Damaged Puerh Wrappers… Do You Care?

For the causal puerh drinker, no find is better than a puerh which you enjoy to drink which has been discounted due to some wrapper or other cosmetic issue.  Marshal’N beamed about this in one of his comments about 7542 earlier this year.  I too have somewhat recently took advantage of this discount.  I ended up saving about $15/$20 per cake on these 2015 Zheng Si Long Wa Long when it was advertised that the batch had excessive tearing to the wrapper.  This was nice considering it was on my list of puerh to buy anyway!  I suppose the decision to offer a discount for cosmetic reasons can also be used as a bit of a marketing technique because it is a bit of a call to action.

The reality of it is that it is just the vendors being as transparent as possible about what they are selling so to ensure there are no surprises.  Vendors like white2tea and Yunnan Sourcing don’t explicitly discount cakes with cosmetic damage such as tears or bug bites or staining or excessive dust.  However, you can almost be sure that they acquired these cakes for a cheaper price and that price is being passed on to the customer.  They will state the issues of concern as a matter of transparency on the product page such as in the description of white2tea’s Very Old Huangpian or recently in Yunnan Sourcing's 2006 Changtai “65th Anniversary of Tong An Teahouse”.

Interestingly, I had received a different puerh order this year from a Western vendor that I will not mention.  The wrappers from this order were actually much more ripped up than the 2015 Zheng Si Long Wa Long wrappers but were not advertised as such!  The puerh was around the same age.  I didn’t see the reason to complain and felt silly asking for a discount because, really, I don’t care.  The one thing that both of these puerh had was that they were not double wrapped and that they had a very thin type of paper wrapper.

The type of wrapper, thickness, and weather it is double wrapped makes a real difference.  It also influences how the puerh will actually age and because each type of wrapping offers different benefits to aging, something that isn’t discussed much in the West but is a discussion point in Asia among teamasters.  It also offers the puerh cakes protection from extreme humidity/dryness, pests, light, ect. That could damage the puerh.  The type of wrapper isn’t just a marketing thing, it’s something that can be considered on a practical level ... but it’s never the primary consideration when buying puerh… usually just a bonus.

In my experience drinking puerh from the 80s and 90s, there was almost always some damage or cosmetic thing with these cakes.  This is just natural and historically it was completely normal wear and tear.  Remember that donkeys traveling the Tea Horse Road used to haul this stuff!  Historically, it wasn’t kept in mint condition so why should we expect that now?  I understand that for a collector of puerh, this thing might matter for resale, but for the drinker it’s all superficial anyways…

Peace

2019 Zheng Si Long Wa Long vs 2015 Zheng Si Long Wa Long

The 2015 Zheng Si Long Wa Long ($161.63 for 400g cake or$0.40/g) is one of my favorite of the Zheng Si Long I’ve sampled over the last year or so.  I was excited to try the 2019 Zheng Si Long Wa Long complimentary sample (the 400g cake goes for $129.30or $0.32/g).

Dry leaves are a deep dark foresty rubbery deep forest like underlying sweetness.

First infusion has a woody watery onset with underlying icing sugar sweetness. The mouthfeel has a tight mild astringency to it.  The throat almost seems open for things to come.  There are faint ghostly lingering fruits and florals in the far distance.

The second has a creamy sweet woody onset.  The creamy sweetness has a milky richness to it and turns into a stone like sweetness.  A fruity taste expands in the mouth in the aftertaste.  The mouthfeel is silky and has a faint astringency to it.  The throat has a nice opening where creamy and fruity tastes feel like ghosts in the throat.  The aroma coming from the throat is nice floral, creamy sweet and almost but not quite fruit.

The third infusion has a woody tart that traverses quickly to sweetness that is a bit plum fruity, almost sour, and a bit creamy.  The sweetness pops in the mouth nicely then the aftertaste expands into a floral sweetness.  The mouthfeel is faintly astringent and almost velvety.  The throat opens to a mid-depth.  The Qi starts to feel relaxing in the head.

The fourth infusion starts off sour and slight bitter creamy fruity taste like a plum that is not ripe enough to eat.  There are mild layered woods underneath and a floral quality as well. There are lots of different taste dimensions in here.  The mouthfeel is velvety and almost astringent and the throat feel opens to a nice mid-level from the faint astringency.  There is a mild lingering cotton candy taste minutes later on the breath.

The fifth starts with an increasing tart and bitter nuance.  The mouthfeel is mainly tart, puckering astringency.  It pushes out floral and creamy sweetness and in the aftertaste a faint cotton candy taste.  The astringency pushes the flavours deep into the throat.  I would say floral wildflower and almost honey distinctly lingers there.

The sixth has a plum and green apple fruit onset that is somewhat bitter sour and bitter.  The fruit tastes kind of expand into sour notes.  The qi is somewhat relaxing with a heavy head feeling.

The seventh is a bitter, astringent moderately fruity green apple and plum taste under the stronger tastes.  A strong floral sensibility expands in the aftertaste.  The tastes are interesting and nuanced but cloaked in bitter astringency.  The long sweet floral expansive aftertaste is enjoyable.  Back to back infusions cause the mouthfeel to become pucker.

The eighth infusion starts with a sweet splash with bitter and sour underneath.  There is a sweet creaminess which expands into a floral nuance.  The taste is full and nuanced in the mouth.  The Qi is stuffy in the head, mildly warming, and mildly relaxing.

The ninth infusion starts with an astringent pucker- you have to really space out the infusions to mitigate this, but let’s be honest, a tea like this is for aging.  The sweet almost tropical fruity onset and creamy sweet finish is made complex by a deep floral layering and deeper throat feeling.

The tenth infusion starts creamy sweet tropical splash of quick flavor before astringency and bitter overtake.  The foresty, floral taste layered with creamy and almost candy sweetness juxtaposed with bitter astringency gives this puerh lots of taste depth.  The mouth is very puckered up but not at all throat choking.  The head starts to feel spacy and floating.

The eleventh is a mellow tasting almost sweet fruit but more floral with bitter and astringency underneath. The mouthfeel is a flat tartness.  The sweet floral taste is most obvious here.

The 12^th starts woody, astringent, and bitter with a faint butter floral underneath.  The floral almost creamy sweetness shares space with a dry astringent wood.  The Qi is mellow and a bit warming.

The 13^th has a fruity sweet starfruit onset with a sour and moderate bitter finish.  The taste has very little floral here and is mainly a flat fruit sweetness.  The mouthfeeling is slightly slippery.

The 14^th becomes a bit more woody fruit moderate sourness and bitterness and a subtle candy nuance in the aftertaste.  There is a sour fruity sweet note on the tongue and in the throat the floral taste is less now.  Qi is a moderate/mild heavy headed feeling and relaxing thing. 

The 15^th has a chalky almost creamy mild fruit taste with sour and bitter tastes much less now. The mouthfeeling is slippery.  The 16^th is a bit more bitter and sour but there is mainly just this mild fruity sour taste with a mouthfeel that is becoming increasingly sandy.

I decide to put this one into a long overnight infusion next to the 2015 Zheng Si Long Wa Long that I conveniently drank the day before…

A bitter very floral taste is left in the broth the next day.  There is an underlying melon fruit sweetness to it.

Left are the 2015 wet leaves and right are the 2019 wet leaves.

This is quite a distant comparison because the 2015 Wa Long underwent 4 years of dry Xishuangbanna storage.  So really it’s at a different stage of aging compared to the ultra young, pressed just a few months ago, 2019.  Also, it should be noted, that I quite like the 2015 Zheng Si Long Wa Long and purchased 3 cakes last year.  It was the intense Qi sensation (the warmth, the alertness, and the chest sensation and Heart racing) that made this one a worthwhile purchase for me.  This 2019 Zheng Si Long Wa Long has a more heady type of Qi, relaxing, more moderate-mild, and no stronger body sensation.

The interesting thing about this young 2019 Wa Long is the astringent bitterness and reasonably layered complexity of taste and deeper throat sensation (although this sensation isn’t consistent throughout the infusions).  I image the 2015 Wa Long also had this type of astringent bitterness and stronger throat sensation when it was this young but it has aged out at bit into something quite nice.  This is likely the reason that it didn’t sell out early- when it was young, it was probably a bit unpalatable, like this one.  The 2015 Zheng Si Long Wa Long is basically for aging into something enjoyable, much like the 2015. 

Peace

2019 Zheng Si Long Yi Shan Mo vs 2018 Zheng Si Long Yi Shan Mo

I was kindly gifted a box of 2019 Tea Encounter puerh goodies for review (many thanks again to Tiago aka Curigane).  I think its quite smart that you can obtain the same sampling set for 12% off the normal sample price. I’m excited to compare some of these 2019 Zheng Si Long to previous years and hope to focus my reviews of these 2019 on comparison sampling.  I’m also excited that Tea Encounter has started purchasing maocha and pressing them into their own Tea Encounter brand puerh cakes (a proper 357g of course).  I hope to also review these here on the blog in the coming weeks…

The following notes are for the 2019 Zheng Si Long Yi ShanMo (400g cake goes for $161.63 or $0.40/g).  I quite enjoyed the solid mouth and throat feeling and solid Qi sensation of the 2018 Zheng Si Long Yi Shan Mo ($167.01 for 400g cake or$0.42/g) and wonder if the 2019 has any of these qualities…

Dry leaves smell of sweet short pops of sugar and fruit.  A light airy sweetness, a creamy sweetness to these over an almost cardboard almost faint barnyard odour maybe distant woody too.  Lots of subtle depth in these dry leaves.

The first has a mild milky onset with a mild tart sharpness.  Almost no flavour comes out here maybe just a distant floral and wood.  The initial taste is like licking a stone then there is a bit of vacuous space than a mild custard finish.  The mouthfeel is slippery and the throat feeling is immediately deep in a vacuous sense.  Opening deeply. There is a faint coolness deep in the throat.

The second infusion carries a mild sour and almost yogurt taste with stone taste then a peachy and floral build up with some subtle cinnamon nuance.  The floral sweet peach really builds nicely as the tea is swallowed and continues to expand in the aftertaste and in the throat minutes later.  The mouthfeel is slippery and the throat has a deep vacuous opening feeling.  Very nice.

The third infusion starts a touch sour, then cinnamon spice, but drops quickly into a long expansive floral and fruit with long and deep throaty pear and peach and apple nuances to in in the aftertaste.  The throatfeelig is nice and deep here.  Creamy sweetness are in there as well.  The Qi is really mild and soft in these first few infusions.  I can feel my forehead get a touch heavy.  The mouthfeeling is slippery with slight faint edges of astringency.

The fourth has a sour fruity almost orange taste now initially, then the throat opens deeply with a very subtle cooling and gives off creamy sweetness, some astringency and wildflower.  The qi is mild and relaxing.  Throatfeeling is deep and hold a long aftertaste of fruity tastes of dragon fruit and pear minutes later.

The fifth infusion is thick and strong from the initial taste where there is slight sour but more sweet dense peachy almost orange like taste.  The mouthfeel is full with a slippery almost chalky and astringent fullness.  The fruit taste is really expansive and very long throughout the session.  The Qi is mild and builds into a relaxing feeling.  The body feels a touch light.  Very long thick deep sweet taste of pear, dragonfruit, wildflower… the tastes is deep and delicious.

The sixth infusion has a very fresh peach and pear like onset with a touch of spice in the distance.  There is a nice long fruity taste now.  The mouthfeel is slippery and a stone taste is there as well.  The fruity taste is very vibrant and long and rests deep in the throat.  The Qi is mild and relaxing.

The seventh comes off very thick and fruity initially nice deep fruity taste with a very mild touch of astringency.  This is a delicious puerh.  The mouthfeel remains sticky and slippery with a deep throat which holds and expands the fruit, floral, honey now, and creamy sweetness. Qi heavy in the head.

The eighth has a milder pear and licking a stone type taste initially then there is a blank stone taste throughout with only mild edges of wild flower and distant sweetness.  The mouthfeel becomes a bit sandy.

The ninth has much the same stone like tastes that are almost metallic then transition to a blank almost pear and almost wildflower nuance.  The mouthfeel and throat feel are slippery and sandy but thinner now.

The tenth starts a bit tart/bitter with a stone like taste the fruitiness comes out as pear, apple, peach in the aftertaste and especially floral.  The mouthfeel is sticky, slight astringent, and sandy now.  The Qi makes the head and brow feel heavy.  The body feels a bit groggy, like moving in syrup.

The 11^th has a bit of a fruity bitter to it like pear peeling, and orange peeling.  The bitterness has an astringency to it which overtakes the aftertaste which just has mild suggestions left in it.

The 12^th infusion starts almost floral with a bitter and stone like taste to it.  There is not much as far as sweetness left in this puerh.

The 13^th has a quick mild drop of pear peeling and wood and stone.  The faint fruit is out muscled by and stone taste and even slight woody taste the aftertaste shows glimpses of pear and wood but is mainly bitter.  The throatfeeling her is more upper throat now and lack the long aftertaste.  The Qi remains heavy in the head and body.

The 14^th is becoming more watery, stone tastes, faint tastes and mouthfeeling slippery. 

The 15^th and 16^th a bit more fruity but mainly stone, mineral tasting almost but not quite floral.  These infusions lack a strong flavor this late in the session.  There is a bit of a bitterness to it and the thoatfeeling is superficial here.

I steep it into a minutes long infusion now… it gives off a strong mineral, wet stone in the mouth taste with a slight dry wood, bitterness, and a subtle floral taste, but no sweetness really.

I had a chance to sample what was left of the 2018 Zheng Si Long Yi Shan Mo yesterday to compare, but these two Yi Shan Mo have really nothing in common. So no point in that really.  However, they each have their charms...

Pictured below is the 2018 wet leaves on the left and the 2019 wet leaves on the right.  Note how the 2018 has just slightly shorter but maybe longer stem leaves where the 2018 has slightly smaller leaves and slightly more buds, slightly...  They are actually quite similar although everything else is quite a different experience.

Peace

Shop Local for Yixing

Although most cities in the West don’t have a Chinese tea scene, there are a few places that are worth checking out to find some hidden gems locally.  This is great advice no matter what city you live in.  In fact, the more obscure Chinese tea culture is in your city, the more likely that there are treasures in clear view, that others are completely oblivious to.

In the past, I have found a pretty good haul of semi aged puerh, aged oolong, and even antique tea simply by asking around at the older Traditional Chinese Herbal markets and shops in town.  The older the establishment, the more likely they might have some old forgotten tea kicking around somewhere covered in dust.

Every once and a while I search for used clothing or décor or art for my house on these local online garage sales, Facebook sale pages, or local online classifieds.  Actually, more often than not, it is my wife doing this.  Either way I sometimes manage to put the search words “Teapot” or “Tea” in the search field and usually not much interesting pops up.   Last month, the search result showed something that looked like an authentic quality Yixing teapot.

Turns out it was!  I paid $5.00 for this beautiful unused Shui Piao style yixing.  I know enough about yixing teapots to know the thick walled clay is of excellent quality, it is handmade, and its style looks like something from the 1990s or early 2000s, that’s my guess.  To validate my guesstimate, the other Japanese items for sale from this vendor are from this time period.  I also suspect that it was first exported to Japan than gifted by a Japanese National- that is all the info I could get on this teapot from the seller.  I could guess that a pot like this would go for at least $200.00!  In many ways, this pot embodies much of the same aesthetic that my beloved (but cracked lid) Zen koan yixing teapot does.

Like the Zen koan Yixing, this pot is quite large and heavy and thick walled.  The other was 250ML pot and this one is even bigger at 300ML.  Also the style is much the same with an etching of auspicious bamboo on one side of the pot and the other side with calligraphy.  Is it a beast though- heavy, holds heat much better than any pot I've had and a very quick pour. 

This shui piao yixing calligraphy has such a beautiful meaning.  A meaning that I try to embrace with each and every pot of tea I make.  So it is fitting…

As far as I can translate such things, the calligraphy speaks of the preciousness of time and being in the moment and not taking the time we have for granted.  It speaks of the analogy of the gardener and short lived peony bloom.  I am unsure where the origin of the calligraphy comes from or whether it is a common phrase or certain philosophical school of thought…. I still have some homework to do… hahaha

Anyways, I strongly encourage you to do such searches in your local area.  Do let me know if you find some winners!  People like Marshal’N of a Tea Addict’s Journal didn’t buy his large yixing collection from teapot vendors, I’m sure.  He basically found things, in the same way I found this shui piao, for dirt cheap.  Its just that there is a lot more of this stuff to find in Hongkong 10 years ago … and this is the same way you will find one too, where ever you live…

Peace

2018 Yunnan Sourcing Jingmai (2017 material)

This was the only one I decided to cake sample out of the lot of samples I ordered from Yunnan Sourcing a month or so ago.  This Lucy wrapper always makes my children smile, I think it’s a beautiful thing and the reason this wrapper is one of my favorites.  Of course, the wrapper is not why I purchased the puerh in the first place but rather the good reviews, a nice promotional tasting video by Scott, but mainly due to the fact that I am interested in the pressing of maocha that has been aged a bit before pressing.  Did I mention that this puerh goes for $64.00/ 250g cake or $0.26/g.… that is pretty cheap… another reason, I caked this sample…

This puerh was apparently found (?) as maocha by Scott one year after it was picked in the Spring of 2017.  Scott describes the taste as a very unique taste profile.  He doesn’t state weather its plantation or gushu or anything like this maybe because he wasn’t directly involved with the production of it… I’m not sure, but it cleanly passed the pesticide testing….

Ok let’s see what this one is all about…

The dry leaves smell of intense almost Kobucha like sour fruitiness.  There is a sweet and sour fruit odour that is deeply penetrating.

The first infusion has a sour and dough but not sourdough onset backed by a citrus almost grapefruit and peachy taste.  There are other fruity tastes that layer this initial profile. The mouthfeel is thick and almost astringent in the mouth and throat and give the tea a thick and strong mouthfeeling in the first infusion.  The throat sensation is strong and moderately deep.

The second infusion starts off with edges of fruity sour tastes thick thick thick in the mouth and throat.  The fruity taste feels really strong and is dense and layered with sour, and bread-like tastes.  There are edges of bitterness but more sour astringency than bitter.  The throat and mouthfeel are quite stimulating.  There is some mild pungency then sour fruity tastes.  The thorat stimulation is strong, a sticky almost sandy but opening astringency.

The third infusion starts a touch bitter and touch astringent with a blood orange taste with nuances of peach and even strawberry.  The fruity taste and the sour taste predominate.  The mouthfeeling is thick and coating a bit griping.  The Qi is pretty strong and pushes me into a sweat on the forehead here.  The face flushes and the chest feels almost tight.  My wife comments here, “this is powerful tea”.

The fourth infusion is mainly sour and has suggestions of grapefruit, strawberries, sour peach, fermenting sourness, delicious sour fruit.  There is a touch of a woody thing but the sour is thick, just kicked out some mild pungent.  Mainly sour fruit, distinct and thick.

The fifth infusion has a sour, almost bitterness happening.  There is a nice creamy returning sweetness here under the astringency, and bitterness.  The fruit note is thick.  The mouthnfeeling and throatfeeling is almost sandy, sticky, and astringent.  The throat is quite stimulated with the astringency there.

The sixth infusion is getting more astringent and bitter and the mouthfeeling is more astringent.  The fruitiness is distinct.  The astringency continues to build.  The throat is almost gripping.  The Qi is an alerting type with a tight feeling in the body, like a hug.

The seventh infusion starts of thick sour fruit, slight woody ferment base with astringency and bitter underlying.  This tea is definitely engaging and strong… punchy.  Thick mouthcoating.  There is a strength about it that gets you going, an active qi type sensation.

The eighth infusion starts a touch more fruity and the astringency is a touch dry with less of a thick dense mouthcoating.  It is almost an astringent dryness with a fruity tone underneath.

The ninth has a much stronger fruity explosion now.  It paints the tongue in an astringent fruity note.  There is some mild pungent coolness, then returning faint creamy sweetness and more sour fruitiness.  I can feel the tight Qi in the body.  A tight hug, some tight chest feeling, that is not at all bothersome but more soothing and energizing.

The 10^th starts bitter but fruity and nice strawberry almost peach like sweetness.  Sometimes this puerh tastes like cheap strawberry flavored wine.  The mouthfeel is much less now, almost sandy.

The 11^th becomes even bitterer and somewhat astringent with fruit notes lying underneath.  The taste really flattens out here and never really recovers…

The 12^th is bitter and sour fruit from the onset.  The fruit note is definitely still there but the mouthfeel has lost its depth and there is an astringent flatness to the infusions now.    

The 13^th is the last I attempt before putting it into overnight infusions.  It has a flat sandy mouthfeeling, astringent throat feeling and is subtly fruity and sour underneath.

Overall, it tastes a lot like Korean Balhyocha but with much more layered depth in the first infusions.  The first infusions are very tasty and feel quite full in the mouth.  Qi here is a tight body feeling and some stimulating power.  The stamina here is not good leading me to believe that this is likely terrace/ plantation Jingmai.  On the plus side, It comes with a really nice price tag and I quite enjoy the taste, mouthfeeling, and Qi of the first handful of infusions.  It comes on strong.

The above session I leafed it real hard.  I’ve had a chance to steep this puerh a few times and it seems to be better leafed a bit lighter due to its strength and bitter astringency.  Overall a nice puerh, a bit unique for its price…

Peace

2015 Yunnan Sourcing Mu Shu Cha and A Bit On the Mother Tree Puerh

What exactly is Mu Shu Cha (aka Mother Tree Tea)???  Well, it’s a bit of a puerh oddity that seems to be only produced in the Mengku producing area.   They are some old large leaf varietal that is often referred to as “Primordial”.  It is my understanding that they are called “mother trees” because they are they ancient varietal which gave birth through selection the common puerh varietal.  They also seem to only be found at reasonably high altitudes.  They kind of have their own separate flavor, mouthfeeling, and Qi profile.  I kind of think of them somewhere between a wild tea/ Yesheng and puerh.  During my recent sampling of the Yunnan Sourcing Brand I thought to pick up some recommended Mu Shu Cha to see if it sparks my interest in a deeper exploration of this unique type of puerh….

I actually have quite a long history of sampling and drinking Mu Shu Cha.  I remember sampling the Shuangjiang Mengku Mu Shu Cha releases when they first came out in the Mid-2000s.  I believe 2005 is their first production and I’ve never even heard of Mu Shu Cha productions that pre-date these Shuangjiang Mengku.  It’s a bit of a different profile and I never really fell in love with its very unique character.  A sweet taste and euphoric Qi is what I remember most from these.  This is kind of like wild tea/ Yesheng and shouldn’t be judged next to more standard puerh varietals, Mu Shu Cha has a different stereotypical profile than other puerh.  I had never tried aged or semi-aged Mu Shu Cha.  This sample will be 4 years of age in completely Dry Kunming storage at Yunnan Sourcing’s warehouse. Although I have tried the Yunnan Sourcing 2011 and 2017 version of Mu Shu Cha in the past, this sample (a 400g cake goes for $192.00 or $0.48/g) was to test the waters as to whether I want to explore more Mu Shu Cha for purchase…

Dry leaves smell of intense strawberry, raspberry, and airy sugary sweetnesses.

The first infusion has a slightly bitter onset with a flat grainy taste that follows there is a low lying fruity nuance underneath a cereal taste.  The mouthfeel is slippery and there is almost a metallic finish in the mouth.  There is an almost non-existent mouthwash aftertaste in the mouth along with edges of dry dirt and grains.

The second infusion has a grainy almost raspberry dry dirt and wood nuance to it.  It’s an unusual single note taste that has more of a grain and berries taste in the finish.  The taste is real muddled in the initial taste then becomes this interesting grainy fruity strawberry taste in the aftertaste.  The Qi is migrating to the mind and it becomes at ease and relaxed a bit euphoric even.

The third becomes more fruity sweet strawberry.  That sweet note is there initially with mild bitter, dry wood and dry dirt muddle and a more clear barley grain taste.  It then becomes clear and vibrant and almost pungent in the aftertaste.  The mouthfeel is slippery and almost sandy and the throat feeling feels empty.

The fourth has a slightly bitter and more cherry fruit taste initially.  The bitter cherry taste is strong and vibrant.  There is a slight sour astringency developing.  The mouthfeel is slightly gripping now and the throat is stimulated.  There is a hollow fruity nuance in the aftertaste.  The Qi is dizzying now and starting to build on being euphoric.

The fifth infusion starts a bit buttery bitter and vegetal there is a distinct fruity cherry note with some muddled vegetal, rubbery, dry dirt like base.  There is some bitter cherry and almost beetroot sweetness in the aftertaste.

The sixth infusion starts with a moderate bitter fruity onset with a muddled beetroot base.  The mouthfeel is slippery/sandy with an open/ vacuous throatfeeling.  The sweet cherry-strawberry almost vegetable taste is then found in the aftertaste over a muddled, beetroot base taste.  The Qi is spacing me out my mind floats away.  Profound clam is found within.

The seventh infusion starts with a thick syrupy sweet cherry sweetness. There is a quick lingering candy sweetness in the aftertaste.  This infusion is very thick and distinctly sweet with any of the base tastes all but disappearing under heavy sweet fruity syrup.  Very nice infusion.  The mouthfeel is slippery and almost sandy the throat opens mid-way in a vacuous manner.  Qi has a nice euphoria going on.

The eighth infusion starts off brilliantly syrup thick dense sweet fruit note.  The note kind of trails off into a fait candy like taste with a very faint base of slight sour and biter and muddle beetroot tastes.

Ninth infusion has this thick syrupy fruity taste that transitions into a long candy like taste.  The mouthfeeling here is slippery and the throat opens mid-way to a sweet candy faint coolness.  These infusions are super delicious with a grounded dense syrupy sweetness which transitions to a distinct candy on the breath.  The base tastes are non-existent here but the sweet tastes are thick and full.

10^th starts a touch bitter then syrupy dense and thick fruity cherry syrup sweetness which transitions slowly into a candy like sweetness.  The mouthfeel is sticky and slippery and reasonably full giving the sweet tastes a completeness.  The Qi continues to be heavy in the mind, slight euphoria.

11^th is much the same as the last handful infusions a super enjoyable thick dense syrupy fruity sweetness than transitions to candy and faint pungency in the throat.  Big head qi.  Slippery full mouthfeeling.

12^th has a velvety almost syrupy fruity cherry sweetness that trails into a candy like sweet aftertaste.  The repetition here indicates that there is a really stable streak of infusions with optimal taste.  The Qi continues to relax with mild euphoria.

13^th has that same dense strong syrup sweetness that turns to candy but in this infusion the candy taste is coming quicker and lasting longer.

14^th is much the same syrupy sweet dense deliciousness there is a touch more bitter in there now which overshadows the sweet candy finish.  I feel very relaxed just sitting here drinking tea and staring out the window.

15^th infusion is much the same. The tastes is so dense, and obvious, and unchanged infusion to infusion that this post is really sounding redundant.  The Qi is making me feel sleepy in this relaxing feeling.

16^th is much the same.  The syrupy sweetness is real delicious and thick but monotone deliciousness for sure.  The mouthfeel also remains stable after many infusions.  The Qi becomes very sleepy and tranquil feeling.

17^th is holding stable.  I’m totally impressed with how long and stable the taste and mouthfeel is here.  It tastes solid.

18^th, 19^th, 20^th the taste is stable and thick syrup fruity sweetness with suggestions of candy in aftertaste.  I’m totally impressed with the stamina of flavor for this one.

I run out of daytime to drink this and it is put into an overnight infusion…

Stamina of taste, thick unwavering juicy sweetness that converts to candy on the breath is impressive.  Movement of Qi in the mind throughout the session is also notable.  Its starts relaxing then moves to a touch of mild euphoria then to a sleepy feeling.

I ordered this Mu Shu Cha to see if I want to sample more extensively to look for the best option.  I really like Yunnan Sourcing’s Kunming dry storage and what it has done to this cake and will likely do to the Mu Shu Cha series.  I’m just not too sure if I really am in love with the general profile of the Mu Shu Cha…

I wonder if you have ever tried any Mu Shu Cha?  How did you like its profile?

Peace