2005 Yang Qing Hao “Old Tree” … But A Good Tree…

I got this free sample from my purchase of the 2006 Yang Qing Hao Chawangshu from Emmett…

Dry leaves smell of slightly sweet cardboard with a lighter stone compression of larger leaves.

The first infusion is a watery sort of woody mellow almost sweet, kind of bland, almost sour cardboard taste.

The second has a slightly sour cherry with a mellow cardboard woody background.  There is a bit of sweetness in the sour woody taste.  The mouthfeeling is a bit dry puckering.  The throat has a mild opening.  Slowly awakening Qi.

The third infusion left too cool is a woody almost tart cherry sweet woody taste with a creamy sweet woody finish.  Very standard yummy yiwu gushu type taste.  Powdery mouthfeeling slight faint throat.

The fourth infusion has a tart cherry sour and slightly sweet taste.  It has a nice lively flavor to it here.  With a longer tart cherry and creamier finish.  The mouthfeel has become a nice chalky.  This is nice standard Yiwu gushu in taste and feel.  Nice enlivening Qi.

The fifth has a nice creamy tartness to it balanced with some less creamy sweetness.  This has a nice mellow Yiwu tart cherry taste.  It feels really nice in the body mellow a bit of Heart beat stimulation in the chest.  Chalky mouthfeeling mild opening throat sensation.  Sticky lips.  This infusion is the right balance of tart, faint astringency and sweetness for this profile with a tilt toward tart.

The sixth infusion is cooled down now and is a nice creamy sweetness in a soft silky-chalky mouthfeeling.  Less tart when it cools down.  Chalky lips.  Mild soothing and heart pumping Qi that puts me at a good spot.

The seventh infusion is also cooled down… busy day today… it is a bit more sour and astringent a bit woody with a mouth puckering mild feeling but a nice silky chalky too.

The eighth is a light juicy sweet cherry with less tartness now but a certain sweet tanginess.  The mouthfeel is nicely silky-chalky and full.  The throatfeeling is empty silky chalky.  Some faint sweet tart aftertaste.

The ninth has a more woody astringent dryness to it almost metallic tasting kind of bitterness emerges but mainly sour sweet.  Mild relaxing on the mind now.  More of a dry puckering mouthfeeling.

The 10^th is a woody soury less sweet tart cherry and finish more creamy sweet on the chalky tongue when it cools.  Nice relaxing Qi.

11^th some light juicy tangy fruity cherry tastes with a touch of creamy finish in a less powdery tongue coating.

12^th has some light juicy tang but now mainly watery at flash steepings…. It has a nice soft creamy sweet finish over the sticky tongue coating.  It seems longer aftertaste here as the astringency has now disappeared in these flash steepings.

I check things out on this one and find out that it is a previously unreleased Yang Qing Hao production of only 7 tongs.  Emmett had the whole lot sent to him and is selling them off for $135.00 for 500g (or $0.27/g) cake which I think is pretty decent for such a thing if you don’t mind a bit of astringency.  I think this puerh represents the best/cheapest per gram Yang Qing Hao if you were looking for a solid drinker these days.  It’s better for the price than the 2006 Yang Qing Hao blended brick and 2005 Yang Qing Hao Gua Feng Zhi Huang Pian or any of the cheaper Yang Qing Hao options that I tasted through Liquid Proust sample package.

Overall, this is a more typical Yiwu gushu, nothing too fancy but good and satisfying and compares well to these two puerh:

Vs 2005 Yang Qing Hao Yiwu Chawang- very similar to this one in Qi, mouthfeeling… the Chawang tastes much more sweet where this one is astringent and more sour.  Because I enjoy a bit of the astringency and sourness, I feel that they are pretty comparable to each other with Chawang obviously being the better of the two by a bit. This Yiwu Chawang is the best of these comparisons but also much more expensive out of this group.

Vs 2006 Rong Chang Hao Yiwu Qiao Mu- I over rated this one a bit in my initial assessment of it but it has gotten better over the last few years and lost its harshness and developed a softened date and plum taste.  The 2006 Rong Chang Hao has the biggest Qi out of the bunch but they all have above average Qi sensations which is why I like all three in a general sense.

Overall, this 2006 Yang Qing Hao Old Tree is worth it if you are looking for such things… contact Emmett if you are interested …

Shah8’s Tasting Notes

Peace

 

2010 “Auspicious SanLin” from Emmett G.

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

Dry leaves smell of subtle dry sweet floral candy.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Peace

 

The Long Forgotten… 2010 Yang Qing Hao Longtuan Fengmei!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Because it’s actually pretty good…

Peace

 

1999 Yang Qing Hao Micang: Aged Yiwu Drinker!

I got this sample in a sample package of some of the cheaperYang Qing Hao from Liquid Proust.  This 1999 Yang Qing Hao Micang 500g brick ($240.00 or $0.48/g) and 1999 Yang Qing Hao Cangmi 1Kg Brick ($395.00 or $0.40g) were both pressed in 2007 with material from 1999.  I am unsure whether they contain different material or there is just a difference in size?  Often they are cited as solid older and heavily compressed drinker material…

The dry leaves look surprisingly drier stored and smell that way too.  Not typical Yang Storage but rather fruity sweet tropical fruit odours.

The first infusion is has very smooth and sweet creamy tropical fruity tastes in a creamy base.  Nicely aged Yiwu taste that is surprisingly delicious.

The second infusion has a woody creamy sweet onset with a soft mouthfeeling with slight notes of pungency/menthol and cinnamon and wood.  It finishes creamy tropical sweet with a bit of spice.  The mouthfeeling is soft and slightly tight.  It’s a smooth and sweet taste overall.

The third infusion has a silky feeling and tastes of creamy almost milky sweetness with some tropical fruity taste and some woody notes.  The sweet creamy milky taste is highlighted with a bit of menthol that is trapped in the mid-deep throat seems to capture some sweet tropical fruits.  This infusion starts to show a bit more storage taste in the form of a woody taste.  Long creamy sweet aftertaste.

The fourth infusion has a sweet and almost sour fruity sweet taste up front with a base layer of soft woody tastes and even some cinnamon spice notes.  There is a lingering menthol in the mid-to-deep throat where a creamy and almost tropical fruity taste lingers like subtle dried pineapple chunks.

The fifth infusion has a peachy pear apple fruity taste with a woody creamy almost dirt taste.   The mouthfeeling is smooth and the throat opens mid-to-deep with a pungent coolness.  The Qi is really calm mild type of thing.

The sixth and seventh is a more woody menthol with a strong backbone of creamy woody with longer creamy sweetness.  Nice creamy sweet woody menthol with some hints of fruity and subtle spice.  There is a subtle incense base taste.  Nice strongly emerging warmth in the chest and Stomach.

The eighth infusion is left to cool and gives off a woody, menthol, creamy sweet fluffy taste in the mouth witth a lingering menthol creamy sweetness in the mid-to-deep throat.  Mild relaxing Qi with warming bodyfeeling.

The 9^th is a bit lighter almost plumy fruity with some wood.  There is a softness and smoothness overall about the feel, Qi, and flavours.  There is an incense woody base.  Overall a nice creamy sweetness.

The 10^th infusion has a stronger menthol woodiness off the bat that turns into a creamy sweetness in the finish.  The ending is sometimes a bit salivating.  There is an incense woody finish.  Calming and warming Qi.

The 11^th infusion has a fruity light plum sweet onset with a woody and camphor aftertaste that finishes a creamy sweet.  The sweetness is lessening and the complex spiciness is gone.  Nice Warming Qi with relaxing vibe.

12^th has a more woody onset with a bit more faint woody astringency and tighter mouthcoating.  There is still some incense and very faint creamy sweetness with not much pungency or throat depth here.

The 13^th infusion has a mainly astringent woody profile now with only faint sweetness and pungency.  The incense base taste is the only other significant taste other than the wood.  Warming Qi.  Tighter mouthcoating.

14^th is a quick flash of apple-plum sweetness which quickly is covered by a woody almost orange blossom type of astringent taste.  It makes the mouth feel pucker a bit.  A nice warmth continues to be generated…

I will come back to see how the leaves resume tomorrow…

Drier stored than I thought for Yang storage so I think it might have been sealed for a while and/or due to very tight compression or maybe this came from Emmitt’s storage?  Incense base but no dirt.  There is change throughout the infusions as the first handful have a nice tropical fruity taste still present but which give way to more spicy woody creaminess later.  These things make it taste very different from typical Yang storage and surprised me a bit.  Alright for the price for an aged puerh of Yiwu origin.  I think this could be a decent aged drinker option for people looking for aged Yiwu. I especially like how some fresh Yiwu tastes are still preserved in this one despite its aging.

Steepster Tasting Notes

James and Denny TeaDB Tasting Notes

Peace

 

Dry Stored: 2005 Yang Qing Hao Yiwu Chawang

This is a commonly talked about puerh in Western circles as it was maybe the first Yang Qing Hao puerh to be offered by a Western puerh vendor when Houde offered this one back in the day.  Although it is commonly known, it is not considered the best of the Yang Qing Hao offerings and never seems to top anyone’s list of favorites even when price is considered.  This puerh always sounds like its mainly just solid or typical Yiwu Gushu.  It has since sold out at Yang Qing Hao but a few years ago was selling for $195.00 a cake before it sold out.  This completely dry stored cake from Houde’s Huston storage goes foru $375.00 for 500g cake or $0.75/g.  This will be my first Yang Qing Hao puerh that hasn’t come directly from Yang’s moderately more humid Taiwanese storage.

First I just want to make a general statement about Yang storage…

You both tolerate it and enjoy it for what it is or you don’tlike it at all.  I don’t think anyone out there ever thought that Yang’s storage was the best storage for his cakes, but rather they simply accepted that it was worth the price offered.  I think it probably works pretty good for some of his cakes and others not so much...

Dry leaves smell of woody, cardboard, very faint sweetness, dusty.

The first infusion has a creamy sweet woody syrupy onset with a nice oily texture.  There is a nice soft chalky tongue coating where sweet woody cherry taste resides.  This infusion dominant with oily cherry tastes.  The aftertaste of cherry and woody lingers in the aftertaste.  The storage is like a dry Taiwanese storage very nice.  The Qi is happy and lively.

The second infusion gives us a woody, almost dusty, sweet cherry fruit taste over a chalky mouthfeeling.  The sweet cherry taste is still the standout taste here with a tongue coating that there is this lower, kind of faint, almost creamy pungent but more obviously cherry fruity finish in the mid-deep throat.  Qi has a little bit of a buzzing bodyfeeling and a nice building warmth in the face.

The third infusion has a nice strong floral onset with background wood and cherry and a long dusty woody background taste.  The powdery florals are dominant here.  There is a nice tightness developing on the tongue and the throat feeling is faint but deep.  Qi has a nice liveliness to it.

The fourth infusion has a syrupy fruity sweet woody taste to it with some dust woody cardboard like back ground taste and an expanding cherry fruity finish with a mildly salivating and oily texture over a soft mossy tongue coating.  There is a mild building pungency that pushes the sweet cherry vibrant woody taste out in the aftertaste.  This infusion has a more lively sweetness of cherry.

The fifth infusion has a burst of woody slightly tart cherry with a juicy and oily returning oily sweetness.  There is a really long oily cherry sweet taste that rides out minutes later.  The throat is oily and lubricated at a deep level.  The Qi is slightly warming and relaxing as well as mildly mood enhancing.  Body feels light.  Nice long sweet cherry taste.

The sixth infusion has a dusty woody but mainly cherry mahogany woody taste with an oily texture, thin full mossy tongue feeling with a mid-deep lubricating mild throat feeling.  There is a soft woody cherry finish in the mouth.  The cool cup has a rich sweet syrupy cherry mahogany taste with expanding sweetness in the return over a mossy tongue coating and faint oily throatfeeling.  Nice alerting and calming Qi with light body and some face sensations.

The seventh has a fruity plum orange dried peach thick syrupy sweet taste when I sample the cooled cup.  Thick long syrupy fruity finish with a ring of deep oily pungency in the throat.  Even a creamy chalky sweetness emerges.  I really like this dry storage on here.

The eighth infusion has a fruity syrupy taste creamy and sweet with a chalky powdery almost candy cherry sweet taste in the finish.  This is a nice sweet aged Yiwu with nice dry storage to accentuate it.  Long creamy sweetness on the breath.  Thin mossy tongue coating with a lubricating throatfeeling that goes mid-deep and holds a long sweet taste there.

9^th has a chalky sweet powdery sweet fruity cherry onset that expands and returns in the aftertaste.  The tongue coating is a nice mossy covering and lubricating throat feeling.

10^th has a powdery and creamy sweetness to it initially much less woody over these last few infusions but still a bit that comes out in the mid profile more.  The aftertaste is less strong with much less oily texture now.  Nice energizing and relaxing Qi.

The 11^th has a bit of incense woody not as sweet cherry or powdery now.  A bit of that in the aftertaste but the throatfeeling has collapsed so much of that is in the mouth.  Nice relaxing Qi.

The 12^th is a cool cup and gives off thick syrupy kind of woody-foresty-sweetness over a mossy tongue coating.  There is a bit of pungency and creamy powdery sweetness that follows. 

13^th has a creamy fruity chalky sweetness over a thin mossy tongue with fruity faint aftertaste.  Nice relaxing Qi.  Simple sweet but enjoyable tastes now…

I push this one a bit more with a 30 second steeping in the 14^th infusion deep prune fruity notes come out.

The overnight infusion has a lot more of those deep prune fruity notes with edges of powdery lighter cherry edges.

Overall, this still has an air of “Yang Storage” and likely spent the first year or two there before being Huston dry stored by Hou De Fine Teas.  Interestingly, you can still taste it.  However, the Huston dry storage has done this puerh well- much better than staying in Yang storage, I would guess.  This is nothing new as dry storage is almost always seen as superior to more humid storage especially for puerh that is less harsh or intense.  This gushu would easily qualify- a solid Yiwu gushu, although not super exciting but very enjoyable either way.  Overall, I didn’t think it was worth the price to cake.

Steepster Tasting Notes

Shah8’s Tasting Notes

James (TeaDB)  Tasting Notes

James compares USA and Yang’s storage on this cake

Peace

2006 Yang Qing Hao Chawangshu: A Failure of Yang’s Storage

This is a puerh that I have had my eye on for many years now but have not sampled it before blind buying it in November.  In 2015/2016 when the whole catalogue of Yang Qing Hao was first opened up to the West via Emmitt’s group buys this was sometimes cited as the best / second best of the Yang Qing Hao catalogue.  Shah8 made this claim here, James, and Marco also rated it at the top of Yang Qing Hao offerings especially for the price.  Since this time the price has not really went up despite some other Yang Qing Hao puerh tripling in price over the last year.  There was also a few reviews from those who are buying tea around that quality that have very recently rated this tea as not worth buying (see treetime on Sheng of the Dayhere and vuanguyen on Tea Forum here).  In the end, I decided to finally go all in for a blind cake of this one ($425.00 for500g cake or $0.85/g) this year as I am a fan of Chawangshu area and it seemed like the window for getting material at this age with this pedigree would soon close.

Dry leaves smell of dominating storage smells of Yang’s Taiwanese storage as well as a subtle vegetal, creamy sweet and even smokiness.

The first infusion is a watery almost vegetal empty kind of taste with a slippery but still a bit griping mouthfeeling that simulated the mid throat and tongue.  The aftertaste is kind of empty with a vegetal taste in the mouth and very subtle creamy sweetness and subtle strawberry taste.  This first infusion has a very watery and mild flavor.

The second infusion has a vegetal watery onset with a subtle body of paper taste almost subtle buried cherry.  There is very little sweetness, astringency, or bitterness and a bland taste dominates the profile with a paper and vegetal nuance very subtle smoke and some faint creamy ghostly sweetness in the throat.  The mouthfeeling is a slight dry gripping with a mid to deep throat stimulating with a watery texture.  The Qi is starting to build a very relaxing euphoria in the mind.

The third infusion has a faint cherry and vegetal onset with a paper tasting base taste and a building gripping and moderately drying mouthfeeling that has a pucker to it.  The Qi is powerful and invigoratingly euphoric with a warming out outward moving from the Heart sensation in the body.  The power of this Qi is leaving me in a stupor.

The fourth infusion has a paper and vegetal watery onset with barely any subtle cherry sweetness that is sort of in the throat.  There is a moderate to strong drying tongue feeling and deeper throat dryness.  The Qi is huge though a dizzying strong euphoria and warming and expanding chest.

The fifth in fusion has a bland paper subtle quick moving cherry fruity taste.  There is a bit of creamy sweetness developing.   Big euphoria Qi happening over a mild drying and astringent tongue and throat.  It’s main taste is rice paper pith.

6^th has a cloudy paper vegetal astringency with an almost creamy sweet aftertaste over a drying tongue and throat.  The taste is quite vacuous as is the mouthfeeling and throatfeeling.  Qi envelops the Heart.

7^th has a bit of a spicy almost cherry sweet but not really more of a bland paper taste.  There is faint sweetness in the throat and a paper vegetal finish.

8^th has a subtle smoky vegetal getting to be more slippery mouthfeeling with a mild creamy vegetal and paper finish over a dry tongue and throat.  The taste is quite mild.  The Qi is more relaxing and energizing with a bit of euphoria and Heart pumping and slowing with light limbs.

9^th has a smoky rich tobacco leaf taste with slight rum and vegetal taste with more of a creamy sweet oily texture now.  Taste is mild.  Qi is turning into a focused bit of euphoria. 

10^th and 11^th has an oily tobacco vegetal taste with a creamy faint emerging aftertaste that finishes rice paper and dry in the tongue and mouth.  Relaxing focus with a bit of euphoria.

11^th has a vegetal and paper tobacco taste with a dry tongue and mouth.  The astringency can certainly be felt in the Stomach.  No sweetness here except faint suggestions in the breath.

12^th has a nice oily smoky tobacco and vegetal taste with a paper tasting base taste and finishes almost creamy sweet kind of vegetal tasting.

I come back to the pot the next day…

13^th and 14^th has a fruitier watery slightly oily onset with a paper tasting base taste.  There is a bland kind of vegetal aftertaste now.  With some more noticeable astringency in the mouth and throat.

The 15^th infusion has a fruity and vegetal kind of tobacco taste to it. With a slight dry not that oily finish. The Qi is more mild and restrained today.

The 16^th is almost mild bitter astringent vegetal paper pith tasting.  It seems like no signs of any sweetness for the last infusions.  Actually, almost none of the infusions are sweet.  The mouthfeeling is a mild dryness the throat feeling is flat.  The Qi is quite mild here.

I stop the session as it’s hard to tell if this puerh died out long ago or is still going.  Certainly the Qi has stopped, so I do as well.

Overall, this Chawangshu is all about the Qi of big euphoria Qi.  But is Qi enough for a $425 cake?  The other positive this one has is its slow to evolve and changing mild taste and mild viscosity as the session progresses.  However, the taste really was really very mild not to my liking- a lacking rice paper pithy vegetal taste with very little sweetness, pungency, or aftertaste.  The dominating taste is vegetal and paper blandness.  I have drank this one three times thus far in 3 very different pots but nothing too exciting happens here.  At some point it feels like you are just drinking storage tastes and you just proceed because the Qi is of a nice Gushu quality.  The most flavorful infusion is often the very first or first 3.  When too much leaf is used there is also an off putting astringency that beats on the stomach but manages to offer little to accentuate the throat or root down any substantive aftertaste.  When less leaf is used the harshness is gone and you get very little taste but a really nice gushu Qi euphoria.  Overall, I like yang storage and think it works decently well for most of his offerings but it has done little to bring out what might have been positives when this puerh was much younger.  Those who purchased this one 5 years ago will have a much better tea than this.  This is also a lesson in how some of these smooth Gushu puerh will age. There is a reason that a cake from such a famous region has remained at nearly the same price over the last many years while other Yang Qing Hao puerh in Yang’s storage have increased (interestingly the 2004 Yang Qing Hao Dingji has also remained at the same price as well).

In a year of more mindful purchases and a bit of luck, this might be my worst purchase of the year.  I agree with the more recent sentiment that this one is not really worth it compared to others although it is a wonderful Gushu Qi throughout.  This post featured maybe one of the best raw materials of Yang Qing Hao stored moderate humid by Yang .  Next post I will compare it to 2005 Yang Qing Hao Yiwu Chawang dry stored at Houde which is more standard Gushu Yiwu material but stored brilliantly dry…

James (TeaDB) Tasting Notes

Shah8's (sheng of the Day) Tasting Notes

Mircoshrimp’s Tasting Notes

Cywns’s (Death by Tea) Tasting Notes

Marco (Late Steeps) Tasting Notes

Steepster Tasting Notes

Peace

2004 Xiaguan Toucha: Steady Xiaguan Toucha

Stephane of Teamasters gave me this whole toucha for review a year ago and I’m just getting to sample it now.  It’s a...

2004 Xiaguan ($10.00 for 100g touchaor $0.10/g) …

 don’t you find it super strange that most xiaguan toucha seem to always be 2004?  Hahahha…. I used to own a few very dry stored 2004 purple boxes of Tie Jia over the years and they always seemed to satisfy.  This one is red wrappered… and very cheap… but will it still satisfy…

Dry leaves are slight smokey woody paper faint sweet.

First infusion is a flat tangy smoky woody taste.  The mouthfeeling is a tight slight dryness.  There is a smoky finish in the mouth.

The second infusion has a woody almost cherry taste over a dry mouthfeeling but mainly smoky sweet almost menthol finish.  Qi starting to alert and wake up.

The third infusion has a woody menthol taste with some smoke and dry mouthfeeling.  A tiny sweetness of cherry is pined faintly underneath. Slowly alerting Qi.

The fourth infusion is woody, smoky, with a very slight almost cherry taste.  The mouthfeeling is dry.  The taste simple. The Qi steady.

The fifth infusion is woody, smoky and the cool cup has hints of caramel now. Slightly sandy mouthfeeling with a bit of salivating feeling.  Nice alerting.

The sixth infusion has an almost talc rose under the dominating woody taste with a returning woody smoke caramel taste.  The mouthfeeling is slightly sandy with a bit of salivation with the retuning sweetness.

The seventh infusion has a woody faint smoke with faint cherry then a slight creamy caramel returning sweetness. Salivating returning creamy mild caramel taste.

The eighth infusion has an even longer creamy caramel sweetness to it.  This infusion is the sweetness so far a bit of cherry and then caramel in the aftertaste.  The mouthfeeling is developing a stickiness to it.

The ninth has a woody kind of bitter bland onset that is a bit caramel in the aftertaste.  The mouthfeeling has become a bit sticky.  Qi is getting me through the day.

The tenth has a smoky berry sweetness then a returning creamy caramel sweetness.  There is some woodiness in there and a bit of faint smoke, still simple but classic Xiaguan tastes.

The 11^th I mug steep out simply because the day gets crazy busy.  It gives off a vegetal woody bark bitter bland not that sweet smoky taste.

(image those typical looking Xiaguan factory chopped up spent wet leaves pictured here)

Simple and reliable Xiaguan toucha that was a perfect harmonizing tea for me on a day that I didn’t want to fuss much and was too busy to over think.  I love the classic simplicity of xiaguan.  It’s never amazing puerh but it always meets expectations- this one did.

Peace