2025 Puerh.uk XiNiuTang Single Ancient

 This Puerh.uk XiNiuTang Single Tree is one of those astronomically priced things that are more for sampling than whole cake purchase…. But I got this sample free for review… it was the last sample I had before I dropped of posting so I’d like to post it now…

Dry leaves are super candy sweet with a penetrating sweet candy forest odour.

Rinsed leaves

First infusion has a soft candy chalky fluffy taste that is a bit roasted notes and mainly creamy chalky creamy taste and texture very smooth and sweet with subtle forest notes.

Second is left to cool and is a sweet banana pure fluffy chalky smooth sweet creamy smooth fade out taste. Face has mild numbness and happy feeling.

Third infusion is a soft sweet melon creamy smooth soft chalky fluffy mouthfeel.  Face qi and relaxing feeling.

Fourth infusion is left to cool and has a very sweet oily creamy candy taste really smooth with a taste that fades away.  

5th infusion has a creamy melon sweet pure taste with fade out creamy sweet melon. Happy relaxing and mild face qi.

6th infusion has fruity slight woody creamy sweet fade out with some chest and face qi with a relaxing ease.

7th is a long mug infusion and is a sweet sugary and fruity very bright sweet taste.  With a mild bitterness throughout.  Happy feeling qi.

Peace

Jagasilk Yabukita Okuda by the Fujioka Family

 Yabukita Okuda by the Fujioka Family goes for $53.00 CND for 20g tin or $2.65/g.  It is currently not available for purchase.

This is my first time having matcha from the Wada region.  I’ll need to try more from this region to get a feel for it but so far I find it very enjoyable with this one…

Dry powder is deep with savory notes and more subtle sweetness.

Savory oily nutty vegital.  More savory and flavour and thick chalky almost fizzy mouthfeel.  Sweetness is behind the salty/savoury.  Salty taste of sea air or seaweed.  Fresh cut grass, tree branch or weedy floral.  Nice layered tastes.

The complexity of taste and mouthfeel is interesting and the flavours last long in the mouth thanks to the solid mouthfeel.

Uplifting feeling.

Peace

Jagasilk Samidori by the Fujioka Family

Jagasilk Samidori by the Fujioka Family goes for $79.00 CND or $3.95/g.

The dry powder has a leafy grassy strong vegetal odour with slight nutty and distant floral. 

The taste is stronger up front vegetal taste with olive oils with a distant nutty lesser sweet taste. The finish becomes slightly bitter and mildly astringent. Mild happy feeling.

Peace 

 

2013 Bao Hong Yin Ji Tong Qing He

These notes are from last year… this 2013 Bao Hong Yin Ji Tong Qing He goes for approx 560.00$ for 380g cake or $1.47/g…. Currently sold out at Puerh.uk.

This was the last sample of puerh I enjoyed that I mentioned in my first post back here.  I’m still thinking about how awesome the subtle root and cola flavours and happy high light body floating feeling…. Memorable..

The dry leaves smell like faint woody floral fresh melon sweet.

Rinsed leaves have a sweet very purfume odour to them. 

First infusion has a spice and sweet melon and woody onset.  The good taste comes early and lingered in the mouth with a melon pungent spice taste.  Spicy woody melon sweet with a nice oily viscus mouthfeel cooling breath and open chest feeling. Returning melon sweetness like a powdery candy melon sweet… yummy.  Happy feeling early in the morning here!

Second infusion has a sweet spicy woody perfume onset that is full of interesting and delicious flavour there is a sweet chalky candy melon and spicy finish.  Happy uplifting energy.  Chalky oily mouthfeel feels full in the mouth with deeper opening cooler breath.

Third infusion has a stronger onset of perfume with some spice and sweet and even faint bitter.  Melon chalky candy floral purfume. Cooled down it is a thicker chalky faintly bitter but very sweet tasting with a full mouthfeel and long cooling aftertaste on the breath.

4th has a melon woody spicy taste with oily wet full chalky feeling.  Slight perfume.  Happy feeling qi. Light body.

5th is left to cool and is a smooth woody spice oily almost resin taste with a spice finish and chalky full mouthfeel.  Happy energy in here spacy and happy feel.  

6th infusion has a spice wood taste.  Happy relaxing feel to it.  Light mild bodyfeeling.

7th has a woody spice sweet taste.  The spice woody sweet taste with chalky full mouthfeel and faint cool breath is a nice taste for me a bit unique.  Happy cozy feeling to this puerh.

I put the leaf into a mug and give it a long steeping… it comes out sweet spice wood with a resin woody quality spicy with soft thick powdery mouthfeel. Chest beats strong limbs heavy mind happy and sleepy.  Candy sweet spice on the breath.

Peace

 

Jagasilk Samidori #8 by 70% Sakata & 30% Ookubo

 Jagasilk Samidori #8 by 70% Sakata & 30% Ookubo is priced at $75.00 CND for 10 g or $7.50/g is currently unlisted or sold out. This was one of the special orders celebrating Jagasilk’s 20th anniversary! Congratulations Miyuku and Jarred!

From the Competition line at Jagasilk.  As stated on the tin this one revived the following grade at competition:

Out if the score of 200, tencha for this matcha was scored 184:

Appearance 37/40, Aroma 61/65, Liquid Colour 17/20, Flavour 61/65, Leaf Colour Post-Extraction 8/10 Milled April 02, 2026.

Of these past three tins opened this one dominated the speed test and is very delicious!

Delicious sweet flavour approach quickly and lingers long.  Lots of complexity of taste that comes and goes - Sweet berries lime sweet beet cashew- with strong overarching sweet milky taste and mouthfeel.  The milky sweet taste is long in the mouth.  Mild happy Qi.

Peace

Jagasilk Asahi #14 by Kenta Hosoi

 

Jagasilk Asahi #14 by Kenta Hosoi is priced at $67.00 CND for 10g or $6.70/g it looks to be currently not offered or sold out. This was one of the special orders celebrating Jagasilk’s 20th anniversary! Congratulations Miyuku and Jarred!

From the Competition Line at Jagasilk.

As stated on the tin this one revived the following grade at competition:

Out if the score of 200, tencha for this matcha was scored 174:

Appearance 33/40, Aroma 59/65, Liquid Colour 16/20, Flavour 59/65, Leaf Colour Post-Extraction 8/10 Milled April 7, 2026

Very beautiful very smooth silky mouthfeel.  Very soft cloudy silky feeling in mouth with slow evolution towards candy and almost underlying tangerine in grass taste.  Peaceful high euphoria.  Tingling bodyfeeling floating.  There is a pooling of energy in the heart and fantastic floating high.

Peace

Jagasilk Okumidori Okubo by the Takaki Family

This Jagasilk Okumidori Okubo by the Takaki family is currently unlisted at Jagasilk but was that complimentary tin of freshly roasted and ground on site matcha.  It was milled just days before my order!  It’s from the single estate line at Jagasilk from my absolute favourite matcha growing region- Hoshino.  This was a very deliberate and thoughtful gift and I am so thankful.

 I was educated in matcha initially in the traditional teahouses of South Korea where they most definitely overlook Japanese Tradition for price/quality.  Most Teahouses that I frequented much preferred Yame in this regard.  So I suppose I have a bit of taste for such things as well personally traveling to Yame… so I’m a bit bias… 

I have many memories in Jagasilk’s early days at the Jagasilk tea bar of me trying unsuccessfully to convince Jarred and Miyuki to source from Hoshino when they were, like most Western matcha drinkers at the time, awestruck by Uji .

Here we go…

The powder and prepared matcha is an atypical very dark deep green!

Very chalky mouthfeel with berries and slight cut grass and spinach - layers of berries raspberries predominate.  Nice sweet-bitter-chalky balance that features flavour over bitter or sweetness- mainly chalky with flavour. Qi pooling in the back of head and focused eyes.  Nice matcha as everyday wake-up with its moderate focusing energy! I can’t stop drinking this matcha… so good!

Peace