2022 Tea Encounter Laos Gushu- Tianmenshan: Long Oily Spacy Sweetness

 I have a cake of the 2019 Tea Encounter Laos Gushu which was a blend of Laos Gushu with Gua Feng Zhai XiaoShu- it was really good value at $0.19 /g.  This one I understood to be another blend of both older gushu from Laos and Xiaoshu from Tianmenshen because I didn’t read the description which states it’s from trees on the Laos side of Tianmenshan.  After reading my notes I still feel like it’s a pretty wide area blend at the very least that most definitely contains Laos Gushu and could contain younger leaf- the result is really good for the price… I got this free sample for review but the 2022 Tea Encounter Laos Gushu Tianmenshan cake goes for $150.00 for 400g cake or $0.38/g.

The dry leaves have gamey barnyard pungent odours with a lingering fruity apricot sweetness.

First infusion has a creamy fruity gamey taste. The fruity creamy sweet taste has a custard pudding edge to it and tastes fluffy on the tongue and mouth and lingers for a long while.  Very sweet for a Laos gushu and must be blended with a decent amount of or is at the very least somewhere close to or influenced by Tianmenshan.  The creamy fluffy fruity taste lingers even 10 minutes later in the mouth.

Second infusion has watery creamy fruity nuances with a background lingering gamey barnyard. There is a sour creamy lime apricot taste that pops mid session and a long fruity finish in the mouth that feels fluffy.  Feels comfortable in the body with no bitter or astringency.

The third infusion has a pop of sweet fruity bright taste with a faint gamey barnyard edge and a tart fruity finish.  There is very faint puckering mouthfeeling and a fluffy mouthfeeling as well. There is a mildly spacy feeling to the Qi.  You can feel a heavy head feeling as well.

4^th infusion has a chalky fruity full feeling with creamy chalky sweetness lingering.  There is a bit of barnyard taste in there underneath but overall a thick chalky creamy fluffy fruity taste with some sour fruit layered in and even suggestions of woody notes.  Mainly chalky fruity tastes.  The thick mouthfeeling does well at holding these tastes in the mouth even ten minutes later.  There is a deeper open throat to this puerh and a satisfying chalky full mouthfeel.  Nice calming spacy calm happening here.

5^th has a creamy fruity thick chalky oily feeling the barnyard tastes are really at the periphery now and its really a thick painting of fruity creamy a bit sour fruity tastes.  These tastes are entrapped within thick chalky mouthfeeling that is more on the tongue and mouth that throat although there is a deeper throat opening that takes place a really faint coolness.  The fruity tastes are long.  The chalky motuhfeeling slowly becomes a bit puckering/pasty.  Nice spacy Qi feeling with some arms floating and free. 

6^th infusion has a sour bright fruity puckering sweetness that disperses into a woody fruity creamy sour taste.  The motuhfeeing is becoming more puckering/pasty and less chalky thick- the thickness is still notable. 

7^th is left to cool and has a thick oily fruity gamey even a bit woody smokey taste.  Really thickly oily fruity leanings here.  Nice full chalky mouthfeeling with some deep throat opening. Cool gamy fruity finish.  Gobs of saliva.  Nice spacy feeling.

8^th is left to cool and is a burst of fruity sweetness with an oily chalky layering.  This tea really tastes much more like an Yiwu puerh than Laos but it has some Spacy Qi, faint pungent barnyard reminicant of Laos which is basically gone now. Thick layering sweet tastes that linger for a long time in the chalky mouithfeeling.  Nice Spacy relaxing with some light limbs bodyfeeling.

9^th infusion is left to cool and gives off a caramel, fruity oily chalky onset with edges of gamey woody tastes.  Nice long cool fruity tastes.  Nice relaxing spacy Qi with limb lightness.

10^th infusion has juicy fruity tastes with some faint pungent gamy woody notes.  Overall fruity oily thick sweetness is what this is all about with a fuzzy pasty finish in the mouth a long sweet fruity taste.

11^th has a woody fruity onset with a dry woody taste starting to push out some of the thick oily fruity tastes now.  Nice thick but drier mouthfeeling with deeper subtle open throat.  Nice spacy Qi feeling. More of a woody finish in the mouth than fruity sweet.

12^th has a dry woody onset with some underying fruity taste and a dry gripping full chalky mouthfeeling.  Less sweetness now for sure and more dry woody tastes. 

13^th is left to cool and is a 20 second infusion and has a sugar and wood onset with a long woody creamy sugar sweet finish.  The finish is mainly bland woody but a touch of sugary tastes.  Nice light limbs with mild spacy feeling.

A few days later I steep out the spent leaves overnight and it gives off a pungent gamey musk with a significant sweet fruity taste.  Lots of nice contrast between the two poles of this blend is evident even in these long steepings.

Vs 2022 Tea Encounter Yiwu Guoyoulin- they are both the same price and come in large made for storage 400g cakes, and both made in a similar area with Gushu materials.  They both have nice mouthfeeling and texture to them.  The Yiwu is more punchy and blanced flavours with more enlivening Qi.  This Laos has a longer sweetness to it, a really nice minutes long thing with a spacy feeling.  Both nice options for the price.

Peace