This 2013 Tea Urchin Yiwu Snake Blend goes for $129.00 for 357g cake or $0.36/g (I tried my purchased sample a few weeks ago) is quite a popular blend but no one is too crazy about it and everyone seems to mix the positives with the negatives so I wanted to see what this one is about for myself…
Dry leaves have a sweet woody radish pond smell to them.
First infusion has a metallic woody pondy taste initially
then fades to very faint coolness in the throat over a soft fluffy faint tongue
coating.
The second infusion has a pondy woody metallic savory taste
up front which kind of just fades into a mid-throat coolness. There is a meat like savory taste in the aftertaste
that comes up. Sticky mouthfeeling.
There is some orange and other faint fruity tastes that appear far in
the distance when the liquor is left to cool.
The Qi is relaxing and soothes the body with an obviously limb relaxing
bodyfeeling.
The third infusion has an oily thick initial presentation
with a woody savory corn and hay and metal and woody tastes. Lots of layered and unique savory tastes with
a mild sweet finish. The cooled cup is
more creamy sweet, chalky, mineral, vegetal with a cool mid-throat. The Qi is pretty strong in the mind and body
with a strong sedating and spacy effect.
The mouthfeel has a full soft sticky almost tight tongue. A strong and obvious gushu feeling but not
really very sweet.
The fourth infusion has a sour savory taste of metal, woody,
sour fruit, with a cool mid throat finish with a very mild sweet returning on
the breath over a mild-moderate thick sticky almost drying tongue. The Qi is pretty strong and has a body
relaxing, levitating, and bit a bit of chest opening.
The fifth infusion starts a sour savory wood with a more
creaminess sweetness emerging now. A
more candy like finish is left on the breath.
The mouthcoat is a soft mild stickiness. The aftertaste is mild but long in the throat. The Qi is nice and I can feel it in the limbs
and face and my mind is strongly relaxed but happily active.
The sixth infusion has a woody, almost metal but berry
fruity taste that is a balance between savory, sweet, bland, and sour tastes
with a preference toward savory with a very faint cool pungent. There is lots of complexity of taste veggies,
woods, metals, pungency, candy, fruits….
The cool cup has a longer candy sweetness more typical of Yiwu in it.
The seventh infusion has a nice sweet berry with eucalyptus
and dry wood. There is a lot of
complexity of tastes in this blend. The gushu quality is really obvious. This infusion has a heavy oily body with
strong Qi and thick dense cottony mouthfeeling on the tongue with mid-deep to
deep throat cooling.
The eighth infusion has a thick sweet cotton taste to
it. The cool cup has a rich thickness to
it layers of woody, malt, metal, fruity, candy like sweet finish to it. Nice thick mouthcoating and Qi. There is lots of candy sweetness lingering in
the mouth. A warm feeling washes over
me.
The ninth infusion has a sweet grain taste with a malty fruity
with a metallic woody pungent aftertaste.
The long candy sweetness can be felt minutes later. Very nice.
The Qi is really nice relaxing and euphoric complex Qi
presentation. I like it.
The 10th is a creamy flat woody metallic fruity
tasting savory bland and kind of sweet mash up of unique tastes. There is some cool mid throat and a more
woody finish. Very nice complex Qi in
body and mind.
The 11th I return to the next day but the liquor is
more muted after a night in the tea pot…
It has a silky vegetal woody almost slow faint coco
aftertaste with some mild throat cooling.
The 12th has a stronger vegetal woody almost
faint creamy returning coco. The taste
is very flat vegetal overall now with some faint complexity of metal, woody,
almost spicy.
The 13th has a metallic sour fruity woody almost
bitter mushroom with a creamy almost cooc finish. This infusion has a lot more power and
bitterness with some faint complexity underneath. The mouthfeeling is more sandy and tight and
dry now.
The 14th infusion has a bitter vegetal onset with
a dry woody metallic finish. There is
not really any sweetness left and the throat feeling and cooling pungency is
gone so I push to long infusions…
They are quite bitter and sour fruit with a flat grain and
coco finish. Some complexity hidden
under the bitter…
This is mainly a savory, strong Qi, gushu experience with
nice complexity due to the blend. A bit
different but I like the change of pace.
It’s a bit chaotic at times and not as sweet as savory but unique and interesting.
One thing that this Gushu sample made me
think was how the quality/ age of the puerh that is offered at Tea Urchin has
declined over the years. This is not
really suprising because of the dramatic price increases over these years but
you simply can’t get what you used to.
Also there are only a few times on their site and tea description where
Tea Urchin specifically mentions tree age- this is one such instance which is
also interesting. Haven’t caked it yet
and is more of an amusement for me but could easily be an expensive drinker or
something to enjoy deeply as well for this price.
James’ (TeaDB) Tasting notes from Drinking Report
Cody’s (The Oolong Drunk) Tasting Notes
Peace
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