is sticky slight gripping.  I can feel it’s fresh sheng energy beat a bit at my empty stomach.

The sixth infusion has a buttery grassy slight astringent bitterness.  There is a fresh lime/grass taste.  The mouthfeel is a bit gripping, the throat a bit simulating.  There is a long fresh green vegetal grassy and a bit creamy sweet aftertaste.

The seventh infusion has an almost milky Taiwanese oolong onset with a grassy mild bitterness with creamy sweetness.  The mouthfeel is a touch oily and kind of sticky puckering with a bit of throat stimulation.  I feel mildly stoned from the hypnotic Qi here.

The eighth infusion has cooled to room temp before consumption and it gives off a creamy moderately oily thicker mainly creamy sweet and vegetal.  There is a splash of lime and grassy sweetness.  The bitter and astringency is gone in the cool cup.  Qi is nicely hypnotic and makes me feel high.

The ninth infusion has a milky silky vegetal grass and pea onset with a vegetal creamy sweetness that is dumped on the breath.  There is a chalky oily feeling to the mouthfeeling and a nice not overly strong by relaxing hypnotic Qi feeling in the mind.  The oily mouthcoating is nice here and even leaves a powdery feeling in the throat but it can’t generate too much aftertaste despite this.

The 10^th infusion has a soapy almost floral sort of mild bitter astringent vegetal with mild creamy sweetness in the background.  The feature with this puerh is its oily chalky mouthfeeling that will do it well as the taste develops over the next years.  There is a chalky, grassy almost sweetness to it on the tongue after swallowing.  There isn’t much going on in the body but the mind feels relaxed and a touch hypnotized, mellow.

The 11^th is a cooled down cup again and it gives off a creamy chalky thick oily mainly creamy sweetness over a thick oily tongue coating a mid- open throat.  Relaxing Qi.

The 12^th infusion has a mellow lime, refreshing fruit taste with a creamy sweet finish.  The mouthfeeling is thick and somewhat oily.  It finishes a nice long floral in the mouth with a touch of creamy sweet and barely vegetal.  These late mid- infusions really open up nicely in the mouth there is an oily thickness to this puerh that is really nice overtop of a fairly standard Jinggu vegetal and sweet taste.  Qi is nicely relaxing.

The 13^th infusion is a mild, mellow barely vegetal, barely sweet taste.  I’m still at flash infusions and choose to steep longer in the hopes something interesting comes up…

The 14^th is at 30 seconds … and pushes out some lime vegetal creamy tastes.  There is a bit of rubbery astringency underneath.  The mouthfeel has more pucker as well.  Relaxing, mellowing Qi.

The 15^th oops… left the water on for a few minutes there… it gives off a thick chalky vegetal slight bitter astringent brew with some creamy sweetness…

I put this one into mug steeping… and it gives off thick olive oily vegetal tastes with a full tongue coating and subtle bitter astringency with a bit of a creamy sweet finish.

Overall, this one is all about decently thick and at times olive oily mouthfeeling/tongue coating.  It has decent stamina and a mellowing Qi which, early in the session, is slightly hypnotic Qi.  It doesn’t offer much as far as bodyfeeling goes but has a thicker vegetal taste and presentation than most Jinggu.  Still has a bit of astringent bitterness to it. 

It kind of reminds me of a thicker and more Jinggu vegetal version of the 2018 Essence of Tea Bamboo Spring.  The Bamboo Spring is lighter, ethereal, floral sweet actually after a session of the Bamboo Spring it is really nothing like this thick vegetal Jinggu Forest.  The almost olive oily 2020 Essence of Tea Jinggu Forest reminds me strongly of a Jinggu I have had in the past 2 years… maybe Yunnan Sourcing… I have a few sessions with some 2018 Jinggu samples- very nice but not as olive and still can’t satisfy me…

I like this oily thick Jinggu…

Shah8's Tasting Notes

Peace

 

2020 white2tea Mirage: Rustic???

'Cause what you see, you might not get

And we can bet, so don't you get souped yet

Scheming on a thing, that's a mirage

I'm trying to tell you now, it's sabotage

-Bestie Boys

This 2020 white2tea Mirage ($55.00 for 200g cake or $0.28/g) sample was my curiosity purchase in this early 2020 spring order.  Out of all the initial releases the description as follows had me wondering the most.

The 2020 Mirage is an experimental blend of newly scoped out villages. Burly returning sweetness in the mouth and savory aromas accompany a fleeting bitterness. Slightly smokey tea with an intensely rustic flavor profile.

Readers of this blog might know that I’m always curious about new puerh villages and areas.  In the past I have mused/predicted that Western vendors should bring us new and remote villages in the Bulang area.  The flavor description sure sounds like Bulang to me- an area which I have been exploring again lately… everything but the savory aromas… then again… Paul never lists the village, mountain, or areas anyway… is it new to him or to us???  It’s really so vague.

I am also always curious about what Paul means by “experimental blend” I mean, aren’t all new blends experimental?  Anyways, I get the image of Paul visiting these fringy areas in Bulang and potentially some others areas off the beaten path and then just kind of randomly blending them together.  This is maybe one idea of how this cake can be seen as “experimental”.

This 2020 white2tea Mirage wrapper, I think, is the strangest, and least attractive of the bunch but still I find it very interesting like I am starting through electric red blinds scoping something out.  It has a very eerie, agitating, almost aggressive feel to it that I think Paul was going for… after all these are villages he has scooped out and the description implies something strong and agitating.  “Intense” as the description states.

Something else should be said about the term “rustic”.  This term has been trending to describe puerh over the last year or so.  Never have I seen it being used to describe a fresh puerh usually it’s used to describe something that is at least semi-aged and it most certainly describes something with more rudimentary, classic processing that results in some decent smokiness.  The fact that Paul uses the term “intensely rustic” to describe Mirage should signal to us that this puerh is something that is never really meant to be consumed young.  In fact, this is probably a kind of puerh that should sit in Paul’s Guangdong storage for many years before it should be seriously considered for purchase by most Western buyers who may not have the capacities or patience to age this out like it is intended.  Old school puerh was really meant to sit a long time in some pretty humid storage before consumption and it was rare to consume something like this fresh.  I think this is another way this puerh is “experimental”. Even though I have consumed a lot of puerh back in the day that would be considered rustic, none of it was ever consumed fresh.  In a way this will be a new and probably ass-kicking sobering experience for me.   So, I’m kind of approaching this sample from the point of view that this puerh might come off a bit harsh in its youth and is more for the long term…

In white2tea’s First wave Spring 2020 promotional email the description for this 2020 white2tea Mirage implies strength and power and stated “Fresh tea? Hit me in the face with it.”  If that isn’t a hint that maybe this should be approached with some age on it, then I don’t know how you could spell it out any clearer.

Ok, enough of that… let’s get to the tea… (as I gongfu defensively protecting my face from incoming blows)…

The heavily compressed overwhelmingly intense green and even random sparse yellow and reddish dry leaves smell of fruity floral vibrantly fresh sweet forest green there is a deep almost savory resonance to the dry leaf smell that is very nice.  It looks like possibly a few hunagpian and wild leaves in the mix of mainly conventional puerh standard varietal and pick.  I leaf it heavy and forgo the warnings about this puerh…

The first infusion has a watery deep salty vegetal woody savory taste.  The mouthfeel is nicely full right off the bat.  There is a strong returning cooling taste with fairly sweet foresty returning tastes.  There is a complex breath taste to finish as well.  This tea immediately feels very full right off the first infusion.  The Qi sensation also comes quickly and powerfully and I feel a rush into my head and a surge of energy.

The second infusion presents with a very thick tongue coating that comes with a thick type of savoruy vegetal sweetness and mild to weak bitterness.  The thickness in the mouth is impressive and the long thick dense flavours stay substantial for a long time as there is a cool pungency and long sweet savoury aftertaste.  The sweetness is thick and nuanced with the layers of complex forest and savour tastes.  The throatfeeling is also quick thick and pillowy with a deeper throat feeling and cottony throat feeling.  The qi delivers a strong head punch and is almost dizzing in its quick to move intensity.  I really like this experience so far.  The tastes remind me of Jinggu area puerh.

The third infusion has a very fresh puerh vegetal onset with some forest and savory salty tastes with a lingering mild bitterness and thick and juicy fruity presentation.  The complexity of taste floods in and sticks to the dense and thick mouthfeeling.  The Qi is an intense dizzying experience.  The full mouthfeeling and throat feeling and dense cotton cloud mouthfeeling is very full and satisfying.  The very dense mouthfeeling and throatfeeling really put the flavours in place and they linger minutes later in a foresty, woody, savoury, slightly bitter, and fruity sweetness.

The fourth infusion has a vegetal onset that evolves into a savouy, forest, bitter, smokey, salty, bland, sweet taste.  The complexity really shows of a balance of the 5 tastes but in an intense thick way.  The Qi is dizzying and my heart races from the intensity.  The bitterness is stronger here as is the smokiness.  The thickness really pins these tastes in there as the fill the throat like eating insulation and painting the tongue thick.  The result is a really full and long complex taste all the way into the aftertaste and breath.  The Qi starts to make me feel high a burst of energy. Saliva pools in the thick throat and hold the flavor long.

The fifth infusion has a subtle smokey bitter then savory then fruity thick sweetness in the thick mouthcoat and throat coating.  There is an overall Jinggu juicy fruity vibe in here that is very delicious and is more apparent in the infusion that has more of a quicker moving bitterness.  Sill lots of salty and savory tastes in there as well, foresty tastes- I like the thick presentation of feel and taste and strong upfront Qi.

The sixth infusion has a strong juicy fruity onset in a thick mouthfeeling and thoatfeeling.  There is some savory and foresty tastes, mild-moderate bitter, an almost buttery and very juicy fruity onset.  I am certain this is Jinggu material.  The Qi is big in the mind and races the heart- a very stimulating qi.  You can feel some bodyfeeling in the pounding and opening chest.

The seventh has a thick full buttery mouthcoating there is a mild to moderate bitterness and thick strong returning juicy fruity tastes.  There fruity tastes have a vibrant juicy presentation which pushes out high noted florals at its peak.  There is still foresty tastes, savory tastes.  Surprisingly there is not really smoke in this sample, which just appeared mild in the 3^rd/4^th infusions.  Qi is invigorating and refreshing on this warm and humid summer day.  I’m getting some interesting face tingling from the Qi and strong uplifting mood.

The eighth has a quick bitter that pushes a thick dense juicy fruity taste out in the full tongue coating.  There is a coolness that returns sweetness and lots of savory and forest in the aftertaste.  The throat remains thick and pools saliva in the mid throat.  The mind swirls with giddy excitement.  The thick presentation of interplay between savory-salty and sweet-juicy-fruity that is held in by a significant throat and mouthfeeling is super enjoyable not to mention the building intense Qi that is racing the heart and making me want to go for a run…

The ninth infusion has a bitter and savoury salty onset with more of an expansive slow moving sweetness here.  The thick mouth and throat and saliva trapping is the perfect situation for a mild cool pungency to push a nice salty returning sweetness that is a bit fruity with faint suggestions of candy and forest tastes.

The tenth infusion has a bitter fruity onset and a salty savour almost brine finish.  The bitter builds with each infusion and as it does it leaves less sweetness in the profile.  The throat pools with saliva here but mainly savory and salty tastes return in the aftertaste.  The Qi is still a very very powerful push- the mind scatters under the intense qi.  I get he feeling that this is a blend of both terrace and some arbour materials likely mainly from the Jinggu area.

The 11^th has a bitter almost fruity forest onset with a longer salty savory finish.  There is some floral that comes with salty and some lesser fruity tastes.  Overall, there is more bitter and salty than sweet or pungent.  The cooling in the throat becomes more apparent and a floral savoury taste lingers in the mouth.  The saliva pooling in the throat traps some nice floral juicy fruity tastes.  There is a candy lingering that is becoming more and more as the infusions go on.  Big strong alerting qi with heart beating and racing.  Vigor consumes me.

The 12^th has a bitter onset with more of a salty forest finish with a bit of sweet fruit.  The cooling pungency pushes out a long savory taste.  The returning sweetness is more of a floral sweetness than juicy and fruity.  The thickness of the mouth and throat is a bit less as bitter takes over.

13^th has a bitter mellow fruity thick coat taste with savoury coming before a mild coolness pushes out savoury woody forest tastes.  The thickness is back.  There is a nice long candy breath aftertaste now that pairs nice with salty tastes in the long aftertaste.

14^th has a foresty savoury mild bitter sweetness at the onset.  There are some floral notes in the saltiness as well and a long salty with candy caps off a long breath tastes.  The mouthfeeling is thickcoating and throat is thick as well. Saliva continues to pool in throat holding the long aftertaste there.

15^th has a smooth rich creamy fruity taste with a long creamy fruity taste and subtle candy breath.  The mouthfeeling is fluffy and thick on the tongue but not as strong in the throat.  The Qi is invigorating.

16^th has a smooth rich almost woody creamy onset with a touch of mild bitterness.  The thickness in the mouth and throat are becoming less now.  There a long creamy tropical fruity savoury with a thin candy glimpsing through in the aftertaste. Some body sensation can be felt on the face and brow and in the chest.  The Qi in the mind is a strong push.

17^th has a rich foresty salty roasted nut sweetness over a chalkier mouthcoating.  The sweetness is more in the aftertaste a subtle fruitiness and more obvious salty taste.  There is a faint bitterness and quick moving coolness in the throat.  The taste is still really full and satisfying this late in the session.

The 18^th has a mellow juicy creamy thick fruity taste.  The taste is very full and strong even this late into the session.  It has a juicy fruity nuance, some savory notes, mild cool pungent in the throat and long sweet aftertaste that is almost candy like.

19^th has watery woody savory bitter tastes with a mild cool throat and returning candy breath.

I put the next steep into a long infusion… minutes later it gives off very satisfying slightly bitter, very salty vegetal and creamy full fruity sweetness.

Overall, this puerh is not that rustic in that it:

1-      has none to very little smoke

2-      is not harsh to drink and is not hard on the digestion even this green

3-      doesn’t have any signs of charred leaf material or factory chopped leaves

4-      doesn’t display a strong Bulang area character

However, this puerh does have some bitterness but it isn’t harsh in anyway and adds to the depth of taste.  Also, it is likely that there is plantation material in the blend as evident by the strong terrace puerh type Qi and the cheaper price.  However, I feel like it is maybe cut with arbour or older material.  If I sampled this blind I would be convinced that there is some arbour material in here but the price tells me otherwise.  The stamina of this puerh suggestions stronger material.  This also indicates to me that the price is of decent value for something like this. 

This puerh has a strong Jinggu area fruity sweet vegetal salinity feeling to it but it also has a general profile that reminds me of Menghai but maybe that’s just the plantation feel to it. It doesn’t have the bitter coco upfront which drops off mid-profile like a typical Bulang nor is it that fruity-floral.  To me this is likely Jinggu but could possibly be cut with some clean Bulang as evident buy the intense Qi.

This puerh has many good points that really satisfy me.  Its taste is thick and has an excellent balance of sweet, salty, bitter, and pungent tastes.  The savory and sweet tastes are strong and interact nicely with the moderate to mild-moderate bitterness.  The thick mouthcoating and throat coating make for a very dense presentation.  The Qi is strong factory old school Rustic Qi but that is really the only thing really rustic about this one.  I think this one actually fails as an authentic rustic but is really flawless in its overall thick burley energy filled execution.

To compare to last year’s 2019 white2tea Dangerfield (which I also quite enjoyed) of the same price this 2020 white2tea Mirage is thicker, denser, more cohesive in presentation and more engaging and intense.  Where the Dangerfield is more compartmentalized with a longer more elegant presentation that mimics Naka well.  Of the two I much prefer this one and believe it will age better but is also surprisingly not really that harsh on the stomach if you wanted to drink it now.

This puerh is no mirage… it’s the real deal… a Sure Shot.

Peace

2018 Yunnan Sourcing Xiao Shui Jing vs 2018 Yunnan Sourcing Long Tang Gu Shu

I ordered this in a large sample order last month.  It was one of two 2018 Yunnan Sourcing Brand Spring Jinggu area productions.  First let’s sample this 2019 Yunnan Sourcing Xiao Shui Jing which goes for $78.00 for400g cake or $0.20/g.

Dry leaves are very spicy and pungent with rainforest and sweet notes underlying.

First infusion starts creamy, smooth, vegetal, woody, and spicy.  The spicy flavours slowly emerge in the aftertaste where bready sweet notes reside and expand in the mouth.  There are mild tropical nuances on the breath… this will be an interesting session…

The second infusion has a sweet orchid taste to it initially then a chicken broth taste to it then there are dry woods, sweet breads, lots of mushroom notes and a faint fruity lingering sweetness in the aftertaste like melons.  The mouthfeeling is slight mildly velvety and sticky.  There is a lingering very mild cool pungent in the throat.

The third infusion has a thick feeling of mushroom and dry woods there is some bread sweetness, chicken broth, even floral taste.  The taste here is unique and with a lot going on.  The qi starts to come in and make the head heavy.  The mouthfeeling is chalky and slight sticky on the tongue.

The fourth starts with a thick broth of mushroom sweetness that pops into a very sweet fruit taste then moderate cool pungency then a nice creamy sweet finish.  There is some vegetal and woods that faintly lye in the mid profile.  The Qi has a stuffy feeling in the head.

The fifth infusion starts off with a mild quick bitterness, then a sweetness, mushrooms, creamy sweetnesses in the aftertaste.  There is lots of interesting and unique taste in here. Over a velvety, almost chalky mouthfeeling and vacuous opening throatfeeling that seems to carry a bit of pungent cool.

The sixth infusion starts moderately bitter then moves to a bright fruit and creamy sweetness then there is faint wood and vegetal then a moderate lingering pungency then long sweet taste. The thickness of the liquor in moderate thick and the mouthfeeling is a bit chalky.  The qi lingers in the head and mind.

The seventh infusion starts off with a moderate bitterness with fruit trailing behind.  The bitter and fruit pair walk together for a while before a mild pungent wave crests bringing a returning sweetness of wood, creamy fruit, and even a touch a faint pepper.  The mouthfeel is moderate and chalky.

The eighth infusion starts with a moderate bitterness paired with distinct fruity sweetness.  This infusion gets a touch sour and astringent in the finish which stimulates the mouth and throat.  There is a creamy sweetness and fruitiness and the bitter lingers throughout a bit more here.  There is a sweet creaminess that lingers on the breath.

The ninth infusion starts with a bitter sour note with distinct fruit and mushroom thickness undernieth.  The tastes are really bold and distinct here with the help of a moderate bitter and even sour nuance.  It gives the thicker broth of mushroom and pear fruit space to expand.

The tenth infusion has a juicy fruity onset now with woods and even fruity florals the bitterness is more in the background and a distinctly fruity note is throughout.  A bit of floral enters the picture here.  The mouthfeel is a slippery and a bit chalky feel to it.  The fruity sweetness is found even minutes later.  The Qi is pretty mild in this puerh mainly a slow to build in the head type of thing.

The 11^th infusion has a nice orange, pear, and floral sweetness.  The fruitiness is robust and the mouthfeel is a sandy chalky type of thing.  The throatfeeling is empty but opening in the upper throat.  A cooling pungent lingers in the upper throat.  The Qi is relaxing.

The 12^th infusion is a bitter bitter and sour but less now and mainly a long fruity pear tastes dominate.  The mouthfeel is really full, sticky, and chalky.  The qi is mild, and makes me feel content.

The 13^th starts with a banana tropical fruit nuance and some faint wood.  There is a mild bitter and sandy mouthfeeling here.  The 14^th is more tropical fruit again its sunny and enjoyable, if not a bit simple in taste, feel, and qi.

I steep this a few more times thinking that it is fading away but am proven wrong.  This puerh continues to hold on to juicy fruity tastes in a reasonably thick liquor in these late infusions.  I increase the steep times as the bitterness and astringency drops off and can really push the fruitiness out of these leaves quite nicely.

I eventually put this one into an overnight infusion and tons of fruity juicy and viscus taste is pushed out the next day so I put it into another overnight infusion… great stamina for these juicy fruity tastes for sure…

Overall, this puerh has enough going on as a single estate puerh to not make it boring, this is an above average Jinggu in taste, but on the other hand is not overly engaging especially in the Qi deparment either.  However, the Qi had a happy simple feeling to it.  Its mouthfeeling is enough and the taste profile and thickness of the liquor in the first handful of infusions is kind of interesting.  In the mid-session the flavor profile turns sweeter and less mushroom, foresty, spicy, chicken broth.  There is enough change throughout the session to make it an enjoyable Jinggu area puerh for the price.  The stamina and fact you can steep it longer than your average sheng is a big plus.  I think the biggest issue is I had this a day after the 2018 Yunnan Sourcing Long Tang Gu Shu…

They are both Jinggu area and both similar price but that is all the similarities they seem to have with the 2018 Yunnan Sourcing Long Tang Gu Shu winning in all areas.  The one thing that this 2018 Xiao Shui Jing has over the Long Tang Gu Shu is its unique profile in the first handful of infusions which I really enjoyed.

Peace

 

Sold Out Vibrant Jinggu: 2018 Yunnan Sourcing Long Tang Gu Shu

I rarely like to sample puerh that I can’t re-order but I was very curious about this 2018 Yunnan Sourcing Long Tang Gu Shu from Jinggu.  It used to sell for around $88.00 for 400g cake or $0.22/g, I believe, before it quickly sold out.  I purchased this 25g samplefor $8.90.

Dry leaves smell of creamy fruity floral nuance.  There is a bright vibrancy about the dry leaves.  The smell of the rinsed leaves are incredible a deep sweet bread odour.

The first infusion starts with a creamy, velvety sweetness.  This tea is very sweet.  The sweet taste is a pastry or cake or sweet bread kind of sweetness that stretches out on the breath.  There is some mild vegitialness there as well.  The mouthfeel is sticky in the mouth.  There is a faint pungent taste then long bready like sweetness.  The flavours are amazingly bright and clear.

The second infusion starts very creamy bready sweet with a more nuanced vegitalness underneath.  The sweet taste is very distinct and very long throughtout the profile.  The liquor is pretty thick in the mouth.  The mouthfeel is sticky and the throat has a noticeably cooling to it.  There is just a mild astringency in the finish.  The lips are dry.  I can feel the Qi in my body even in the first infusion.  It kind of feels like a lump in my diaphragm and feels like my neck needs to be cracked.

The third has a bread and almost cinnamon raison like sweetness to it.  The mouthfeel is sticky and stimulating.  The vegitalness comes on strong following the sweetness.  The astringency is fairly strong creating a strong puckering effect in the throat and strongly stimulating the mouth.  The Qi is felt in the Stomach, diaphragm and chest.  There is a finish of sweet bread and melon.  The raw puerh energy beats at my empty stomach pretty good here.

The fourth infusion starts with a bready sweet onset there is a vegetalness and even now a slight woodiness in there too.  The mouthfeel and throatfeeling is very gripping and stimulating.  The mind begins to relax as the Heart beats stronger.  There is a long bread sweet with melon taste in the aftertaste.  The taste profile is not complex but strong and clea but the stimulation in the mouth is quite strong.

The fifth infusion has an almost tart cherry note that comes and leaves quickly leaving bread sweetness in the mouth.  There is a very faint pungent then an almost bland milk taste then creamy bread sweetness and melon.  The liquor is less thick here but the mouthfeel and throat feel is strong.  Different taste nuances are pushed out.  The Qi in the body and mind are of mild-moderate intensity in the body and mild intensity in the mind.  The result is making me feel like popping my joints but also a tiny bit restless.

The sixth starts a touch cherry fruit and then bread sweetness then some vegetal and woodiness but mainly sweetness.  The mouthfeeling is strong.  This is a solid mouthfeeler puer for the price.  I like this dimension of this puerh.  The aftertaste is more cherry tart fruit sweetness and melon now and less bread.

The seventh has a buttery floral onset with some faint fruit in there and much less bread sweetness.  There is a more bland and slick mouthfeeling with a sandier drier residue now.  This infusion is more fruity but not overly so.  The aftertaste is starting to become more muted.

The eighth infusion starts with a juicy cherry burst then slight vegetal transitions to bread sweetnesses after a faint pungent quality.  The aftertaste is more muted and more vegetal mixed with faint fruit and faint bread.

The ninth infusion has an almost bitter sour fruity quick burst then it descends into vegetal then mild pungency then tart fruits, slight melon, and bread.  The astringent and sticky mouth feeling starts to build up again.  The Qi is relaxing in the mind and slightly vigorous in the body.  The heart beats stronger.  Qi is starting to build and strengthen in the mind making it peaceful.  It takes a bit to build definitely more of a moderate-stronger relaxing feeling now.  Sweet fruit taste on the breath minutes later.  Very nice strong relaxing Qi now.  I like this.

The tenth lets this very nice clear fresh tropical fruit note ring out.  There is a nuance of cherry and banana.  The fruit nuance plays into the aftertaste.  It is long and taste.  The mouthfeel is slippery and full.  I feel warm from the Qi, nice Qi.

The eleventh infusion has this nice bright tropical fruit nuance to it as well.  The sweetness here is of cherries, banana, tropical and energetic.  It is long in the aftertaste, very delicious.

The 12^th has a strong tropical fruit taste.  The Qi really builds slowly in the session but it also is really pronounced relaxing now.  There hasn’t been much body sensations here but the breath is definitely slow.  Really long lasting even 10, 20 minutes later tropical sweet fruit taste.  This puerh is very clear and unmuddled flavours.   Nice relaxing Qi.

13^th starts with a slight quick moving bitter then bright tropical fruit taste the taste seems to compound in the mouth after the mild pungent return and lingers long on the breath.  The taste is strong, clear, tasty, long.  The mouthfeel is less stimulating but not empty, I feel an opening in the mid throat where mild cool pungency lingers.  The tropical fruit vibrancy is really nice.  The mind relaxes.

14^th is oh, man. This fruitiness, pure and clear is really really nice tastes.  Just long and intense delicious fruits.  Very long.  The mouthfeel and throatfeeling are not as stimulating now but that taste almost turns bubble gum, very intense fruity, this is a real delicious puerh.

15^th lots and lots of bright fruity flavor.  It feels like there isn’t anything but fruity sweet taste but the taste is so vibrant and full in a weird way.  The mouthfeeling and throatfeeling suppor this clear vibrant note that kind of morphs into various fruit tastes in the mouth.  A distinct candy taste is developing in the mouth.  Qi is kind of energizing and the heart beats strong.  This Qi is nice.  Really nice puerh.

16^th, 17^th, 18^th very bright fruit in a session with great stamina in maintaining these bright tastes.  The taste changes very little in these past 8 infusions.  What’s not to love though?  Long sweet full fruity flavours pure and strong and independent.  There is a bit of creamy candy sweetness long on the breath.  The sweetness is quite long even in these late infusions.

19^th, 20^th, 21^st lots of stamina of fruity taste.  The mouthfeel drops off a bit so it is not as deep or long but past 20 steeps… great stamina.

Oh man, this is a good one for the price… It has a certain vibrancy to it that really makes it shine.  It has a nice engaging throat and moutfeeling and better than average qi sensations.  I think it might have been hard for me to pass this one up for the price it was offered, even though it is not typically the type of puerh I buy in quantity.  For people who like to drink their sheng puerh fresh, this one is really nice and might age decent as well.  I haven’t had a Jinggu with the vibrancy of this puerh yet.  It has great stamina and overall is quite enjoyable. 

This almost really tastes like a Yiwu to me in its style of sweetness however the vegitaliness reminds me that this is of Jinggu origin.  I think I might have blind guessed this to be Manzhuan it has suggestions of this not quite but I can see it, which I’ve recently sampled from.

Good job those out there that picked this one up, it defiantly punches higher than its price tag.

Peace

The Best of the Cheapest: 2017 Yunnan Sourcing Impression & Scott’s Blending Skills

In the Western puerh scene white2tea’s Paul (Twodog) is known for his blends, certainly they can be quite delicious.  Then along came 2017... 2017 was a watermark year for Yunnan Sourcing puerh blends.  In the lest two years they have developed a good reputation for not only these two famous yet very inexpensive blends, but some of their other lab tested, pesticide-free, shut blends as well.  The 2017 Rooster King Shu, sold out quick- the quality really surprised me.  The other, this 2017 Yunnan Sourcing Impression ($27.00 for 357g cake or $0.08/g) has been very popular since its Autumn 2017 release (Edit: this tea was later found out to be released in Spring 2018).

It seemed the hype for this cake reached a climax at Black Friday this year with a few great articles featuring this full 357g sheng blend.  I don’t think I could add any more than this post on the topic really.  I wonder how many of these guys flew off the shelves on Black Friday?  I’ll bet that this was the single biggest seller this Black Friday.  I have been eyeing them for quite some time so ended up buying a handful of them to make it worth the shipping.

Many have championed this 2017 Yunnan Sourcing Impression as Scott of Yunnan Sourcing’s best sheng puerh blend to date.  I had pretty much sampled the whole Yunnan Sourcing Brand puerh selection from 2009-2011 and some of the 2012 but have never tried any of Scott’s sheng blends before, this will be a first for me...

Dry leaves are scented with a very vibrant tropical fruit odour over dry woody layers, peat, and moss.  The quality is immediately apparent in the vibrancy here.

First infusion starts with a soft fruity lemon and pineapple note, it transitions to a swelling creamy sweet taste.  There is metallic tastes as slight wood in the approach to the long creamy aftertaste.  The mouthfeel is sticky in the mouth.

The second is more sweet and full.  The initial taste is of stones and sweet vegetables, there is a lemon note in there as well.  The taste has a nice cool finish in a stimulating throat feeling.  There is a honeydew melon flavor lingering in the throat.  Lots of interesting notes playing out here.  Soft bitterness, slight sour, soft astringency in throat.  Creamy sweet with fruity sweet and even a vegetable sweetness.

The third infusion starts a touch spicy with sweet yam and creamy sweet notes followed by a metallic taste with makes the mouth sticky and nicely stimulated the throat.  The taste is long and creamy and almost cucumber in the aftertaste.  There is a lot going on here.  The cheeks are sticky as are the lips, and the mid throat opens to embrace the creamy and fresh aftertaste that also has notes of metal, yams, and even suggestions of wood.  The Qi makes my face flush and a heat sensation emerge. I feel it in the eyes which seem heavy.  I feel simultaneously sleepy as well as relaxed.

The fourth infusion has a juicy sweet taste to in now initially then a nice creamy sweeping aftertaste.  The mouthfeel is sticky and dense.

The fifth infusion has a nice burst of fruit but mainly creamy sweetness initially then it slowly rides into a long sweet creamy aftertaste in a full sticky mouhtfeeling.  The mouthfeel has a cotton like feel in the mouth and throat.  The creamy sweet taste is long with a touch of faint cooling.

The sixth infusion has a juicy fruity vibe, creamy sweet, softer sticky mouthfeel.  This tea is fading a bit here.  The mouthfeeling is nice and creamy fruity taste is fresh and vibrant in the mouth.

The seventh infusion has lots of those creamy sweet notes but the sweetness has a simple and very pure and fresh feeling to it.  You know that tropical sweetness, banana, pineapple maybe.  It’s yummy and the aftertastes take it along nicely.  Almost like an artificial banana candy taste, I like that.

The eighth I add 10 seconds to the flash infusion add it pushes out a bit more complexity in the flavor.  Green beans, banana, yam, moderate sticky/ dryness.  More of a vegetable fruit sweetness.

The ninth infusion I add 15 sec to flash and get a slightly chalky, dry wood, and creamy taste with vegetables underneath.  This infusion is a touch more bitter, it makes the sweet tight aftertaste pop but it is overshadowed by the woody/biter taste.  There is a butterscotch taste in the aftertaste.

The tenth infusion I add 20 seconds to flash infusion and get a thicker, richer taste of woods and beans with sweeter tastes retuning for a pop in the aftertaste under quilted bitter woods.  There is not too much complex taste in these leaves in the late infusions and the stamina of these leaves is not the greatest.  The sweet taste sure pops with that bitter astringency but then goes back to bitter quite quickly here.  The qi is pretty strong heavy, dopy, make me feel sleepy type of qi sensation.

The eleventh I add 25 seconds to the flash infusion and get a really dark chocolate delicious tasting thing with fruity notes in the distance and bittersweet coco up front.  This is yummy and right when I think about throwing in the towel with this one.  It is a Laoman E type of note even though you can be sure there is none of that in here.  The body qi of this blend is really harmonious and this puerh could easily be consumed now because it lacks a certain harshness in the body.  It actually makes the body feel warm and soothed, I like that.

I go for a 12^th at 30 more seconds than flash all of the sweet taste is pretty much gone here.  Nothing but bitter left.  So, I end the session.  I steep this tea overnight and get a rich broth of flavors the next morning.

The flavours in the first few infusions are the best of the cheapest- complex and interesting.  The Qi is also the strongest so far- is offers a big relaxing dopy effect, if that’s your thing.  But the stamina is weaker than the other cheap budget puerh I have sampled.  I felt I had to add more time to infusions much earlier and the tea ends much quicker than the other budget options.  To me, stamina is really important because I really steep my puerh to the very end.  A tea that finishes at 12 infusions vs 20 makes a big difference in value.

This 2017 Yunnan Sourcing Impression is the same actual price per gram as 2018 white2tea Snoozefest ($0.08/g) .  They are actually similar in many ways- the most obvious being that they are both multi area Autumnal puerh blends.  To compare the two I would say that mouthfeel is better with Snoozefest by a little, flavor snoozefest is more high notes but Impression has more depth of flavor and more interesting flavor by a bit.  The impression also has a deeper feeling tea liquor- there is a certain thickness in the tea liquor that is the biggest flaw in the 2018 Snoozefest.  The stamina of Snoozefest is better as the late infusions are a very pleasant and enjoyable sweetness where Impression is more bitter in the end and peters out faster. I like Snoozefest’s tighter compression as well.  The Impression is lab tested pesticide free and the Snoozefest doesn't feel as pure to me.  This 2017 Yunnan Sourcing Impression is the winner out of these similar priced things, for sure.

All in all this 2017 Impression is probably the best for how cheap it is, I don’t imagine finding anything cheaper and this enjoyable.  However, with this said, I would gladly pay double and get 3x more value i.e the 2018 white2tea Splendid.  There are probably no fresh puerh in this lower price range that taste as good.  Also, I still tend to go for 2018 Essence of Tea Bamboo Spring for drink now sheng puerh consumption over any of these budget options.

You’re paying almost twice as much for the 2017 Yunnan Sourcing Impression but the winner is still 2018 white2tea Splendid for the best of the cheapest sheng puerh.

Rats!  I just checked the website when I was adding the hyperlinks to this post and found out it has just sold out.  This exercise of finding the best of the cheapest feels a bit silly if we are just comparing Sold Out puerh, doesn't it?  Conveniently, the 2018 Yunnan Sourcing Impression was just released with a beautiful koi fish wrapper design.  I thought the 2017 wrapper was stunning!  I wonder if it is comparable in quality to this, now famous 2017 Impression?

But wait, I have a late entry in the quest for the Best of the Cheapest fresh young sheng puerh…

Dogleg Sean's (Dead Leaves Tea Club) Tasting Notes

Char's (Oblong Owl) Tasting Notes

John B's (Tea in the ancient world) Tasting Notes

Steepster Tasting Notes

Peace

2017 Yunnan Sourcing Blinded Puerh Tasting Event Alpha & Beta

This is classic, old-style, puerh blogger fun and games!  It was a bit of a puerh blogging tradition back in the day to sample the latest Yunnan Sourcing brand puerh blinded and see how poorly you could guess the tea producing area.  This sport was usually orchestrated by good ol’ Hobbes of the Half-Dipper (see here, here and here).  These events always kept me sampling teas from different areas at times in my life when I would have not otherwise sought that out.  So I am grateful that Hobbes and Scott had taken the time and consideration in organizing these events in the past.  On my return back to puerh tea I was back and forth with Scott of Yunnan Sourcing about reviving this tradition and he loved the idea.  So here we are (Thanks again Scott)…

As per tradition and as a homage to the old Half-Dipper/ Yunnan Sourcing Events of years past, the samples were labeled only with Greek letters (Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Epsilon, Zeta).  They were sent to many of the current puerh bloggers who agreed to have a little fun with this (as well as myself).

I can only surmise that my ability to guess such areas has likely decreased substantially since my long absence from the puerh scene.  Back in the day Yunnan Sourcing was producing tea from a lot of the classic/ popular areas mainly in Xishuangbanna and they were producing much less tea.  That first Yunnan Sourcing Tasting Event there were only 9 teas produced by them to guess from, in 2017 last I counted there was 34!  At that time, I would say my guesses were a touch below 50% - not bad at all!

I have no experience with any of Yunnan Sourcing brand puerh from 2017 or even the last number of years and a lot of the puerh we might be sampling will likely be from areas I have not even tried.  However I will put it all out there for you readers and fellow bloggers and guess my best. Hahaha..  Although I was supplied enough dry leaves for two sessions per sample in my small pot I have based the notes below on a single sampling.  I look forward to sampling them again after reading all the other tasting notes and seeing how my experience with them will change with this knowledge.

Now that I have adequately lowered expectations and nicely self-handicapped myself lets dive right into the Alpha sample… hahahaa….

 Alpha

The dry leaves smell of very spicy pungent and dominating mushroom fungus funky odours and more distant sour/sweet notes.  This immediately smells like an interesting puerh or it is a blend???

The first infusion emits a very spicy pungent sweet initial taste and slowly develops into a watery mushroom profile in a light mouthfeel.  There is a soft returning sweetness of sweet, barely cotton candy taste and slight grassiness.  The mouthfeel is very light and the throatfeel even lighter.

The second infusion starts with a more bitter-sweet pungent taste followed by bitterness and that base mushroom taste.  There is a more grittiness to the taste.  The aftertaste displays signs of vegetal tastes, hay, mushrooms, and pungent tastes.  There is not as much sweetness here.  The mouthfeel becomes a soft graininess in the mouth.  Minutes later there is a sweet-pungent turbid like taste in the throat.

The third infusion starts with a slightly creamy-flat-gritty bitter-sweetness.  There is a pronounced vegetal taste initially followed by hay and mushroom tastes.  A mild cotton candy like sweetness expands in the throat and evolves slowly into a turbid vegetal taste.

The fourth starts with a grainy, hay, vegetal like sweetness with just edges of cream.  It carries the base taste of mushrooms and hay into the aftertaste which has a nice opening cotton candy sweetness.  All this happens on a mild grainy mouthfeel and throatfeel which is grainy at the top throat and slightly opening at the mid throat.  The effect pushes some saliva into the mid throat- holding a turbid slight sweet vegetal mushroom taste there minutes later.  The qi of this tea is very alerting and invigorating on the mind but very mild on the body.

The fifth has a melon initial taste now that develops into a slight pungent mint sweetness.  The base taste is slight mushroom vegetal taste.  The aftertaste has a turbid vegetalness to it.

The sixth has a slight bitter-sweet taste over grains and hay.  The granary hay taste joins mushroom in the base taste.  The aftertaste becomes bitter as well as still slightly sweet.  There is a gumminess in the mouth afterwards.  The seventh tastes much the same as the sixth.  There is lots of layers of flavors to this tea.

The eighth infusion starts slightly bitter-sour vegetal taste and to sweet.  It moves to sweet bursts and then to mushroom hay tastes. In this infusion the sweet nicely pops transitioning from bitter to sweet then opening up to the base tastes.  The mouthfeel of this tea is mild and grainy but full.

The ninth starts to flatten out a bit in the initial taste but still retains much flavor throughout the profile.

The tenth starts to hollow out under flash steepings.  With melon watery tastes over faint sweetness mushroom, and hay.

The eleventh and twelvth is much the same starting with a watery sour sweet vegetal taste with mild hay and subtle returning sweetness.  The mouthfeel is slightly sandy and mild.  The qi of this tea is nice and gives a partially euphoric type feeling in a whole lot of alertness.

I let this one overnight steep after leaving it sit for a few days in the pot and I am left with a sour almost briney taste sweet woods.

Out of all the samples in this even this one was the hardest for me to determine. When I was actually drinking it I was leaning to either Simao or possibly Yiwu in my thoughts.  I also tasted some Mengku notes in there as well.  I’m guessing its Simao maybe this  2017 Yunnan Souring Brand Da Qing Gu Shu.

Beta

Larger, loosely compressed leaf and bud dry leaves smell of nicely sweet rose florals.  The odours are juicy and light, slightly fruity.

The first infusion is light and watery and has hints of barely sweet icing sugar that transform into a slight barely noticeable vanilla and vacuous barely noted sweetness.

The second infusion starts off a touch sour and creamy.  It carries a barely creamy fluffy sweetness.  It has a slightly tart and puckery drying taste and mouth feeling.  The astringency opens the mid throat up to faint sweet/ creamy note in distant forest/wood notes.  Overall this tea starts off very light in taste with a more stimulating mouth and throat feel.

Third starts with a slightly creamy sweetness.  The sourness is less now but still noticeable.  The taste profile is short and relatively simple.  It ends with a mildly astringent throat feel, faint florals and sugary sweetness.  There is a slight dry wood taste starting to emerge.

The fourth opens with brisk, short initial tastes of sour sweetness.  A dry wood base taste is emerging and gets stronger with sour wood tastes in the aftertaste along with slight florals.  The mouthfeel is moderately drying and astringent.  Overall the taste profile is short and simple with this tea in a fairly simulating throat and mouthfeel.

The fifth has an almost grapefruit like sour sweetness as well as a creamy sweetness that makes its way past the dry wood taste to the aftertaste.  In the aftertaste the creamy sweetness expands in the slightly astringent throatfeel.  The qi of this tea is relaxing and makes the head feel stuffy and expansive, like a pressure or build up there.  It also makes the arms feel light and airy.

The sixth is smoother in taste with less sour and more muted creamy sweetness up front.  There are faint notes of vanilla and barely notes of florals in this clean tasting infusion.  The mouth and throat feel are nice as they are moderately astringent but never choking or restricting.  The qi sensation in the head starts to build into a very qi stoned, floating feeling.

My guess is Lincang puerh likely Mengku, it tastes almost in some ways like the famous Bingdao area and definitely old arbour.  My guess is this 2017 Yunnan Sourcing BrandHe Bian Zhai.

The seventh infusion is very nice and smooth with clear sweet creamy, not really floral tastes over very light woody notes.  This tea is very clean, very tight, simple in taste, complex in qi, nice in mouth/throat feeling.  The sweetness has an icing sugar taste.  There are no turbid or vegetal or forstesy tastes in this tea just a very pure tasting, short profile.  The qi is very very euphoric.

The eighth infusion becomes more creamy, cohesive, and tastes much more sweet.  This tea is just starting to shine with pure, sweet, surgary tastes.  The sweet taste lingers in the throat.

The ninth infusion presents with creamy sweetness again.  There are almost fruit notes in there now.  The sweetness softly swells in the mouth and lingers in the aftertaste.

The tenth infusion I start adding 10 seconds to the flash infusions and it results in a touch stronger but not that different taste profile.  If anything the mouthfeel becomes fuller with a touch longer infusion time here giving it a similar but more full taste.

The eleventh infusion I add 5 more seconds to the flash infusion (15 seconds more) and the result is a faint mango taste as well as a gummy wood taste dominates the soft profile of this tea.

The twelfth infusion I drop back down to 10 seconds to see I there is still any of the lighter tastes left.  I am greeted with light sweet mango fruit tastes with develop into a rubbery wood taste in the aftertaste.

The thirteenth infusion is much the same but has a pronounced sugary aftertaste amongst the rubbery wood tastes.

Fourteenth is considerably lighter at a 10 second steeping.  The fifteenth has an enjoyable fruit hue to it over the sugary sweetness and clean profile.  There is a slight rubbery after taste here.

This tea has some nice stamina to it as well.  This is mainly due to the lack of bitter or over astringent flavours which allows this one to be pushed to the end.

An overnight steeping pulls out more sweet, clear, clean suragy notes… nice.

I have avoided reading/ watching these other blogger reviews of this tasting even to remove bias from my tastings.  After posting I am going to read these:

James and Denny’s (TeaDB) Tasting Notes of Alpha and Beta

Marco’s (Late Steeps) Tasting Notes of all the teas in the event

Cwyn's (Death By Tea) Tasting Notes of all the teas in the event

Peace

Answers:

2017 Yunnan Sourcing "Mu Shu Cha" Ancient Arbor Raw Pu-erh Tea Cake  <--- font="" lpha="">

2017 Yunnan Sourcing "He Tao Di Village" Raw Pu-erh Tea Cake  <--- eta="" font="">