Thursday, October 4, 2018

Marco’s Most Interesting 3: A Zheng Si Long Report


Humble readers, I hope you have enjoyed the recent focus of Zheng Si Long puerh here on this blog- I know I have.  Since the beginning of time, puerh bloggers have played an important role in debuting the the good, the bad and the ugly (but mainly the good) of newly minted western puerh vendors.  I take this as part of the responsibility (and fun) of the puerh blogger, if they so wish to take on such endeavors.

As it stands today I have worked my way through all the samples that I have received- it was a lot of fun.  I have posted the reviews of 12 of the 18 Zheng Si Long on offer at Tea Encounter (if you include the 2018 maocha which may or may not be the same material and/ or not the finial processing as the actual 2018 cakes).  Links to the reviews are as follows in the order listed on Tea Encounter’s:













My overall impression of the Zheng Si Long brand as well as the value of Zheng Si Long is favorable.  I feel that Tea Encounter has identified a gap in the Western puerh market for seemingly accurate single mountain Yiwu puerh that is of decent medium-high-to-higher quality. Many Western puerh sellers either offer less quality plantation Yiwu at a priced that reflects this or medium-high quality at prices much higher than this.  There are others that offer very high end state forest type things but at prices that reflect this.  Zheng Si Long offers Yiwu puerh of a quality that falls between these distinctions but at good value, I believe.

For those that still believe in the idea single mountains can actually be what they say, I recommend giving Zheng Si Long a try.  I must admit that I am no pro at determining a producing area from just drinking a puerh and cannot be certain that 100% the material is exactly what is claimed.  However, my preconceived notion of the characteristics of specific growing regions aligned closely to what I tasted from these Zheng Si Long samples.

When first introducing Zheng Si Long a few months ago I had promised Marco that I would let him know what I thought were my most interesting three I sampled out of the lot.  So here they are:




The above three represent interesting Qi sensations as the primary reason I selected them with taste/aroma and mouthfeel/throatfeeling as secondary criteria.  If I was going on taste alone I could have easily added others in the selection.  I also didn’t take price into consideration.  If I were to do that maybe the pricey Wan Gong would be replaced… but I like that happy Wan Gong.

Haven’t yet decided on purchase but will surely let you know if I take that plunge.

Peace

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Great write ups on these.
Also though of the Wang gong to be the stand out for me.
Good quality well made teas.

marco said...

Wow very impressive Matt! Thanks for all the notes. I will have to put in an order and try some of these out... The Walong especially intrigues me. How do you find the processing? I imagine it varies a lot cake to cake?

Matt said...

Emmett g,

Thanks for your thoughts on these too.

The Wan Gong is touching on the "special tea" territory, I think. I especially like the way it made me feel as well as the stamina. I took it for a handful of long and even overnight steepings and it just kept giving out those vibrant high notes.

marco,

Hahaha...

The processing is pretty clean even cake to cake. These teas are pretty pure, I would say.

The initial intense sweetness of the Wa Long in the first handful of infusions, in many ways, reminds me of 2017 white2tea Pussy. The qi is really nice on this one too as well as the price. The downside to the Wa Long is that there is some more standard Yiwu notes of fruits and wood in the later steeps... because I know you are in to late steeps...

Peace