2012 Yang Qing Hao Ye Gu Wild Tea: A Top Wild Blend

I acquired a free sample of this from Emmitt in my last Yang Qing Hao order and tried to taste it and put my notes out here as soon as possible.  Thanks Emmitt, this is a real treat.  Anyways I’m doing this to alert any readers that Liquid Proust is doing a sampling of this cake that is not currently available to the public right now.  It’s your chance to try a really interesting tea experience, I believe…

The tightly compressed dry leaves are of wild variety and have a very unnaturally deep purple colour.  The leaves look quite small and the dry leaf smell is a vacuous faint barely fruity and almost woody or cardboard.

The first infusion has a watery wood approach and I decide to ignore Emmitt’s warning and put the whole sample in the pot.  This is still probably about 1/3 less leaf than I normally use to evaluate.  Very light with icing sugar suggestions, mainly vacuous in taste because of the tight compression.  There is a solid long breath taste emerging here and vague tastes of faint storage.

The second infusion starts with a watery almost fruity light bitter and mild long cooling and a long almost strawberry and wood breath tastes.  There are very faint sweet black cherry and barely bitter suggestions.  The mouthfeel is like a very very fine sand on the tongue.  Lips are slightly sticky. The wet leaves smell of slightly barnyard.  The Qi comes quickly and I can start feeling a loopy euphoria building and a face releasing sensation and a chest opening sensation.  This Qi will be very strong, I think- it is already stronger than most standard puerh at the peak of the session.

The third infusion has almost strawberry onset quite watery and vacuous still with an icing sugar nuance and a bitterness that emerges more in the mid-profile.  The roof of the mouth is stimulated in a drying way that makes the taste on the roof almost metallic.  The long mild minutes returning very faint fruity taste is expansive in the mouth. The Qi frees the mind and the muscles of the jaw, head and face relax.  I feel very very relaxed and almost like outside my body.  The feeling is not powerful but is liberating and subtle.

The fourth infusion has a vacuous woody subtle sweet has a mild mid profile bitterness which turns to raisin and current returning sweetness a very mild cooling in throat.  There is a bready sweetness in there as well as faint fruity and woody a mineral taste slight metallic on roof slight bitter.  Very Very long and intricate breath taste with many subtle nuances.  I hear the word jam sweetness thrown around a lot.  This has a true jam sweetness in there as well.  Very relaxing.  The slightly cooled cup has an obviously very nutty and creamy sweet disposition more like conventional puerh which might be blended into the wild leaf.  I can obviously see 3 different leaf colours just as Marco observed.  Strong mind unraveling Qi.

The fifth has a moderately bitter, watery, almost grape peel and creamy sweet onset which swells into a raison and current sweet taste as the faint cooling pungent pushes upwards.  It leaves behind a distinctly vanilla note more like the actual spice than the artificial flavor.  There is a minutes long returning woods, slight bitter, almost fruitiness, and barnyard, slight coco, cola, root beer.  The taste is very very complex in the minutes long after taste.  This infusion is crazy delicious.  The bitter with creamy sweetness and coco almost tastes like homemade sarsaparilla.  Very yummy.  This puerh is not really overly bitter just moderate.

The sixth starts creamy woody slight bitter into a raison and current taste over underlying moderate coolness that goes deep into the throat.  The throat feeling is quite deep here.  The cooled cup is quite creamy and sweet.  A cola, root beer, sarsaparilla, woody sweet deep taste a deep but still ethereal taste.  The Chest Qi is substantial.  I realize that the warning Emmitt was giving me was not, in fact, for the bitterness but rather for the rather intense Qi sensation.  My heart races with an intense rancor.

 The 7^th has an almost spicy cinnamon, almost cardamom, onset.  There is a low level almost melon sweetness that comes out stronger in here at the start and mid profile before turning to raison and currents.  There is a more creamy wood returning in the minute’s long breath.  There is a low lying bitterness that rest underneath and slowly expands in the mouth.  The mouthfeel is sticky, the lips even more so.  The throat stimulation is very subtle and deep.  The Qi is starting to push me into a frenzied like giddy happy feeling.  My Chest feels like it will implode energetically.  Minutes later quite obvious blueberry jam like taste comes on which is very very nice.

The 8^th has a soft onset of layered tastes which consists of woody, nutty, creamy sweat, mineral, underlying almost fruitiness.  It turns into a current/ raison taste then into a dark coco taste.  Minutes later as the coco recedes fruit tastes emerge as it converges with a cooling pungent.  Then the mouth becomes almost dry and the bitterness and creamy sweetness is left in there which gives it a dark chocolate feel.

The ninth I get a little bit of a pot clog- about 1/3 the leaves sitting in hot water for a minute or two.  So this steep is going to be a bit more intense… Not bad… a coco sweet creamy and moderate-mild bitterness with a long wild cherry, creamy sweetness over the mild pungency.  Heart races intensely.  The blueberry jam taste is prominent.  Distinct jam like blueberry sweetness in a flat mild bitter base.  This more aggressive steeping more shows up 10 minutes later in a long chocolate berry taste.  The mouthfeeling is fine sand, sticky, deep throat opening.  My heart…. This puerh gives me a hyper alertness and certain clarity.

10^th becomes a woody slight bitter coco onset with a mild pungent a slow emerging coco.  There is a vague berry taste almost chalky and tart initially then disappears into coco and mild bitterness.  The minutes long returning is coco and faint blueberry jam with some mild mineral and even a metallic taste on the roof of the mouth. 

The 11^th has a vanilla nuance again with a wood sweet creaminess.  Once the underlying coolness reaches a point a berry taste emerges as does coco and milk like tastes.  The alertness and intensity of the Qi is turning into relaxing.  The mouthfeeling is full but never strong just like a fine almost slippery sand.  The throat always opens deeply with this one.

The 12^th has a woody, mild bitter, dry woody turning into coco taste.  The teeth become squeaky.  This infusion is leveling into a bitter coco with creamy sweetness slight pungent with the sweet nuances almost gone this strangely tastes like Bulang in later infusions.  Minutes later some fruity tastes come out of the wood works.  There is a malty taste in there as the cup cools.

13^th is woody sweet and slightly astringent bitter now.  The most obvious and dominant note is wood and creamy coco along with a subtle suggestion of sweet fruit and a slow moving coolness underneath.  There are some berries that pop up now minutes later.

14^th starts a bit watery with some woody almost berry like tastes and a thin level bitterness.  The taste is losing steam here a bit and I will push this into longer minutes long infusions for a bit here.

A 15^th that is minutes long tastes of coco bitter and low lying blueberry taste.  The pungent cooling note is more significant here and attempts to push some interesting tastes out in the long breath.  Some other fruits and mineral are found there even a grapefruit taste is noted.

The 16^TH is a few minutes steeping.  It tastes quite mineral, bitterer, coco flat bitterness with a faint lingering floral at the back of the throat which is interesting.  There is some initial fruitiness that disappears almost instantly as bitter comes fast too.  The Qi is now very mellow and tranquil.

The 17^th is another few minutes long steeping which gives off flat bitter coco with some dark fruits pushing faintly underneath.  These longer infusions do more to amp up the pungent coolness which tries really hard to push something out in the breath but not that much comes out this late in the game.

I put this into an overnight steeping.

This is a fantastic wild tea (and possibly conventional puerh blend) I believe.  It’s possible that the three coloured leaves represent 3 different varietals of wild tea or 2 different varietals and conventional puerh.  Overall I think it is mainly wild tea/yesheng as noted by the leaf colour, intense Qi and minute’s long returning taste.  The Qi is really strong and invigorating with some more intense body feeling then strongly relaxing.  Like doing a good cardio workout and the feeling afterwards.  The taste is really really complex for a wild that’s why I think its possible there is some conventional puerh blended in here.

Not at all picking up on the storage tastes like marco did in his tasting notes.  This one may have been dry stored by Emmitt, instead of coming directly from Yang’s storage, I believe.  This is a kind of tea that would be best dry stored, I think.

I also don’t understand how Shah8 cannot see three colours of leaves in this one as marco pointed out.  I think it’s pretty obvious to anyone.  Just look at the photo.  I hope he doesn’t have a fake?  I always get a kick out of how Shah8’s impression of a tea always improves considerably once he has acquired it… hahahahha… Either way I agree with his assessment that this is an extraordinary blend that is hard to come by.

Rating it for a wild tea and just for comparison 9.0.  Wild tea doesn’t really get better than this.  To be honest there are not many blends of wild teas so its hard to kind of compare it to this.

James and Denny’s (TeaDB) Tasting Notes

Shah8’s (Badger and Blade) Tasting Notes

Marco’s (Late Steeps) Tasting Notes

Peace

Edit: The overnight steeping the next day has a tart and bitter fruit taste, slightly creamy sweetness with corn flavor base.  There is still some cooling pungent then into a longer creamy sweet and bitter finish.  The mouthcoating is sticky and slightly drying.  Minutes later a distinct bitterness is left on the tongue with no other flavors to join in.