Sunday, June 27, 2021

2014 Tea Urchin Spring Wan Gong: Sounds Like Wangong!




(These notes are from 2019 when I purchased a cake)

This 2014 Tea Urchin Wan Gong goes for $93.00 for 200g cake or $0.47/g.

The Dry leaves smell of intense floral honey and lingering melon fruit sweetness.  The floral and high noted odour is quite strong for a puerh of 5 years.

The first infusion starts off with a lubricating floral honey which shows off its thicker texture and honey nuance right off the bat.  The sweet rich but light honey taste has a slightly malt sweetness and is layered.  There is a very mild, barely coolness, then a clear note of vanilla then almost floral.  The honey taste is throughout.  The mouthfeel and throatfeeling are very mildly stimulated and hold the honey taste for quite a while on the breath.

The second starts with stronger honey notes the liquor is decently thick for a profile that is this light.  The honey is barely, not really floral, but between light and malty sweetness.  The aftertaste now has floral, light honey, dark honey, creamy sweetness, melon sweetness, but all these tastes are light with the exception of honey.  The mouthfeel and throat-feel is significantly thick for a tea this light… did I say that again?  Its all coating and sticky and very subtly grips the throat enough to push the saliva up in the throat.  The Qi starts to float the mind here.  The body floats with it.

The third infusion starts almost with a warm spicy note in honey concurrently with a distinct honey.  The mouthfeel is dense and all coating here.  It is felt deep into the throat.  There is a lingering floral honey malt sweetness that lingers in the aftertaste.  The qi undulates in the body and is not overpowering but it has a lot of mid floating Qi.  I can feel a heaviness between my eyes.  My heart starts to flutter.  The qi is very nice.  My mind starts to space out a bit.



The fourth infusion has a malty sweet, and quickly disappearing not quite tart berry edge, there are distant florals. The aftertaste is now mainly a creamy sweetness.  Honey profile is still the base profile but is less dominating here.  The mouthfeel and throatfeel remain full.  The long sweetness in the aftertaste is creamy and long.

The fifth infusion starts with a slight spiciness and layered honey.  The honey base stays throughout in a thicker liquor and almost astringent mouthfeel and throatfeeling.  The effects works great at pulling light notes long into the profile.  There are faint touches of flowers, creamy sweetness, and even fruits in the aftertaste.  The qi is not overpowering but there is a lot going on both in the body and mind.  Overall, it gives me a surge of clear energy, on the brink of too much.

The sixth starts off almost woody, spicy, and mainly honey.  Its thickness is noted as well as the sticky almost astringent power of the mouth and throatfeeling.  There is only very faint cooling but a long rolling sweet aftertaste that shows glimpses of depth honey, flowers, barely fruit, creamy sweet.

The seventh infusion layers down the honey, there is an interesting bright melon fruit note that pops initially and sticks around.  This infusion is brighter and fresher with fresh fruity tastes becoming more dominant over honey.  The mouthcoat is sticky and full.

The eighth infusion is more malty honey, layered in with some floral notes and a long creamy sweetness.  Still solid sticky almost astringent mouthfeel.  The creamy mild sweetness stretches into the breath.

The ninth infusion has a more honey layered wildflower approach with a subtle warm spiciness developing.  There is a pop of vanilla then long honey sweetness.  There are a lot of subtle and not too obvious but interesting nuances in the long aftertaste.

The tenth infusion is more honey and floral there is a very subtle astringency in there as well very slight that is coming out a little more.  The Qi is still big making the Heart race, the mind focus, and the body light and floating.  The long creamy sweet aftertaste is very long in the throat.

The eleventh infusion is lighter now with more of a lighter honey approach.  There is a burst of nice floral bouquet in this infusion followed by a long almost syrup and lingering sweet creamy almost fresh fruity sweetness.  The thick sticky mouthfeeling is great to complete the full feeling.

The 12th infusion starts to loose its dense liquor and the mouthfeeling and throatfeeling once again becomes a touch astringent. The astringency is quite mild and does much for these light tastes.  Tastes of honey, florals, fresh fruits, creamy sweetness still emerge but the liquor density and fullness is lesser.  However, this tea is not aged sufficiently and its mild astringency can be felt in the stomach.  This tea will still need a few more years to warm.

The 13th infusion I give it 10 seconds longer than flash and it pulls out a bit more depth as far as honey sweetness goes.  14th steep I give it 20 seconds beyond flash infusion it seems more floral but the depth of this tea continues to fall off without being aggressively pushed.  The 15th is minutes long a pushes some astringency out as well as layer honey and floral nuances there is tones of non-stop flavor late into this session that needs to be nudged out.  A plum taste develops.

Great Qi, nice mouth/throat feeling, complex subtle light flavours… sounds like Wangong to me :)




Steepster Tasting Notes

Peace

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