2019 Zheng Si Long Mang Zhi: Comparing all the Zheng Si Long Mang Zhi

This 2019 Zhang Si Long Mango Zhi sample was kindly gifted to me for review (cake goes for $121.22 for 400g cake or $0.30/g) .

The dry leaves are a very punchy fruity odour.

The first infusion is airy surgery, slight woody, with a vegetal and almost spicy nuance to it.  The mouthfeel feels slightly tight on the tongue.  There is a mild tropical fruity aftertaste.  The mouthfeeling is substantial.

The second starts with a spicy woody, and sugar onset with slight fruit underneath.  There is a slight gripping astringency to the mouthfeeling, slight sandy.  There is a nice mild tropical fruity finish over a sandy mouthfeeling.  The throat is less stimulated than the tongue and lips. 

The third infusion has a woody, slight fruity onset, with a slight peach note.  The full sandy slightly astringent mouthfeeling pulls the peach note into the aftertaste.  The mouthfeeling is full but not excessive.  It sits at a simulating fine grain sandy texture which feels quite nice in the mouth, the throat feels untouched.  The wet leaves have a very strong freshly bit peach odour with emits from the pot.  I start to feel the Qi in my body and my Heart flutters a bit.  I feel a touch of energy flowing.

In the 4^th the initial taste is of dense peachy fruit with tropical underpinnings.  The dense fruit taste slowly fades into the aftertaste and overlaps with a creamy returning and more tropical sweetness in the aftertaste.  The mouthfeel is fine grain sandy, almost chalky on the tongue.  The cool sensation is felt on inhale but is mild in the upper throat.  There is some mild bread notes in there and woody notes in the back ground.  The progression of sweet taste is very nice here.

The 5^th has dense peachy tastes right off the bat that hold in the mouth until they intersect with the returning creamy sweetness and tropical fruit.  There is a faint bread and almost spice taste also faint woody underneath the performance of intermingling sweetness.  The mouthfeeling is really nice a fine sandy/ chalky full feeling.  The upper throat carries a coolness and creamy sweetness minutes later.

The 6^th has a dense peace and creamy fruity nuance initially now there is less intermingling of separate sweet tastes and is more a layered sweetness from the initial taste which just stretches out in the mouth and into the aftertaste now.  The mind feels relaxed, almost spacy from the Qi and the body feel a faint sensation in the chest.

The seventh infusion has a mellower fruity mixed with dry wood onset.  Its sweetness is less dense here. Then it collides with a touch of returned creamy sweetness and seems to be inhaled a bit from that in the aftertaste where a subtle creamy tropical fruit nuance is found.  The mouthfeel becomes chalkier slowly as the infusions go on. 

The 8^th is that same woody, almost bready, but less fruity onset that meets creamier sweetness in the aftertaste.  The mouthfeel is chalky the throatfeeling is superficial.  The sweetness is much less dense now but still shares sweetnesses with woody nuance.  The Qi can feel heavy on the head a bit and a bit alerting and slightly euphoric.  Nice.

The 9^th infusion is much the same with just a bit more astringency in there and I notice more of an orange taste that comes out with the creamy sweetness.  I would say the sweetness is balanced here with dry woody.  The mouthfeel is real nice chalky, almost astringent, almost sandy but full.  The Qi has a nice uppity feeling in the mind and you can feel it in the Chest/ Heart.

The 10^th starts a more watery and juicy fruity wood then the sweetness transforms to a creamy almost tropical sweetness.  The mouthfeel is chalky and the throat carries a mild coolness.

The 11^th infusion has a more creamy sweetness to it throughout.  It starts a bit watery/juicy then to almost woody then to a creamy sweet, almost tropical.

12^th is becoming more woody and slightly astringent.  There is mild fruit underneath.  The Qi is making me move.  The mouthfeeling is thinning into a more sandy feeling.

13^th has a floral woody almost fruity taste initially then slightly woody sweet fruity finish.

The 14^th is mainly woody with faint fruit underneath.  The mouthfeel continues to thin out and become slightly sandy.

I take the 15^th 30seconds longer than flash infusion it pushes more fruit out but also more astringent and almost bitter wood too.

The 16^th I long infuse as well and it pushes out some sweetness with woody… some faint tropical something.

I put this in to the overnight infusion …

The next day there is a slight sweetness but mainly a bitter floral like taste.

In order of personal preference of the 5 Zheng Si Long Mang Zhi offered at Tea Encounter with price/ value in consideration:

2017 Zheng Si Long Mang Zhi – $0.29/g- has the best all round qualities of taste, Qi and mouthfeeling,  A slower building Qi that is relaxing in the head and light body feeling.

2018 Zheng Si Long Mang Zhi- $0.35/g- might have the best Qi sensation of chest tightening and knotting under the sternum sensation, slow moving and evolving creamy sweetnesses and some savory throughout the session, gripping more intense mouthfeeeling than others. (wait a minute... I think this is my favorite... hahaha)

2016 Autumn Zheng Si Long Mang Zhi Dragon Ball-  $0.23/g- good example of autumnal pureh, long candy aftertaste with deep throatiness, good stamina and decent mind chilling Qi

2019 Zheng Si Long Mang Zhi- $0.30/g- uplifting Qi with chest Heart body feeling, lacks the overall intensity that the 2018 and 2017 have overall, more woody but with layered tastes, peach and tropical early on, less intense mouthfeeling as 2018 and 2017 as well.

2016 Zheng Si Long Mang Zhi- $0.38/g- very stable infusions, very pure and quite flavourful, lazy and relaxing Qi

They are actually all nice famous tea mountain Mang Zhi puerh… and they are the most stable out of the Zheng Si Long offerings year after year.  I find them all quite satisfying and most offer a good balance of Qi, taste, and mouth/throatfeeling.  The most notable aspect is decently good Qi in these Mang Zhi and many have a nice mouthfeeling as well. Out of all the Zheng Si Long samples, I usually end up drinking up the Meng Zhi first, the sample speed test… hahahah… with that said I still haven’t purchased a cake… Yummy.

Peace