2015 Puerist Yiwu #1 (Man Sa)

 I got this complimentary sample for review from Puerist.  I mentioned before that the Yiwu Numbers cakes from Puerist simply are numbering different secret forest areas they are not a ranking. I have posted on Yiwu #8 in the past.  This 2015 Puerist Yiwu #1 ($87.00 for 200g cake or $0.44/g) is from the Mansa area according to the description on the site.  This is the first of a handful of posts on some of the Puerist samples I received and consumed over the Spring and Summer.  I drank this one right after the 2017 Puerh.uk Mansa to compare…

Dry leaf has muted flowery sweet woody odours on this one.

First infusion had a smooth woody clear watery taste.  There is a soft almost peachy distant ghostly finish.  Soft watery woody fruity muted taste over a soft mossy coating.

The second infusion has a clear peachy spacious taste with a fade out into the aftertaste with a pop of initial woody peachy taste then a fade out with faint cool breath.  The Qi pools in the chest and the mind unwinds.  Dry lips hold icing sugar taste.  

The third is left to cool and gives off a smooth oily peachy taste.  Long elegant motion into a melon fruity returning finish with nice oily texture cool breath and mid-deep throat opening.  Spacy mind unwinding feeling with subtle chest opening. 

4^th has a woody melon creamy sweet onset with a pop of creamy sweetness then a returning wave of melon under the creamy sweetness a bit of woodiness.  Elegant motion of taste here… mainly sweet taste with a bit of dry lips and edges of tongue.  Very spacy relaxing feel.  Strong Gushu feel to this one.

5^th has a woody peachy creamy sweet pop of oily taste then returns with melon creamy sweetness. There are edges of elegant coco that appear in the aftertaste and mid body that add another layer to the taste.  Chest opening with some slow beats and deep sighs.

6^th infusion has a peachy almost ashy woody onset with a fainter melon with a layer of elegant clear coco taste.  Nice Chest opening feeling and strong euphoria in mind.  

7^th has a peachy ashy woody coco almost dirt like taste with some faint melon and coco returning taste.  There is a woody dirt coco nuance that is developing here.  The mouthfeeling is a bit sandy and chalky but mainly a soft mossy coating with dry lips edges.  Open Chest and uplifting euphoria.  

8^th infusion has a slightly bitter woody dirt ashy coco sort of taste to it with a cooling breath and returning melon creamy woody.  There is a mild amount of pucker here.  Strong euphoria mind ease with open chest feeling and body melting feeling qi- feels really good.

9^th has a woody fruity peachy dirt ash woody cooc mild bitter onset with an oily texture and dry lips edges mid- deep open throat.

10^th has a woody dirt coco flat woody bitterness that give the mouth a bit of drying and a bit of bitterness.  It dries the lips a bit.  With a bit of fruity pop initially over the bitter woody and a bit of cooling melon over the dry woody in the finish…

I steep a few more the next day…

11^th is left to cool and has a fruity peachy melon onset with a long creamy melon finish.  Fresh and surprisingly vibrant fruity sweet tastes in a mild mossy tongue coating.

12^th has a woody peachy melon sweetness.  Clear fresh vibrant fruity tastes today this far into the session.  Mossy mouthcoating.  Unwinding mind space. 

13^th has a juicy fresh melon and peachy vibrant sweetness there is a faint ghostly woody body. Clear fruity gushu like feel and taste.  Mossy mild mouthfeeling.  

I mug steep out the rest of the spent leaves and it gives off a juicy minty melon taste that is pretty oily but also a bit drying in the mouth. 

Vs 2017 Puerh.uk Mansa (pictured above) which is also quite juicy and a bit more drying in this long mug infusion… This 2015 Puerist Yiwu #1 is much more gushu in its pure feeling and taste and Qi. The puerh.uk is a bit rough and not as clearly gushu to me.  However the punchiness of the puerh.uk is super enjoyable a balance of punchiness mixed in to give it more variance. This Puerist has a very deep Gushu Qi to it which I quite like- I like the price too!

Peace

2017 Puerh.uk Mansa “Ancient Tree”

 

This was a complimentary sample and has not been listed on Puerh.uk website…

Dry leaves smell of creamy fruity fresh sweetness… mmmmm… really delicious smelling…

First infusion has a creamy woody fluffy dense presentation of creamy powdery sweetness over background wood.  The taste sort of fades from the initial sugary creamy woody powdery sweetness. The mouthfeeling is fluffy and chalky and the breath is slightly cooling with sugar finish in the mouth.  Relaxing feeling already.

The second infusion has a fruity bready woody sort of stewed peachy and woody sort of taste. Condensed woody fruity oily chalky creamy powdery punch!  Very tasty with a woody base and long cooling sugar sweet aftertaste.  Some Chest opening and happy energy burst.  Can feel it in the Chest and Lungs- Breath expanding feeling.

The third infusion has a woody oily chalky sweet stewed peach creamy sweetness more woodiness comes out here.  The mouthfeeling becomes more full and drying here.  With a woody sugar almost camphor developing cool sweet finish.  With a puckering mouthfeeling and mild throat pucker stimulation.  The strong dense taste with the full puckering mouthfeeling and strong chest, Lung, Shoulder opening feeling is an intense package. There is an energetic upbeat feeling.

The fourth infusion has a woody oily almost stewed peachy woody puckering taste.  There is a dry puckering in the mouth.  Lots of condensed sugar and stewed peachy sweetness some almost brown sugar edges that are strongly paired with woody tastes.  Strong Chesty feeling and woody cooling sugar finish.  Upbeat qi.

5^th woody brown sugar dry wood mouth puckering dry coating cool and sweet finish with woody. Peachy long aftertaste.  Strong Chest Qi.

6^th is left to cool and gives off a peachy creamy chalky sweet with edges of caramel taste.  Nice pop of sweet taste with an oily peachy fresh taste. Long peachy brown sugar caramel melts into the aftertaste… Yummy.  Mind is upbeat and Chest feels open.

7^th is cooled down but infusion has a creamy fruity sweet taste.  Long peachy creamy caramel brown sugar sweetness not much woody just long dense complex delicious sweetness here.  You can feel the jaw and chest open and limbs loose and a nice feel good vibe here. 

8^th has a woody creamy sweet woody almost coco taste.  Less oily full chalky slight cry but not puckering any more the last infusions feel fuller and oilier in the mouth.  Upbeat with shoulders and limbs light.

9^th was accidentally a longer infusion a good 5 minutes!  It’s a woody bitter coco creamy brown sugar with a gripping mouthfeeling and deep woody coolness in the mouth.  A strong bitter woody taste is dominant in these stronger infusions.  Nice throat stimulating at the top of the throat.  Some sour bitter woody tastes also fruity. Strong intense flavor reminds me of the powerful first few infusions and that this has a lot of strength underneath its peachy fruity and long sweet infusions. 

10^th is another long one… it is left for hours and cool it tastes creamy dense oily fruity sweetness with edges of sour and bitter woodiness.

Mug steeping is oily and a bit drying with a more woody drying overall taste with some throat coolness.  There is a strong mouthfeeling pucker with not much sweetness at the edges and lost in the puckering feeling.  There is a pop of fruity sweet that pops through in the initial taste.  There is also a powdery talc cherry bitterness as well.

Overall, this one has both an elegance to it with really delicious tastes especially in the first few infusions.  Of note is the really long delicious aftertaste.  But lots of intense power as well with very gripping mouthfeeling and throatfeeling and bitter and astringent sour tastes.  Its Qi is pretty strong with Chest limbs and jaw body feelings and a happy vibes feeling.  As a result this puerh is really a dichotomy of sorts.  Some aging would do this one well. Like the 2014 puerh.uk Mengsa this one has some Gushu-ish qualities but also some harsher qualities but the result works especially if the price is reasonable.

Peace

2014 Puerh.uk Mengsa: Power Value

 I didn’t check the site for this one before I sampled it and am not sure if they even had it up on the site yet as this was a complimentary sample.  This 2014 Puerh.uk Mengsa Ancient Trees goes for approx. $188 for a 357g cake or $0.52/g.

Dry leaves still have a lot of fresh sweet smell but also woody odours.

First infusion is smooth creamy woody tastes has a mellow fruity initial taste in a watery slightly oily texture.  Nice long melon finish.  Very clean gushu feel.  Mellow relaxing and mind slowing off the bat.  Refreshing feeling.

The second infusion has a creamy sweet oily onset with a watery mouthfeeling with a woody almost grains base taste.  There is some fuzzy headed feeling and creamy sweet woody melon nuance. There is a nice mid-deeper throat opening. Relaxing waves of energy.  Subtle caramel note in there as well. 

Third infusion has foresty vegetal caramel creamy onset in a slightly gripping mouthfeeling.  Strong relaxing pull in the body.   Almost astringent has a coco finish on the breath with caramel.  Strong Qi with some Heart beats and warmth and heavy feeling- both relaxing and refreshing.  Strong Qi energized ones body as the Heart really beats strongly.

The fourth infusion has a strong woody spicy creamy woody fruity condensed onset with strong Chest beats that invigorate!  The texture is a bit oily and a caramel sweetness returns and stretches out on the breath.  I’m having a really strong Qi experience here with strong Heart beats bursts of energy and energetic hyper feeling euphoria.

5^th infusion has a coco woody ashy slight astringent bitter onset with woody base and a melon creamy sweetness that returns in the aftertaste.  The texture is a bit oily and has a fine chalky feel in the mouth and deeper throat opening.  Huge Qi pounding in the Chest.  This Qi kind of reminds me of the 2007 Yang Qing Hao Qizhong.  Energetic high.  

6^th infusion has a woody oily quick coco mild bitter astringency with a sweet brownsugar edge. The returning sweetness is of coco and slight melon.  There is this pop of melon candy flavor that is really taste here.  Mouthfeeling starts to become a bit gripping chalky.  Strong Chesty beats and invigorating mind melt.

7^th is left to cool and gives a woody ashy bitter coco woody taste in an oily broth.  The woody and coco and ashy tastes are becoming more prominent with the sweet taste coming from the returning sweetness and is a sort of creamy brown sugar.  Strong chest beats and energy you can feel it in your temples.

8^th is left to cool and gives off a woody a bit bitter and with a woody bittersweetness to it with the sweet taste now mainly in the aftertaste.  Flatter blander taste and mouthfeeling.  Still strong alerting stimulating Qi.  Some mild intense head stuffiness.

9^th has a melon fruity sweet onset with developing coco taste very clear infusion here with nice trailing off coco finish.  Mild bittersweetness throughtout.  Strong Chest thumper.

10^th has a melon sweet oily onset that slowly turns into a bittersweet coco.  These last few infusions the wood taste is gone and so is the astringency and they are really pure clean and tasty. 

11^th has a sweet melon oily onset that slowly turns into a delicious bittersweet coco.  Strong Chesty Qi.  

12^th has a watery melon sweet onset with some creamy brown sugar sweet woody finish.  The Qi strength is lessening but still strong.

13^th same progression of tastes.

Overall, this is a superpowered Qi experience almost too intense and overwhelming at times! The taste matches the feeling with coco bittersweetness throughout.  The price is pretty decent for what you are getting here and I’m left wanting more… Puerh.uk has a winner here…

Peace

Marco’s 2022 Blind Samples Ranking/ Thoughts

 Wow another excellent set of samples!  A bit harder to rank for me mainly because I’m not really in that head space lately and really enjoyed each for what they are.  I think I really understood about half of these with some of the others harder to wrap my mind around.  Looking back weeks later these are the ones that stand out to me.  In order of my enjoyment…

1- #1- this one had really nice energy about it and reminded me of Chawangshu energy so excellent qi experience- strong spaced out feeling with subtle neck releases that you find in the high end stuff.  Tighter rolled smaller leaves had great stamina.  Yiwu Gushu feeling!

2- #6- as above this is another tightly compressed smaller leaf puer.  This one has obvious drier Taiwanese storage and is a very subtle puerh with lots of complexity and nothing overpowering or strong at all.  Nice aged out feeling around 20 years I’m guessing and a Contemplative Qi experience.

3- #4- is an interesting example of Hongkong Traditional storage shu brick with interesting an unique if not a bit crude tasting.  Have never quite tasted this profile from an old HK Traditional shu before especially interesting subtle slower revealing tastes in the first handful of infusions.  Downside is a bit of throat scratchiness.  I hope this is one TeasWeLike can bring in as a cheaper drinker but it’s quite old at least 90s so …

4- #3- not sure I quite understand this one but it was pretty enjoyable and an interesting a new experience for me… These aged old loose leaves smell look and feel old but the taste of fresh watermelon with interesting juicy fruity taste coupled with aged dirty books and faint fruity incense it sort of reminds me of fruity hooka! For some reason Lao Man E came to mind.  Has a warning make-you-sweat Qi with an enlivening happy vibe!

5-#2- This is a well stored a bit smoky Malaysian stored factory production from 2005-2007 that reminds me lots of the famous 2005 Nanqiao Double Lions Bulang but much less powerful.  The balance of smoky BBQ Mesquite and creamy pasty sweetness is nice.  Expected enlivening factory energy.

6- #5- creamy! and acidic at times with a wood varnish taste with somewhat spacey Qi and faint body tingles.  This reminded me of 2003 Hongkong Henry Serious Prescription in some ways.  Shows some drier storage qualities 2003-2006 factory production.

There you have it…. 

Let us wait for Marco’s big reveal to set me straight.

Peace

Marco’s 2022 Blind Sample #6

 

Dry leaves are very compressed and smell of dry old dusty woody.

First infusion has a pond and water taste to it some faint fruity taste in the very far distance.

The second is left to cool and gives off a pond/marshland taste of Taiwanese Dry storage pretty watery with not much to it yet…

The third infusion has a mild spice wood with pond taste.  Very mild still some faint cooling breath and subtle sweet edge.  Slow heart opening Qi.

The fourth infusion has a watery mouthfeeling with a subtle spice and icing sugar taste.  Hard to grasp watery taste here with a warm and Heart opening Qi.  Faint mouth moss.  Faint cooling throat.  Strong mild calm.

Fifth infusion has a pond marshland intial taste with very faint mild woody spice in a watery mouthfeeling.  There is spice and faint sweet edges but just faint mild through and through. Mild chest Qi.

6^th is a smooth pond and mashland sugar sweet taste in a watery smooth broth sort of warming spice and woody finish.  Nice cooling and sugar finish.  Very clear profile.  Thin soft faint mossy mouthcoating.  Overall very gentle and subtle puerh.  This infusion has a longer spice woody sugar aftertaste in the mouth supported by a cool throat and mid-deep depth.

7^th has a woody complex spicy minty woody onset with a subtle cooling throat and watery coating with a fine moosy coating that is almost a touch dry now.  The aftertaste becomes quite long in these last infusions with a woody sugar cooling spice finish.  Nice mind pausing effects with some mild heart opening.  Has no signs of young puerh left in there- should be early 2000s aged puerh over 20 years Taiwanese stored reminiscent of Wistaria’s puerh storage.

8^th has a minty spicy oily woody sugar onset of complex flavours in a very unimposing broth no astringency or bitterness at all nor a strong mouthfeeling.  This is all about subtle complexity.  Oily watery mouthfeeling subtle cooling with woody sugar sweetness.  Oily and smooth with lots of subtle complexity.

9^th has a woody oily sweet sugar spice clear complex taste.  There is a mossy almost but not really dry mouthfeeling and cooling finish of woody spice sugar.  Pond-marshland storage taste underneath is faint.  Chest and Heart opening feeling and mind pausing Qi- contemplative and complex.  This puerh feels really good through and through.  Longer and longer aftertaste.

10^th brown sugar woody spice it seems to be more sweet, complex opening is joined by a cool throat with woody spice sugar finish.   The mouthfeeling is an oily watery mossy taste the throat opening is mid to deep.  The Qi is profoundly mind pausing with Chest opening feeling.  Feels really nice- ready to drink- sufficiently aged puerh.

11^th infusion has that same complex woody, sugar, spice taste- this puerh is terribly reliable and great stamina in the tight compression of these quality material.  Oily texture keeps things feeling full and satisfied where the deeper open throat with cooling keep the taste going long in the aftertaste. The Qi is mind pausing with Chest warming feeling.  Deep contemplation takes place now under the influence of the Chaqi.

12^th woody spice sugar complex but less oily here.  Some cooling throat and long subtle woody spice finish.  Long woody aftertaste in the cooling throat.  Peaceful sensations.  Open chest.  Calm contemplations.

13^th is left to cool and is a woody not as spicy but more sugar sweet in the aftertaste.  Less oily but still not dry really- a thin mossy coating with some mild cooling throat before the aftertaste.  Quite calm, slight warming.

14^th infusion has a spicy woody almost medicinal onset but not anything close to bitter or astringent. Woody sugar pop of taste.  Chest opening. 

15^th has a spicy woody not very sweet onset with a mossy tongue coating and mild cooling woody aftertaste.  This infusion is less sweet.  

16^th is left to cool but still this stable woody spice mossy mouthcoating.  The mild flat sugar sweetness and oily mouthfeeling are starting to wane a bit now so I put it into mug steepings..

The mug steepings are a bit bitter woody puckering with edges of sugar and a long deep cooling in the throat.  This is a really nice puerh!  Strong Qi sensation washes over me.

I had a really nice experience with this clear Taiwanese stored puerh that had a very nice stamina, mind stopping very contemplate Qi with Chesty warmth and opening feeling.  Strong in its calm.  No astringency or bitter what so ever but very full and satisfying oily mossy and deeper throat opening with woody, spicy, surgar clear and steady profile.  I had a really good time with this one and it feels really good.  This could be a pretty expensive puerh considering the profile!

(Pictured top #4, mid #5, bottom #6)

Guess: early 2000s Taiwanese stored Gushu Growing area unknown

Peace

Marco’s 2022 Blind Sample #5

 Dry leaves have muted sweet woody grains.

The first infusion has a coppery milky taste.  Nice creamy body and fluffy mouthfeeling.  Has a creamy almost fruity edge to it.  Faint cooling at the finish with muted creamy sweet taste.

The second infusion has a creamy nutty slight woody pond taste.  Creamy coco returning sweetness.  Chalky mouthfeeling.  Nice cooling creamy coco finish some vegetal woody faint base taste underneath.  Relaxing bodyfeeling with very mild floating bodyfeeling.  Tastes a bit more humidly stored but Mid-aged.  Not sure about the storage tastes somewhere between Taiwanese and Malaysian- probably somewhere my brain isn’t taking me to… Maybe dry stored Malaysian? Not sure…

Third infusion has a woody resin sweet woody taste.  This tastes almost like varnish woody.  Reminds me a lot of 2003 Hong Kong Henry “Conscientious Prescription” it has that woody furniture varnish with a orange citrus finish to it. Very woody taste up front but turns a bit creamy. Has a decent level of acidity and a sandy gripping mouthfeeling and stimulating upper throatfeeling. Sort of tingling floating bodyfeeling.

The fourth infusion has a woody sweet acidic onset.  The cooled down infusion has a woody creamy almost citrus fruit taste.  There is a substantial woody character over creamy sweet citrus taste.  There is a spacy Qi feeling with some tingling bodyfeelings.  Sort of reminds me of Chen Yuan Hao here but more like 2003 HK Henry Conscientious Prescription even a bit 7532 Menghai Factory.

5^th has a woody creamy resin incense onset with woody edges and feeling of mild spacy and floating feelings.  Strong woody resin body in this puerh with a nice long cooling over a sandy mouthcoating and upper throat stimulation. Tingling whole body Qi with spaced out feeling. 

6^th has a very woody onset with creamy citrus finish.  There are lots of resin notes as well with a citric almost orange fruity edge to it.  Incense and resin body to this one.  Nice spacy with body tingling.  Thin sandy mouthfeeling with a bit of upper throat simulation.

7^th has a deeper woody resin taste.  Like furniture with acidic and citrus in there.  This is something really like 2003 HK Henry.  Sandy thin mouhfeeling with upper throat stimulation.  Nice spaced out Qi with body tinges.  Deep cooling in the throat with creamy sweet edges in the aftertaste. 

8^th has a woody furniture varnish taste.  This is much less sweet and woodier furniture with edges of acidic orange.  Nice spacy feeling.

9^th has a very woody varnish resin taste with a bit of acidity and not too much sweetness left.  Sandy thin full coating mouthfeeling with some upper throat stimulation.  Has a talc dry storage taste in there like incense.  It pours a bit lite but has an older dry stored feeling 2001-2005 maybe.

10^th is left to cool and has a creamy woody taste a bit of acidic tastes.  Nice creamy sweet taste.  

11^th has a woody varnish acidic sweetness to it. Very woody with a bit of cooling breath and incense resin taste.

I mug steep out the rest… it offers woody acidic taste with not much sweetness left in there.  A long day steeping pushes out sweet bread and faint cooling returning sweetness.

Guess: 2003-2006 Factory production similar to Hong Kong Henry Conscientious Prescription or even possibly Menghai Factory Deliciousness. Re-reading the notes it seems a bit unclear…

Peace