2024 Tea Encounter Heishuilangzi: Comfortable Quenching Peaceful Uplift

This 2024 Tea Encounter Guafengzhai Heishuiliangzi goes for $114.49 for 250g cake or $0.46/g.  This is a complimentary sample for review- thanks!  This is one of two gardens of Guafengzhai that t I have not previously sampled the other being the 2024 Tea Encounter Guafengzhai Baishahe of last post.

Dry leaves have a strong piercing cooling pungent odour.

Rinsed leaves have a pungent forest gamey barnyard odour.

First infusion has a creamy milky buttery sweet forest with slight barnyard and forest complexity.  Creamy and milky with mainly forest barnyard and buttery sweet taste. Expanding peaceful feeling.

Second has a forest pungent cooling buttery taste with soft oily mouthfeel with sticky throat.  There is a lingering floral throughout and in the odour of the leaves now as well.  Subtle hard to find candy returning in the aftertaste with some deeper thrust sensation and salivating.

Third has a pungent spice forest slight barnyard with a floral buttery sweet taste.  The mouthfeel is nice with some throat stimulation and stickiness and oily texture.  The roof of mouth is dry lots of elements to the mouthfeel.  There is done saliva producing as well with almost melon candy under the denser complex forestry tastes.  Expanding peaceful feeling eyes feel blurry limbs light.

Fourth has a pungent barnyard forest warm spice taste there is a nice layered mouthfeel with oily wet texture with a sticky throat and mid throat stimulation with salivation and slight dry roof of mouth taste. Subtle bitterness in the mix and the sweetness is behind spicy and savoury forest now.

Fifth infusion and a buttery pungent forest slight spicy mild bitter onset with a juicy fruity pop returning with oily texture and mouth salivating.  Peaceful expanding feeling with light limbs.  Dense forest taste with buttery sweetness underneath.  Some dry roof and gums with sticky throat and stimulation.

6th has a watery pungent sweet buttery taste with an oily wet mouthfeel some mild throat stimulation and salivating.  Sweet floral cooling pungent finish in the mouth.  Mild Peaceful awake feeling. Light limbs.

7th has a pungent spice with a buttery floral sweetness underneath. Nice oily texture with a sticky feeling underneath with a fruity candy trying to return in the mouth.  Light limbs and peaceful energy boosting.

8th has a pungent spice onset with a savoury disposition now.  A bit bitter, a bit floral.  Very Sticky mouth feeling now.

9th has a pungent spice almost bitter, forest taste with a sticky slight pucker now mouth and throat feel with light limbs and a mild peaceful uplifting.

10th has a spicy pungent with savoury salty forest taste.  This one is definitely not as sweet as the others in the lineup. Some uplifting energy with light limbs and very comfortable bodyfeeling here. Some chest opening compounds but overall very soft in the body.

Long mug overnight steep of spent leaves is … a clear sweet refreshing pure taste there is fresh if forest lime with a mouthwatering sweet creamy building breath.. refreshing and pure vibe… faint ghostly long creamy almost candy finish… so nice.  Enough stamina I put it for a few day steeping and it’s a pungent oily lime sweet taste.  Very refreshing in this heat wave some sticky feeling and sugar and almost candy fruity finish… 

Peace

2024 Tea Encounter Baishahe: Thick Oily Full Textures

This 2024 Tea Encounter GuaFengZhai BaiShaHe goes for  $91.59 for 250 g cake or $0.37.  This is a complimentary sample of a specific GuaFengzhai garden…

Dry leaves have a light airy sweet sugar odour with a distant cooling pungent forest smell.

Rinsed leaves have a light airy minty spicy but mainly sugar sweet odour.

First infusion was left to cool down and has a pungent creamy surgar milky smooth taste.  Nice smooth oily texture with lots of thicker saliva producing.  Some deeper throat stimulation.  Forest cooling pungent left in the mouth.  Milky creamy. Slight high floating feeling with.

Second infusion has a spicy oily milky creamy sweet onset very oily and fills the mouth with oily dense saliva!  Milky viscus creamy.  Has a spicy forest onset with faint fruiy and potato complexity in the distance.  Cooled down it is a pungent forest spicy with creamy almost potato and floral.  Slight high feeling.  Shoulders float.  Bit of body floating.

Third infusion has a sweet and spicy taste with a smooth oily saliva producing effect. There is a creamy floral spicy pungent.  Mouthfeel is really oily, saliva, viscus and very enjoyable. High feeling with somebody float.

Four is left to cool and has a strong spicy pungent taste with a sweet lower tropical fruity taste.  The mouthfeel is dense and flavour thick.  High uplift feeling with a flora ting tingling body feel.  Shoulder float up.  

Fifth infusion has a creamy melon pungent/spice dense taste and feel. There is a thick oily denser mouthfeeling the throat is less in play here but you almost forget about it with all the salivating oily viscous mouth action.  Floral and melon and maybe potato for a sweet complexity in the dense flavour. High happy floating feeling.

Sixth infusion has a warming spicy onset with a dense sweet taste of tropical fruit, melon, potato, forest but mainly spicy.  Nice oily mouthwatering thick viscus mouthfeel.   High happy feeling with some strong chest beasts and lesser lingering creamy melon spice finish.

Seventh is a spicy melon sweet taste with a creamy oily mouthwatering thing. Sweet thick creamy melon, spice, forest creamy sweet dense taste.  Oily, mouthwatering creamy texture.  Happy high feeling with subtle body floating.

Eighth has a sugar sweet onset with the direction towards a melon forest spicy dense taste with some faint bitterness emerging.  Happy high feeling with some energy building.  Mouthfeel is more silty sticky now and less viscus and oily or milky.

8th is left to cool and has a slightly sour sweet potato melon forest complex dense taste and feel still but it has lost a lot of that oily creamy milky texture but still a nice thicker silty full mouthfeeling.  Happy high with chest beats and shoulder Qi.  Is more stimulating and energizing now.  

9th has a melon sweet oily onset with mouthwatering thick oily texture.  Slight forest, spice, potato, creamy sweet complexity with slight bitter edge.  Full mouthfeeling.  High happy energetic feeling.

The long mug steeping of spent leaves is oily and sweet with a thick chalky full mouthfeeling.  Lots of sweetness in here as well.  Full mouthfeel with a nice sweet taste with some complexity of florals and forest tastes.  Qi here is still strong and makes me feel a happy high feeling.  Heavy shoulders.  Thick rich fruity pops come and leave with the overall thick full sweetness.  Very salivating oily and quite satisfying. 

This was a puerh all about the thick layered oily textures and mouthfeels and how the sweetness interacts with it.  The happy high feeling is very much in line with GuaFengZhai feeling… so enjoyable this was one of my favourites of these samples!

Peace

2024 Tea Encounter Yiwu Chun Lei: Stamina Slows Mind Sweet Pops!

This 2024 Tea Encounter Yiwu “Chun Lei” goes for $52.53 for 250g or $0.21/g.  I got this complimentary sample for review.  It is one of two secret garden puerh that Tea Encounter offered in their Spring 2024 release. I tried the 2024 Tea Encounter “Fei Cui” the day before this one. 

The Dry leaves have a very sweet salty sour forest odour.

Rinsed leaves have a very sweet bready pastry odour with interesting forest notes.

First infusion has a watery pungent barnyard with spice.  There is a mild sweet return.  The cooled down liquor is similar with a mild sweetness and warm spice with a sweet sugar return.

Second has a pungent warm spicy onset… reminds me of boarder tea or close to it.  With bread warm spice and sugar finish.  There is a sort of oily texture with sticky squeaky gums.  Long sweet finish linger in mouth. Spacy mind. Heavy head.

Third infusion has a spicy warm onset with cool pungency and sweet bread tastes.  There is a tanginess to it almost bitter with a slight gripping mouthfeel. There is some orange peel fruity taste in there too.  Overall a spicy warming and cooling pungency feels upfront.  There is a Heavy head with slow mind.

Fourth infusion has a pungent warm spice onset that is pretty upfront and strong.  Slight very mild bitter.  This is a unique taste but not Yesheng definitely tastes like border tea or close to the border.  The mouthfeel is strong and present and full with sticky gums slight sandy dry tongue and mild throat tugging. Heavy head feeling and slow thoughts slight sleepy.

5th is left to cool and has a spicy brassy fruity taste that is mainly warming spice.  Slight almost bitter and full mouthfeeling of gums and tongue dry squeaky.  Slight head heaviness and relaxing slow thoughts.  Heavy shoulders and head.  

6th has a spicy fruity bitter onset with a sort of wild flower or weedy taste.  Full mouthfeel with a sticky full sandy tongue and mouth.  Slight rubbery bitter finish reminiscent of a Yesheng with long cooling breath gripping slightly throat. Mind head heavy and heavy mind feeling.

7th has an almost floral spice bitter slight salty note.  Mouthfeel is full a bit oily texture with a slight gripping and squeaky gums and sandy slight dry mouth.  I like how present the mouthfeel is without being overbearing. Qi has a heavy slowing vibe to it. 

8th has a bitter slight floral low sweet taste with a slight spring gripping mouthfeel.  Full mouthfeel with more saltiness and savour coming out. Slow down Qi in here.

9th has a sweet pop initial with floral onset the bitter sweet balance is really nice here with a flat bland type mild bitterness that comes after sweet.  Mouthwatering effect cool breath. Lots happening in the initial taste with less in the finish with this puerh.

10th has a dry woody profile with that sweet pop juicy floral followed by bland bitter with a floral mouth finish.  Salty savoury in there too.  I really like these later infusions they are yummy to me.  Qi is a bit warming and building giving me less slowness and more peaceful stillness.

11th has a floral onset with a quick pop of sweetness then floral bitter bland.  Mouthwatering and floral delicious!  Mouthfeel is full slight dry sandy  tongue but never dry throat which makes it feel really engaging but not strangling.  Qi is a floating mind peaceful feeling.

I wanted to go longer with this one as it has great stamina and us getting better in these late sessions but run out of time in a day…

The long overnight mug steeping of spent leaves had lots left to enjoy- it is oily and spicy and salty.  There is a bright floral sunny sweetness underneath.  Lots of vibrancy still- great stamina in these leaves. The mouthfeel has a squeaky gums and subtle tight driness.  Really nice things going on with this one late in the session- I like this.  This puerh is a great value proposition considering its price tag.  It was one of my favourites of the sampling!

Vs 2024 Tea Encounter “Fei Cui”- these two are very different puerh- the “Fei Cui” has much deeper and refined qualities with long evolving layered sweet taste and deeper Qi but has poor stamina.  This “Chun Lei” is slow to start and has lots of change from the start of the session to the end.  It has a more complex and changing taste and energy and really good stamina.

Peace

2024 Tea Encounter Yiwu Fei Cui: Evolving Sweetnesses Focused Mind

This 2024 Yiwu “Fei Cui” goes for $222.24 for 200g cake.  It’s from a secret garden with the real area withheld so just named after a high quality jade “Fei Cui”.  I was must curious about this one so it’s the second complimentary sample I tried…

 Dry leaves have a vibrant hypnotic sweet tropical fruit pungent odour.

Rinsed leaves have a sweet almost bready sweetness with subtle barnyard sweet odours and pungent deep forest.

First infusion has a honey watery pungent with expanding honey and spice taste.  Tastes like something close to boarder tea.  Long expansive and evolving honey sweet profile subtle melon.

Second infusion has a honey candy pop with long evolving sweet taste where candy sweetness intertwines with honey tastes.  There is some faint cooling but lots of mouthwatering sweet taste.  Wet oily mouthfeel with roof of mouth cottony/ sticky feeling.  Deep throat opening.  Wow super delicious with engaging deep mouth and throat feels.  Strong visual acuity and calm clear mind.

Third infusion has a woody pungent sweet honey mouthwatering oily onset with a dense flavour presentation. Open deep throat with sticky constant roof of mouth.  Nice strong mind focusing energy. A deep happy enlivening feeling taking hold a deeper energy renew feeling.

Fourth has a creamy buttercup sweetness with a dense taste of forest vanilla subtle tropical tastes. Mouth watering.  Happy upbeat deep energy boost with increased focus and visual acuity.  Cooled down it is creamy pungent cooling silty smooth expanding and subtle thickening mouthfeel.  High happy feeling.

5th is left to cool and is a oily broth-like woody slight honey pungent.  The taste is a deeper denser taste with a faint bitterness.  Oily feel with a silty coating and sticky mouth roof.  Cool breath finish.  

6th has a watery honey sweet clear taste with a forest pungent buttercup taste.  Reminds me of GuaFengZhai a bit here.  Cool breath and sweet finish. With shoulders heavy and light focused happy mind.

7th has a woody melon taste with a sort of root veggie potato that I get from the Gua Feng Zhai area.  Mouthfeel is a sticky sandy full feeling and deep mild deep thraot opening.  Slight heavy shoulders with happy and focused mind.

8th is left to cool and is woody watery with a sweet melon forest taste some faint cooling pungent less deep in thaste and full in the mouth and throat.  Happy focused mind with mild heavy shoulders. A deep building up Qi feeling.

9th has a watery sweet bitter creamy buttercup forest woody taste.  Some salivating with a sticky full mouthfeeling with focus on deep throat opening and roof of mouth stickiness.

10th is left to cool and has a watery woody sweet sort of melon taste.  Sticky mouthfeeling.

The long mug steeping of spent leaves is pungent oily and slight bitter with a sticky feeling and slight drying with a mild astringency felt in the stomach.

Overall this reminds me a lot of GuaFengZhai and I would probably have guessed it somewhere from here as it shares some of its qualities and tastes profile and deeper Qi sensations and building up. The first part of the session sort of hints at boarder tea. The weakness of this one is its weaker stamina across the session.  I think cakes might now be sold out… that what the site showed before publishing this post…what’s not to love about a secret garden that presents like GuaFengZhai!?!?

Peace

2024 Tea Encounter Luoshuidong: Steady Sweet Reliable

I received this complimentary sample for review- this 2024 Tea Encounter Luoshuidong goes for  $160.95 for 250g cake or $0.64/g.  I was feeling like the energy of the classic LuoShuiDong let’s see if this one satisfies…

The dry leaves have a piercing strong pungent pineapple and tropical fruits odour! Mouthwatering!

The rinsed leaves are more fresh grassy with than sweet peach apple.

First infusion has a pure clear watery taste with a refreshing pungent grassy creamy almost tropical sweetness.  Relaxed slight spacy energy.

Second infusion has a faint candy sweet pop with spice onset.  Smooth mouthwatering wet mouth with quenching feeling.  Slight woody Forest taste underneath.  Wet mouth and saliva with slight mild chalky coating.  Some chest expansion and deep sighs. A relaxing mellow and quenching experience.

Third infusion has a pure watery sweet sort of mint because there is a returning cooling pungency.  There is a bit of chalky sandy coating and mouthwatering wet mouth.  Relaxing with chest release and deep sighs. Some slow chest beats and comfortable body feeling.  Slight spacy mind.

Fourth infusion is left to cool and is a fruity pungent forest sweet taste.  Sort of minty pungent. With a soft chalky mouthfeel and salivating.  Relaxing feeling with chest qi of slow beats and open chest and diaphragm feeling.

Fifth infusion has a sweet almost banana tropical with woody Forest taste and pungent cooling.  Sandy chalky feeling is mild with more of a wet salivation on top.  Relaxing with chest and diaphragm opening feeling slow chest beats relax. Slight spacy high. Some pungent woody Forest sweetness in the finish.

Sixth is left to cool and is a slight bitter sweet cooling pungent forest with soft mouthfeel. Fruity pungent woody frorest.  Cool finish slight soft sandy stick mouthfeel.  Can feel it subtle on the empty stomach but. Ice relaxing and chest and abdominal opening.  

Seventh infusion has a pungent woody Forest with very subtle bitterness.  Sticky lips and tongue deep spacy relaxing here with abdominal and chest open and light with slowing Heart beats.  The effect is welcome.

Eighth has a watery slight peachy tropical with woody Forest and pungent cool.  The mouthfeel is a bit sandy sticky now with lesser mouthwatering very faint bitterness but not astringent.  Nice relaxing effect with limbs slight light and chest and abdomen open.

Ninth infusion has a slight spice bitter woody Forest with woody pungent finish.  Slight hit to empty stomach with the bitterness.  Mouthwatering with sandy sticky mouth coating.  Relaxing spacy feeling with chest abdominal Qi.

10th has a bitter peachy woody Forest onset with a spice and cool pungent base.  The mouthfeel is sticky sandy and some wet feeling but less now.  Spacy relaxing continues and open front body. Slight light limbs and shoulders.

11th has a quick burst of sweet melon peach over a woody Forest and cooling pungent taste. Spacy relaxing feeling gives me a subtle clear minded peace. 

12th infusion has a spice pungency woody Forest taste with some oily wet feeling and mouthwatering still.  Nice spaced out relaxing things happening here. Open front body relaxed body feeling.

13th has a spicy woody Forest onset with very very mild bitter and slight dry sandy sticky mouthfeel.  Relaxing spaced out. 

14th has a watery spicy woody onset not much sweetness here.  Slight mild bitter slight dry sandy mouthfeel. Spacy relaxing continues with comforting body feel.

A long mug infusion of spent leaves is oily and mellow fruity sweet almost minty and a bit of woody.  Clear simple and satisfying in this way..

This session is very much what I was looking for today a relaxing space out that is comfortable in the body and puts the mind at ease…. Good ol LuoShuiDong… a classic Yiwu area is predictably satisfying as my first of the 2024 Tea Encounter’s offerings.

Peace

2024 Tea Encounter Line Up

 

I really look forward to this every year! It’s my chance to try the freshes pressing of the seasons puerh from a vendor I know well- Tea Encounter!  This year they have a few secret garden offerings which is the first time they are doing that- I’m most curious about trying these and will try to give you a guess on them! They are the 2024 Tea Encounter Yiwu Fei Cui and the 2024 Tea Encounter Yiwu Chun Lei. They are also offering a 2024 Tea Encounter Tongqinghe Gushu first time they did this- I am most excited about this sample!  

Guafengzhai! I also look forward to trying some other micro areas of GuaFengZhai that they are offering- 2024 Tea Encounter.  Tea Encounter has a bit of specialization/ a good contact in GuaFengZhai so I’m looking to exploring an area outside of Chaping and Chawangshu with them this year with their 2024 Tea Encounter Guafengzhai BaiShaHe and 2024 Tea Encounter Guafengzhai HeiShuiLiangZi.  They also got some of my steady yearly favs in there too … from GuaFengZhai as well as from the other area they focus on in ManZhuan.

Join me as I sample these freshies…

Peace

Big Gushu Qi: 2017 Green Mark Guo Gan

I remember having a really good blind session with a free sample of the 2019 Guo Gan sent from Paolo of Puerh.uk a few years ago.  They ended up offering this 2017 Green Mark Guo Gan for approx $205.00 for 400g cake or $0.51/g.  This was a free sample for review…

Dry leaves have a dry sweet forest odour.

First infusion has a vibrant pungent spice forest taste.  There is a watery spicy taste with a sticky mouthfeel.  Spacy high begins.

Second infusion has a talc sweet berries taste with a salty finish.  Sticky mouthfeel and squeaky teeth.  Slight pucker.  Faint taste of pumpkin, spice, sugar.  Spacy strong  escape high. Strong space out Qi hits me hard.

Third infusion has cooled just a bit and has lime bitter sweet taste almost Carmel faint glimpses. The caramel is faint but lingers into the aftertaste. Big spacy high feeling. Limbs heavy feeling in body.

Fourth infusion has a bitter woody lime salty onset there is some faint caramel emerging in the aftertaste. Sticky mouthfeel with pucker. Very spacy high feeling with heavy limbs is a nice quality Qi feeling. The taste is a bit awkward here. Can feel it a bit on my empty stomach too.

Fifth infusion has a creamy caramel bitterness woody bland taste.  Very akward stage in its aging right now.  Cool breath and squeaky feeling in mouth.  A bit hard on my empty stomach.  Spacy night with light limbs but a bit distended stomach from the mild bitter astringency.  Sort of spicy warming spice aftertaste.

Sixth infusion has a watery sweet onset with an almost bitter bland floral dry taste.  Some wet feel over a sticky dry feeling face flush and deep sigh with spacy feeling.  Cool breath. 

7th has a watery juicy fruity oily taste not so much sweet but sort of buttery floral with cool breath.  Spacy high.

8th has a bland watery sweet taste with a sticky dry mouth deep spacy high with heavy limbs… 

I put the spent leaves in a long thermos infusion it’s fresh lime and melon oily and sandy.  Big qi very tasty here with hints of coco.  Qi really took me somewhere today!

This one is about the big Qi…. It seemed I liked the 2019 Guo Gan maybe a bit better than this one… not sure…

Alex (Tea Notes) Tasting Notes

Peace

Comparison Tasting: 2019 Tea Encounter Lincang Yesheng vs Tea Masters

It is rather fitting that I put this 2019 Tea Encounter Lincang Yesheng to a comparison tasting with the 2019 Tea Masters Lincang Yesheng that I posted yesterday.  This was the first Tea Encounter pressing I sampled way back in 2019- the first year they pressed their own puerh cakes.  You can see my original post here.  Just like I toasted Stephane for 20 years of tea blogging yesterday, today I toast Tiago and Tea Encounter for 5years of pressing cakes!  Like every year since, expect some posts on Tea Encounter’s latest 2024 line up!

Dry leaves have a sweet dry fruity woody bready odour.

Rinsed leaves have a very sweet cherries and bread sweetness.

First infusion has a grassy fresh refreshing lime and berries taste with rubbery forest faint and cooling finish. A rubbery forest returning minutes later. Open chest and spacy feeling.  The rubbery woody Forest taste is very long.

Second infusion has a fresh lime sweet bready mouthwatering onset.  With long cooling breath.  There is a sweet bready taste on the breath.  Strong floating body leaving effect.  

Third infusion has a sweet bready taste with long rubbery forest finish. The mouthfeel is sticky.  qi is floating and spacy.  Cooled it has a very bready sweetness to it more than rubber- forest.

Fourth infusion has a grassy lime sweetness with a bready sweet mid-profile. Long rubbery forest finish. Out of body with floating feeling with some energy from the chest beats. 

5th has a watery fresh refreshing taste of almost lime-melon.  Long rubbery forest.  Big qi floating with chest beats feeling.

6th ooops was a long infusion it has a vibrant lime- melon taste with a sweet bready finish.  Mouthwatering and thirst quenching.  Floating body.

7th watery lime melon with a long rubbery first after a sweet bready mid-profile.  Strong chest beats and face flush with floating out of body strong Qi.

Overnight mug infusion of spent leaves is fruity fresh and oily with long sweet taste.

Vs 2019 Tea Masters Lincang Wild Arbour

These are both wild teas/Yesheng of the same broader area and year- they also both have very dry stored with the Tea Encounter being dry stored with me since fresh and Temasters is sealed storage since fresh.  The Tea Encounter is much more powerful and in your face with strong bolder Qi sensation and more pronounced Yesheng/wild tea characteristics.  The Teamasters is really more ethereal and much smoother with a deeper feeling and strong bodyfeeling.  A nice comparison here!

Peace

Happy 20th Anniversary Tea Masters Blog: 2019 Teamasters Lincang Wild Old Arbor

Congratulations to Stephane’s 20th anniversary of his Tea Masters Blog!!!! I have been reading that on and off for almost as long!  As a toast to Stephane I am sampling this 2019 Spring Wild Old Arbour Lincang free sample he had sent me a few years ago sealed air tight.  I was saving it for a special occasion and this is it!

Dry leaves have a vibrant strawberries and cherries almost floral odour.

Rinsed leaves have a very fruity fresh vibrancy to them with mouthwatering cherries, currants, and strawberries also a forest odour.

First infusion is the rinse and it comes off quite sweet watery and vibrant with grapes, cherries, plum, sweetness popping in the mouth. Thirst quench and refresh with a floating spacy mild feeling in the body. There is a long sweet finish with a faint rubbery forest subtly. 

Second infusion is left to cool and is very sweet with fresh fruity blend of taste.  The mouthfeel is oily and soft over the tongue the mind is spacy and shoulders float to the ears.  Overall pure quenching happy feeling.  Minutes lang returning taste is of strawberries slight floral and forest taste.

Third infusion has a buttery almost floral-forest taste.  Oily feeling with long sweet cool breath. I feel light with some chest lightness and shoulders floating.  Long almost banana taste in the profile with a minutes long return of forestry almost rubber.  With long cooling. Mainly banana and faint forest-rubber taste linger.

Fourth has a watery buttery sweet slight fresh fruity taste icing sugar sweetness bananas.  Cool breath with light fresh forest taste. Relaxing calm. Faint warm spice notes emerge and soft sandy feeling developing.

Fifth infusion has a spicy warming taste with forest and faint fresh banana underneath.  The spicy warm notes are dominant and a subtle opening chest feeling and light shoulders bodyfeeling.  Slight sticky sandy mouthfeeling.  Cooled down it has a buttery almost floral warming spice taste.

Sixth infusion is a watery slight sandy forest slight rubbery taste slight spice complex but lighter now.  Soft sandy sticky feeling. 

7th infusion has a spice woody Forest sweet taste over a sticky sandy feeling.  Chest and shoulders light feeling.

8th watery sandy texture not much left in this maocha.  Faint sweet and cool breath.  Spacy head expanding qi still in there…

In an overnight mug steeping of the spent leaves it is fresh cooling pungent almost minty.  There is a purest of fresh fruity berries and cherries in the minutes long returning taste.  Nice chalky oily sweet taste very pure and vibrant with deep loving Qi feeling and light chest and limbs.

Peace

2005 XiZiHao LaoBanZhang: Nice Dry Storage

I got this sample of 2005 Xi Zi Hao Lao Ban Zhang from Liquid Proust a few years ago but just trying it for the first time now.  It was back on my radar recently and I was going to sample it when I did those Bulang Gushu samples from TeasWeLike but my mind was too blown away from those sessions!  So I decided to sample it back-to-back with another earlier Xi Zi Hao the 2006 Xi Zi Hao Ban Po Lao Zhai last post but these two are really not much alike at all…

 Dry leaves have a dry creamy woody sweet odour.  Seems like nice dry storage here…

Rinsed leaves have a woody very sweet creamy almost almond aroma.

First infusion has a woody very creamy sweet onset. Very nice dry storage brings out the uninterrupted creamy cottony sweetness.  Salivating producing with a soft mouthfeel.  Body and neck tingles. Subtle floating spaciness.

Second infusion has a creamy sweet woody onset with some lips sticking and creamy almost candy cottony sweet finish.  Very clear dry storage tastes. Embody and face tingles and subtle relaxed floating.  Deep throst stimulating with strong soft candy creamy sweet return. Chalky sticky mouthfeel.  Slow pounding chest beats.

Third infusion has a creamy sweet onset that pops into a slight mild bitter wood then transforms into a longer sweet creamy woody almost candy sweetness.  There is a faint menthol edge to it.  A peaceful out of body stillness takes hold.

Fourth infusion has a watery woody sweet onset with mild sweet returning taste a creamy sweet almost candy. Still a peaceful out of body stillness feeling with slow heartbeats.

Fifth has a woody sweet faint menthol onset with some salivating mid and faint deep throat with sweet creamy cottony finish.  Nice stillness of mind. The cooled down cup has a sweet creamy almost candy woody that is a touch sour wood in the middle profile but has a long sweet creamy almost candy finish.  Spacy stillness feeling with subtle face tingling.

6th infusion has a creamy sweet candy like sweetness with an almost sour woody mid profile.  Long creamy sweet finish with mind slowing stillness.  Cooled down it has a creamy almost candy sweetness with some throat stimulation and soft mouthfeel.  

7th has a soft cottony sweetness slight candy over a soft fluffy mouthfeel almost faint menthol wood then long creamy sweet with throat stimulation and still mind feeling subtly tingling feeling in body with slow chest beats.

8th has a creamy sweet onset very clear flavours.  There is a bit of a burst of sweet creamy almost cherry then some woody almost bitter mid that moves quickly to sweetness again. Big slow chest beats justaposed with subtle body tingling. 

9th watery sweet creamy sweet with subtle woody menthol and long sweet finish.  Not as sweet or flavourful more watery but clear flavours in this dry storage. Big chest beats.

10th has a watery sweet onset with a woody mid profile and sweet finish.  Slight sandy soft mouthfeel.  Big slow chest beats and subtle tingles. 

11th has a bland watery creamy woody sweetness.  A sweetness throughout but still big slow chest beats is stronger than ever!  

A steep out the spent leaves for a few days and it is a sweet melon taste oily and sort of ashy but long sweet taste.  Thick juicy melon sweetness with vibrant pop and oily coco sweet melon finish.  Slight cooling but mainly thick sweetness.

This is a very nicely dry stored more Etherial in taste and feel than strong.  Its has that characteristic LaoBanZhang with that burst of sweet flavour and quick bitterness at times not as powerful as the 2006 Xi Zi Hao Black Wrapper nor as rich as the Old Tree Early Bulang Single Origin which I both prefer.  However, a really nice early example of a pure and ethereal LaoBanZhang stored the right way for such a thing which was a real treat for me!

Hobbes’ (The Half-Dipper) Tasting Notes

Shah8’s (Sheng of the Day) Tasting Notes

Peace

2006 Xi Zi Hao Banpo Lao Zhai

I believe the sample was mid labeled and is actually the famous 2006 Xi Zi Hao Ban Lao Zhai.  It has been offered by many western facing puerh vendors but this sample is from Puerh.uk…. After sampling lots of very high quality Ban Po Lao Zhai from Puerist over the last few days I was eager to finally try some quality more aged Puerh from is area…

Dry leaves have a hay and woody odour.

First infusion has a floral dirt root veggie taste with a turnip carrot finish.  There is a mid brassy sweetness that comes and goes faintly. Sort of fallen leaf floral finish in mouth.  Face flushing.

Second infusion has a woody floral camphor root veggie taste.  The cooled cup has a dirt and root veggie with cooling breath a subtle floral throughout. There is a subtle fresh fruity sweet taste in the finish. Stuffy and heavy head feeling. 

Third infusion has a watery sweet fallen leaf bready sweet finish.  There is less floral and more cooling woody peat taste.  Bready sweet finish with sticky fine sandy taste. Overall brown sugars subtle root veggies woody fallen leaf.  

4th has a spice woody root veggie fallen leaf taste it’s overall mainly sweet but also bland subtle bitter. Uplifting Qi with face warmth.  Sweet almost fresh fruity finish. Nice low register happy upbeat high building that isn’t super strong but very satisfying today… it’s making me feel great!

5th infusion has a watery sweet rot veggie almost floral creamy sugary sweet with pungent coming not really camphor.  Creamy sweet fallen leaf peat finish. Overall sweet tastes.

6th is left to cool and is a sweet oily pungent cooling sort of root veggie with clear sugary base.  Overall sweet throughout but smooth mild bitterness. I like the upbeat Qi makes me feel refreshed.

7th has a watery sweet sugar taste with a root veggie fallen leaf creamy sweet icing sugar finish.  Sweet finish in the mouth with nice energetic uplifting happy feeling some chest racing now.

8th infusion has a sweet onset almost bready sugar taste long clear sweet taste with bread and root veggies in the distance.  Nice energizing Qi feeling with strong chest beats now and happy energetic mild euphoria.

9th left to cool is quite sweet with a bready woody dirt taste a bit of mild bitterness and dry feeling in the mouth. The uplifting feeling continues and I feel great!

10th has a woody watery sweet taste some faint melon in the finish.  Quite watery now but still nice uplifting energy and chest thumps and warmth.

The overnight infusion of spent leaves is sweet with a bland root veggie taste.

Peace

Da Miao Comparison: 2020 Puerist Da Miao

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2019 Puerist Da Miao

This 2019 Puerist Da Miao goes for approx $101.00 for 200g cake or $0.50/g.  These notes were taken a few years ago…

Dry leaves smell of a creamy fruity very sweet mushroom vegetal odour.

The first infusion has a mushroom and woody onset that is slightly savoury underneath.  There is a yam note, mushroom, and woody with a pronounced creamy sweetness that expands in the mouth afterwards.  The mouthfeeling is a chalky density over the tongue.  A strong Qi right off the bat can be felt in the jaw and shoulders with a strong relaxing mind.

The second infusion has a creamy sweet layered creamy fruity sweetness with a long developing grape creamy sweet aftertaste.  This infusion is layers of thick sweetness over a full dense chalky mouthfeeling over the tongue and mid-deep throat opening with a distinct coolness.  There are some vegitals, mushroom, woody notes underneath the movement of sweet creamy tastes.  The Qi is strong in the body and mind.  

The third has a vegetal creamy almost bitter-astringent woody that faintly turns into thick creamy fruity sweet notes.  The mouthfeel is thick and dense and chalky and the throatfeeling is mid-to-deep with a creamy sweet faintly cooling being trapped in there.  The Qi is felt in the jaw and shoulders releasing it a bit.  The Heart also pounds a bit louder in the chest and the mind feels free and inspired.

The fourth has a sour woody mushroom vegetal astringent syrupy creamy fruitiness that pulls the saliva from the mouth over the tongue.  The long creamy sweet aftertaste layers the tongue and mouth with a full taste.  There is some suggestions of mushrooms and creamy sweet fruits in the long deep aftertaste.  The Qi is almost relaxing now and spacy.  Waves of relaxing lap up against my soul.

The fifth has a moderate astringency to it that pushes out very sweet creamy tastes.  The chalky mouthfeeling is becoming more puckering.  There is some mushroom and grain tastes, some denser syrup, creamy sweet, woods, even faint smoke notes.  Nice euphoric Qi with body feeling jaw and shoulder release.

The sixth infusion has a very vibrantly fruity orange-mango tropical fruity syrupy taste.  The mouthfeeling is silty and thick with a bit thicker oily texture here.  The fruity almost nutty coco aftertaste lingers in the mouth and down the throat.  There are less mushrooms and woods and a faint cooling creamy sweetness under thicker and more pronounced fruity orange-mango tropical nuances and coco bitterness.

The seventh infusion has a very thick syrupy fruity density to it very woody in this infusion, thick mushroom like woody tastes with a bitter coco finish on the tongue with lingering sweet papaya orange.  There is a lingering orange taste in the mouth with a bit of vegetal tastes and bitter coco. The Qi is strong in the mouth.

The eighth infusion has a creamy syrupy fruity onset with a creamy sweet undernieth.  The mouthfeeling is really desnse with peacy-mango notes and bitter coco in the aftertaste.  The sweet taste is really dense and thick and syrupy.  The mouthfeeling is really chalky and dense.  The Qi is relaxing with jaw and neck and shoulders bodyfeeling.

Ninth infusion has a sweet fruity syrupy onset with a mushroom and woody base.  There is a bitterness that comes and kind of expands in the aftertaste with a fruity sweet taste.  The mouth remains chalky and dense.  Calming Qi with shoulders and face release.

The 10^th infusion has a vegital bitter astringent onset with some fruity taste that emerge.  The mouthfeel is almost a chalky pucker.  Calming mind with some Heart beats and tension relief in the body, shoulders and jaw.

11^th has a bitter coco onset with some sweet fruity tastes that punch through but this infusion the bitter coco coats the mouth and tongue and gives it a dense and almost puckering coating.  The mouthfeeling is really satisfying with this puerh.

12^th was left to cool and gives off a strong bitter coco and returning coolness in the throat that carries tropical fruity nuances and creamy sweet tastes. 

13^th was cool again and gives off fruity but mainly coco tastes much the same as 12^th with a big relaxing Qi feeling with still significant bodyfeelings.

14^th has a grassier more salty muchroom taste with less bitter but more creamy sweetness.  With a long fruity taste in the mouth over a nice sticky dense coating.

Strong overall mouthfeeling and strong emerging flavours overall.  Thick dense tongue coating.  Nice evolution throughout the session with complex flavours.  Nice noticeable bodyfeeling with ;inhansed mood.

Peace

Interesting: 2018 Puerist Da Miao

Da Miao is a relatively unknown area of Yiwu that has very low output each year.  Puerist has been producing cakes from this area for a while now.  I find the puerh from Da Miao to be interesting for the price with a Qi sensation of a much more expensive Gushu.  Readers of this blog may have remembered that I blind sampled the 2021 Puerist Da Miao with a bit of comparison that followed.  This 2018 Puerist Da Miao goes for approx $97.00 for 200g cake.  This post and the next few posts on the 2019 &2020 Puerist Da Miao cakes were taken from notes taken a few years ago…

The small dry leaves have a sweet creamy woody grassiness to it with an expanding fluffy sweet undertone.

The first infusion has a watery woody flat sweet taste almost metallic and clean with a bit of mushroom savory sweet finish.  Very mild faint empty mouthfeeling and throat feeling.

The second has a mushroom woody almost savoury brothy taste that kind of reminds me of Northern areas.  The finish is kind of metallic and sweet savoury mushroom.  Lots of interesting subtle light airy complexity.  Flat sticky faint tongue feeling.  The cooled down cup as a caramel and creamy candy.  The mouthfeeling is very thin faint flat.  No bitterness or astringency.

The third infusion has a mild milky mushroomy broth almost olive oil that is very clear and smooth almost a faint silky mouthfeeling.  The tastes kind of fade into the distance without a faint retuning candy with a thin silky faint oily feeling lingers in the saliva.  The Qi is very mild and there is a faint mid spine tension feeling in the body.  Cooled cup has a faint deep cooling almost mushroomy pineapple taste savoury and sweet like salted caramel. 

The fourth infusion has a mushroom caramel broth almost grassy and salty taste over a flat thin mouthfeeling and saliva producing mid-opening throatfeeling.  Nice Qi sensation.

The fifth develops a pungent grassy minty mushroom woody caramel taste.  Quite clear and complex over a flat tonguefeeling and opening mid-throat sensation.  There is a savory salty aftertaste left in the mouth with cantaloupe tastes and tangerine peel.  Very expansive and freeing Qi in the mind with open spine feeling a subtle feeling.  There is a little bit of hard to notice astringency that hits my empty stomach.

The sixth infusion has a broth, mushroom, almost orange peel onset with a mild bitterness developing.  The bitter dwells on the tongue and gives the mouth a puckering feeling.  The aftertaste is a bitter orange peel and mushroom taste.  There is a low almost minty pungency.  Qi is expansive in the mind and has soft spine feelings.  It makes me feel happy and free.

The seventh infusion has an orange juicy that quickly turns metallic in the mouth over a flat slight dry sand tounge sensation.  There is an almost peach taste with grassy woody and savoury broth salty finish.  There is a faint low pungency with mild candy finish.  There is lots going on here and I would guess this to be an area blend rather than a strict single estate thing.  There is a faint long candy finish minutes later because the throat at a deep-mid opening sensation.  This is an interesting puerh.

The eighth infusion is consumed cool and gives off a salted caramel taste with a faint building pungency and a candy finish.  Nice gritty tongue coating and open throat sensation.  Nice mind freeing expansive Qi.  Body wobbling sensation and soft spine tingles.

The ninth infusion has a salty, broth, savory, orange peel, mild bitter, candy grassy complex taste.  The mouthfeeling is gritting on tongue and ethereal and opening to mid-to-deep throat.  Nice happy feeling with subtle body sensations.

The 10^th infusion has an almost coco milky orange peel and grassy onset.  It transforms to a salty and savoury faint candy sweetness in the breath. There is a complex and interesting transformation of tastes across each sip.  The mouthfeeling is kind of unusually gritty but soft and the throat is ethereal.  Long candy finish and spacy qi is developing with nice subtle body spine feelings.

The 11^th has a juicy woody savoury taste which ends grassy salty and not too sweet.  There is still a complex flavor but its starting to wane at flash infusions.

At the first signs of wavering I mug steep it out… but it likely could have given a few more good infusions…

There is a bitter orange peel with mushroom grass and candy some dry wood caramel nice balance of savory and sweet and bitter and bland… no sour but nice taste dimensions here.

Complex taste, interesting mouthfeeling.

 Peace