Marco’s 2022 Blind Sample #4

 The last blind sample #3 seemed to almost be a puerh style I have little experience with and was a bit harder for me to grasp but this one seems like something much more deliciously familiar to me… here are my thoughts as I go through the session…

Dry leaves look like a Fu brick from Hunnan as you can see the large twigs and leaves … brick shape with tinny white dots of mold and thick stems/small twigs… has a woody fall leaves and limey mildew sort of odour… Yummy…  There is white dots of mold that indicate that it might be HongKong traditionally stored or possibly other wet storage not the Yellow spores that you see from Fuzhuan.  Definitely has a post fermented processing look to it… maybe a crude shu brick traditionally stored…?

First infusion has a watery onset with woody almost bready sweet flavours.  It is a bit watery with lots of space there is a grassy hay and woody finish… tastes not really like Fuzhuan but not my experience with Traditional Hongkong stored bricks either… sort of like something in between…

The second infusion has a woody hay milky hay sweet monotone taste there is edges of sweetness that are like a grains type sweetness.  Light mild watery mouthfeeling. Nice light warming Qi. Beautiful waming simplicity and enjoyment this time of year!

The third has a woody milky coco taste.  It is smoother here with more of an oilier mouthfeeling and milky.  Milky grains sweet finish.  Mild warming Qi.  As the liquor cools it becomes quite nutty sweet.  This infusion tastes more like a Hongkong Traditionally stored puerh.  It tastes really good in its own way.  The leaves look like it is likely shu.

The fourth infusion has a nice milky nutty sweetness that is reminiscent of Hongkong Traditional storage.  It has an oily mouthfeeling and woody grains milky finish.  The mouthfeeling is a touch sandy somewhat oily and a bit of spacious watery.  Nice mild warming feeling.

The 5^th infusion has a milky woody hay and watery mouthfeeling.  Lots of space in the mouth simple but enjoyable warmth.  The mouthfeeling is becoming a bit scratchy in the throat. 

The 6^th infusion has a woody fallen leaves and not that creamy sweet but woodier hay taste.  Drier mouthfeeling now as the session progresses with a bit of throat starchiness.  Becoming more fallen leaf and even a bit mushroom.

7^th is left to cool and gives off a milky sweet oily taste with some woody almost nutty finish.  The nutty finish makes me think of Hongkong Traditional storage shu Brick but the less complex taste and feel is reminiscent of Fuzhuan Brick- the one for sure is that the fermentation technique is obvious- this is not sheng puerh and I’m leaning heavily that this is a HK traditional stored Shu puerh that is at least from the 90s but the material is not the highest quality but the storage more than makes up for it.  This also tastes a bit different/unique from other HK Trad stored Shu bricks I’ve hand… I appreciate the experience here.

8^th is left to cool and gives off a woody creamy almost mushroom fallen leaf taste. Faint creamy sweet and nutty but distant in the more woody aftertaste over a drier mouthfeeling now.

9^th is also left to cool and has a woody fallen leaf mushroom taste over a flat dry and a bit throat scratching throatfeeling. 

I do a longer infusion just for fun… a good 60 second steeping…

10^th infusion has a milky nutty and a bit more oiliness to it.  Still some throat scratchiness and a nice mild warming Qi.  Longer infusions here give it a subtle nutty even coco nuance with oilier feeling and some throat cooling.  Likely a cheaper but yet satisfying older drinker.

11^th is another long infusion that gives off a woody, nutty, mushroom taste to it.  A bit oily but drying mouthfeeling with scratchy throat. Warming Qi.

12^th is another long one… and is much more nutty and woody.  Nice woody almost creamy sweet with subtle cool throat finish.  The longer infusion time the smoother it is at this point…

I put it into overnight infusions… and it has nutty dirt deep oily but a bit sweet taste.  Taste shu processing but also the nuttier sweetness and more humid traditional storage. 

Guess: Hongkong traditionally stored Shu puerh brick at least 90s old maybe older of not that great quality materials.  It leads me to wonder if the seller was selling this one for the material or the storage?  If selling for the material this could be a nice cheaper aged drinker… if for the storage might be a pricier drinker…

Peace