Marco’s 2021 Blind Tasting Summary/ Ranking

Just like last year’s blind sampling I hope to give a little review and discussion before having the blind samples revealed to me.  I thought to rank the samples in order of enjoyment they have brought me and to give them a short description.  First, I can say that I enjoyed them all on some level- all nice samples as expected from Marco.  When I received this package the long Summer’s drought and smoky heat wave was broken by cooler nights and long late summer rains.  As a result I had much better personal experience with the older samples he sent.  All of my impressions are based on one session as is usual on this blog.  In order of enjoyment…

1- Gamma- This iron bing,likely the 2001-2004 Xiaguan 8653, has a lot going on with it!  In classic iron cake style it does all this in slow motion, a slow release, with lots of condensed flavours and stamina.  This cake has some nice storage on it and it shows by dressing up the sometimes more modestly tasting Xiaguan 8653.  I want one of these cakes!

2- Alpha- oh baby… gimme da heat!!! This one has nice warming energy and feeling to it… it has a very nice Qi package overall with strong woody flavours and a familiar Yang Storage taste.  This Yiwu Gushu has a balance of wood and Sweetness.  I like this one a lot and wonder if I could have ever paid the $475.00 for the dry stored version of this cake at Houde last year???

3- Delta- has spacious clear tastes of wood, pine, smoke, some lesser sweetness and an incense core. The Qi is strong energy and has that brain slowing power to it with some interesting body sensations.strong downer Qi!  This is in some ways a clear simple thing but power is quite strong! Nice storage on this one.  The taste and energy reminds me of maybe an early 2000s Xiaguan production?  

4- Beta- this one is all about that crazy long Gushu sweetness stretches way out thing!  Nice spacey Qi.  Has a similar feel to and vibrant purity that Biyun Hao productions I’ve had before like the LiShan Gongcha.  Probably around 2020/2019 and likely Yiwu Gushu production.  Nice vibe here.

5- Zeta- same tea as below but with different processing.  I like this processing better of the two.  It’s more bitter but also with stronger throat sensations and returning sweetness. Both have the same Qi.

6- Epsilon-Overall, this is a nice clean pure green processed Yiwu single estate production.  It has a classic melon and floral onset with very faint coolness and faint sweet aftertaste.  Simple but pure and enjoyable for what it is.  The Qi is a mild feel good and relaxing experience. 2021 Yiwu Gushu experience!

That’s my take on Marco’s 2021 blind samples… now I just await some answers on which teas he sent and look forward to reading his reviews of the blind samples I sent… fun.

Peace

Marco’s 2021 Blind Tasting Delta

Oh notorious Delta… why have you such a bad rep these days???

Dry leaves smell of very smoky pine like odour.  There are still some hairy with tipped smallish leaves which look maybe 5 ish ? years old

The first infusion has a surprisingly light watery almost fruity viscus body to it.  It has a smoky & meaty finish to it with slight cooling.  Overall watery and light with meaty smoke.

The second infusion has a watery smokey liquid that has a faint hard to pin down not that sweet plum taste.  The mouthfeel is a bit viscus then fades to a drier mouthfeel with only a faint throat opening that leaves a smoky finish on the mouth.  There is some faint bodyfeelings that I notice early on- little things here and there but nothing substantive.

The third infusion has a smoky pine watery flat taste with a faint touch of caramel.  There are some bodyfeels that manifest as faint face twitching and tingling.  There is an incense finish to the taste that makes it seem older that it feels initially.  I’m getting the sense that this is older and perhaps Taiwanese stored.  The mouthfeel is faintly viscus initially then fades to a thin dryness.  There is a faintly but powerful floating mind sensation going on with this Qi.  The tastes are really separate, watery and loose feeling. Can feel a body easing feeling with some Heart racing.  It feels a touch like a factory tea but also a bit like a gushu.  Maybe a special production?  I’m leaning towards Xiaguan but could be Menghai Factory. It’s a unique feeling tea that is hard for me to place.  Definitely Menghai region puerh though. Something about the clear separate taste and clear storage reminds me vaguely of Wistaria productions as well.

The fourth infusion has a woody varnish like sweet woody surgery taste.  The taste is more condensed here with woody, slightly-moderate smoky especially in the finish.  There is a rolling faint creamy sweetness that fades into the breath nothing but smoke in the aftertaste.  The bodyfeelings are quite strong with this puerh as I have a strong pounding Heart now and tingling limbs and even my respiration is impacted.  My limbs have a tingling feeling and my head feels floaty.  Qi is really really strong.  This puerh is really about this strong Qi.

The fifth infusion has a faint sweetness onset with faint woody pine and smoke.  The tastes are all quite separate.  They come over a faint weak dry mouthfeeling and not much in the throat.  The finish that comes out of these tastes is a long thin candy taste.  The bodyfeeling is in the face, limbs, chest.  Floating mind qi feeling.

The sixth infusion has a smoke and woody pine simple and kind of empty flavor.  There is a subtle sweetness to it.  Strong Qi beats the heart.  Strong mind floating.

The seventh is much the same.  The flavor and aroma is very loose, light, and simple but the Qi is strong and engaging.  Woody pine, moderate smoke, long faint caramel sweet finish that fades out.  Strong face and limb reactions.  Intense Heart racing.  The cooled down remainder of the cup is quite woody-candy sweet but the taste is crisp and narrow.

The eighth infusion has a watery woody onset with less smoke and an emerging faint sweet incense finish.  The taste is really thin here.  The mouthfeeling is a very thin dryness.   The Qi is less strong as well as this puerh has really dropped off quite a bit.  There is still a floating spacy feeling that is pretty strong and a limb lightness type of feeling.

The ninth infusion has an incense onset which holds as the main taste throughout and just kind of fades away.  The Qi is still big and floats and sedates the mind.  There is glimpse of candy faint in the aftertaste under woody incense.  Heart opening feeling is strong.  Strong incense core tells me this puerh was dry stored for quite a while possibly sealed.  I re-evaluate the age of this puerh to be older than my earlier suspicions.

The 10^th infusions is much more of the above incense, strong Qi, subtle candy hard to grasp faint aftertaste.  Thin dry mouhfeeling not much for throat feeling or stimulation.

11^th are quite watery and insipid with only a faint incense and faint barely sweet finish over a dry mouth.  Strong sedating Qi now starts to really take hold of my mind.

12^th I steep for 20 seconds to see if I can push some other tastes out without getting to much dry mouth.,, the result is a more condensed pine woody slight smoky taste with some faint cooling in the mouth over a increasingly dry mouthfeeling.  Big floating and sedating qi.  Strong bodyfeeling and Heart beats.  Faint long candy cooling and incense finish.

13^th I put in a long infusion here… left to cool its quite woody sweet with a bit of a cooling numbness in the mouth.  The Qi has really backed me into a corner here and I feel quite docile and useless totally groggy under the spell of this puerh. A very strong downer Qi!

I push out another long one before ending things it tastes of woody varnish faint coolness faint bitter dryness.

Overall, I’m a bit unsure of this one… the taste is very simple and uncomplicated there are only really a few clear spaced out notes that emerge- wood pine, smoke, some sweetness(caramel rarely appears, sometimes a faint short candy finish), and a stronger incense core.  This one is really about the really big Qi and bodyfeelings- strong floating mind, sedating, and in the end I feel quite useless- like caught in a vat of pudding.  The bodyfeelings are intense with strong Heart sensations, limb and face tingling, and limb floating.  The Qi is really very powerful. 

Guess: It is mainly dryer stored, I think, maybe sealed and 8-15 years old ish.  It has a powerful Menghai area feel to it. In some ways this feels like a factory production and in some ways it feels like more than that. Hummm…. Not to sure about this one.  For some strange reason Marco’s take on my Alpha sample sounds a lot like this Delta sample… eerie…

Peace

Today I am drinking mug infusions of the spent leaves and they have a sweet plum and incense note, slight wood with a cooling menthol finish.  There is an incense and bitter coco aftertaste that lingers.  These mug infusions puts this age at early 2000s, maybe Xiaguan?

Peace

Marco’s 2021 Blind Tasting Gamma

I decided to bask in the continuous rain we have been having for the past few days and cycle the long distance to work early in the morning.  When I get there and dry off I decide to open the next sample alphabetically and a warm aged odour greets me… a perfect sample to cozy up to I think…

Dry iron like tight compressed leaves smell of aged humid storage with a distinct dirt peaty odour but also there is a sweetness to it as well.  It kind of smells of dry-ish natural Taiwanese storage.  You can observe the distinct iron pressed straight edge which is a signature of such cakes.  Right away you know we are likely dealing with a Xiaguan 8653 Iron Cake until we can rule out otherwise… I give it a 30 second rinse then 30 minutes of rest in the warm teapot.

First infusion has a sweet hay and grass like taste with a rich creamy sweet woody taste with a returning not to sweet maple syrup subtle sweetness.  The mouthfeel is lubricating and nicely oily.

The second infusion starts with a spicy woody, vaguely smoky, and a sweet hay/grass like sweetness there is a cooling breath and throat then a returning sweet woody, almost spicy/forest, and not that sweet maple syrup finish.  The mouthfeeling is a thin sticky dense fine mossy mouthcoating.  Mild heart racing and energetic feeling but also soothing feeling Qi.  There is a hay kind of sweetness that lingers minutes later.

The third infusion has a slightly syrupy rich hay sweetness with a faint smoky incense mid-body and a sweet dry talc cherry medicinal nuance finish after mild cooling in the mouth.  The mouthfeeling is a bit mossy-dry on the tongue with not much throat involvement.  Nice mild-moderate curbed energetic feeling Qi.

Oh man… my workday got crazy fast and it takes me a few hours before returning the tea table… The fourth infusion has a smoky hay sweet woodsy onset there is a medicinal cooling finish that has a bit of sweetness and woodiness and incense.  The smoke lingers on the breath afterwards.

The 5^th has a sweet hay and smoky onset with a sweet woody incense medicinal finish.  The mouthfeel is thin and mossy and faintly drying.  There is a sweet rich woody taste that appears throughout after a cooling mouth.  Nice mild alerting energy.

The 6^th has a syrupy medicinal woody smoky sweetness that descends into a woody incense taste and returns as a dry leaf and not-so-sweet maple syrup taste.  The taste is really condensed and syrupy here.  The mouthfeel is thin and mossy.  Nice mild alerting energy.

The 7^th has a watery hay woody taste upfront which then slowly transitions to a woody incense after a cooling mouth.  Nice mossy slight dry coating.  Nice mild alerting energy.

The 8^th has a malty hay sweet woody kind of initial taste. There is a cooing medicinal finish to it, a bit sweet.  The thin mossy mouthfeeling seems to harmonize nicely with the aged tastes.  Nice mild alertness is getting me through this day today with a level head.

The 9^th was left to cool and gives off a robust mildly sweet hay and muted maple syrup yet reasonably condensed cool medicinal almost dry woody camphor kind of taste.  The mouthfeeling is mossy.  Qi is softly alerting.

The 10^th has a medicinal woody faint sweet hay onset with a lingering woody incense follow through.  The mossy mouthfeeling supports this all.  Nice harmonizing slightly alerting Qi here.

The 11^th has a rich woody taste to it with a cooling which comes with a woody medicinal finish.  The mouthfeeling is a bit dryer here.  There is an incense like taste left in the mouth, a bit smokier in the finish now.  The wet leaves in the pot smell like delicious raison.

12^th infusion has a mellow sweetness to it of hay and almost bread before turning to cooling and medicinal in the mouth over a thin mossy tongue coating.  There is a lingering sweet woody nuance.

13^th infusion has a woody incense onset that has an underlying sweet woody taste that turns cool and incense medicinal.  There is a soft thin mossy almost drying mouthfeeling. 

14^th is really nice sweet peat woody almost spicy incense woody taste with the main taste being sweet.  The mouthfeel is soft fainter moss here.

The slow release of the iron pressed cake allowed for a hand full of more sweet, rich, woody, incense, tasting infusions.  Then slowly the complexity started to wane and the bitterness started to take over.  The bitter infusions lasted past 20 before it weakened into bitter woody water.  Very nice!

Guess: 2001-2004 Xiaguan 8653 Iron Cake.  It looks like Teas We Like has a lot of these listed on its site here.  The description of the storage matches my experience with this cake- drier natural Taiwanese storage.  I had consumed the 1990s Xiaguan 8653 once in a while in the puerh tea shops in Korea many years ago.  They were much more humidly stored than this sample.  I love the way the session slowly progresses as the compression loosens from these iron bings.  Although talking up the Iron Bing, I don’t own any 8653 and am interested in purchase of this one once I know which one it is.

Peace

Marco’s 2021 Blind Tasting Beta

I know it is common practice or etiquette to sample the younger, cooler energy puerh before the older aged warmer energy puerh.  However, after the sauna which was Marco’s blind “Alpha” sample I needed something cooler in energy to bring my sweating-overheated-self back into harmony.  In fact it is common that I will drink a super warming puerh in the cool of early morning then cool things down in the afternoon with something younger.  There isn’t anything wrong with that- its called “listening to your body”.  So I thought to squeeze in another blind sampling on this first rainy cool day in a few months of drought.   So I started on the next sample alphabetically and I opened the package labeled “beta”.  It looked and smelt pretty young so I just went for it in the afternoon of a long but leisurely day at work…

Dry leaves are younger looking with a thin white hairy fur presentation they smell sweet- an orange floral kind of odour.  Rinsed leaves smell of sweet mineral, coco and piercing pungent sweetness.

The first infusion is a very creamy creamy almost custard sweetness that transverses to a creamy coolness.  The profile is very clear, pure and young maybe 2020 material here?  The creaminess is long in the aftertaste.  Lots of cooling sweetness on the inhale.  Thin oily soft light creamy tongue coating.  Spacy Qi sensation here.  The wet leaves smell of a pungent gamey- mushroom odour that reminds me a bit of Yiwu regions far south and a bit of even close to border tea territory.

The second infusion has a creamy buttery cup vibrant fruity taste with subtle mushroom-gamey-forest-almost smoky nuance but mainly a strong clear pure sweetness.  Very clear pure long sweetness.  The throat sensation is deep with a very creamy sweetness returning.  There is a subtle barn yard like taste to it to give it depth.  The aftertaste is deep and long.  Spacy Qi.

The third infusion has a licorice creamy peach vibrant sweetness to it with a forest taste underneath that faintly appears and disappears as well.  Nice peachy light creamy sweetness, a long pure sweetness.  Somewhat reminds me of Lincang here but more likely Yiwu.

The fourth infusion has a creamy peachy gushu sweetness.  The taste is pure and long.  This puerh kind of reminds me of the 2015 BiYunHao Lishan Gongcha.  In its long pure sweetness and is starting to finish slightly coco chocolate.  The effect is very nice.  Not sure if it’s just because it’s coming from Marco but it seems like it has a Biyun Hao production taste and feel to it… Maybe 2019 Lishan Gongcha?  Nice spacy Qi.

The fifth infusion has a nice coco chocolate onset with a creamy sweet bready taste creamy and smooth.  The chocolate subtle nutty taste is more creamy than bitter and the sweet taste is very long.  Nice vibrant pure tastes here reminiscent of Biyun Hao productions.  Nice spacy Qi sensations.  Very deliciously tasty.  Has an almost medicinal sweet mushroom aftertaste.  Yummy!

The sixth infusion has a vibrant fruity melon and peachy pop of an onset with an emerging and supportive chocolate base that expands long in the long run uninterrupted aftertaste.  The mouthfeel is velvety and soft.  The throat feeling is a deep opening feeling.  Vibrant and clear taste with a nutty choco body to it and a vibrant long sweet bread taste.  The taste has a pop to it that is really very much Biyunhao.  Nice euphoria Qi.

The 7^th has a creamy coco biter chocolate tasting very delicious thing.  A long cool chocolate tasting thing.  Has a nutty almost bitter dirt like taste to it something here reminds me of Banzhong.  Long cool sweet chocolate profile.  Nice spacy feeling.  Oily soft mouthfeeling.

The 8^th has a creamy coco sweetness with a sweet nutty taste to it.  Really long profile aftertaste over an oily soft faintly gripping mouthfeeling.  Nice euphoric Qi.  Not much for body feelings.

9^th has a watery fruity coco chocolate taste that has a deep faint coolness which carries a long undisrupted sweet creamy coco aftertaste.  Nice euphoria.  Soft velvety mouthfeeling with an oily feeling.

10^th infusion has a watery coco nutty roasted creamy sweetness.  The moderate euphoria of the qi is starting to make me feel ungrounded and a bit stoned.  Nice velvety mouthfeeling. 

11^th has a bit of a carrot dirt taste that reminds me of Nannou (Shah8 would say) area puerh it mingles with coco and has a different roasted hazelnut dirt coco carrot taste to it.  There is an interesting saliva gob building with a faint creamy sweet finish that is somewhat vegetal.  I’m getting some Heart palpitations now from the Qi.

12^th is a watery dirt kind of taste with some nutty tastes, coco bitter tastes and creamy sweet tastes emerging.  The taste has flattened out a bit and became a bit more bitter.  The mouthfeel and throatfeel are moderately gripping now.

Next day…

The 13^th tastes pretty watery a bit of sweet watery celery and some floral faint watery tastes.  Still faint cool throat with a flat thin mouthfeeling.  Pear fruity aftertaste.

14^th is still at flash steeping and has a watery chocolate taste with a sweet pear fruity returning taste.  Long cool sweetness, almost sugary here.  Sweet taste is really long and ethereal, pure and unimpeded.  Still has a mild euphoria.  Nice long sweetness…

15^th has a more watery mushroom-dirt-coco watery taste… not much taste… but what is there is long the coco turns to coolness and long faint fading sweetness….

I put this one into mug steepings…

The result is a moderately bitter slight vegetal coco tasting thing with a long cool breath finish.  The mug steeping is quite nice and full feeling.  A nice euphoric Qi is still there to be enjoyed.

Guess: 2019/2020, Yiwu, BiYun Hao.  This is likely a BiYun Hao production as it has that taste and feel and processing and, well, it came from Marco, which biases me leaning toward BiYun Hao.  It tastes like a Southern Yiwu area Gushu puerh to me.  This sample really reminds me a lot of the 2015 BiYun Hao LiShan Gongcha and I think it might be the 2019 Bi Yun HaoLiShan Gongcha or at least some of the individual components that go into this blend like this or this?  It has the really long ethereal super stretched out sweetness that the 2015 LiShanGongCha has.  There are licorice like sweet tastes to it and an almost Lincang like feel to it.  Then as the session goes it develops this bitterness to it.  In this way this sample has a similar feel to my blind tasting of the 2015 last Summer.  But looking back on my notes they are only roughly similar…

Peace

Marco’s 2021 Blind Tasting Alpha

Okay I got the package in the mail yesterday then got right at the blind tasting today which is the first cool day in a few months during the drought here in Western Canada.  It’s a rainy day and the first day with overnight temperatures dipping past 15 C. Work is steady but not busy… perfect for a day of blind sampling…

Dry leaves have a smoky leathery yet underlying sweet Yiwu odour that smells a lot like Yang’s storage of Yang Qing Hao.  The smell tells my brain that I’ve had this puerh before…

First infusion has quite a smooth soft sweetness obvious of Yiwu.  The creamy sweetness onset has a touch of tart, almost bitter coco, and finishes a faint creamy cool dry woody on the breath.  Nice smooth feeling in taste, Qi and in its watery oily mouthfeeling that induces a mild salivation.  There is aftertastes even minutes later in the oily mouth.

The second infusion has a woody teak, creamy sweet robustness to it.  There are some leather almost beet sweet potato notes underneath.  Overall a very woody creamy yiwu taste, nice coolness in throat.  The veggies notes remind me of Gua Feng Zhi.  All the tastes are over a chalky oily mouthfeeling.  There is nice throat saliva stimulating even minutes later.  Qi is really nice, strong in a relaxing euphoria floating feeling kind of way.

The third infusion has a sweet onset of creamy sweet almost cherry powdery sweetness there is a bit of woodiness then a coolness in the mouth that reaches down the throat.  Nice cooling creamy sweet finish.  Nice smooth feeling to this puerh, very sweet.  Very comforting and cozy and mild euphoria.  Chalky oily mouthfeeling with an open deep throat and slow saliva returning minutes later.  Subtle smoke on breath minutes later.

The fourth infusion has a very sweet creamy onset with a slightly tart cherry teak woody backbone.  The woodiness is stronger than the sweet here but a nice balance with a cooling deep throat and some gripping with returning saliva.  There is a bit of pucker here with some astringency.  Nice putting-at-ease Qi feeling that is deep and penetrating.  Very comforting. Mild body sensations of slight floating and limb tingling.

The fifth infusion has a woody sweet onset the taste is a bit more woody teak tasting than sweet now.  The woody taste is substantial.  There is a bit of astringency but mainly is smooth woody sweetness.  A long cooling throat with chalky mouthfeeling.  Nice relaxing Qi feeling.  Slight floating with mild limbs tingling.

The 6^th has a creamy smooth woody sweetness nice chalky mouthfeeling.  There is a bit of tart cherries and coolness in the throat.  Mainly woody with some sweetness.  Nice spacy-relaxing-cozy feeling.

The 7^th is again a nice creamy sweet which turns a bit woody astringent.  Nice chalky full mouthfeeling.  Faint smoke and leather.  Relaxing cozy feeling, with a subtle light feeling in the body some limb and even face tingling.  Creamy sweetness is left in mouth minutes later.

8^th has a flatter cherry creamy fruity taste with a wood underneath.  It is more creamy sweet than woody here.  Subtle astringency that returns a bit of saliva, faint smoke and leather.  It seems to alternate.  Face tingling and limb tingling is becoming more obvious now. 

9^th has a creamy menthol taste to it woody, creamy, cool pungent, sweet.  Nice Yiwu-ness to it.  A bit of pucker, astringent griping but mild and deep throaty cool feeling with stronger dryness.  Subtle warm spicy cinnamon on breath minutes later.  Warming cozy feeling induces a sweat.

10^th has a watery creamy woody astringent onset with deep cool throat.  Woody and creamy sweet almost leather.  The last few infusions have been more gripping but also a lingering sweetness minutes later.

11^th has a more watery feeling with a stronger astringency but without as much flavor initially but more of mainly creamy sweet deep cool throaty aftertaste and breath taste.  Nice relaxing cozy feeling.  Saliva struggling to return.

12^th has a woody, dry gripping, with more sweetness now on the breath- a creamy sweet taste.  There is some mineral taste, and even leathery tastes.  Limb and face tingling and warm cozy feeling with face warming now.  Some subtle spice in the aftertaste minutes later.

13^th has a creamy woody almost fruity leather taste to it.  Face sweating is happening.  Some dry puckering.  Nice long sweet taste in throat.  Lots of heat generated in this one.  Nice cozy feeling on this rainy day.

14^th has a watery creamy fruity taste.  Slight dry gripping mouthfeeling with deep throat cool and lingering sweet breath taste.  Compounding warming energy.

The long mug steepings of spent leaves are a bit dirt tasting with a bitter astringent woodiness left over… nothing much left to savour.

Guess:  Either a 2004-2006 Yang Qing Hao production or the Yang Stored 2001 Jing-Yeh Hao “Green Sun”

The Yiwu pedigree, 2004-2006, Yang storage, and Gushu profile is undeniable here.  It is most likely the 2001 Jinyehao (Green Sun) cake stored by Yang which was the only cake I requested to try from Marco.  It might just taste a bit younger due to maybe Marco purchasing it from Yang’s storage 3-5 years ago then it being exposed to dryer sealed storage here in Canada? Also it seems to roughly match what Shah8’s notes say about the famous 2001 Jinyehao.  I especially relate to the fact it could be autumn material due to the intense wood character that sometimes occurs in semiaged autumn cakes that I’ve tried before. What impressed me the most about this sample was the deep penetrating warmth cozy feeling of the Qi here which is really satisfying and pretty intense.  This kind of Intensely warming Qi is something I have not experienced from Yang Qing Hao productions before. 

Peace