1998 Zhongcha 8582 vs 1998 Menghai Tea Factory 8582

Dry leaves seem bigger than the 1998 Menghai Tea Factory 8582 Houde cake and more what I expect from 8582 leaf grade recipe. It smells of dry woody odours - has more of that Tea Urchin storage odour than anything.  This 1998 Zhongcha 8582 goes for $265.00 for 357g cake (or $0.74/g) at Tea Urchin.  I purchased this sample a few years ago and intended to sample them with the other two Zhongcha offerings at Tea Urchin the 2004 Zhongcha Lotus Aroma and the 2001 Zhongcha Ba Zhong but wasn’t able to.   I just sampled this one recently…

Rinsed leaves have a sweet woody leaf faint maple sweetness.

First infusion has a dry watery woody taste with a subtle raisin sweet finish.  Dry woody raison.  Slight dry sticky mouthfeel. Energy in chest is stronger.

Second infusion has a woody fallen leaf raisin woody taste.  Mainly dry woody taste with dry sticky mouthfeel.  Stronger chesty feeling and energetic. Subtle plum sweetness under dry woody and in aftertaste before dryness.

Third has a woody teak woody sweetness.  Woody almost varnished taste. Sone faint coco in the aftertaste.

Fourth infusion is a woody varnish slight sour woody taste with a coco woody finish.  Subtle warming face and chest.  Stronger chest beats.  Coco woody finish. Sweet woody coco.

5th has a woody teak wood sweet onset with sweet dry woody teak taste.  Woody dry with background sweetness. Some mouthwatering coco in the finish.  Chest beats strong. Warming.

6th has a sweet almost raison sweetness with wood mouthwatering return coco is slightly bittersweet.  Mouth is slight sticky dry big chesty qi and energy surge.  Warming. 

7th has an almost syrupy woody sweet taste with some coco bittersweet finish. There is this nice sort of maple woody coco sweet taste.  Qi is strongly alerting and chest pounding with some warming.  

8th is a sweet woody teak sort of honey sweet woody with a silty mouthfeeling and mouthwatering return of coco sweet taste.  Strong Qi alerting with chest beats strong and warming face.

9th has a woody almost spice woody sweet taste.  There is a return of woody coco taste. Mouthwatering coco finish. Strong alerting qi will have me staying up too late tonight!

10th I come back to the pot a few days later it has a sweet watery plum taste with an oily feel and some faint returning bitter sweet coco faint aftertaste.  Some warming Qi and chest beats alertness.

11th has an incense almost pond dry storage taste.  Not that sweet with a smoke coco chocolate bittersweet finish.  Silty slight dry mouthfeel. Stronger warming and chest beating Qi. 

12th has a sour cherry bitter sweet pond and dry woody onset with coco more bitter than sweet finish with smoke.  Warming face qi with chest beats. Finishes bitter woody slight smoke. 

13th has a woody pond slight dry woody sweetness.  There is a flatter drier mouthfeel with slight bitter and smoke.  Mouthfeel starting to become slightly gripping. Warming Qi and chest beats.

Long mug steeping of spent leaves has an earthy woody plum taste with pop of sweet cherry.  There is a drier mouthfeel and bitter woody not much coco but a sweet bitter plum finish. Squeeky teeth feeling.  With big energy alerting bursts with chest pounding. There is a dirt raisin taste throughout.

I do another few days long steeping but it just pretty much is dry woody bark with very faint tastes of sweet raisin almost medical incense.

Vs 1998 Menghai Tea Factory 8582 (pictured Right)-  is much much sweeter and much much more complex aged puerh.  Both puerh have an overall factory feel and taste.  Both were exposed to some more humid but not overly wet storage than where they were dry stored longer term.  The zhongcha was then stored in Tea Urchins dry storage and the Menghai Tea Factory in Houde’s hot dry storage. The Houde cake has a deep complex medical ginseng complexity over very very sweet tastes. The Tea Urchin is not that sweet and has a more bittersweet woody pondy.  The Houde has a deeper warming and energizing Qi where the Tea Urchin has more zippy factory Qi.

Note on the three Zhongcha offerings at Tea Urchin…They were all selected to represent the classic stereotype Zhongcha offerings- a more muted elegant one- 2004 Zhongcha Lotus Aroma, the powerful smoky Bulang one- the 2001 Zhongcha Ba Zhong, and the more classic factory style- 1998 Zhongcha 8582. They are all pretty good for their price but not good enough for me to cake anyways… at least not yet…

Peace

2001 Zhongcha “Ba Zhong”: Old School Smoky Strength

*** These tasting notes were from 2021/2022… According to the Tea Urchin’s site, this was stored in Taiwan until 2014 when it was purchased and stored with Tea Urchin’s tea in Shanghai for the remainder of its life.  Pretty close to 1/2 Taiwanese storage and 1/2 Shanghai.  Belle and Eugene guess it has some Bulang leaves in the mix and the description makes it sound a bit old school, smoky, and rustic.  This 2001 Zhongcha “Ba Zhong” 357g cake goes for $265.00 or $0.74/g.

Dry leaves smell of smoke with a fair bit of creamy sweet odours and faint wood.  The dry leaf both looks and smells pretty appetizing…

The first infusion has a smoky honey-like onset. There are underlying creamy and almost strawberry cherry plum notes.  The mouthfeeling is a flat fine sandy texture.  The aftertaste is almost nutty but more faint bitter with a creamy sweetness underneath. Smoke extends long into the aftertaste.  This puerh feels a lot like 2005 Nanqiao Double Lions.  There is a strong feeling emerging with the Qi.

The 2^nd has a tangy sweet fruity onset but with a heavy dose of smoke.  The fruity taste is mainly a syrupy presentation with an incense woodiness to it and subtle faint bitterness.  There is a deep slow moving coolness in the throat which kicks out a long creamy sweetness that slowly fades into smoke.  The mouthfeeling is a thick silty dryness.  There is lots going on here with lots of complexity emerging from the storage which does this cake quite well.  The Qi is strong in the Chest and races the Heart.  It alerts the mind but I find myself taking deeper breaths.  It has a strong pull on the mind, rendering me unable to concentrate…

The 3^rd has a tangy fruity then sweet then almost savory meaty smoke taste.  There is a smoky earthy taste throughout.  The mouthfeel is really thick silty full with nice throat stimulation.  Flavour, Qi, and mouthfeeling are all quite strong.  Creamy sweet then smoky finish.

4^th is a smoky, syrupy not that sweet onset with a long cool emerging throat and subtle creamy sweet then smoky finish.  This infusion tastes and feels a lot like the 2006 Rustic Zhongcha of TeasWeLike.  Nice silty full mouthfeeling.  Some chest and alerting but also unfocusing energy.

5^th has a rich sweet syrupy caramel and strawberry plum with a decent amount of smoke.  There is some long faint cooling and some creamy emerging sweetness that fades into smoke.  Nice unfocused fuzzy head with some alerting and chest sensations.

6^th is cooled down but gives off a very nice caramel smoke taste.  The flavour is really pure and full smoky but not harsh, strong but not overwhelming. There is less cooling here and a smoke creamy caramel finish.  Nice dense taste.

7^th has a subtle bitter smoke with less dense caramel taste.  There is a grainy almost dry mouthfeeling now with the bitterness. This infusion tastes less sweet and more smoke, bitter, and a bit harsh.  Nice uplifting with fuzzy thoughts.

8^th has a lesser sweet caramel plum with some smoke and less bitter.  It has a dense and rich presentation here with sweetness almost syrupy scattered throughout under the smoke.  Nice uplifting and fuzzy thoughts.

9^th syrupy caramel not that creamy sweet with significant smoke.  Full condensed taste with a subtle cool throat.  Nice silty thick mouthcoating which sticks to teeth.  Alerting but slightly spacy here.

10^th has a juicy smoky presentation with a slight bitter dirt almost coco like finish.  The aftertaste has a sweet nutty breath but mainly just mild smoke. Sticky tongue feeling.

11^th has a juicy smoke taste to it with a subtle cooling breath and bitter smoke not sweet finish now. Thicker sticky sandy aftertaste.  Nice relaxing vibe now.

12^th a bit more syrupy onset with, yes, a bit of smoke, nice vibrant smoke finish.  Not turbid or harsh or hazy in its presentation…. Nice upbeat with a heavy thoughts feeling.  Thick sticky almost dry full mouthfeeling.

13^th has a juicy syrupy density to it but not that sweet anymore but, again, nicely smoky…

The mug steeping is a strong smoke with condensed syrupy woody sweetness and resin like taste.  Still very powerful, flavourful, and smoky.

Vs 2006 Rustic Zhongcha- very similar in most ways- both very Rustic old school productions both aged about the same with Rustic having stronger Malaysian storage and this cake with the ½ Taiwanese then drier Shanghai storage but aged a bit longer… they feel both at the same point of aging. The Rustic still has a bit more youthful harshness and is more random and impure in its blend.  I think I like this one better but hard to say.

Peace

2004 Zhongcha “Lotus Aroma”

*Just a note that these tasting notes are from 2021/2022….This one was naturally Malaysian stored for 10 years before being put in drier cooler Shanghai storage since 2014.  Apparently, this will be a fragrant one… This 2004 Zhongcha “Lotus Aroma” 357g cakes goes for $198.00 or $0.55/g at Tea Urchin.

Dry leaves smell of very sweet, very floral aroma without much aged smell at all.

First infusion has a really sweet bread and cherry plum odour from the wet leaves.  There is a fruit cake and powdery chalky floral like taste upfront with some fallen leaf aspect but quite sweet throughout and with a long creamy sweet finish.  The mouthfeeling is oily and fluffy and full.  Nice thick sweet but aged feeling.  Sweet and salivating throughout. This has a nice uplifting and cheery feeling.

Second has a creamy powdery talc onset with a creamy brassy mid taste that leads into a cool aftertaste some saliva returning.  There is a creamy bread and talc plum finish. There are hints at old books and leaf but it is primarily sweet throughout. There is a touch of bitter astringency here.  Not very woody tasting but more pastry sweetness with creamy, plum, and talc.  Nice relaxing feel good qi.  Nice focusing mind.  Tastes vaguely like a tippy 7532 crossed with something like 2001 TeasWeLike HuangYin.

Third infusion has an oat, floral, bready sweet, not as talc onset that reaches into a brassy mid-taste.  There is this pop of plum taste that fades into a creamier long aftertaste.  The mouthfeeling is thick nice chalky full feeling in the mouth.  Noticeable talc, granny powder taste in here… always a good sign. Nice full sweet aged profile.  Lots of sweet complexity.

The fourth infusion has a plum tart creamy talc onset.  There is a thicker chalky building mouthfeeling here.  A bit of woody taste comes in and less creamy salivating sweetness.  There is a slight cooling with some very mild astringent bitterness.  Nice feeling good Qi.  

5^th has a plum taste with talc powdery taste.  Nice chalky full and becoming a bit more gripping mouthfeeling.  The aftertaste after a bit of mouth cooling is chalky powdery sweetness with a plum taste.  Nice feeling good Qi, nice focusing energy.

6^th has a nice mellow woody almost plum taste that is a bit watery now and loosing is thick sweetness.  The mouthfeeling is more thin sandy than chalky full. There is some talc powdery sweetness in the aftertaste.  Nice vibes.

7^th has a juicy fallen leaf not as sweet taste.  There is a woody bland talc finish to it over a thin sandy mouthfeeling.  Nice relaxing.

8^th has a woody leafy taste.  Most of the complexity is all but gone with this tippy blend that is what you would expect… but I want more… you can feel some body feeling racing the Heart a bit…

Next day I attempt mug steepings… 

Overall, this is a really interesting cake and the two storages have done this cake well.  It is super fragrant and delicious with a Qi that makes you feel good. Nice and enjoyable for me.

Peace

1999-2003 Mr Chen’s JiaJi Green Mark

This 1999-2003 Mr Chen’s JaiJi Green Ink sample came free with the purchase of the 1999 Mr Chen Daye ZhengShan MTF Special Order.  I didn’t go to the site so blind to the price and description and tried it after a session of the ZhongShan MTF Special Order…

Dry leaves have a dry woody dirt faint taste.

Rinsed leaves have a creamy sweet odour.

First infusion has a sweet watery onset there is a return of sweet woody slight warm spice. Sweet, simple, watery and clean in this first infusion.

Second infusion has a sweet watery simple woody watery sweet taste.  Slight woody incense and slight fresh fruity taste.  Cooling mouth.  Sweet bread slight faint candy aftertaste. Slight drying mouthfeel.

Third infusions has a woody dry wood onset with a dry woody sweet kind of taste.  The return is a bready candy with sweet aftertaste.  Tastes faintly like red rope licorice.  Dry mouthfeeling now. Somewhat relaxing qi.  Mild but slight feel good feeling. Mild Qi feeling.

Fourth infusion is left to cool and is creamy sweet watery with a faint background wood and even faint incense.  Simple sweet clean tastes. Thin dry mouthfeel. 

Fifth infusion is a slight creamy sweet watery slight woody simple sweet pure tasting.  left to cool is a creamy sweet some lubricant watery sweetness.

Sixth has an incense creamy sweet talc woody creamy more full sweetness initially. Creamy sweetness watery mild Qi. Enjoyable and easy drinking puerh.

Seventh has a sweet woody leaf watery taste with an incense woody watery base.  The mouthfeel is slightly dry and qi is pretty mild and agreeable.

Eighth infusion is a woody watery sweet with subtle incense warm spice.  Mild dry mouthfeel.  

Ninth infusion has a woody incense onset with sweet edges.  Dry flat mouthfeel and mild qi.

Tenth I put into long mug steepings… it has a dirt woody bland slight bitter taste… not much for sweetness anymore.

Overnight infusion has a watery bland, slight dirt, slight sweet insipid taste.

This is a pretty simple and straightforward dry stored aged sheng. Sweet woody incense taste with mild dry and mild relaxing feel good qi.  On a busy day at work I appreciated its steady aged simplicity.  I go to the site and look at the price and description and I couldn’t really agree more.  The price is a bit lower than I thought and the description is dead on!

Vs 1999 Mr Chen’s Daye ZhengShan MTF Special Order-  despite coming from the same collector, being both dry stored, and being the same approx age these are very different puerh.  The MTF special order is much more complex in taste, very very sweet and has much more powerful space out Qi. This JaiJi Green ink is satisfying enough but not so fancy complex or mind-bending. It’s more of an aged dry storage drinker.

After a session of the 1999 Mr Chen Daye ZhengShan I did a back to back with 2001 Naked Yiwu from TeasWeLike but they are also completely differ puerh… the Nake Yiwu was much more condensed, present, and powerful in taste with sweet tastes, resin wood, and smoke incense.  It’s more aggressive and forward and feels less aged than the 1999 ZhengShan MTF Special Order but in the same way it can be more satisfying especially for the price which seems like a pretty good deal.  I suppose all three of these are good value dispite the totally different vibes of each.

Pictured is Left 2001 Naked Yiwu from TeasWeLike, Middle 1999 Mr Chen’s Daye ZhengShan MTF, Right 2001-1999 Me Chen’s JiaJi Green Ink. 

Peace

Complex Sweet Dry Storage: 1999 Mr Chen’s Daye ZhengShan MTF Special Order

 

Paolo was excited about this find and offered it to those who bought into the Tea Hunter package at a reduced price.  I had sampled through the previous dry stored aged puerh offered by Mr. Chen that were released over a year ago (here and here).  I enjoyed them all but yet not enough to cake.  This 1999 Mr Chen’s Daye ZhongShan MTF Special Order is at a level above the others. Over a year now Puerh.uk has been releasing some 8582 recipe versions from Mr Chen’s dry storage.  Like Mr Chen I’m a big fan of the aged 8582 so I hope to sample them at some point….

Dry leaves have a sweet slight marsh peat odour to them.

Rinsed leaf has a leaf slight medicinal raison odour.

First infusion has a purfume medicinal fruity sweetness.  There are notes of fig, cherries, longgan fruit nice complex onset with a were dry leaf base.

Second infusion has a woody slight purfume medical sweet cherry and fig taste.  Nice dry storage base of slight mineral and leaf taste.  Mouthfeel is a bit oily at first but slight silty underneath.  There is a soft lingering sweetness returning of fruit with a woody base taste throughout.  Slight warm chest with spacy head feeling.

Third infusion has a leafy woody maple syrup onset that gets a bit sweeter on return the sweetness is syrupy like stewed fruity with a leaf dry woody background that is throughout the profile. A more fruity pop of taste before some cool camphor on the breath.  A silty almost dry mouthfeeling emerges after the initial slight oily syrup feeling. Slight warm chest and spacey mind slowing Qi.

Fourth infusion has a leaf medical onset with a slow emerging sweet taste that is quite sweet fruit on returning and sort of slowly builds up next to dry woody leaf and syrup medical taste.  The cooled down infusion is a sweet creamy sweet syrupy. Spaced out Qi feeling.

5th infusion has a syrupy sweet woody medicinal creamy sweet with some fruity and maple syrup.  Silty mouthfeel.  Space out qi.  The cooled down liquor is a woody maple sweet taste.  Nice creamy almost fruity returning sweetness. Pear plum tastes underneath. 

6th has a creamy oily watery sweetness with faint medicinal incense but mainly oily sweet taste.  Fruity return with a slightly drier silty mouthfeel. Slight warming with nice space out Qi.

7th infusion has a woody pear leaf onset with an overall sweet pear oily onset.  

8th has a soft pear woody leaf taste faint medicinal incense.  Soft fading taste. Faint warmth and spacy mind.

9th has a mellow fruity sweetness with an oily texture and some incense medicinal mid taste.  There is a woody leaf base.  Mainly mild sweet no astringency or bitter. Oily watery mouthfeel.

10 this a long thermos steeping of the spent leaf.. it. Comes out oily and sweet with a strawberry sweetness subtle woody but mainly just fruity strawberry sweetness.

The overnight steeping is a sweet strawberry pure slight lubricating taste.  Still sweet and lubricating. Very Yummy!

Peace

2004 Dragon Tea House Yiwu Gushu vs 2006

I was really excited to try this 2004 Dragon Tea House Yiwu ($520.00 for 400g cake or $1.30/g) from TeasWeLike.  I love the 2006 Dragon Tea House Yiwu but for some reason it doesn’t agree with me.  I turns out this 2004 and me get along quite nicely…

The very compressed dry leaves smell of a dry peat sweet odour.

The rinsed leaf is a sweeter peaty odour.

First infusion has a creamy talc sweetness with faint woody background.  Nice chalk finish pure clean tastes.long finish with slight sandy sticky mouth and clear sweet creamy talc and almost fruity taste.

Second infusion has a woody creamy sweet taste.  Full almost dry chalky with pops of coco creamy almost fruity sweetness.

Third is left to cool and gives off pops of sweet fruit and creamy talc.  There is a peat dry woody faint base and a long creamy sweet returning that dissolves into fruity on the breath.  The mouthfeel is a chalky not dry but almost gripping undertone.  Long deep throat and sweet taste.  Sweep of happy peace feeling with notable light limbs feeling.  Heart slow beats with mind and chest open.

Fourth infusion has a woody sweet creamy taste there is a creamy sweet return that transitions to fruity sweetness.  Chalky almost gripping mouthfeel leaves a long sweet taste in the mouth.  Peaceful focus. Light limbs and body.

5th has a sweet fruity clear onset strong euphoria happy feel good Qi.  Strong floating feeling with face flushing.  

6th has a woody slight incense smoke sweet taste. Creamy sweet return that turns into fruits.  Strong floating limbs and euphoria peace with strong slowing heart beats.  

Next day I’m flash steeping 7th infusion it is mineral sweet with a creamy talc finish in the mouth.  Almost turns fruity sweet minutes later.  Clear tastes here.  Strong happy focusing Qi.

8th is a clogged pot…. Welcome back to teapot sessions!!!! It gives off a dense incense resin woody bitter with a sweet fruity taste.  Strong woody incense resin wood with strong sweet taste underneath.  Dense taste in this accidental minutes long steeping.

9th is flash steeping and comes out very fresh fruits sweetness.  Long fruity clear sweetness. Light body strong happy feel good qi. Silty mouthfeel with deepthroat sweetness.  Lots of fresh clear fruit taste.

10th is left to cool and taste like sweet wood silty smooth mouthfeel.  Nice peace out Qi feeling.

11th has lots of clear pure sweet fruity taste but also some sour taste developing underneath.

12 is cool but has a woody incense sweetness with a returning sweet bread finish.  There is some mineral taste and some coco taste as well.  Silty amouthfeeling with mouthwatering and deep throat.

13 … 14 th …. 15th has good stamina still giving of peace vibes and sweet tastes.  Woody resin, faint incense, faint coco.  Mild silty mouthfeel.

16th is in the long mug steeping which is quite woody incense and bitter with a sweet taste underneath.  Full chest feeling.  

This has very clear long sweet tastes, nice strong peace out Qi feeling with aslow heart beats and light limbs body feeling. The mouthfeel is layered with a silty mouthfeel that is sometimes almost gripping and stimulating but also mouthwatering- a nice compliment to the long clear fresh fruity tastes.  This puerh feels like aged tea but still maintains the fresh fruity nuances of its youth.  The description on the site says it’s smokier than the 2006 but I disagree- at least my cake has some infusions with slmost no smoke and other times it’s that aged out blended in background incense smoke.

Vs 2006 Dragon Tea House Yiwu Gushu

First infusion has a creamy smoke sweetness. The creaminess is more pronounced and sweet and the smoke is stronger and less background incense than 2004.  

Second has a lubricating mouthwatering sweetness with upfront smoke balance.  Thick lubricating mouthwatering oily feel in the mouth.  Very long cool creamy sweetness.  Strong chest thumbing and surging energy is mixed with euphoric calm.  Face numb and mind floating has much stronger excitatory effect in body and mind than 2004.  

Third infusion is left to cool and gives off a smoke mesquite BBQ long creamy sweet slight mild lips tightness with an oily almost pasty texture.  Long creamy almost bready sweeetness. 

Fourth is a creamy sweet balanced with smoke long creamy sweetness. Strong chest beats and energetic euphoria.  Strong in the mind sweet taste is long.

Fifth infusion has a creamy sweetness with faint smoke background nice silty chalky mouthfeeling.  Mind expanding and big chest beats. Of note the liquor or this 2006 is quite a bit darker than the much tighter compressed but two years older 2004.

Sixth infusion is left to cool and is very creamy sweet with chalky mouthfeel long sweet creamy taste. Less smoke background.  

Seventh again consistently sweet creamy with chalky mouthfeeling smoke becomes less and sweetness holds.

Eighth has a woody sweet long creamy sweetness it kind of just snowballs into the retuning sweetness, it’s nice and long mouthwatering with more relaxing spacy qi left in here.

Ninth … 10th … 11th soooo yummy sweet with background smoke is less and less but there starts developing a bit of acidity.

Comparison: the 2006 has spent two years in my drier cooler storage but feels much younger that the more aged feeling 2004.  The 2006 has more power and intensity to it overall- it’s more acidic, it’s gives of an energetic effect on the body and mind and is a bit harsh on the body at times,  its sweetness is also strong and its smoke is more out front.  The 2004 exerts a more mellow peaceful feeling with strong but slow heart beats airy light limbs.  Its sweet taste is very clear, pure, fresh, and long.  The mouthfeel is a more complex mouthfeeling.  You can see the difference in composition of the wet leaf.  The 2006 pours a much darker colour where the 2004 is still yellowish.  For me the 2004 is the superior puerh.

Just one more note on these Dragon Tea House Yiwus that Idont think is mentioned enough.  The storage is really quite brilliantly dry.  It really captures the light nuances of a Yiwu puerh brilliantly and makes it feel almost younger than it is.  This was apparent to me in this blind testing of the 2015 Dragon Tea House Yiwu.

Not sure if I will pick up another with this price tag … but I do quite like the experience…

Marco’s (Late Steeps) Tasting Notes

Peace

2011 Jin Dayi: Top Modern Dayi!

This is the second part (first part was the 2017) of the 2017/2011 Jin Dayi comparison sample set from Liquid Proust that goes for approx $57.00…. This 2011 Jin (Gold) Dayi is quite famous and expensive but it really blew my mind.  They still have a few of these sets left and I recommend it to try this one…

 Dry leaves are a faint plum smoke hay.

Rinsed leaf has a subtle smoke and tobacco and faint banana odour.

First infusion is smooth oily lubricating mouthwatering feeling with a subtle smoke and creamy custard banana nuance.  Creamy oily mouthfeel.  Taste stays in the saliva. Spacy relaxing Qi can feel it low in the abdomen.

Second has a sweet creamy oily caramel toffee taste with a very nice oily creamy texture.  Some woody and smoke in the background and long sweet returning minutes later there are candy pops of taste.  Long sweetness that evolves from caramel to icing sugar to plum to banana to candy long inbedded into saliva with mouthwatering deliciousness.  Nice lower abdomen and mid abdominal mild warming with spacy qi feeling.

Third infusion has a very sweet caramel oily full sweetness with resin woody slight background smoke and long evolving sweet taste with lots of oily salivating and nice mouthwatering.  Peaceful calm Qi distills the mind.  Low abdominal feeling with face and jaw light and some cjhezt beats and spacy feeling.  Candy finish minutes later trapped within the saliva. Its got the whole package here!  Cooled down it has a resin woody creamy fresh pungent creamy oily sweet taste. Long evolving sweet taste and long candy finish in chalky full mouthfeel.

Fourth has a creamy woody oily onset with resin woody taste and some faint pungent faint almost camphor taste.  Oily texture and mouthfeel is a bit less here but still full faint candy on the breath minutes later.  Chest abdominal feeling with light face and jaw and calm peace still feeling but also energetic with heart beats.

Fifth infusion is left to cool it is quite resinous and sweet woody incense.  Long sweet taste the mouthfeel and texture is fading infusion-to-infusion now. Still nice sweet taste and faint candy minutes later. Abdominal Qi face and jaw light. Peaceful pause.

Sixth infusion is left to cool and gives off a caramel resin sweet woody incense onset some fresher fruits taste with nice peaceful qi.  Less long sweetness now.  Abdominal feelings with light face and jaw.

Seventh infusion has a resin woody onset with some more distant sweetness chalky silty mouthfeeling with some stimulating feeling at the back of the tongue and throat.  Nice peaceful Qi with some chest beats both energizing and peaceful.  Face and abdomen sensations.  Not much returning sweet but done creamy silty oily sweetness with resin taste in the finish.

Eighth is woody resin with a sandy mouthfeeling back of tongue and throat gentle stimulation.  Not much sweet taste left but more resin woody.  Nice peaceful Qi feeling. Watery sensation smokey background.

9th is a long mug infusion and is resinous woody with a creamy sweet and silty oily texture. Strong heart beats. Slight bitter with full gripping mouth but still oily with salivating.

The overnight infusion of spent leaves gives off a creamy oily candy sweet taste with lots of salivating and mouthwatering.  

It’s got delicious aroma and long complex evolving layered taste complexity in the mouthfeel with some gripping that causes salivating and thick oily texture.  Qi imparts a strong effect on the mind and in some steeps both energizing and with distilling peacefull feeling.  It also has great bodyfeeling strong Heart beasts but also comforting face and abdominal sensations…

Top 5 of the modern Dayi that I have tried- excellent!!!!

Comparison: The 2017 resembles the 2011 enough to know that they are similar blends especially in their abdominal sensations bodyfeeling and lingering sweetness oily texture but will never have the greatness of the 2011- it doesn’t have the long evolving sweet layer taste, its mouthfeel is narrow with a tendency to dryness, its qi is not as complex.  Still pretty enjoyable though.

Top is the 2017 Jin Dayi bottom 2011 Jin Dayi.

Paul’s (Two Dog Tea Blog) Tasting Notes

Hobbes (The Half-Dipper) Tastimg Notes

Peace

2017 “Jin Dayi”

This sample comes from a comparison testing sample set from Liquid Proust which goes for approx $57.00 for the 2017/2011 Dayi Jin Sample set.  I sampled the quite amazing 2011 the following day in the next post.

 Dry leaves have a very tobacco wet smoke tobbacco odour.  

Rinsed leaf is superisingly sweet amongst strong wet dark cherry tobacco notes.

First infusion has a watery Smokey metallic mild chalky sweetness.  Nice sweet returning taste almost melon that builds in the aftertaste with some salivating.  Feel it in the chest. A bit of acidity left behind in the mouth.

Second infusion has smoke and tobacco with some bitterness over a dry roof mouthfeel and upper throat opening.  A sweet pop that has nice return. You van feel the bitterness buildup in the stomach- haven’t tried Dayi this fresh in a long long while. Strong chest feel with beats and energy rising.

Third infusion has a woody smoke oily texture with a creamy sweet oily creamy finish.  Smooth mouthfeel with lots of oily feeling and slight dry roof of mouth.  Nice sweet finish fades to slight dry smoke wood.

Fourth infusion is left to cool and gives off sweet oily taste with woody smoke finish.  The sweetness sort of fades into the smoke.  There is a mouth salivating with return sweetness which is almost fruity.  Strong deep uplift with chesty feeling not much bitter.  Fruity taste faintly lingering in saliva.  Spacey feeling.

Fifth infusion has a fruity faint smoke oily woody taste. Tobacco leaf base.  Mainly this sweet oily almost fruity that fades into a dryer tongue and roof stimulating effect.  Lingering fruity in mouth.  Spacy feeling

6th has some faint caramel, metalic and floral edges to it and has that oily smoke onset and fading sweetness.  There is a bit of bitterness that you can feel in the stomach.  Spacy qi feeling with feeling in lower abdomen.

7th is left to cool has a Smokey sweet hay almost fruity taste with tobacco leaf base.  

8th has a sweet oily hay tobacco leaf with a returning almost floral sweet almost fruit taste.  Thee is a chalky faint fruit returning with some mild mouthwatering.  Spacy Qi.  Fruity taste lingers in the saliva minutes later.

9th has a chalky talc woody slight bitter initial taste that has a cereal hay sweet taste with some mild mouth drying on roof and gums and tongue.

10th has a woody smoke ashy taste not that sweet anymore.  Spacy Qi.

11th is left in the cup overnight and gives off a sweet oily slight smokey wood taste with sweet vegital woody finish.  Lingering sweetness left in saliva.

Long mug steeping is a dry grippng mouthfeel with bitter wood and smoke taste.

The overnight mug steeping of spent leaves is a sweet woody almost fruit with a bitter almost but not really milk chocolate taste.  Silty mouthfeel with some chesty Qi and moderate energetic feel.

Peace

 

Happy New Year of the Dragon!

 

Hi there readers and Happy Yew Year!!!  I hope this foray into this Year of the Dragon is as powerful for you as it is for me!

There have been lots of life changes for me this past year - all very good but which has made it difficult to evaluate and post on puerh.  I have gone very long stretches months of having no evaluation drinking. I still have no proper work gongfu and am ashamedly evaluating using flash steps in a thermos.  With that being said I had some great logical chunks of posts! 

 I posted a bunch of BaoHongYinJi reviews in March - I am happy about getting to know the brand.  Then I did a full review of complimentary samples of the 2023 Tea Encounter line up and most of the 2023 Chenyuan Hao which was really fun!  I also got some blind sampling in with some dragon balls from Puerist.  I am content with how I did and enjoy keeping up my skill- mainly it is super fun for me.

After a year or two of purchasing restraint I really let loose this past year and you can see some of that in my full cake posting in November and December last year. Lots of cakes from TeasWeLike and some from Puerh.uk as well. They are my two favourites!  There is more to come in that regard over the next month here. I just recently lost a bunch of unpublished notes on these but like I said they are cakes so I am just in the process of writing new notes.  

My home drinking has changed a bit.  I’m back onto smaller but still largish yixing pots!  My tea consumption is also down as a result which is always a plus for someone who consumes way too much puerh.  Still drinking good puerh though right now 2007 Zhi Xi Hao Diangu is in one pot and 2004 YangQing Hao Dingji Yesheng is in the other… life is good!  

Also just last week I started drinking tins Hoshino Yame matcha!  The weather has been really springlike or maybe just not that wintery at all with the La Niña this year.  I have been getting my matcha fix from Cultivate Tea in Vancouver they got Yame Honshino.  This Hoshino Seiju grade , second highest in their line, which I’ve been drinking is a real treat with nice texture with a clear fresh taste but not as smoke bitter or vegital or umami just clear sweet greens.  I can’t remember trying this one in the past.

In a homage to Hobbes of the Half-Dipper I finally got my first tea pet!  Back in the day I was never fond of them nor am I today… I wonder if that’s still a trend or how many people do that?  I was fond of one actually it was from amazing Korean female ceramicist Seung Jin Eh- these beautiful ceramic pagodas.  Never did buy one though… then one day one of my older kids comes home with a Grogu.  My youngest is showing interest in my tea set but she has a tendency for throwing things.  She is totally terrified of that little Grugu so as a test I put him on my tea table and sure enough he is little a cute little scarecrow…. Hahaha

Ok this Dragon Year is a time of big change so as I was going back to edit this post I realized that I need to do two things to make my tea experience better here and of course it’s not buying more tea…. Hahaha…. 

First thing is I need to improve my technology and change how I record notes so I don’t loose them like I have done a few times over the last two years!  If I can spend the money I do on tea then surely I can afford an upgrade.  I went out purchased something- it’s got a great macro feature so as an added bonus expect better photos too!

Second thing is I really got to set up my tea table at work… so I did… it’s not ideal and the table is up a bit higher than I like no drainage system set up yet but it feels good to use again after being in a box for 9 months.  Going forward my reviews will be at that table no more of that crazy thermos flash steepings for any of the puerh reviews going forward…

Peace

Comparing Four Famous Early Yiwu Autumn Gushu Productions

 I got to thinking about the early Autumn Gushu productions produced in the earlier Gushu era by the big Taiwanese Boutique producers.  Before 2005 they didn’t market Autumal puerh.  These were also the very early days of the Gushu movement.  And with the puerh demand increasing and the bubble ready to pop there was all of a sudden a bunch of Botique puerh producers quite interested in good Autumal material. So, as a result we start to see these high quality Yiwu Autumal Gushu productions around this time.

I tried my first back then which was a blind sampling of a fresh impressive 2007 Autumn Xi Zhi Hao Pu Zhang (not even Yiwu area) thanks to Thomas of Tuo Cha Tea who acquired it from Houde.  Xi Zhi Hao had a few good Autumnal puerh this year.  I have not tried any of these earlier Autumn Xi Zhi Hao productions since- to expensive for my tastes back then.  But there are earlier ones from other Boutique producers.  Four of which I have tried recently and will speak to in this post…

The 2007 Chenyuan Hao Autumn Yiwu Cang Shu is maybe the most famous of these earlier Autumnal Yiwu Gushus.  Certainly it’s the most delicious of the bunch and is super subtle but deep yet delicate. Some mild nice body feeling and qi but mainly just really delicious and easy to drink.  Has a bit of the choking throaty feeling which I found to be a negative.

The 2006 Chen Guang-He Tang Autumn Yiwu Chawang is winning the speed test at my house the last two months.  I cant resist its perfectly smoky taste and odours and its deep complex power.  It’s got that long Yiwu sweetness but that Guafengzhai qi.  Has still strong bitter base and needs pushing.  Same hot and dry storage as the above 2007 Chenyuan Hao Autumal Yiwu Cang Shu which along with its tighter rolled leaves makes it pretty good.  The clear sweet pure delicious taste of the Cang  Shu reigns supreme.

2005 Yang Qing Hao Cang Liu this is an Yiwu Autumn blended with Spring materials and other 6 famous mountains areas.  I just retried this and it’s really getting better with age since I last tried it.  Nice complex puerh sweet spacious tastes and notable bodyfeeling.  Tastes are delicious like the Cang Shu not as delicious but many better and more complex body feelings. After sampling I got to order a cake which I last saw at $205.00 for 500g cake.  I hoped to pit it against the 2006 Qixiang in a speed test but it’s all sold out!

2006 Yang Qing Hao BaiSuiXiang- this is an Autumn 6 famous mountains blend.  Retrying it is a bit more washed out than I remember with a more typical woody Autumal profile.  It has a deeper richer woodier profile mellow Qi with heavy bodyfeeling.  Not bad but doesn’t compare to above.

Peace