2021 The Essence of Tea Youle GaoGan: Structured and Complex

I was so excited about the Essence of Tea’s offering of this 2021 Essence of Tea Youle GaoGan that goes for $248.00 for 200g cake or $1.24/g that I decided to purchase a it with a bunch of other samples.  It was not David’s new 2021 pole dance that aroused my tea buying this time but rather Kathy and David’s listing from a region that is often overlooked by the Western puerh vendor- Youle…

Dry leaves have a very frangrant floral almost faint woodiness.  Very fresh leaves…

The first infusion has a nice buttery creamy onset with a clear sweetness that almost turns into a Rice Crispy cereal taste as it disperses over the tongue.  There is a subtle sticky feeling in the mouth and cereal sweet finish in the mouth with a faint coolness deep in the throat.

The second infusion has a pungent almost minty intial burst of flavor that is really delicious it disappears into a Rice Crispy cereal taste there is a long deep cooling in the throat.  The mouthfeeling is really simulating and sticky and there is lots of saliva that returns to the mouth.  The aftertaste is sweet breads and a faint passionfruity aftertaste is found minutes later.  The Qi is really peaceful and the body feeling is very strong like shoulders are coming up to my ears, a floating kind of feeling.  There is a certain vibrating expansive feeling in the body contrasting the calm generated in my mind. Very nice.

The third infusion has a pungent, floral, mild passionfruit and sweet cereal grain taste that come fast all at once over a faint astringency and a full stimulating mouthfeeling with subtle dry throat and strong saliva producing effect.  The minty pungent tastes seems to carry through with the sweet bready cereal tasting lasting the second longest of the flavours in the mouth.  Nice long cool deep throatiness.  The stimulating mouthfeeling with saliva producing is really nice.  The Qi is really calming and the body feelings are quite stimulating. An interesting and engaging yet somehow calmly complimentary experience.  The calming/ relaxing Qi is the typical energy of Youle but these subtle body feelings are a added bonus.

The fourth infusion has a very pungent cool and woody taste with a deep throatiness where the cool pungent resides.  The initial taste is almost minty and has a cereal/floral like taste that turns into a cereal and bread sweetness.  The mouthfeeling is stimulating and saliva producing is good.  Nice calm mind and shoulder and body lifting Qi.

The fifth infusion has a minty pungent onset with some buttery florals and bread sweetness underneath.  The mouthfeeling is a full chalky tightness with a pull of saliva into the mouth.  Nice Relaxing Qi with shoulder releasing bodyfeelings and a subtle vibrating feeling.  Nice focusing feeling.

The sixth infusion has a forest pungent minty onset with a bread/cereal finish, a bit floral, not that fruity sweet.  The mouthfeeling is soft sticky dry with a deep cooling throatfeeling.  There is some melon and floral in the finish.  Kind of a tingling mouthfeeling with less returning saliva and not as deep throat.  The main taste is this prominent minty pungency.  The flat soft sticky dry mouthfeeling has a mild pucker and feels kind of fuzzy in the mouth.  Nice claming Qi with nice flowing shoulders and arms feeling.  Nice combo of calm mind with active but not distracting bodyfeeling.

The seventh infusion has a more juicy almost lemon passionfruity a bit sour taste here.  There is some florals, bread sweetness, a tiny bit of astringency with nice full mouthfeeling of drying and deep cool throat.  Has a finish of pungent coolness and subtle florals almost lemon cake like subtle taste here.  Qi is nice and calm.

The eighth infusion has a juicy lemon floral sour, bread sweet, floral, and cereal taste.  The mouthfeeling is a full sticky dry stimulating feelng with some mid-deep throat cooling.  The throat cooling and depth is loosing its deep feeling in the last few infusions.  The aftertaste is a lemon, floral bread-like sweetness.  The Qi is nice and calming.

The ninth infusion has a fresh zesty lemon floral taste to it which has become the dominant intial taste with sour, bread sweetness and to a lesser extent florals which are mainly intertwined with cool pungency.  The mouthfeeling builds in strength as the infusions go and now is quite puckering and squeaky with a deeper coolness and a lemon pungent forest aftertaste with a bit of saliva producing but not too much anymore.  The mouthfeeling is really nice and will do this puerh well out of the fresh puerh stage its in now.  Nice calm fousing feeling with light limbs. 

10^th has a bit of bitterness in it and a bit of sour lemon, floral, bread it transforms into cool pungency that comes from the throat and plants itself onto the tongue where a forest pungency is left in the mouth and throat.  The aftertaste is a bit sour and bready and cool.  Strong tighter throat developing. Engaging tongue coating and throat is tightened at the upper throat.  A bit of dryness here now.  Nice claming focusing Qi. 

11^th infusion there is a bready sour bitterness with a bit of cereal and woody and floral.  The mouthfeeling becomes quite dry here so does the throat.  There is not much aftertaste at this point a ghosty cooling and floral on the breath mainly.  The bodyfeelings have dropped off and just a light airy feeling in the arms are left.

12^th has a woody floral sweet melon fruity taste with nice cool throat and dry tongue with deep floral melon finish.  Nice relaxing Qi.

13^th a bitter buttery floral with a cool forest pugnet endge that comes out of the throat.  Flat dry tongue coating and floral melon aftertaste.  Nice more typical Youle tastes are found later in the session here.  Nice relacing Qi.

Leaves were left in the pot overnight and now I come back to the 14^th  and there is fruity buttercup like florals a bit of sour almost mango, thick dry coat mouthfeeling and slight cooling.  There is a heady qi to it now.  The strong tongue coat gives this puerh a solid base.

The 15^th is much the same with a sweet floral fruity taste tight dry tongue faint throat with faint cooling.  I image this puerh steeping out like this for a while…

The long mason jar steeping of the spent leaves has a very mild forest pungent taste with almost unnoticeable cooling over a dry tongue sensation.  Not any sweetness left and not much flavor to push out and nice relaxing Qi typical of Youle comes out of this long steep.

Overall, this is a nice Youle with a lot of structure to it.  The first group of steepings are interesting stuff with a calm relaxing qi typical of youle but deeper and more powerful with interesting bodyfeelings paired with that deep calm.  The infusions are stronger in the mouth and really saliva producing with lots of interesting tastes which slowly evolve throughout the corse of the tea session.  These include sour, pungent, floral, bready, cereal, minty, Forest, bitter these appear at different times throughout the session. The minty pungency with Rice Crispy cereal note is one I’ve not come across before and make the first handful of infusions supper tasty…  There is lots in here with stronger drying/sticky/tight tongue coating that can get pretty strong if too many infusions are stacked too close together.  The strong saliva producing along with this mouthfeeling give the complex evolving taste a good base to age.

Vs 2013 Pu-erh.sk Youle.  These are similar quality Youle I think.  They both have complex evolving flavours over a stronger evolving mouthfeel.  Too many years have gone by between sampling but this 2021 might be a bit deeper and complex especially the subtle bodyfeelings.

Thought this might be the best 2021 offering from the Essence of Tea until I tried…

Peace

Edit:

Shah8’s Tasting Notes

Alex’s (Tea Notes) Tasing Notes

Double peace

2018 Puerist Hua Zhu Liang Zi: High Mountain Qi

This area is gaining in popularity for its pure and wild taste as one of the highest pureh producing areas in Yunnan.  I’ve only had it once before and there are not too many reviews on this region but it has been offered before at Pu-erh.sk as a gushu and xiaoshu and there are some reviews on that 2018 and small Bush 2015 (see here and here).  In many ways puerh this high has different characteristics similar to the way high mountain Mu Shu Cha puerh from Mengku has at least in my limited experience with the area.  This 2018 Puerist Hua Zhu Liang Zi was provided free with my order for review but goes for around $129.00 for 200g ($0.65/g) when I convert back from CND.  Let’s try it!

Dry smell of dense fruity sweet artificial bubble gum grape.

First infusion has a wild tea almost grape unrooted sweetness that is really long in the mouth but yet that integrates with a dry woody nuance.  The sweetness is really distinct and the brooth is really watery.  It’s as if a grape sweet note is dangling at the top with almost nothing to root it down but a thin dry wood bark taste.  The sweetness does beautiful things though by expanding into the aftertaste pretty much untouched over a mouthfeel that is soft and watery.  The sweetness does something deeper with a sour faint astringency at the end of the profile.

The second infusion is a little bit deeper but still very light but now almost velvety grape taste that almost tastes artificial.  It has a Canadian Ice wine like taste to it.  It strings along far into the breath expanding and becoming more candy like.  There is a faint almost tree bark almost decomposing wood almost caramel base that give the light grapey sweet layer some depth but itself being quite thin.  The mouthfeeling is very soft and throat feeling even softer- light a faint sandy silk in the mouth.  This is a very ethereal type of high mountain almost wild varietial puerh similar in a way to the puerh of Mu Sha Cha or Mother Teas of Mengku in many respects.  The Qi is very soft in the mind and body.  My mind feels expansive and creative.  I experience and unusual qi sensation of my hair standing on my arms like a soft tingle in the limbs.  Very interesting.

The third infusion has a richer more oily and velvet onset of woody foresty tastes being even with grape sweetness.  The taste is almost of dry dirt and forest floor.  There is a faint astringency building now along with a very oily viscus liquor and soft faint tongue coating gives interesting layers to a lighter taste profile.  There is some faint cooling on the breath.  The tongue develops a thin mud like texture to it.  The Qi is really soft and soothing in the body and there is a distinct feeling of limb and scalp tingling.

The fourth infusion has a richer, woodier, earthier, foresty onset with sweet grape become more syrupy in taste and now laying underneath.  There is a bit of pucker astringency which pushes the saliva into the mid- throat and stimulating the upper throat.  There is a pungent coolness that develops and with it a long fresh almost dirt grape sweetness.  All of a sudden there is lots of grounding depth in the taste.  There is still oily texture but now a much more stimulating mouth and throat feeling.  Very mellow Qi.  Has a very nice soothing bodyfeeling as if it is light.

The fifth infusion has an oily rich woody foresty dirt forest floor onset with grape syrupy sweetness underneath.  There is a building pucker and astringency with this puerh which has an almost drying effect in the mouth and stimulating effect on the throat.  The arms and face and scalp feel light and almost tingling.  The mind happy.  The aftertaste that comes after a significant coolness is dirt and grape much of the same as the initial tastes but more cooling and pungent which intermingles in there with the aftertastes.

The sixth has a woody almost rubber bitter foresty astringency with a thin stevia and grape sweetness underneath.  The long pungency in the mouth and throat is the key feature here.  The sweet grape is more developed in the aftertaste along with dirt woody forest floor in the aftertaste bolstered by the long pungency.  The bodyfeel is stable with limb, face, and scalp lightness and tingling.  There is a bit of mild Heart pounding.  This inufison is less oily but still noticeable.

The seventh has a splash of fruity sweetness and stevia sweetness with a supporting tree bark and dirt forest floor nuance.  The mouthfeel has become flatter now and the mouthfeeling is still a mild puckering due to a mild astringency almost faint bitterness.

The eighth has that same fruity splash with a faint stevia almost grape finish.  There is a dirt, rubbery, woody taste that overtakes the sweetness now.  The pungent finish brings a bit more focus to the sweeter tastes but is actually more rubbery, forest floor dirt.  A noticeable pucker and almost bitterness throughout.  Nice bodyfeeling and happy Qi continues to delight.

The ninth infusion has a very similar feel as the eighth through and through.

The 10^th infusion has an almost dark berry and grape stevia sweetness that is even with a rubbery-woody- dirt forest floor taste.  There is a quick mild-moderate bitter astringency here.  The pungency is nice and keeps the sweet dirt taste there until it disappears.

The 11^th is a fruity sweet punchy taste up front with much less bitter-astringency and rubbery forest tastes.  This leaves the sweetness to fade into the aftertaste quickly without much support.  The Qi continues to course nicely throughout the body.

The 12^th has a fruity plum and grape taste with mild dirt woody finish.  The throat feeling and tongue coating as well as oily texture has faded now.  Nice Qi throughout. 

13^th has a punchy fruity pep then a dirt woody rubbery forest mild base with a nice long pungency that carries these tastes a bit.  This infusion is more juicy fruity with a bit more mouthcoating.  Happy Qi and tingling bodyfeeling.

14^th has a mild stevia taste with rubber and dry wood base.  The pungency is nice but lessening slowly.  The bitter-astringency drops off in these mid-late infusions.  I feel happy and energized.

15^th has a woody slight woody bark astringency with faint sweetness hard to parse out from woody rubbery forest taste.  The cool pungency pushes out some nice flavours.

16^th has a nice balance of unusual woody forest rubbery base notes and some faint stavia taste with plum and grape sort of.  Nice Qi continues.

17^th has a nice balance of sweet and woody-foresty high mountain taste.  The sweetness is mild but part juicy fruity and part stevia grape-plum.  Flat, slight puckering mouthfeeling.  Dirt-forest and almost grape-plum finish.

This pureh has great stamina and I’m give no choice but to walk away from the table this afternoon with probably more decent infusions a head…

I go back the next day for a few flash steepings…

The 18^th is very creamy and fruity with a creamy sweetness with grape and plum tastes some surgery sweetness.  The sweet tastes are very layered here over a soft mouthfeeling.

The 19^th is much the same with a punchy fruity grape and plum with more stevia tastes and even a bit of bitter astringency.  The mouthfeel is soft with a bit of pucker.

20^th has a creamy peachy, stevia sweet, grape, plum fruitiness to it.  There is some great sweet tastes still layered in here.  These last infusions have more tastes than some other puerh’s peak infusions.  There is a soft and mild pucker mouthfeeling with some astringency.

Overall, this puerh is a very nice Hua Zhu Liang Zi puerh.  It starts as predicted very sweet and ethereal but quickly moves to sweetness with a woody high mountain forest base taste with a long pungent finish.  The middle infusions get a bit astringent and bitter with mild mouth puckering sensation all the while staying true to that thin almost artificial sweet kind of fruity taste with the foresty rubbery woody taste sometimes overtaking the high noted sweetness.  In the later infusions, more sweetness takes over the balance and plum and fruitier notes can be seen still juxtaposed with foresty, rubbery, woody high mountain “Mother Tree” potentially ancient varietal tastes. 

The Qi is the best part of this puerh with a strong building happy Qi with a unique bodyfeeling that leaves the limbs light and tingling.  The Qi is strong in this unique sense.  Like the high mountain Mu Shu Cha “Mother Tree” varietal of Mengku, Hua Zhu Liang Zi is maybe somewhere on a spectrum going towards a wild tea than conventional ancient arbour puerh.  It might be more of an acquired taste like wild puerh but should also be evaluated on its own similar to Mu Shu Cha or maybe even compared to it.

Oh did I mention the stamina of the leaf… I like this puerh.  Maybe the taste I haven’t completely acquired yet but it feels wonderful in the body and mind!

Peace