Just like last year’s blind sampling I hope to give a little review and discussion before having the blind samples revealed to me. I thought to rank the samples in order of enjoyment they have brought me and to give them a short description. First, I can say that I enjoyed them all on some level- all nice samples as expected from Marco. When I received this package the long Summer’s drought and smoky heat wave was broken by cooler nights and long late summer rains. As a result I had much better personal experience with the older samples he sent. All of my impressions are based on one session as is usual on this blog. In order of enjoyment…
1- Gamma- This iron bing,likely the 2001-2004 Xiaguan 8653, has a lot going on with it! In classic iron cake style it does all this in slow motion, a slow release, with lots of condensed flavours and stamina. This cake has some nice storage on it and it shows by dressing up the sometimes more modestly tasting Xiaguan 8653. I want one of these cakes!
2- Alpha- oh baby… gimme da heat!!! This one has nice warming energy and feeling to it… it has a very nice Qi package overall with strong woody flavours and a familiar Yang Storage taste. This Yiwu Gushu has a balance of wood and Sweetness. I like this one a lot and wonder if I could have ever paid the $475.00 for the dry stored version of this cake at Houde last year???
3- Delta- has spacious clear tastes of wood, pine, smoke, some lesser sweetness and an incense core. The Qi is strong energy and has that brain slowing power to it with some interesting body sensations.strong downer Qi! This is in some ways a clear simple thing but power is quite strong! Nice storage on this one. The taste and energy reminds me of maybe an early 2000s Xiaguan production?
4- Beta- this one is all about that crazy long Gushu sweetness stretches way out thing! Nice spacey Qi. Has a similar feel to and vibrant purity that Biyun Hao productions I’ve had before like the LiShan Gongcha. Probably around 2020/2019 and likely Yiwu Gushu production. Nice vibe here.
5- Zeta- same tea as below but with different processing. I like this processing better of the two. It’s more bitter but also with stronger throat sensations and returning sweetness. Both have the same Qi.
6- Epsilon-Overall, this is a nice clean pure green processed Yiwu single estate production. It has a classic melon and floral onset with very faint coolness and faint sweet aftertaste. Simple but pure and enjoyable for what it is. The Qi is a mild feel good and relaxing experience. 2021 Yiwu Gushu experience!
That’s my take on Marco’s 2021 blind samples… now I just await some answers on which teas he sent and look forward to reading his reviews of the blind samples I sent… fun.
Peace
4 comments:
As usual you are much faster than me, sorry about that! Let me comment on the teas I sent you:
Alpha: This is indeed the Green Sun 2001 which I got direct from Yang. I agree completely with your description of the warming energy from this cake. Of course this was not processed like YQH teas and I think it has survived Yang's storage a lot better than his own productions. If it is in fact autumn material, this would explain why it is so tame in terms of bitterness and astringency, and as you said, why it has so much woodiness. I can appreciate the profile especially at a higher steep ratio.
Beta: This is actually the DTH 2015 Yiwu from the sampler set that I helped organize with TWL. DTH stores their teas in Fujian, several floors up, making for a drier storage than you get for YQH or even BYH, which explains why you pegged it as a younger tea. Great example of north Yiwu tea with energy that agrees with me so to speak...
Gamma: You nailed this one, no pun intended, it's the 2001 XG 8653. When it is stored well, it is pretty awesome. I am debating getting a tong of this one...
Delta: This one... I'm afraid I can't reveal the true identity of this tea right now. Based on my research, I believe strongly that this is an early example of top quality Lao Ban Zhang tea. I mean from before LBZ was well-known as a single origin. Sorry to be cryptic but I'm under strict orders :). Your notes are absolutely spot on, the description of the qi is really good.
Epsilon and Zeta: You got this one, it's the 2021 TWL-BYH Longdui. Epsilon has strong rolling, and Zeta has normal rolling. I agree with you in that I prefer the experience with the normal rolling. The strong rolled version is a bit harsh for me at the moment. Of course this is too fresh to really evaluate properly right now, but in a year I will have a better sense of these two versions. We weren't able to produce much of this due to the small size of Longdui area, but hopefully it serves as a good educational pairing.
OK that's all for now, I will keep going with my reviews and look forward to the reveal. Now that I've tasted all your teas at least once, I see that my guess for Alpha must be incorrect -- I thought it was a Xiaguan 2001 production but it must be the cake from Houde... anyway it shouldn't be long before I finish.
Marco,
No worries, no rush. Take your time with them and have some fun. Just thought I would get the samples in before the start of school here also the weather was really conducive to some more mindful sessions . Also my style is “one shot” style of sampling sure speeds things along. I find if I think too much about it, I often over think it….
Alpha- I wonder when this cake came out of Yang’s storage? I appreciate finally trying this much talked about cake!
Beta- I guessed South Yiwu and this one is North also guessed it to be younger that it was. I like the storage on this one that comes off as younger. I was super interesting in trying the Dragon Tea Shop Yiwu Gushu quarter cake samples recommended by Marshal’N and for sale at Teas We Like- thank you for sending this one. I compared this to the 2015 Biyun Hao Lishan Gongcha in my blind sampling and I think this is an interesting comparison mainly because both are actually 2015 cakes and both Yiwu gushu! If I were to choose between the two I like the blended 2015 BiYun Hao Lishan Gong cha better by a bit and also considering the price.
Gamma- I want this cake! Hope you will consider offering it on Teas We Like? hahaha…
Delta- Thank you for enrolling me to be a blind participant in your study of this super interesting puerh! Hahahha… this was the most difficult of the blind samples for me to place. It is in someways super simple and clear yet in others very complex! This dichotomy makes this puerh very intriguing to me… Like I said in my blind sampling notes this one is kind of like an older factory tea in its old schoolness, production, and its obvious Menghai character. Yet,as I said in my notes, it’s much more than that. Now that you mention Ban Zhang it totally fits… at least it’s a reasonable possibility especially the huge Qi sensation and bodyfeelings which fit nicely with my experience of Ban Zhang. Let us know, if or when you can, more about this one…
Epsilon/Zeta- I guessed right but mixed up the processing as I am biased that more traditional processing is better than the new style processing. So far the new style seems noticeably better of the two but, as you say, it could change with age…
Thanks again!
Peace
Marco,
Okay here are the teas I sent you…
Alpha- You are correct that this is the 2001 Menghai 7542 fake from Houde. This was the only cake that you had requested of the bunch. Your assessment of this cake is quite positive, closer to Shah8’s assessment than mine. Actually, I sampled it immediately after receiving it and with a bit of resting in humidity it has become a bit better than my original notes. Some sessions have a strong ginseng taste/aroma that Shah8 had mentioned. It’s a very powerful, condensed, but sometimes random and unusual. The fishy storage note that I referred to as pond(y) is strong with this one. The storage of the Houde cakes is quite good and you picked up on this in the tasting. However, in my speed test this one doesn’t beat the 2004 Nanqiao Bulang King with a similar fishy storage or rustic randomness of the 2006 Rustic Zhongcha. It at times feels quite disjointed but never the less super interesting. The main issue I have with this one is its 350$ price tag. See my notes here:
https://mattchasblog.blogspot.com/2021/01/good-fake-or-bad-fake-fake-houde-2001.html
Beta- This is 2011 Che Me Xuan Pasha from Tea Urchin. I took a pass after sampling this a few years ago but couldn’t really get it out of my head. The price remained the same a few years later so I recently picked one of these up which was one of the last. This so perfectly represents the intersection of powerful old school factory with gushu quality leaf. Wish there were more puerh like this on the market. See my notes here:
https://mattchasblog.blogspot.com/2020/05/2011-che-ma-xuan-pa-sha-curation.html
Gamma- This is 2010 Pongsalli Laos “Green Tea” from In Pursuit of Tea. I purchased it in May 2010 after travel to this area in Laos (see old blog posts) because it looked of good quality Pongsalli sheng material. I sampled it once which confirmed my suspicions then put it in a ziplock to age. I haven’t touched it or even opened the ziplock up since that time. Just a few weeks ago when you sent the email to do a blind sampling I just happened to pull out this puerh as well as the Delta sample below which I also haven’t touched or opened in over a decade. This Laos “puerh” tasted really good to me and much like a 2015, I agree it’s still salvageable, but still very delicious in this slower drier storage state. Like the Beta sample above, it represents an older school processing and powerful material. Part of the reason I sent these two were to get you on board on sourcing more of this kind thing on Teas We Like… please… Good examples like these are not seen much in the Western market. I hope to post my own notes on this one in the next few weeks for comparison.
...
Delta- This is right off a 1970s sheng puerh cake from my old school stash. I used to drink these things from the 70s, 80s, 90s somewhat regularly until I drank through them all around 10 years ago or so. This is the only one that survived because it was given to us as a wedding gift and held sentimental value otherwise it would have been long gone like the others! It was pulled from my “pioneer storage” so it underwent some significant drying over the last decade or so, it explains why you place it as a 80s vintage. I’m going to post on it soon on the blog and get some readers to help me finally authenticate it. I also believe it to be 70s-80s vintage. I felt bad about sending you that 70s cake last year knowing that it was in fact a 90s Guangyungong … hahahhah… so I at least sent you something that was 70s… older than you…. Hahahhaha…
Epsilon- This is 2020 Purist Yiwu #8 the only cake that is currently available to purchase out of the samples I sent. This continues the tradition by paying homage our first interaction regarding our shared belief that Yesheng or wild tea is not really puerh. Last year’s a blind sampling I sent an old “pioneer stored” wild tea that exhibited an older style factory production and pressing style. This year was this insanely powerful “forest tea” which I believe is somewhere on the spectrum of Yesheng and conventional puerh I believe… hahahhah… It’s a bit of an inside joke because Marco is not always a fan… hahahha
See my notes on an early blind sampling of this here:
https://mattchasblog.blogspot.com/2020/09/2020-puerist-yiwu-8-maocha-excellent.html
Great fun.
Peace
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