2016 Puerh.uk Gua Feng Zhai: A Bit of Gus Feng Zhai

 

I believe this is the same free sample that was recently sent to Shah8?  I think its this 2016 Blue Mark Gua Feng Zhai that goes for $190 for 85g triangle or $2.24/g… crazy expensive…  He said it was pressed from 2011 Gua Feng Zhai mao cha.  I lost some of my more meticulous notes on this one.  For some reason my PC couldn’t recover my detailed tasting notes on this one and I’m still drinking it on my tea table so I’ll provide a bit of a recap then go into the later steeps, I guess…

The dry leaves have a sweet forest like odour to them.  The first handful of infusions show some nice signs of Gua Feng Zhai puerh with a melon-woody-bland initial even potato and bland wood taste.  Deep throat opening with cooling.  Sometimes its almost but not quite menthol.  Soft mouthfeeling that is often a soft mossy but sometimes a faint touch sandy or sticky- but soft overall.  There is sometimes a melon, sometimes a bit maple syrup, sometimes even a hints at caramel in the finish.  Obvious single origin material- clear simple but enjoyable profile.  Strong Qi so far with face tingles, heavy shoulders, Heart beats, a bit of warmth, Chest opening feeling and a euphoric feeling in the mind.  I’m so far enjoying this experience.  It’s very much Gua Feng Zhai!

I take it from the 9^th infusion and the cup has cooled and it’s a nice refreshing melon taste. There is a lubricating mouthfeeling and cool deep throat.  Some bland woody and melon left in the mouth.  This puerh has passed its peak in taste now in the session.  But still nice Qi with heavy shoulders, warming Qi and mild feel good.

10^th has a woody melon pop in an oily texture. Nice woody creamy cooling deep throat sensation with sandy mossy mouthfeelng.  There is some Heart beats and chest expanding feeling.  Mild feel good energy now…

I mug steep out the rest…. Oh boy…. Some more technical issues… hahaha… lots my notes again… I remember it having nice woody mushroom foresty bitter coco notes in these long steepings with only edges of sweetness initially but a bit of melon taste in the finish.  Nice deep throat cooling still.  Still a stronger Qi presence.  I had a really good day with this sample and really felt great afterwards.  Some of the issues with lost data is probably due to me just feeling a bit of good old puerh euphoria.  Overall, this is an enjoyable enough single estate Gua Feng Zhai!!!

Vs 2011 Tea Urchin Autumn Gua Feng Zhai- This one is much more typical smoother softer gushu style With the space of Autumn Gua Feng Zhi but lacks the stronger and more disctinct qualities of this Gua Feng Zhai…

Shah8’s Tasting notes

Peace

2021Puerist Youle “Forest Tea”- Spaced Out Very Long Sweetnesseseses

This is picked from the same area as the 2020 Purist Youle “Forest Tea”.  Last year’s harvest was not from the tall pole trees which were pressed separate they were of the “ordinary” trees.  This 2021 production is from a blend of Gaogan and standard trees collected from the forest.  I got this as a free sample but the cake of 2021 Puerist Youle goes for $115.00 for 200g cake or $0.58/g.

First infusion has a light fruity woody onset with a flat expanding floral sweetness that has a tingling chalky mouthfeeling.  There is a sugary long sweet finish that evolves into a long fruity and floral taste even 10 minutes later.  The deep throat opens a bit but the aftertaste really lingers in the chalky mouth.  Nice spacy strong Qi sensation.

Second infusion has a buttery floral sweet almost melon onset with a flat tasty onset that stretches out into the aftertaste where there is a very long evolving fruity sweet aftertaste with oily saliva producing and a chalky almost mildly dry mouthfeeling that is present on the tongue.  Nice spacy floating Qi.  Very long fruity sweet lingering aftertaste.  Some arm/limb tingling.

Third infusion has a woody floral fruity onset that expands exponentially in the mouth and breath.  Long almost rubbery fruity sweet finish with a layer of expanding cooling taste.  There is a woody base taste here throughout.  A long stretch of expanding sweetness.  There is a nice oily gob of saliva produced and a flat almost dry full chalky mouthfeeling.  Deep penetrating relaxing feeling with spacy floating body feeling.  

Fourth infusion has a long floral almost soapy fruity sweetness which really goes long in the aftertaste and breath taste.  Long sweet fruity taste with a subtle rubbery-woody finish.  The cooled down cup is vibrantly sweet fruity with a smooth creamy mango-like sweet taste that picks up a bit of cooling throat.  Long sweet fruity breath tastes.

Fifth infusion has a fruity oily creamy woody onset, very Youle initial taste.  It expands to be more fruity and sweet with a long sweet fruity taste.  The oily sweet buttery fruity floral taste is both long and evolving becoming slightly cooling.  The mouthfeeling is gripping and chalky a pulls at the upper throat a bit and causes some nice salivating.  Nice relaxing spacy feeling with limbs and shoulders heavy.

6^th is left to cool and has a creamy buttery sweet buttery taste there is a bit of mild woody astringency now and a buttery rubbery long sweet fruity taste which evolves and moves.  There is more pucker to the mouthfeeling but mild and more chalky than pucker.  Nice relaxing expanding feelings with mild floating body and stronger heavy shoulders.

7^th is left to cool and has a creamy woody smooth sweet taste that evolves into a sweet fruity taste.  Nice long evolution of taste that has a slight woody rubbery base and long breathy fruitiness even minutes later.  Nice relaxing and slightly spacy with heavy shoulders.

8^th is left to cool and gives off a woody creamy sweet onset with a woody slightly dry chalky slight puckering mouthfeeling.  There is the long evolving sweetness here where a coolness sort of collides.  Nice spacy relaxing with heavy shoulders and arms.

9^th has a woody oily sort of buttery sweetness with not really much fruity sweetness up front.  The sweetness evolves more in the aftertaste.  Nice heavy shoulders bodyfeeling and Spacy Qi.

10^th is long steeped it gives off a bitter lemon and creamy sweet fruity taste with an evolving coolness.  

I put it into a longer mug steeping and it gives off a woody bitter slightly sour but not that sweet taste with a chalky dry pucker mouthfeeling but still rather soft on the body.

Vs 2020 Puerist Youle “Forest Tea”-  These are actually quite different as I drank these back to back!  It actually surprised me to know they are from the same forest area.  The 2020 production has a much more defined “Forest Tree”  “Yesheng Puerh” profile through and through.  I commented last year that it “is very much wild tea in taste, Qi, and feeling with not so much typical Youle feeling or taste at all”  but this 2021 Puerist Youle has much more leaning toward a Youle profile to me. In fact, I thought it was a standard variety Gushu Youle…  It lacks the rubbery wild tea taste.  It has more of a wild tea big spacy Qi but it is so good! Also it has this insanely long sweet flavor that turns into a breath taste typical of yesheng but it also feels standard Youle… I don’t think the addion of the pole tress could change it this much but maybe the variability of the forest?  I was told the more wild trees are harvested each year the less Yesheng they become in character… I wonder…. Either way this was a good one!

Peace

2022 Tea Encounter Chawangshu “Late Nectar”: Summer Harvest Mug Steeper

 This is a later Spring flush of Chawangshu.  I remember 15years ago trying puerh from the same garden Early Spring, Summer, and Fall… the Summer Flush is really significantly less complex and less intense…. Lots of space.  It was a good education at the time…. Last time a western puerh vendor sold a summer flush, I belive, was when Tea Urchin sold that 2011 “Four Peaks” Summer Lao Man E… it was a popular tea for a great price.  Let’s see if this 2022 Tea Encounter Chawangshu “Late Nectar” that goes for $70.00 for 200g cake or $0.35/g. Dry leaves smell of sweet syrupy peachy odour with lesser creamy pungent odours… very delicious smelling.

First infusion has a mild sandy woody watery taste there are edges of sweetness and bitter-woodiness but overall has a watery bland taste in this early infusion.  Watery but slightly tugging mouthfeelng with a sandy mild grit.

Second infusion has a watery pungent woody sandy taste with distant edges of sweetness.  There is a returning watery squash taste with faint sweet edges.  The mouthfeel is watery with a sandiness to it, its pretty mild in the mouth.  There is a woody-sand bitterness with edges of sweetness in the aftertaste minutes later.

The third infusion is left to cool and gives off an oily woody taste there is this woody furniture varnish sort of taste that is a bit bitter-bland in the aftertaste with faint cooling edges and hard to grasp edges of sweet peach.  Relaxing feeling with a bit of spaciness.  Dry sandy slightly grabbing mouthfeel.  The mouthfeel is a bit on the thinner side of things.

The fourth infusion is left to cool and has a mild cool pungent and woody-pill-wood bark bitterness to it. It kind of finishes papery in the mouth with sweet quash and melon edges.  Thin sandy dry mouthfeeling.  Mild relaxing with some heart beats.

5^th has a watery oily mild woody bland taste with edges of sweetness.  There is a mild underlying coolness.  The returning sweetness has edges of peaches but mainly dry woody bland tastes.  Dry thin gripping mouthfeeling.  

6^th is left to cool and has a bitter woody bark tasting with edges of sweetness on the breath. Thin sandy mild gripping mouthfeeling.  Mild relaxing with some heart beats.

7^th is left to cool and is a woody bark bland tasting with some peachy sugar edges.  The taste is pretty straightforward so is the Qi and mouthfeeling. Simple no fuss drink now.  

8^th is a woody bitter bark mild tasting intial taste that is over a drying mild mouthfeeling with pear, peach and sugary edges in the returning sweetness.  The aftertaste is mainly dry woody with some sweet edges.  Mild taste.  A bit of a relaxing feeling with mild heart sensations.

9^th has a bitter woody onset with a flat grainy sand thin mouthfeeling.  Heart beats are more obvious after a few quick infusions.  Nice relaxing mind with simulating Heart feeling.  Not much for throatfeeling in this simple puerh.

10^th 20 second steeping by accident… bitter woody but more fruity peachy pear edges.  More drying puckering mouthfeeling that kicks at the guts a bit.  Strong Heart beats now!  Nice euphoria building in the mind… not bad.

11^th is cooled down and gives off a bitter woody pill bitterness with peachy edges over a flat gripping dry mouthfeeling.  Peaches and pears come out in the aftertaste and returning sweetness.

Mug steeping of the spent leaves give off a woody slightly pungent almost seaweed vegetal taste. There isn’t much sweetness at all just faint edges and its overall bitter woody with a tree bark and seasweeds taste with a dry puckering mouthfeeling.  The Qi now has an edge of euphoria to it. 

Overall, this is a very simple and straight forward puerh with simple taste and mouthfeeling with very little sweetness.  The Qi is very mild at first but builds as the session goes and becomes stronger in the Chest giving you an invigorating feeling but also slowly builds in the mind into a mild euphoria.  The Qi gives you some hints at Chawangshu character for sure.

I do a mug steeping of fresh leaves a few weeks later and realize that this is really a puerh for mug steeping in the summer...

Vs 2022 Tea Encounter Chawangshu XiaoShu- these are surprisingly quite different beasts and I wonder if they are from the same material.  The Late Nectar has much less typical Chawangshu character than the Xiaoshu.

Peace

2022 Tea Encounter Chawangshu Xiaoshu: A Bit of Chawangshu

 Tea Encounter has pressed a Chawangshu Xiaoshu before, this 2020 Tea Encounter Chawangshu, and I thought it was of decent value especially considering it still demonstrated some Chawangshu characteristics typical of the growing area.  This 2022 Tea Encounter Chawangshu Xiaoshu goes for $115.00 for 200g cake or $0.58/g- I kindly got a free sample for review.

Dry leaves are of especially pungent cooling spice with edges of barnyard and sweetness underneath.

First infusion has a pungent barnyard taste with long coolness in the mouth.  There is a strong barnyard and rainforest taste with a cooling pungent arc.  Some melon sweetness emerges underneath and the tastes fades to a sugar finish with accompanying barnyard and cool pungent. The mouthfeeling is a soft chalkiness and the throat feeling opens to the mid throat. 

The second infusion is left to cool and gives off a very foresty gamey pungent forest.  Strong forest pungent gamey taste with a bit of melon fruity sweetness that emerges mid profile and then a returning sugar edge.  Nice chalky full mouthfeeling. 

The third infusion is left to cool and has a nice balance of pungent gamey foresty onset with evolving melon creamy bready sugary sweetness. There is a thick layering of taste.  The foresty gamey pungent and bready almost woody sweetness lingers in the mouth.  Mild qi felt in the jaw and face.

The fourth infusion has a slight bitter pungent forest gamey onset with an emerging banana, peach, pear like fruity sweetness.  The mothfeeling is a bit chalky and even gripping now with a touch of faint bitter-astringency.  There is a subtle bitter forest sweetness that lingers.  The taste is pretty dense and layered here.

The fifth infusion has a dense layering of forest, gamey, melon, sugar, potato tastes.  The pungent coolness in long and notable, so is the forest-gamey taste.  The sweetness sort of emerges from under these tastes with first melon taste, then almost a broader fruity taste then potato, then sugary edges but all layered into each other. Dense mixture of tastes.

The sixth infusion is left to cool and gives off a forest and sweet melon pungent taste.  There is a mild bitter-astringency that really makes the sweet taste pop in this infusion.  The taste is a melon, pear sugar potato foresty taste.  Nice faint gripping mouthfeeling with a deeper throat stimulation now. 

7^th has a strong pungent coolness with a foresty gamey taste and much more oily texture.  There is an oily melon bready potato sweetness that emerges from the oily textures.  Nice foresty gamey taste across the profile with some sugary edges.  Some arm tingling and subtle face sensations.  Mild relaxing Qi in the mind.

8^th has a bitter sweet melon onset with lesser gamey forest tastes.  The texture is a bit oilier now but a real layered taste with more bitter-sweet-pungent tastes now.  Some limb tingles and mind relaxing.  Mild Qi sensations in the mind with a relaxed focused feeling. 

9^th has a bitter astringent gamey forest with some sweetness coming from underneath in the form of potato and melon and woody.  The pungent coolness is the main feature of this puerh at this age.  Its really strong and long.  Nice focused calm feeling.  Some mild limb tingles.

10^th has a bitter sweet onset with a pop of juicy melon-woody-potato taste.  Bitterness almost has edges of coco here with a stronger grabbing mouthfeeling and long coolness that goes deep into the throat.  A mild focusing Qi.  

I get back to these leaves the next day…

11^th has a banana foresty woody bland onset. There is a lingering bland woody sweetness and a touch of bitterness.

12^th has a bitter sweet onset with woody forest and lesser pear sweetness.  The bitterness is long in the mouth.  It is paired with a thin gripping mouthfeeling.  I can feel it in my empty stomach this early in the morning.

13^th has a woody bitter onset with a coolness that is long and deep but not as strong as earlier. Mainly just bitter and pungent coolness with some gamey forest and sweetness that is more subtle. The finish is more barnyard gamey with bitterness.  Some leg tingling.  Mild focusing Qi.

14^th has a bitter sweet onset with a woody body over a gripping drier mouthfeeling now.  There are just edges of sweetness underneath.  Mainly a bitter woody profile now with mild Qi relaxation with a bit of Heart beats and arm tingling.

The mug steeping… has a gamey pungent coolness to it with a significant bitter-sweet taste. Lots of pungent gamey barnyard and long deep pungent cooling.  The mouthfeeling is puckering and a bit dry.  There is a touch of oily texture.  Not too much sweetness left in here.

Overall, I liked this one for its price.  A pretty layered experience that has some Chawangshu area charm.  I like the thick flavor layers, it’s a tasty puerh.  The Qi is the weak point of this tea being from Young tree leaves but the forest-gamey and especially long pungent taste is really solid and enjoyable and really brings you into the forested area of Yiwu and boarder areas there.  Not sure if this is drink now or for aging… I’d probably won’t be able to resist drinking it now... hahahah…

Peace

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

2022 Tea Encounter Yiwu GouYouLin: Cheap But Complex

 

I was really looking forward to this free sample this year.  Last year I declared the 2021 Tea Encounter Yiwu Guoyoulin the 2021 fresh sheng most likely to purchase.  Mainly because of its complexity vs value proposition.  I ended up not picking up any cakes of fresh sheng last year or this year for that matter.  This 2022 Tea Encounter Yiwu Guoyoulin goes for $136 for 400g cake or $0.34/g.

Dry leaves smell of sweet odours with barnyard edges.

The first infusion is a sour sweet vegetal forest with a pungent cooling backbone and sweet cooling returning.  The mouthfeeling is chalky and full and expanding.  There is sweet chalky tastes in the mouth even minutes later which lingering in the thick chalky feeling and deeper throat feeling where the throat opens.

The second infusion has a sour sweet mild bitter vegetal onset with a subtle gamey forest base.  It ends with a chalky creamy sweet even a bit salty taste.  Lots of flavours here.  The Qi is warming and you can feel it expanding and warming in the Chest.  There is a lingering sour chalky sweet taste minutes later in the chalky mouthfeeling and in the cooling deeper throat.  A bit of a spacy feeling in the mind.

The third infusion has a bitter sweet pop of taste the sweetness is Asian pear and the bitterness is a grassy type there is some sour notes and salty as well.  The salty notes come after the bittersweetness.  There is a cool pungent throatiness that goes deep in the aftertaste holding on to some pear notes and a creamy sweetness. Nice thick chalky mouthfeeling and deep chalky cool opening deeper throatfeeling.  Warming Qi with expanding Chest feeling and Heart beats with a spacy Qi sensation.

The fourth infusion has a sour bitter sweetness with sourer pucker upfront and more saltiness at the end.  The Heart expands and beats and opens and a warmth washes over me.  Nice spacy feeling but also some increase peaceful feelings.  The mouthfeel has that puckering feeling within the chalky and somewhat oily feeling.  Sour forest bitter finish in the mouth.  Strong waves of Qi.

The fifth infusion has a milky sour sweet pear splash of taste with a slightly gamey and pungent cooling, even slightly salty finish.  Nice chalky oily mouthfeeling with a deep throat opening. Lingering aftertaste that is a bit sour, bitter, and sweet balanced blended flavours.  Chesty Qi feeling and warming energy.

The sixth infusion has a bitter sour sweet pop of taste with forest gamey taste that turns a bit salty. There is a cooling pungent taste that reaches into the throat and comes with a pear sweetness in the mouth.  Nice cooling throat with a long pear sweetness minutes later.  The mouthfeeling is a full chalky somewhat oily coating.  Nice spacy Chesty Qi feeling.  Relaxing peaceful but also a bit spacy and focusing.  Lingering almost candy pear minutes later.

The seventh infusion has a sweet pear onset with a faint bitter-sour taste underneath and an emerging salty taste.  Nice chalky slightly oily mouthfeeling with some deep throat opening with coolness and pear lingering candy sweetness in the finish.  The sweet taste has emerged as the dominant taste throughout with a very long aftertaste of pear candy.

8^th has a sweet candy pear oily onset with a long pear taste throughout there is some mild emerging bitter and sour but faint now.  The mouthfeeling is a strong chalky and somewhat oily feeling with a lubricating mouth, deep subtle cooling throat with creamy sweet pear flavor that lasts a long time in the finish.  Warming feeling with 

9^th is left to cool and has much more fruity sweet presence with peachy pear notes and a candy like sweet finish even some fresh plum notes.  These fruity sweet notes are found throughout the profile. 

10^th has a long nectar fruity peach/pear onset with a faint bitter-sour edge.  Nice oily pear sweetness throughout which lasts long even minutes later. Nice Chesty feeling with beats and a bit spacy, peaceful and focused.  Nice layered thick taste and chalky thick mouthfeeling.

11^th is left to cool and gives off a melon metallic bitter sour taste that is a bit unique because there are lots of tastes but none really prominent. The blend in this puerh is pretty obvious with a nice balance of tastes.

12^th is left to cool as well and is a sweet bland wood.  The lingering sweetness is a bit sour now. Still long aftertaste and chalky coating and deep throat.  Warming Qi and Chest opening, a bit peaceful and enlivening.

The mug steepings have a bitter metallic forest onset with a sour underbelly and some sweetness in the finish.  Chest opening Qi with a enlivening, invigorating feeling.  Nice chalky full feeling in the mouth with a deep cooling throat with a sweet sugary edges that resemble grapefruit-pear.  Very full feeling with balanced taste and strong layered qi.  Not as much sweetness as other Yiwu but an interesting blended experience for cheap.  Similar to the 2021.

Then I put it to an overnight steeping…  tones of tastes in here still with a forest gamey base with edges of sugar sweetness, faint bitterness, full chalky faint puckering feeling and layered tastes, long sweet edges of pear and sugar aftertaste with nice deep throat cooling and sweetness.  Nice enlivening Qi with Heart beats.  Sour, sweet, salty, pungent, bitter balance of tastes in this Yiwu gushu blend.

Vs 2021 Tea Encounter Yiwu Guoyoulin- I looked from the left overs of this sample but it was all gone as I likely was sampling again to see if I would do an order.  I like these for the price.  Nice blended balance.  My memory puts the 2022 with more sweet notes and the 2021 with more metallic notes.  They are similar with a nice thick taste, balanced flavours with not so much of that typical long sweet candy Yiwu finish but more of a taste closer to boarder teas and Yiwu blends.  Very much like the Tea Urchin Snake Blend.

Peace