2018 Zheng Si Long Yi Shan Mo vs 2018 Zheng Si Long Xiang Chun Lin

This is another Zheng Si Long Yi Shan Mo from Tea Encounter.  This sample was included free in my last order from Tea Encounter.  For those who care to know the 2018 Zheng Si Long Yi Shan Mo goes for $167.01 for400g cake or  $0.42/g.

The dry leaves smell of hay, straw, wood, and lingering cherry fruit and slight evergreen nuance.

The first infusion delivers candy like cotton candy tastes up front.  The taste is really really sweet almost immediately.  It reminds me of cotton candy ice cream my daughter eats at birthday parties.   Very pure, clean, vibrant sweetness.  There is a nice mouthfeeling, quite sticky and reasonably thick for the first infusion.

The second infusion starts with a reasonably dense thick sweetness, an unperturbed sweetness.  Cotton candy icecream like sweetness over a nice sticky mouthcoating.  The sweetness is not hallow or superficial because the mouthcoating gives it a deeper grounding.  The aftertaste has a touch of green forestlike tastes.

The third infusion starts off with a foresty and woody base with intense sweetness.  There is a touch of sour nuances in there and quite a thick sticky coating on the tongue.  There is a long melon sweetness that stretches on the breath.  The throat stimulation here is quite nice too.  A bubble gum like lingering taste lingers for a while minutes later.

The fourth infusion is quite thick cotton candy and even apple fruit sweetness layered over slight woody and forest base.  The mouthfeel is densely simulated with a sticky astringency and the throat opens deeply.  There is a slightly sour nuance and a deep long sweet taste.  The balance to the sweetness here is quite nice and exploited by the open throat feeling and dense tongue stimulation.  The Qi is relaxing and relieving type of feeling in the mind.  The long sweetness in the aftertaste is that long creamy sweetness.  There is a lot of depth to the sweet taste here.  Very nice.

The fifth and sixth infusions start with a dense and thick fruity/candy/creamy fruit nuance the layer sweetness is pronounced and stimulation in the throat and mouth is strong.  There is a base of hay, slight wood, and forest underneath the dense compact and strong sweet taste.  The Qi brings a strong clarity to the mind.  The sweetness is quite strong even minutes later- it gets lodged deep in the throat.  This gets thicker as it goes.

The seventh infusion delivers a dense layered fruity sweetness right off the initial sip.  There are base tastes of woods and forest underneath which give depth to the taste.

The eighth infusion has lots of deep fruity sweet tastes initially supported by forest, slight hay, and slight dry wood.  A touch of sour seems to trigger such a faint pungent then a very sweet candy taste long on the breath.  The mouthfeel and throatfeeling a deep and simulating.  The Qi is relaxing, soothing, and in the body I feel it in my face dropping and relaxing.  Melting tension in the face.  Happy feeling.  Heart beats slower.

The ninth is more of a sunny, almost tropical and apple type of dense sweetness the sour is a touch more pronounced.  A thick satisfying tongue coating with a long strong lingering sweetness.  The Qi is definitely doing many things here.  The overall effect is happy and relaxed, a bit slowly me down a bit alert and clear.  The puerh is not at all harsh on the body for a young puerh.

The tenth starts vibrant dense fruity sweetness with a very mild touch of sour.  The sweet taste is an apple and orange and pineapple type taste which is quite interesting and delicious.  The Qi is really building, it is pretty strong now.  The sweetness is really interesting and deep and long in the mouth.

11^th thick dense sweetness creamy pungent sweetness, long long sweetness.  Lots and lots of sweetness.

12^th thick dense fruit sweetness, a more wood taste emerging, still stimulating mouth and throatfeeling, juicy fruit taste is long lasting, a dense long juicy sweetness with emerging woody base underneath.  Deep throatfeeling.

13^th  and 14^th become more juicy apple/slight tropical sweetness there is a thinner but still full coating mouthfeel over the tongue.  A slight sour edge and long more faint now sweetness on the breath.  There is still a mild woody under taste.

I push harder with the fifteenth and add 20 seconds to the flash infusions and come up with a more muted juicy fruity initial flavor with a woody, straw and forest nuance that seems to be more pushed with these longer late infusions.

The 16^th I push for about 60 seconds it delivers slightly sour woody forest tastes with a back drop of faint fruity sweetness.

I put this one into the overnight infusion …

Overall, this is a nice puerh.  It is very sweet but with some depth to it to ground it.  The taste is thick in the mouth and presents with dense flavor.  The mouthfeel and throat feeling are really nice.  The tongue coating, in particular is super interesting and engages the sweetness providing depth to the otherwise simple tastes.  The throatfeeling is also quite deep.  As a whole this puerh offers quite a refined experience with sweetness and density and depth that evolves throughout the session but is not overly complex.  The Qi is also pretty good and interesting feeling.

It is interesting to compare this puerh to the 2018 Zheng Si Long Xiang Chun Lin because it’s close proximity to the Yi Shan Mo producing area, same production year, same producer.  The Qi of both of these teas was strikingly similar to me prompting me to sample the 2018 Zheng Si Long Xiang Chun Lin the following day.  The Xiang Chun Lin had much deeper tastes more evergreen, forest, rainforest, and more of a melon fruit taste the Yi Shan Mo had a stronger multifaceted sweetness but less deeper and mid notes.  The Xiang Chun Lin had considerably less stimulating mouthfeeling.  The Qi of both are similar but the Xiang Chun Lin is about 1/3 stronger especially felt in the chest.  Overall they have a similar feel to them.  The Xiang Chun Lin seems to have a bit more stamina especially when put into long and overnight steeps at the end of a session- delicious tastes are still pushed out.  I think the 2018 Zheng Si Long Xiang Chun Lin ($199.99) is a slightly more engaging puerh but for a price that is just a bit more than the 2018 Zheng Si Long Yi Shan Mo ($167.01)… but that mouthfeeling…

Peace

Please, Oh Please, Don’t Tariff Our Teas

After the 2016 US Presidential Election, some were lamenting the philosophical shift.  But, I think there were many like me that wondered how this would affect their tea purchases as well.  In 2018 I  predicted here that if Mr. President gets war-stancey, it would significantly affect the world of puerh.  I think this effect manifested in a more indirect way over the last year in the form of currency fluctuations.  Last week things got real when a 10% tariff was applied to all goods entering the USA from China.  That tariff is applied to all goods (that’s right tea as well) that enter the USA after Sept 1^st.

I wonder if there are any of you out there who are stocking up before the 10% increase takes hold? 

I wonder why Western puerh vendors aren’t taking advantage of this in their marketing?  I also wonder how that is going to affect vendors like white2tea or Bitterleaf Teas who ship from China?  Or Vendors who have wearhouses in other countries, will they move their stock out before the tariffs hit?  I wonder how it will impact Yunnan Sourcing that ships from China but also has the option of moving its stock to Yunnan Sourcing USA?  Or the Essence of Tea that has an option of moving tea to their Malaysian warehouse?  I wonder about how it would affect smaller projects like Liquid Proust Teas or Crimson Lotus Tea?

Those comfortably sitting in countries other than the USA might also be effected if a global slowdown is the result of the trade war or if their currency decreases in value as a result.  Today there is much talk about currency manipulation and its effect.  It’s anyone’s guess as to how this will end but for now, with the Canadian dollar a bit higher, I’m considering a purchase…

Peace

The Best Puerh Bloggers Are Canadian, Eh?

Have you ever wondered why so many good tea bloggers are Canadian?  Almost all of my favorite current and active tea bloggers are Canadian.  They are either ex-patriots living in the USA, such as Char of Oolong Owl, or currently reside in Canada (I’m not sure if they are Canadian born or not) such as Marco of Late Steeps, and a newer blogger that I’ve been really enjoying lately of The Weekend Sessions.  There are also two very young puerh bloggers out there that I am also reading Tea Reviews and My Tea Journey.  Each and everyone of these bloggers have their own distinct style of blogging so I won’t say there is a distinct style of Canadian tea blogging.  However, I have come up with a few reasons why Canada, with a population less than California, turns out many more quality tea bloggers…

July 1^st is a National Holiday here in Canada called Canada Day!  On this day during my meditation, I happened to reflect more deeply on this idea…

1-      I wonder if the long cold winter has something to do with it? Drink more tea and have more time inside to type out something a bit longer?

2-      I wonder if the British Influence and high Chinese minority (largest minority in Canada) have anything to do with it? 

3-      I wonder if the slower pace of Canadian culture? It is said that Canadians even talk slower… hahah conducive to slower tea, gong fu tea, ect?

4-      I wonder if the distant geographical proximity have anything to do with it?  Canada is a big country and the distance makes it harder to me up with tea friends.  Blogging seems like a reasonable way to connect.

5-      Canada produces great innovators, critical thinkers, and those that ask why?  Canadian news, education and culture is less about the sound clip or click bait and more about getting to the bottom of things and thinking about the reason why things are the way they are.  It is with this spirit the long format of the blog is perhaps preferred by Canadians?

6-      Canada some of the best tea shops outside of Asia- O5Tea in Vancouver and Camellia Sinensis in Montreal.

Peace

Elitism, Illuminati, and the Secret Inner Circle of Puerh

***I think this is probably the most difficult post I have ever published.  I think I have written 3 different versions of this and even sat on this one for months.  The post below isn’t meant to hurt or single anyone out but rather advance public puerh discourse***

Soon after returning to the tea world a year or so ago I typed out a long and fairly detailed criticism that centered on the secret back channels of the tea (mainly puerh) world that I just could not bring myself to publish.  The article was just too critical of myself, other bloggers, vendors, group buy organizers and back channel buyers.  I spared no one in this post but also looked at the positives and the reasons why there is a secret society or inner circle of puerh buyers, the history of such things, and the purpose that these back channels serve to those who use them.

The post would have really upset some of my closest tea friends and Western vendors who I respect and sincerely care about.  As well, it probably would have ostracized me from the community which I helped build and who I now benefit from being a part of.  So there is no way that my initial article is getting publish but it was a very very cathartic activity for myself similar to journaling… a healing experience...hahaha  But as a result, my silence on this issue continues to perpetuate the continual ignoring of this elephant in the room.

I absolutely love James of TeaDB for engaging the readers in his brilliant articles, posts and videos- he is pure genius.  Often, great conversation emerges from his articles.  In this article in particular, James kind of mis-phrased a discussion about his tea sources and it lead to a rather interesting discussion of the back channels of puerh tea.  The commentary by Alex certainly outlinesmany of the thoughts I had in my unpublished article (but probably written much better than I could).  In an article on TeaDB this week the comments also add discussion to these ideas.  So, I now feel that it is at least time to make these general points contained in my unpublished article that he didn’t touch on.

Firstly it can be stated that, nowadays a chunk of puerh world has become elitist.  Certainly, it’s not ALL elitist but a notable proportion is.  Much has changed in the puerh world over the last 10-15 years.  Back then puerh tea was tea of the commoner, it was cheaper than most any other tea, even cheaper than cheap teabag tea.  You literally couldn’t find anything cheaper per gram than a cake of puerh.  Anyone could afford and strive to drink the best and there was a sense of close knit community in this.

At one point, years and years ago all Western puerh buyers were either buying from the handful of western puerh vendors at the time (Yunnan Sourcing, Awazon, Tuo Cha Tea, Puerhshop, and Houde) or were buying in person in Asia.  The puerh drinking community was much different in these early days as we strove to understand something with very little available information at the time.  We did this by openly sharing knowledge.  At this time everyone was on the same playing field as far as buying puerh went, the buying options were listed for all to see on the websites.

The start of some kind of exclusive things happening were with Houde’s limited releases which would often sell out before anyone had a chance to try them.  However, everyone had a fair crack at these.  What started to push things underground in the Western puerh world was the use of Taobao.

The introduction of Taobao to puerh buying was a game changer because it allowed the buyer to bypass the Western puerh vendor and buy more directly.  However, it also pushed puerh buying in the West underground where good sources of puerh were rarely shared publicly in fear of being over exploited by buyers and vendors alike.  To me this is the start of when things got a little exclusive in the puerh buying Western world, a trend that continues to today.

The lack of shared public info on puerh hurts the whole community.  Over the last few years, although much more people are drinking puerh tea.  Much less is shared publically.  Back in the early years you used to be excited and want to share publicly the source of a great puerh find-  now this excitement is pushed underground.  I think as the years go by there is less and less public information on the internet about great tea finds.  The information that is most publically shared is usually by “stamp collectors” those people who tend to by many single cake or those people who tend to only by single cake and not multiples or tongs.

Stamp collectors have no reason to hide sources because once they have one cake they will not likely order great qualities of it but rather go on to the next cake. Cwyn, Char, and Hobbes are not stamp collectors per say but tend to buy lots of cakes rather than focus on a few.  Some of the more common posters on Steepster are also stamp collectors.  It’s quite easy for these people to share their sources because they likely won’t go back to the same well twice.

On the other hand bulk collectors and speculators and buyers who like to “hit it hard with a hammer” are the lest likely to share sources and their favorite puerh publicly.  This is especially true for those who drink semi-aged puerh which is not well represented by Western vendors (this no doubt, further entrenches the issue of access).  Even for bloggers like Hobbes & Marshal’N it gets to a point where there is not much sense in posting reviews of teas because the sources are not publicly available.  They are not buying through the Western puerh vendors anyways so the blog content of such things is a bit of a charade.

It’s not just info about what cakes to buy that is lost.  More importantly it is useful storage issues, regional issues, info on specific factories and specific vendor opinions, and lots lots more which are lost in these back channels.  Marshall’N actually wrote a post about how we are not as better off because of this loss of public knowledge but yet it continues to be entrenched.

The Public Puerh Community Is Disappearing

Things have actually gotten a lot worst lately.  A few weeks ago Chris, a commentor on TeaDB, linked a great article about the current state of public tea communities.  It touched on something that some have mentioned over the last few months which is the dying off of one of the greatest public access to tea related information and record of puerh tasting notes, Steepster.  That post really resonated with me: is there soon to be no public record and discussion of puerh?  How will this impact especially those new to puerh?  Of course those in the know won’t be as effected as much and those who are just getting into puerh who will be disadvantaged the most.

Failures of an Instagram Tea Community

Where the public puerh community is most thriving is on Instagram.  Instagram is a photo sharing social media platform at its core is therefore very good at sharing tea pictures or as a place to write quick comments and opinions.  However, it is not good at diving into the deeper subjects and complexity that is puerh tea.  Snapchat and Twitter are other good examples of this.  It can transmit powerful content quickly and can encourage community and convey emotion but is much better at the superficial than getting down to the deep.

Access vs Going Underground

There are some out there that simply frame this issue as simply a problem with access.  Of course, limited access is probably the main causative factor but I disagree that it is the main issue at play.  I think the whole issue is bigger than just access.  The issue here is, do we really want puerh knowledge to go mainly underground and for it to benefit the few connected people or do we want it to be public to benefit the many?  This is how it should be framed.  I understand that drinking tea is a personal leisure activity or hobby and isn’t charity work or outreach but without a strong public presence puerh access gets worse thereby perpetuating the problem.

Old guard is weakening…

I once heard Shah8 say that he will point you in the right direction but I won’t give you the exact address and hail a cab for you (something to this point).  Certainly he has opened the door a crack after revealing the links to and a little on how to use the Taiwanese Facebook auction groups.  Marco, Su, and others behind Teas We Like are brining things out in the open as well.  Taking their dearest tea sources and making their favorite personal tea finds public for all to enjoy.  After you personally have acquired a lifetime supply of a tea you enjoy what is the point of hiding such things anymore?  Besides these people have put in their time and want to further the puerh community they helped create and are an active part of.  After a while, it becomes clear that it is time to give back.

Emmitt Guzman has been doing this for years with group buys of Yang Qing Hao and the Dead Leaves Tea Club last year started Taobao group buys have opened a space where we can explore one of a kind finds together in a more public way.

Personally, I welcome this change in selfless direction and attitude.

Personal Resistance

Overall, though I personally have resisted joining the Illuminati of puerh drinkers although it’s an ongoing internal struggle.  This is partly, because I can be a bit of a recluse (look back to my early posts).  However, I am very very humbled and sincerely thank those who have reached out to me either by email conversation or to invite me to join private slack rooms and chats (I still hope to join if that’s where things go).  I don’t have a personal facebook account so all those options are out too.  On the other hand, I don’t blame those or hold it against those who use these private channels especially those fellow puerh bloggers who dump lots of their own time and energy into actually putting things on the public record.

Some probably could rightly state that I’m already a part of the boys club already, and I couldn’t completely refute that.  I’ve been around too long.  I am not perfectly transparent myself at times.  If someone asks me to not put something on my blog, I always respect that. Most definitely, having some free samples come across my desk helps too.  However, it should give readers hope and encouragement that I have posted or left a comment confirming every single purchase since coming back to puerh buying in 2017 here on the blog with the exception of one cake (of very low stock which I plan on buying out) and some pending purchase reviews which I hope to post over the next month and I’ve only purchased from Western vendors.  Also with the exception of one, I have not been tipped off as to what to purchase (I am very thankful for the tip… keep them coming… hahaha).

The take away here is you don’t need top secret sources or consulting the puerh illuminati to acquire amazing puerh that is underpriced or on for a good deal and reflects value.  However, what you do actually need is to gain lots and lots of experience to be able to do this…. And one of the best ways gain this experience is to actually read as much as you can and go back and read the past contributions of bloggers and other public sources… unfortunately, this option seems to be disappearing fast...

What I find particularly interesting is those in the know now had often benefited from the public record of past contributors to public chats, blogs, and Steepster to get to where they are now.  These same people now choose to push things underground…

Do we really want puerh drinking to go in the direction of an underground, well connected boys club who benefits a few or do we want it to be a more open, transparent, inclusive and public sharing of knowledge that benefits the many?  Maybe its not either or but striking some balance?

When I drink puerh even today, I drink it in the spirit of days when puerh was the drink of the commoner.  The days when I first fell in love with the mystery of it.  Something to be shared like among the many hours around the tea table in the teahouses of Asia.  My enjoyment of it, although mainly in solitary, is in the spirit of others and so follows this blog (which knowledge is yours just as much as it is mine).  If I’m not drinking puerh for the many, than I must be drinking it for selfish reasons?  The essence of tea or sprit of tea has never been this way…

I think we can do better…

Peace

***Next time I come to consult the puerh Illuminati, please, please don’t revoke my membership***

Double Peace

2019 Hua Zhu Liang Zi Maocha

Don’t know much about the source of this one.  What I’ve read is that Hua Zhu Liang Zi is one of the highest puerh producing areas in Xishuangbanna.  Puerh.sk offered a popular cake from this area in 2015.  Otherwise not that much info on English google about this puerh producing area…

Dry leaves smell of deep chocolate and plum odours and have a pudding like, fruitcake like odour mixed with a deep black berry and deep rainforest notes.  The dry leaf odour is super super unique and interesting, smells like wild/Yesheng or Mu Shu Cha type of non-conventional non-puerh like odour.  Very Sweet buttery oily taste. Has a long slow to emerge taste of creamy sweetness and long drawn out fruit.  Wet leaves could be smelling candy.  Mild nutty toasted grains are hiding underneath. A weird rubbery fruity taste emerges.  Mandarin orange peel slight bitterness.  Astringent mouthfeel building.  Qi a bit heady and relaxing.  Rubbery fruity sweetness.  A wet mouthfeel with tongue stimulation and faint cooling in throat.  Slightly spacy and definitely relaxing.  Vegetal with faint floral tones.  Relaxing vibe…

Peace

2016 Zheng Si Long Autumn Mang Zhi Dragon Balls Vs 2016 white2tea We Go High

It feels odd that I’ve never tired puerh in a dragon ball form ever.  Back in the day, it just wasn’t a thing, it didn’t exist back then.  I wonder who was the first to form puerh into a convenient ball size?  It has the same idea as the coin or minis idea … a modern incarnation of a coin.

This one is from the Mang Zhi region, an autumnal production (see Zheng Si Long Spring 2016, 2017, and 2018).  I recently mentioned that I am enjoying these productions of the famous Mang Zhi region.  The dry ball of puerh smell like slight woods with a candy fruit cherry sweetness.  I received it as a free gift when I placed my first order from Tea Encounter a few of these 2015 Zheng SiLong Wa Long.

I did a 30 second rinse and then put the lid on the pot for five minutes to break up these tight balls…

First infusion is still light and airy from the tight compression.  Watery and woody water with light floral and sweet sugar nuances.

The second is still just starting to unravel with icing sugar taste, slight dry woods, almost wildflower florals.  The mouthfeel is mossy and throat sensation starting to get stimulating.

The third infusion starts off with dry wood and icing sugar sweetness.  The sweetness is trapped in the deeper throat feeling and has a mild strawberry nuance to it.  The mouthfeel and throatfeeling are very soft but show signs of being quite full and deep.  The Qi starts to pool in the head.

The fourth infusion starts off dry wood and with a nice fluffy cotton candy nuance.  There is a fruity middle and nice throat stimulating and throatfeeling.  The throatfeeling is deep and opening.  It makes you want to clear your throat.  The tastes are light and airy, sweet and woody.  The Qi is reasonably strong and heady.

The fifth infusion starts off with an unpretentious sweet woodiness that turns into a sour taste then into a mellow vegetal sweetness.

The sixth infusion has a sour woody and barely sweet nuance that transforms to floral wildflower and dry woodiness.  It is not very sweet but has a sour sweet edge to it.  The wet leaves are predictably aromatic and have a menthol like odour.  Qi has a mild but noticeably stuffy sensation in the head.

The seventh infusion starts with a plum fruitiness to it.  There is a menthol woody undercurrent throughout which turns into a noticeable wildflower nuance.  The throat feel is reasonably deep and mouthfeel sticky and mossy.

The eighth starts juicy almost sour like a mango like taste mixed with grapefruit.  The mouthfeel is mossy and the throat feel is pretty deep.  After the juicy sour fruit fades there is a woody dry nuance left in the mouth.  The qi has a mild headiness to it.

The ninth infusion has a sour fruity onset with an astringent woody finish.  The mouthfeel is mossy on the tongue and the top of the throat opens a bit.  You can almost detect some wildflower nuances.  There is a bubble gum nuance left on the breath minutes later.

The tenth infusion starts fruity and woody and sour.  The mouthfeel is becoming sticky and there is a lingering cotton candy nuance in the breath.

The eleventh infusion is full and nuanced fruity layers of sweetness arrive with mango, and grapefruit being most obvious.  The liquor starts to thicken up here and deliver a nice thick woody fruit with decent depth now.  The aftertaste is lingering faint candy.  The Qi is mild in the head.

The twelfth infusion delivers a dense liquor of nice thick fruity woody tastes.  The flavours are sweet, barely bitter, and significantly sour.  The woody taste is the deepest and the most ethereal is the lingering candy sweetness.  My mind saunters in a nice place from the Qi.

13^th is a dense licorice, fruity and woody presentation in a thicker liquor.  They fade into a long candy like sweetness.  Nice meandering mild spacy qi.

14^th infusion has that nice dense onset with simple but thick flavours that fade easily into a candy-like faint finish.  The 15^th has that candy sweet taste in the initial now alongside fruits and slight wood.  The bitterness and sourness continue to recede with each infusion.

15^th has a nice dense fruity onset with dry wood underneath.  A wave of sweet fruity tastes comes and goes and leaves a slight woody taste with the breath of candy.

16^th is less sweet, more woody very interesting lingering sweetness.  17^th is more sweet, dense liquor, fruit.  The mouthfeel is mossy and sticky in these later infusions.  Candy long fait aftertaste.

18^th here we go into a woody apricot like sheng type of sweetness.  Nice long candy finish.  A creamy sweet finish.

It was coincidence that I had just drank another 2016 Autumnal production that was similar in some ways to this one, the 2016 white2tea We Go High.  I found these 2016 Zheng Si Long Mang Zhi Dragon balls similar in tight compression, in its thick fruity and woody tastes and textures.  2016 white2tea We Go High has a bit broader profile and complexity.  Although the Qi is actually quite similar, We Go High is a bit stronger.  2016 Zheng Si Long Autumn Mang Zhi has a more intense long candy aftertaste and deeper throat feeling.  Each had good stamina and are both nice examples of autumn puerh.  In my first sampling of 2016 white2tea We Go High I suspected that some Gua Fang Zhi or other Yiwu like material comprises a small amount of the blend.  Maybe its closer to Mang Zhi than Gua Feng Zhi?

This was a fun session.  I wonder if Tea Encounter will offer these?

Peace

2016 Zheng SI Long Manzhuan & Pastry Sweetnesses

I just came off a pretty impressive sampling of the 2016 Zheng Si Long Man Lin and wanted to sample the 2016 Zheng Si Long Manzhuan($150.85 for 400g cake or $0.38/g) close together for comparison.  They are of the same producer, same year, same price and same general region.  They were also both complimentary samples that came with my recent orders (here and here). 

The dry leaves smell of a deep pungent sweet rainforest smell.  The sweetness lingers and the pungent forest odour is penetrating.

First infusion has deep rainforest notes and fruity sweet notes right off the start.  There is a base of rainforest wood.  A very faint pungent then a bread like almost coconut type of sweetness.  The breath carries a sweet cherry note as well as a coconut note into the distance.  The first infusion is very smooth and soft .  The mouthfeeling is sticky on the tongue and lips.

The second infusion has a sweet rainforesty and very pastry and sweet bread taste to it.  There is a very mild pungent that comes and goes quickly to reveal long bread tastes and nuances of coconut and even cherry.  This is a very sweet tasting sheng right off the bat.  It has an almost cloying sweetness.  The Qi is mild and airy in the mind and body.

The third infusion starts with a very sweet bread/ pastry and rainforest taste.  The sweetness in here is very high cake pastry type of sweetness.  There is a quick and mild pungency then long almost bready and cherry fruity taste.  This tastes almost like icing sugar.  The liquor is lubricating in the mouth with only a faint astringency or bitterness the sweet taste has the full run of the taste profile here.  I can feel it pooling in the stomach with a mild youthful puerh energy.  There is a stickiness to the mouth and throat feel.  The throatfeeling is more mid and airy feeling.  The energy is felt in the stomach and makes the mind feel light.

The fourth starts with a rainforest and very sweet bready taste.  Then a very mild pungency then bready, cake, and coconut and cheryy finish.  Icing surgar permeates the profile.  The astringency is mild but building and I can feel it in my stomach, a natural young puerh feeling, but not too comfortable this morning.

The fifth infusion has a rainforesty, almost floral, but very bread- or cake- like sweet taste to it.  There is a fruity peach taste in there as the astringency is more apparent.  Overall the astringency is mild but seems to be pushing out more fruity tastes initially and throughtout the profile.  The aftertaste is long sweet bread, almost cherry plum, coconut.  The astringency beats at my empty stomach pretty good.

The sixth infusion starts more astringent with less bready pastry sweetness and more astringency and peachy fruity taste.  The mouthfeel is developing a slightly puckering edges to it.  It is pushing out a more dry wood taste across the profile.  It also seems to extend the aftertaste into a long very sweet cake and coconut cherry fruit.

The seventh infusion is smooth rainforest, a touch astringent cakey and bready more smoothed out here.  There is less intense peach sweetness and astringency.  More of a silky smooth mouthfeeling.

The eighth infusion starts of slightly astringent peachy, with a bready sweet undertone, the pungency seems to be gone but there still lingers a long sweet bread aftertaste.  The mouthfeel is more silky now. The Qi of this puerh is a mild airy relaxing sensation.

The ninth infusion starts watery, slight viscus peach with a mild rainforest taste in background.  The peach taste is throughout now.  The mouthfeel and throatfeeling continue in this silky direction.  You can feel the youthful kick and astringency in the guts for sure.

The tenth infusion is a smooth, almost woody, peachy taste throughout that glides over the tongue in a mild astringency.  The Qi in the mind is mild.

The eleventh infusion is silky a touch astringent peachy before a very mild cools peeks and pushes a bready and peachy sweetness along.  This puerh has pretty simple tastes but lots of sweetness in there.

The twelfth is silky, slightly woody, slight fruity sweetness but not too much.  The thirteenth infusion is a bit more fruity and astringent with a more astringent mouthfeel.  These small leaves lose its stamina quickly and turn into a mild woody, peachy with just a touch of sweetness.  There is a slight touch of tannic roughness in the throat.

I call this one early and put it into an overnight infusion.

Overall, this tea has some really intense pastry, bread-like sweetness in the first handful of infusions with a nice rainforesty base.  To me this is some of that classic Manzhuan taste.  The tastes in this puerh are not overly complex with only a handful of nuances playing out and there is space between the flavours.  The Qi is unassuming and the mouth and throatfeeling are mild.  This puerh also lacks substantial stamina.  The lack of bitterness and slow to build astringency create open space for the intense sweetness to dwell undisturbed.  This has to be one of the sweetest tasting sheng puerh I’ve tried in a while.  Those who like it very sweet are going to enjoy this.  It’s a good example of that pastry or cake tasting sweet cloying character of the Manzhuan region.

For me I find the 2016 Man Lin way more interesting than this 2016 Manzhuan- the stamina is better, its less harsh and the Qi sensation is interesting, and it has a nice build throughout the session.

But for those who like it short and (pastry) sweet, this Manzhuan is for you…

Peace