The Best of Chawangshu: 2024 Essence of Tea Cha Wang Shu

This 2024 Essence of Tea Cha Wang Shu goes for $413.00 for 200g cake or $2.07/g.  I saw that Essence of Tea was pressing high quality Gushu from this area in 2022 & 2023 and wanted to try but never go to that order.  I was most looking forward to this session, Chawang shu is near the very top for me, and waited for a day where I could really take it all in.  That day I was already feeling amazing …. This session really took me over the top!!!

Dry leaves are a pungent sweet forest that reminds me immediately of unmistakable Cha Wang Shu!

Rinsed leaves have a creamy pungent forest odour… very Cha Wang Shu in every way!

First infusion has a soft clear onset with some melon and sugar creamy sweetness.  Wet mouth oily feeling.  Mouth salivating coolness with long creamy sweetness left in a wet oily salivating mouth.  Creamy sweetness delicious.  Peaceful calm with head tingling. Some opening feeling in the chest.  In the mind a spacy high is building up and I feel my mind already floating… subtle body floating…

Second has a melon creamy woody onset oily and wet mouth.  Saliva gobs and jams up the throat with producing saliva deep throat salivating.  Very strong spaced out with body and mind floating!  Vibration upwards!  Space out- take me away Qi… chest slight heavy with scalp tingling.

Third infusion has a delicious creamy melon sweet oily wet mouth lots of saliva producing candy like sweet pops of taste.  Long sweet melon finish.  Slight roasty woody bready in the throat.  Very strong space outs.  Body, arms, and scalp tingling with floating head, floating body feeling.  I feel so high… but not useless … a deep energy boost.

Fourth( or fifth?)infusion has a sugar creamy wet oily sweetness edges of woody almost melon tropical creamy sweetness is long there is a bit of sticky-sweet gums and roof.  Open chest feeling with scalp and body tingling and floating feeling. Spaced out deep charges.  Float.

… I’m so high I think I combined the third and fourth infusions …. Hahaha

Fifth ? Infusion has a creamy sweet sort of creamy melon taste.  Long lingering melon sweet woody taste.  Salivating wet oily texture with deeper throst salivating.  Bigger chest opening feeling with more energy charging up than spacy high but still lots of high, and floating and shoulders heavy and scalp tingling, face tingling, limbs tingling!

Sixth infusion has a creamy woody melon sweet onset with wet mouth less oily now.  Long creamy sweet finish.  Big Bodyfeeling and mind Qi!  Tingles, happy boost, big chest feeling heavy shoulders… big things here!  Cooled down it is soft icing sugar sweetness that returns/ evolves into a creamy sweet soft melon taste.  Mouthfeel is soft and smooth with a subtle stickiness and deep throst opening with some saliva producing.  Very happy and feel amazing /actualized.

Seventh has a woody lesser sweet sugar onset now with creamy woody taste getting a bit woody bland with some return and aftertaste mild melon sweetness.  Slight stickiness with sticky gums and still big spacy feeling good with heavy shoulders and chest.  For other reasons I am already feeling amazing today but this Qi has replicated that feeling to the next level!

Eighth infusion is watery sweet woody soft sticky mouthfeel with a returning melon sweetness on the cool breath.  Flavour is fading but there is a long sweet finish.  Not an oily texture but still some deep throat cooling.  Big qi is more relaxing and floating now.  Long sweetness…

Ninth is left to cool and is sweet woody… not much left. Milder spacy high now..

The long mug steeping is a woody almost potato melon.  More bland woody than sweet but still sweet edges.  Granular sandy mouthfeeling.  Relaxing Qi here with only mild body feelings left.  

I put it for another overnight thermos steeping and it is an oily sort of spicy woody melon potato taste.  Sweet oily taste.  Mild high now….

One of the best Chawangshu I have ever tried… very characteristic taste and feel with Qi and Bodyfeeling much above the average for other years/ productions of Chawangshu I have sampled recently.  I hope to have a few more 2024 Cha Wang Shu coming here soon so we are going to find out if it’s just a particularly good year for the region.  

Peace

2024 Essence of Tea 15++: Spacy Expanding Bodyfeels

I was very curious about this sample when it arrived from the 2024 Essence of Tea samples and decided to drink it blindly.  It was the second of their 2024 line up that I sampled…

Dry leaves have a light sort of airy candy-pungent sweet forest.  These leaves smell interesting to me … almost batnyard-ish.

Rinsed leaves have an icing sugar very sweet odour that reminds me of ManZhuan a bit.

First infusion has a very watery clear onset with a pungent sweet taste that comes over an oily texture some creamy sweet taste returns.  Somewhat tingling mouthfeel.  Pungent sweet finish minutes later with expanding head and mind feeling that I sometimes get from Wanggong area.

Second infusion has a mild oily coco creamy oily milky onset with a roasted peanuts taste.  Mild tastes early on. There is a mild pungent finish.  Sticky constant mouthfeel.  Qi has this spacy expanding bodyfeeling which is quite strong- feels in the body and mind like Wanggong.  Very spacy expanding outwards of body. Maybe some crazy new near the boarder area? The taste is a bit like ManSai though probably not from there…

Third infusion has an almost melon taste ends salty and there is some faint coco in there too.  Oily chalky mouthfeeling.  With lingering saliva that is produced in the throat.  Lots of different elements to the taste and feel here maybe picked over a long distance…. Not sure.  Salty taste is left in the mouth minutes later.  Very very strong spacy expanding out of body feeling it’s really a feeling specific to Wanggong I’ve not had any other area that can do this sort of thing…

Fourth has a sour onset with a bland sort of underlying sweet melon taste.  Sticky chalky mouthfeeling.  Spacy out of body expanding feeling.  There is a faint lingering salty coco finish. Sour, bland, sweet, slight coco bitter maybe, salty, was a touch pungent in the first few infusions … all 5 flavours makes for a balanced and engaging taste.

Fifth infusion has a sour salty coco melon taste … they call these savoury puerh and most I’ve tried are from Yiwu and often near the boarder.  Wow… body is somehow expanding outwards…. Amazing Qi here!  Sticky mouthfeel with more salty sweet finish.

Sixth infusion is left to cool and is a sweet and sour melon taste that turns salt, like salt on a melon if you have ever tried?  Spacy body. Wet mouth with salivating slight oily with chalky mouthfeel underneath.  Chest expanding body floats outward!

Seventh infusion is left to cool and gives off a watery sweet salty taste with a bland woody finish.  Chest opening a less spacy feeling now.  A lingering pear taste fades out in the finish.

Eighth is also left to cool and has a bitter woody almost coco onset with sweet melon edges.  This infusion is more bitter sweet bland with an almost banana/ melon taste underneath l.  Space out with floating out body feel.

9th is a bitter vegital onset with mouth salivating and returning faint vegital coco.  This infusion is mainly bitter with tastes underneath.  Spacy floating expanding feeling in the body is strong.

10th is a long mug steeping… it is a bitter salty taste with sweet sugar melon edges oily texture with chalky sticky not really gripping at all feeling.  Big spaced out expansion body out of body feeling!  

The overnight long steeping that follows is a melon sweet onset with a creamy body and a salty sweet finish sort of caramel sugar tasting.  Oily texture still.

I like this one a lot… the spacy floating expanding body/ mind feeling is a superior experience!  I think the notes speak for themself.

When I got to the site I learn that this 2024 Essence of Tea 15++ goes for $165.00 for 200g cake or $0.82/g and is actually a blend of mainly YiWu San Jia Zhai and Yao Zhu Di but also Southern Bulang… the notes in the second infusion hint at the Bulang there!  Great fun!  I like this tea a lot!

Peace

2024 Essence of Tea Manlin: Complex Contradictory Qi Feelings!

 

Okay, I only have one experience with the ManLin producing area and it was really nice pure long memorable long sugar and icing sugar tastes with nice feeling in the body and relaxing mind- it was the 2016 Zheng Si Long ManLin from Tea Encounter.  The session is still memorable and one of the my favourite Zheng Si Long that they offered.  I will retaste in detail after the main feature… The 2024 Essence of Tea Manlin Selected Trees which goes for $124.00 for 200g cake or $0.62/g.  “Selected trees” means only the oldest most ancient trees were selected from the garden and the result shows!  I was most excited about trying this one from the 2024 Tea Encounter lineup so it was the first I sampled…. and I was not disappointed !!!

Dry leaves have a sweet light airy sugary forest odour.

Rinsed leaves have a clear pure green slight roasted forest odour to them.

First infusion has a pure watery onset with a developing lingering sweetness.  There is a watery almost delicate sugared sweetness with faint ghostly maybe melon/ orange blossom.  Faint mouthfeeling and calming feeling.

Second infusion has a buttery sweet clear pure taste with light bodyfeeling and soft oily sandy mouthfeel. Some cooling breath with mid-deep throat opening cooling lingering sugar melon taste.  Relaxing peace stillness.  

Third infusion has a buttery clear wet taste with oily slight woody and mid- throat cool breath.  There is a mild sticky feeling in the mouth. Lingering icing sugar melon aftertaste even minutes later. Melon woody icing sugar.  Light limbs and and sort of airy almost floating bodyfeel is really nice.  Very stilling and clear focusing Qi but is also happy and spirt uplifting.  The result is a complex very subtle Qi feeling for me!

Fourth has a buttery slight floral cool breath brings out a return of subtle sweet melon popping and sugar. Long lingering melon sweet.  Happy uplifting mild euphoria and nice mind stillness and focusing with deep clear thoughts energy.  Some light limbs and even more energetic chest beats now.

Fifth has a buttery forest onset with some mild bitterness and sweet edges now wet mild oily texture with sticky tongue and mouthfeel.  Lingering returns of melon sweetness.  Strong chest beats contrasted light airy limbs.  Strong energy happiness contrasts a still mind focus.  The result is a complex Qi feeling. It feels so good…

Sixth infusion has a mild bitter woody onset with sweet return of bready tastes with melon and sugar edges.   The bitter is long and I faced with sweet.  The mouthfeel is a more tight stickiness now.  Some mild mid throat saliva gob.  Happy energy uplift with light limbs and strong Heart beats limbs focusng.

Seventh infusion is left to cool and has a sweet pear icing sugar taste with forest and cool breath and mild bitterness but a smooth freshening sweet sugar long taste.  Complex Qi is more peaceful slowness than energetic happy.  Light limbs.

Eighth is a long bitter sweet icing sugar melon.  Nice long melon icing sugar sweetness now.  Sticky mouthfeel. Big chest beats with calm focus and light limbs.

Summer heat wave power outage so I dump the spent leaves into a thermos and long steep it out… it is quite bitter with a forest woody taste and melon and sugar sweet finish.  The long sweet taste of refreshing melon and sugar. The mouthfeel is sticky and gripping but the sensation is more on the tongue and front of the mouth so the throat remains open and unaffected- it cools some cooling breath mid throat.

was 

This one is all about the complex and almost contradictory Qi and bodyfeelings that somehow make me feel so good!  Love it!

Vs 2016 Zheng Si Long Man Lin Retaste

Dry leaves has a sweet woody icing sugar slight candy odour.

First infusion has a soft sweet creamy custard woody onset with an oily texture and oily feeling in the mouth it returns a bit and is long and creamy.

Second infusion has a hay/ straw/ cereal and woody onset with overall sweet taste and finish of icing sugar custard.  Pure oily texture. Icing sugar custard aftertaste.  Sticky mouthfeel.  Lingering faint sweetness. Clear and pure. Mild Qi sensations.

Third infusion has a cereal woody texture with a quite thicker oily texture it finishes sweet in the mouth with a long custard with icing sugar edges sweetness.  Slight sticky mouth with mid throat sensation.  Mild Qi feeling in the body and mind.  Peaceful feeling. Minutes later there is still a faint lingering sugar sweet.

Fourth infusion has a sweet cereal woody grains onset with icing sugar sweetness in a very thick oily texture.  There is hints at melon returning sweetness and has a long icing sugar central finish in a sticky tongue and mouthfeel.  Pure clear taste.  Faint cooling in mid throat.  Almost slight candy sweet minutes later.  Sighs and calm peace.

Fifth infusion has a melon grains/cereal onset with a floral and melon mid returning and cooling breath in mid throat with aftertaste of melon and icing sugar.  Peaceful calm. Cooled down it is very oily texture with a faint sticky mouthfeel and tongue underneath.  There is a candy finish minutes later in the mouth.  Mild peaceful calm.

Sixth has a melon icing sugar grains/cereal onset with cooling mid throat and melon returning icing sugar and long candy sweet finish.  Oily texture and sticky mouthfeel underneath.  Calm peaceful feel with faint light limbs. Sixth cooled down is very sweet creamy custard icing sugar sweetness with long candy finish in pure clear tastes.  Peaceful calm.  

Seventh infusion is a creamy sweet oily taste with icing sugar custard and finishes into a long candy finish! Very oily texture with moderate sticky mouth mid throat faint cooling.  Lots of evolving sweetness in a very oily texture is very nice!

Eighth left to cool is oily clear mild melon icing sugar sweet with cereal grains and long sweet faintly candy finish.  Nice oily texture.  There is a melon and candy finish so nice.  Soft sticky tongue and mouth.  Peaceful calm and slightly happy feeling.

9th infusion is a watery grains with lesser sweet taste and still some oily texture.  Still a bit of sweet long taste.  No bitterness or astringency at all here very smooth!

A comparison of these two areas has lots of similarities but the complex Qi of the 2024 Essence of Tea Manlin is its shining feature where the 2016 Zheng Si Long is all about the over the top pure crystalline icing sugar sweetness!  You can really get an idea of the character of Manlin from this comparison I feel… 

Peace 

Recommend! 2024 Essence of Tea Spring Yiwu Guoyoulin Ancient Treee White Tea

 

I have sampled a handful of these white teas made from material typically used for puerh over the last years.  Most memorably was the recent 2023 Tea Encounter Yiwu White Tea that was sent with the samples last year and that I thought I had posted… but didn’t…

This 2024 Essence of Tea GuoYouLin Yiwu White Tea goes for $83.00 for 200g cake or $0.41/g… a great deal considering this is probably the best white tea I have ever sampled…

Dry leaves have a light mossy forestry sweet almost hard to grasp melon or watermelon odour. Reminds me of first flush Darjeeling and, well, white tea….

I’m doing flash steeps at boiling here…

Rinsed leaves have a soft floral almost green grape odour.

First infusion has a soapy watery light sweet taste.  Light floral fruity grape with a nice oily lubricaning feel down the throat.  Soft opening Qi in chest. Oily light sweet almost floral.

Second infusion has a light sweet grape fruity taste.  There is an almost woody underneath with lubricating and slight dry finish.  There is a peaceful feeling and chest expanding focused mind. 

Third has an oily grape floral taste woody.  Spacy peaceful feeling with chest opening and light limbs.  Leaves have strong grapes odour.

Fourth infusion has a grape forest oily almost melon and not really floral smooth sweet taste.  There is a long smooth oily grapes champagne taste.  Peaceful relaxing energy.mainly oily taste but with slight drying.

Fifth is left to cool and is a honey grape oily smooth taste.  Woody oily sweet slight forest slight grape soapy taste.  Relaxing peaceful energy with chest opening slightly light limbs.

Sixth has an oily soapy grape forest taste.  Sweet almost melon taste.  Oily slowly grape.  Peaceful spacy qi.

Seventh has a woody oily melon oily sweet almost floral taste.  The tongue is a touch sandy and dry after.  Lots of initial taste with lacking returning sweetness is common white tea feature.  Peaceful qi feeling.  Open chest light limbs.

Eighth left to cool has a melon peachy oily taste throughout.  I’m left feeling peaceful with chest expansion and light limbs.

The long mug infusion of spent leaves pushes a bit of bitterness and astringency out along with one peachy melon and mainly a strong floral purfume soap.  The mouthfeel here becomes quite gripping and tight.  After it cools it’s a sweet oily woody melon peachy floral sweet taste with sticky mouthfeel.  Peaceful and easing qi feeling.  Finishes with a slight mouth pucker. Oily peachy melon taste.  Yummy!

I push it again for an overnight infusion and it comes out with a deep floral slight bitterness taste with edges of sweetness.  Deep and strong here. Very nice!

Like a first flush Darjeeling without the bitterness and intense black tea Qi and instead delivers a smoothed out mellow sweet approach with bigger Gushu Qi experience!  This is the best white tea I’ve sampled from materials that would normally be used for puerh- recommended!

Peace

2024 Essence of Tea Lineup

 

Okay this is not an every year thing… maybe it’s like every second or third year thing… I’m not sure exactly… some years I have purchased them all like I did in the early pandemic times in 2020.  Other years David reaches out and offers samples for review like this year (and like he will probably do next year;) He has been sending free samples of some of the finest teas since the first year of this blog (when we referred to him as Nada) and dang-nab-it… he just continues to do so!

He reached out with a comment that MattCha’s Blog might be the longest running and most active tea blog… and he might be correct… it should be noted that he also sent them after a recent comment on a post asking if I could really tell the difference between Cha Wang Shu and Wan Gong areas…. Of course… but we are going to sample a few good ones from here to be certain the 2024 Essence of Tea Wangong Ma An Shan and the 2024 Essence of Tea Cha Wang Shu… hahaa

Stay tuned as I post these delicious puerhs…

Peace

2017 ChenYuan Hao Bai Cha Yuan: Spaced Out Body Floats!

 I purchased a sample of this 2017 ChenYuanHao Bai Cha Yuan from puerh.uk in my last order after sampling the 2023 ChenYuan Hao BaiChaYuan and becoming enamoured by its bubbling chest bodyfeeling and strong mind pausing Qi!

Dry leaves are a very piercing fine sweet candy purfume…. Delicious….

Rinsed leaves have a sweet cherries and plum odour.

First infusion has a clear pure watery fluffy creamy sweet almost developing into a perfume.  There is light long expansive faint airy creamy sweet taste that’s has this airy hard to grasp complexity to it that is mainly in the odour.

Second has a creamy fluffy sweet slight woody taste to it.  With a deep throat breath sweetness of cherries and creamy sweetness.  Wet mouth with a stickiness and deep throat stimulation.  Spacy head feeling.  With a spacy body disconnecting floating high.

Third infusion has a pure fruity sweet pear creamy fluffy taste oily wet mouth with lingering cherry sweet deep throat opening and breath. Spacy floating high.

Fourth has a sweet pear creamy pure onset with a watery mouthfeeling.  Spacy floating bodyfeeling.  Deep throat breath faint pear / cherry sweetness.  Spacy heady feeling.

Fifth infusion is left to cool and is a woody watery pure taste.  There is some cool woody finish and spacy floating bodyfeel.

Sixth infusion is a pure woody bland slight sweet taste.  There is a creamy almost fruity sweet taste under the bland woody.  Sticky sort of dry tugging mouthfeel.  Spacy floating.

Seventh infusion has a clear pure taste bland woody slight wet mouth sort of sticky slight dry feeling.  Oliy with a deep throat opening m.  Spaced out high feeling.

Long mug steeping of spent leaves has an oily woody bland taste with faint edges of barely sweetness.  Sweet almost cherry and floral breath odours. Sort of resin woody cherries.  Sticky dry mouth slight pucker.

This one is about the pure clear profile and deep throat breath but mainly the floating bodyfeeling and spacy high! I like this area for its refined Qi experience for sure!

Peace

2015 Xin Le Tang: Smoke and Oh So Sweet!

I really like these non-Zheng Si Long and non-Fang Ming Yuan sourced puerh by Tea Encounter… they are very picky when it comes to these.  I think they have only offered three?  I somewhat regret not picking up any of their 2003 YuanJiuTang Ban Zhang mainly because it’s one of the oldest cheapest puerh with noticeable Ban Zhang character in its taste.  I also ended up picking up a few of these 2015 Nannuo Duo Yi Zhai cakes.

This 2015 Xin Le Tang goes for $105.06 for 357g cake or $0.29/g but I got this as a free sample a year or two ago.  

Dry leaves have a very sweet airy creamy fruity odour.

Rinsed leaves have a moderate smoky bbq note with sweetness behind it.

First infusion has a sweet metallic smoke bbq light airy sweetness.  Mouthwatering delicious floral buttercup taste.  Has a Menghai Nannou sort of profile with a long sweet sugar finish.  Northern Menghai region.  It’s really delicious to me right off the bat!

Second infusion has a sugary icing sugar with a very familiar smoky bbq taste no char just subtle smoke over the sweet notes.  Tastes like a Bama area puerh I had decades ago.  Reminds me of Beijing storage. Sweet is buttery sugar.  Sticky sandy mouth feeling with sweetly gums.  Long sweet. 

Third infusion is left to cool and has a creamy sugar sweet taste with developing sweetness buttery sweet taste sugars.  Smoke but never char throughout.  Chest beats and relaxed energy feeling. 

Fourth has a cream sweet oily sugar taste with a veil of smoke.  Mouthfeel is oily and wet lots of saliva producing with sweet notes left in the mouth.  Happy feeling with some energy generating. Cooled down its harms this really deliciously butter sweet sugar honey slight cooling throat and long sweet with background smoke…. I really like the taste!

5th is left to cool and has a sweet creamy honey sweet taste with background smoke.  Very comfortable in the body.  Creamy fluffy soft fine sandy mouthfeel with slight oily taste.  Long honey creamy sweet finish.

6th is left to cool and is very sweet buttery honey oily onset very delicious with some elbow tingling and happy slight energetic qi feeling.  Lots of saliva producing wet mouth long honey sweetness.  Happy feel good.

7th left to cool is a woody resin chocolate honey sweet taste with oily mouth salivating.  Happy energy uplift.  Comforting body feel.

8th has a resin woody oily with a chocolate lubricating sandy feel.  Laura of honey and coco.  Happy uplifting.

9th has a smoke and honey onset with an oily coco slight woody finish.  Really yummy! Happy uplifting.

10th is left in the cup overnight and is a sweet caramel layering there is a slight bitter coco finish.  Long sweet caramel.

11th I steep the next day and it is a sweet juicy fruity pop of salivating sweetness.  There is some layered honey and coco.

12th left it in the pot for a few more seconds …has a smoke onset with slight bitterness and sweet juicy fruity honey underneath.  

The long mug infusion brings out the smoke and it is quite oily and sweet underneath buttery creamy sweet turning into coco sweetness. Happy Qi sensation.

Overall a very traditionally processed very nice sweet and smoke balance with great mouthfeel and happy energy!

I checked on the site after taking these notes and this is actually from Lincang which explains its buttery sweetness!

I like it!

Peace

2016 Zheng Si Long Yaoding Gushu: Sleepy Tranquilizer

This 2016 Zheng Si Long Yaoding Gushu goes for $208.77 for 400g cake or $0.52/g.  It was given to me as a free sample for review last year but I’m just getting to it now back-to-back with the 2016 Zheng Si Long GeDeng last post…

Dry leaves have a woody creamy sweet candy cereal odour.

Rinsed leaves have a sweet raisin prune odour with lighter creamy sweet underneath.

First infusion has a creamy sweet candy plum taste.  There is an initial pop of plum sweet then a return of creamy candy plum.  

Second infusion has a juicy pear pop of seeet taste with a strong return of juicy fruity candy creamy sweet.  Nice oily texture costs the mouth.  Cooled down it is a dried plum creamy sweet taste and almost woody finish.  Soft mouthfeel with slight oily texture.

Third infusion has dried plum initial with a woody mid profile and sweet finish. Relaxing energy.

Fourth infusion has a spicy woody plum and slight juicy fruity pear taste.  There is this spicy woody sort of dried fruity paper taste.  Sort of complex.  Relaxing and calming mind.

Fifth has a sweet woody spicy paper taste with a bland paper with sweetness emerging underneath.  Sweet tries to punch through in the returning taste with a sweet lingering pear taste in the mouth and saliva.  

Sixth infusion has a spicy woody bready pear onset with a bland sandy slight puckering mouthfeel.  Pear creamy sweet chalky cooling almost candy finish minutes later with a sandy dry gripping mouthfeel.

Seventh spicy paper woody pear onset with a slight spicy papery forest pear finish.  Slight sandy mouthfeel with deep relaxing space out.  Head floating feeling.

Eighth has a woody spicy papery pear sweet bland almost but not really bitter in a slightly dry and slight griping but mainly sticky feeling in the mouth.  Warming face and spacy floating mind is strong now.

Ninth is left to cool and is a sweet spicy woody slight bitter bland with sandy sticky slight dry picker mouth and lingering pear sweetness with dry woody.  Deeply relaxing and a bit sleepy.

I run out of time in my day but the next morning I do a few more flash infusions and it is a sweet sort of prune watery woody spicy tasting with sticky mouthfeeling.  There is a woody dirt prune that balances a cooling pungent taste.  

I long mug steep out the rest… its has a sweet date pure sort of taste with a tight sticky mouth with sugar edges.  There is a woody bitter bland taste in there as well.  Spacy and sleepy Qi refers me useless today.

The overnight infusion of spent leaf yields a sweet juicy plum taste with some faint woody mid profile and long sweet plum and candy finish with a tight squeaky mouthfeeling.  There are edges of coco and pure syrup and a soapy grape taste.  Lots of complexity when pushed like this.. Still lots of sleepy Qi in here as well! 

I felt sleepy and relaxed today drinking this tea!  Drinking this back to back with the 2016 Zheng Si Long GeDeng it is apparent that this Yaoding was stored longer in China than the GeDeng which comes off greener.

Peace

2016 Zheng Si Long Ge Deng

 

I am a fan of these Zheng Si Long Ge Deng area puerhs.  I caked the 2018 but did a nice comparison on these products in this post here.  That comparison post was missing the 2016 Zheng Si Long Ge Deng.  I was actually eventually offered a free sample of the 2016 maybe a year or so later but never got to sampling it.  Then it also sold out… Not sure what I was waiting for but probably other related samples to compare…after sampling the 2024 Tea Encounter line up I decided that I would sample a few others that I had not yet sampled from Tea Encounter…. And, well, I was just craving Ge Deng having not had one in years… 

Dry leaves have a sweet woody creamy sort of faint spearmint odour.

Rinsed leaves creamy sweet woody pungent odour.

First infusion has a sweet creamy woody slight pungent taste.  Lubricating oily texture with some chest opening and beating.

Second has a slight bitter pungent onset with a woody and creamy sweet mid profile.  Cooled down it has a pungent creamy almost candy sweet onset with a caramel finish.  Chest Qi is sting with beats and a lingering long caramel candy finish.  Mouthfeel is slight tight sticky with a mid deep throat opening and some mild stimulation.

Third infusion has a quick bitter that moves to sweet with a creamy long candy and caramel layer.  Bitter to sweet allows for a splash of sweet to hit.  The throat feeling is slight tight and stimulating allowing for lots of saliva with a long lingering candy and caramel bi-layering. Cooled down it is a creamy sweet pungent slight woody Forest cool breath lingering candy sweetness.  Slight sticky feeling with mid throat stimulation and salivating!  Chest Qi with beats and opening sensations.

Fourth infusion is left to cool and has a creamy sweet chalky candy caramel taste.  Smooth with a cool returning creamy candy.  Some chest beats and open chest sensations.  Sort of fluttering chest feeling.  

Fifth infusion has a fruity sweetness initially with creamy cool candy aftertaste with caramel layers. Cooled down it is creamy candy sweet with a cool breath pungency and sweet candy and caramel bi-layering.  Sticky mouthfeel and some mid throat opening. Chesty open heart beats qi.

Sixth infusion has a fruity creamy sweet onset with pops of flavour.  Cooled down it has a lot more sweetness, fruity initial and candy finish with caramel layering.  Chest Qi and beats and opening.

Seventh infusion has a pungent sweet creamy fruity candy woody cooling pungent finish.  Sticky almost drying mouthfeel.  Chesty Qi opening.

Eighth fruity bitter woody pungent mouthwatering candy creamy caramel sweet return with pungent cooling breath finish.  

The ninth infusion was left in the cup last night and today is sweet woody with a caramel creamy sweet candy cooling finish.

10th and 11th the next day are sweet fruity cooling pungent with woody edges a a cooling pungent sweet caramel finish with chest Qi.

Nice clear Gedeng character with a sweet layered presentation… could have taken this a bit longer…

Long mug steeping of spent leaves is left overnight and it is a creamy sweet pungent spice with an oily fruity sweetness and finishes with coco.  Very oily with lots of saliva producing mid throat.  

All of these Zheng Si Long Ge Deng productions are quite nice Gedeng profile for the price…. This one is no different!  If my memory and re-reading the notes on the other Zheng Si Long Ge Deng this one is most similar to the 2017 with a very reliable classic Ge Deng taste profile.  I should check to see if I have any left in these samples to re-try and compare…

The Weekend Sessions tasting notes

Peace 

2024 Tea Encounter Walong: Drooling Out of Mouth Texture!

 

Tea Encounter has been releasing excellent Walong area puerh every second year it seems.  This year this 2024 Tea Encounter Walong goes for $154.89 for 250g cake or $0.62/g.

This Dry leaves have a creamy melon cantaloupe sweet odour.

Rinsed leaves have a sweet roasted forest odour… really delicious odour.

First infusion has a watery light airy sweet taste a delicate sweet taste.  Sugary layered fine light airy and refined.., super yummy.

Second creamy delicious sweetness with an airy creamy taste a bit creamy strawberries long sweet taste with wet mouthwatering feel.  Very delicious light airy and sweet. Chesty Qi feeling, excited feeling.

Third infusion is left to cool and has a really nice sweet transitioning taste very yummy!  An oily sweet creamy almost bitter with a mouthwatering saliva producing as the sweet creamy candy taste expands and explodes in the mouth.  Mouthfeel is thicker with a chalky fluffy feeling 

Fourth infusion has a creamy mouthwatering candy onset with a building sweet taste mouthwatering and a fluffy thick feel and a bit of sticky mouthfeel.  Sticky queenly gums slight faint pucker on tongue lots of saliva producing.  Chesty bubbling feeling with and excited happy mind.

Fifth infusion the pot clogged a few seconds… pops of fruity sweetness now with some sour faint bitter.  Cooled down it is more creamy fruity sweet- there is a layering and expansiveness to the sweetness.  Happy and excitable with a bubbling in the chest feeling. Oily wet mouth feeling with stickiness.

Sixth infusion has an oily fruity taste with mouthwatering and mild bitterness.  Some dry puckering taste.  Smooth creamy sweetness with edges of candy expanding sweet.  The cooled down infusion is bittersweet oily fruity.  Happy chest qi with excited mind.

Seventh - oops … busy day

Eighth is a creamy mild sweet taste oily and thick with wet mouthwatering like it’s drooling out of my mouth.. that’s right drooling mouthfeel!  Mild sweet now but still creamy and expanding.  Happy and excited feeling with heart bubbling chest excitement.

Ninth infusion is a bland mildly barely bitter with light sort of woody creamy taste.  Still thick oily with mouthfeel and salivating effect holding strong.  Faint fruit in the aftertaste.  Happy excitement and chest bubbling and heart racing feeling. Limbs feel heavy. 

I put the spent leaves into a long mug infusion and it is a creamy bitter onset with expanding candy creamy sweet taste that unravels with an oily long creamy salivating taste.  Strong chest qi with bubbling and strong beats!

2022 Tea Encounter WaLong Gushu

Dry leaves have a sort of grains and candy sweet odour now.

Rinsed leaves have a very sweet creamy strawberries and strong candy odour.

First infusion has a very smooth candy strawberries taste with a long deep throaty taste- wow deep delicious sweet creamy strawberry taste.  Thick viscus oily wet feeling with deep throat opening. Spacy high feeling with tingling limbs. Oh man such a nice and obvious Manzhuan Gushu feel right off the bat here!

Second infusion has a strawberries and almost rubbery forest initial taste.  Sweetness goes deep and long.  There is a creamy strawberry sweet taste over a fluffy creamy candy finish.  The sweetness stays on the breath for a long time and deep in the throat.  I feel strongly spaced out high with arms and shoulders tingling.  Minutes long creamy sweet. So nicely and deeply Gushu.

Third infusion has a strawberries and forest sweet long sweet taste in an oily mouthfeel.  Long forest and sweet pure long and deep throst sweetness.  Space out high with limbs and shoulders. Cooled down it is sweet creamy strawberry.  Long and into breath, deep and into pit of throat. Spacy high is pretty strong.

Fourth infusion has a fruity juicy creamy strawberries sweetness.  Long breath and deep throat sweetness.  Fluffy soft mouthfeeling and spaced out mind some should heaviness and light arms.  

Fifth is left to cool and is a juicy fruity peach with creamy sugar sweet finish. Layers of creamy sweet long deep taste.  Pure and uninterrupted.  Happy high spaced out feeling!  

Sixth infusion is left to cool and is a fruity almost peach juicy taste with a soft fluffy mouthfeel and oily mouthwatering effect. Space out!  Limbs light with heavy shoulders.

Seventh has a watery oily sweet almost peachy taste simple and less dense or deep or long but satisfying enough. Subtle spacy now with heavy shoulders and light limbs.

Eighth has a watery sweet taste with faint watery woody.  Sweet watery taste is left. Insipid and time for a mug steeping… faint candy hard to grasp in the finish.  Pure clear taste.

Long mug infusion of spent leaves is bitter woody with a sweet oily strawberries sweet strawberry jam taste.  Spacy high feeling is immediately apparent.  Some faint dry gripping sticky mouth as well.  

2020 Tea Encounter Wa Long Guoyoulin

Dry leaves are a woody grains faint fruity sweet.

Rinsed leaf has a very sweet pure creamy sweet strawberries odour.  

First infusion has a very sweet watery taste.  Mouthwatering sweet strawberries with sugary strawberries return long sweet finish. Pure sweet clear taste.  Spacy mind and high feeling.  Face tingling and mind. Saliva producing oily chalky feeling.  So sweet!

Second infusion has a cake pastry sweet fruity taste that returns to a creamy pastry icing sugar taste very pure and clear Manzhuan! Sticky mouthfeeling soft and oily textures.  Spacy happy feeling with stronger face numb and shoulders tingling bodyfeeling!

Third infusion has a sweet onset of strawberries and icing sugars.  Clear pure refined taste with soft and mildly sticky mouthfeeling.  Cherries strawberries long aftertaste left in mouth minutes later.  Subtle deep throat opening.  Sticky fluffy soft mouthfeel.

Fourth has a woody strawberry strong sweet taste with icing sugar and strawberry jam taste with open throat and long strawberries aftertaste.  Strong mouthwatering with very clear pure tastes. Yummy! Stronger body feel on the skull and face shoulders and limbs!  Cooled down it becomes even sweeter with creamy clear sugar icing sugar slight strawberries.  Slight grains and ghostly almost strawberries on the breath minutes later.  Stronger bodyfeeling of face and skull tingling and shoulders and arms numb.

Fifth infusion watery with a grains initial taste there is a retuning mild icing sugar and then a slow sweeter development of faint strawberry.  Watery grains woods and sweet now that the sweetness has significantly dropped off.  Cooled down it is a bit more creamy sweet with a woody taste and mouth stick slight driness.  Happy high with chest beats.

Sixth infusion cooled is creamy watery sweet strawberries. Slight woody grains. Sweet sugar finish.  Spaced out high.  Gave numb and shoulders heavy and tingles.

Seventh is a clear watery sweet strawberry edges. Watery with icing sugar edges in a clear broth. Slight woody grains cereals in the finish.  Empty slight sticky mouthfeel here… time for the long mug infusions…

It comes out woody grains with hard to grasp sugary edges.  Mainly a grains cereal blandness.

Comparison of 2020, 2022, 2024 Tea Encounter Wa Long-

First of all these are all named a bit differently and I believe all come from different gardens.  The 2020 has the most wild and ethereal feel of the group.  The most clear pure distilled taste.  It also has big bodyfeelings! The 2022 is the most Gushu feeling of the lot with the strongest Qi in the mind with strong spaced out highs.  It also has the deepest and longest sweet taste.  The 2024 has the best mouthfeel and textures out of the group with drooling out of mouth salivating effect.

I loved the comparison because these are all really good but different!

This concludes my sampling of these 2024 Tea Encounter Samples.  Thanks again Tiago!

Peace