2018 Puerist Zhang Jia Wan: A more Edgy Zhang Jia Wan!

 

These days I am really enjoying a deeper appreciation of softer and more subtle tasting puerh.  Years past I have enjoyed these things but always under the shadow of “how can they possibly age into anything substantive?”  These days I have come to terms with the idea of them being consumed and appreciated young or just aging them terribly dry and living contentedly with the subtitles that remain.  In this mindset problems in the future are overlooked for the enjoyment of the present... and boy did I ever really enjoy this one... turns out it wasn’t one of those overly faint experiences.

This 2018 Puerist Zhang Jia Wan goes for approx $84.00 for 200g cake or $0.42/g.  My experience so far with the Zhang Jia Wan area is lots of gentle and subtleties this one had that but it is just done so well...

Dry very small leaves smell of faint dry distant floral and sweetness- almost like a light faint honey.

The first infusion has a very soft creamy honey smooth profile with no bitterness but an oily fullness.  There is a fresh watery oily mouthfeeling that gives this puerh a full feeling although it is decisively light.

The second infusion has a almost minty fresh meadow olive oil taste with a honey undertone.  There is a faint fresh coolness then returning floral honey almost creamy candy strawberry taste that combines into a vibrant and refreshing sensation with a sticky soft but full mouthfeeling.  This is a very nice Zhang Jia Wan.  The Qi is light and airy in the body.

The third infusion is left to cool but gives off a vibrantly delicious mouthwatering cooling taffy, no bitterness nor astringency and a very long floral sweet taffy candy-like returning sweet aftertaste.  Very nice chalky soft and full mouthfeeling.  Nice peaceful Qi sensation.  Very nice overall.

The fourth infusion has a creamy oilive oily floral and creamy sweet presentation.  There is a creamy chalky long floral candy sweetness that comes from the fresh long pungency.  This puerh has a very vibrant and enlivening presentation but very smooth and peaceful in the body.  Nice open airy Qi in the body- like a subtle floating body.

The fifth infusion oops good 20 second infusion there… a strong cool minty pungency with an oily taste and long candy floral cooling breath and aftertastes.  Strong but not bitter or astringent even when pushed too hard.  Nice sticky chalky taste. 

The sixth infusion has an oily silky floral almost honey sweet taste to it.  There is a strong wave of cooling minty pungency then a candy almost woody aftertaste.  The mouthfeeling is starting to be more sandy sticky and the Qi continues is airy and light armed journey throughout my body.  I feel at peace.

The seventh infusion has a fresh minty, oily floral taste that returns as a fresh minty and creamy candy taste.  The mouthfeel is an oily feeling with a slight sandy more sticky feeling.   Nice peace exudes from this puerh.

The eighth infusion is left to cool and gives of a creamy sweet fresh minty toffee taste.  The mouthfeel is full soft sticky taste.

The ninth has an almost melon taste with floral and cool pungency.  The oily texture is waning a bit but has a nice sticky sandy feeling with a fading longer sweet melon floral almost woody aftertaste and less candy now.  Peaceful feeling flows through the body.  Very harmonious Qi.

The 10^th has an almost soapy woody not that floral taste now.  There is little to no bitterness nor astringency.  Nice chalky floral finish a bit sandy now but still exceptionally smooth in taste, texture, qi, bodyfeeling.

The 11^th has an almost empty melon sweet taste with a bit of wood. There is a light melon and woody floral.  Overall better than average stamina in this one too.  Nice peaceful feeling.

12^th I go for a 30 second steeping.  It’s very woody and melon still no astringency or bitter and it feels like the taste is still significant even as the mouthfeeling loses all oily texture and is mainly a full sandy chalky.  Peaceful feeling.

13^th is another 30 seconds and pushes out a very peachy woody taste.  Almost a melon and woody bland taste.  The mouthfeel is becoming more sticky and chalky.  This is a very nice representation from this area- nice stamina too.

I mug steep it out… it is faintly bitter wood bark and empty floral.  The dry wood bark really takes over but still a cooling throat and dry mouthcoating.

Overall, this was a really nice Zhang Jia Wan experience with the puerh not being overly opaque but rather gentle with substance.  Yet still managing to pull it off with the fact that there is no bitterness or astringency… that is hard to do and hard to please someone of my tastes… but this one seems to aim to please.

Peace

2018 Puerist Ai Lao & Breaking My Winter Abstinence from Young Puerh

 

This year I did something that I have never done before in my years and years of drinking puerh.  I completely abstained from the consumption of green tea and young puerh from late Autumn to early Spring. Readers of this blog already know my seasonal preferences for tea.  It is a formula that I generally follow every year but never strictly.  This year to bring about greater harmony I completely abstained from young puerh and others teas with cold thermal energy and I feel healthier, I think.  The last puerh I consumed that was younger was this nice 2015 Nannou Dou Yi Zhai which I ended up multiple caking.  Then I just consumed semiaged and aged Puerh throughout the Winter.  It felt great and I highly recommend trying it!

As the seasons started to shift from Winter to Spring I started once again to crave younger puerh again.  I choose this very very inexpensive 2018 Puerist Ai Lao ( $25.00 for 200g cake or $0.13/g!) that I received as a complimentary sample for review in my last order from Puerist to break my winter’s fast.  I always seem to enjoy young Ai Lao area puerh as the quality of this inexpensive area seems to be quite high for the price you pay.  Strangely enough I have never tried aged Ai Lao region puerh and I left wondering how it would age out?  I think Scott of Yunnan Sourcing has a few options there.  If anyone out there has tried any, please amuse us...

Dry leaves smell of very floral sweet odours mixed with a butter tart raison odour.

The first infusion has a buttery, almost can peaches, but mainly vegetal onset with a nice oily presenting mouthfeeling full and saliva producing and lubricating.  There is a vegetal and mainly long floral finish in the mouth.

The second has a sweet oily syrupy floral lubricating vegetal canned peaches onset there is a flash of interesting complex ash woody taste that turns to a mouthwatering canned peaches taste.  The mouthfeel is very oily and lubricating.  There is an interesting warming Stomach and lower abdomen feeling that is rarer in younger puerh and quite re-assuring.  Very nice thick satisfying gushu presentation.

The third infusion has a quick moving woody mild bitter vegetal with a strong floral that moves to a more oily thick vegetal with a buttercup floral insistence.  There is a long vegetal oily floral that fades into the breath.  A nice happy soft feeling qi with substantial lower abdomen warming sensations.

The fourth infusion has a woody vegetal bitterness that moves quickly to oily almost canned peaches floral with a significant vegetal underbelly.  The floral taste is oily and syrupy and expansive in the aftertaste as the mouthfeel becomes a fine sand under oily.  The throat pushes saliva into upper throat.  The astringency of this one is felt here.

The fifth infusion is left to cool and has a peachy, woody, almost perfume edge to it.  It is nicely oily with a saliva blob taste in the mouth.  There is a noticeable mild astringency underneath.  The Qi is happy and bodyfeeling warming in the lower abdomen.

The sixth infusion has an oily buttery astringency to it initially with along floral taste over an oily throat and mouth with a chalky fine sandy underneath.  There is a faint suggestion of canned peach syrup underneath it all.  There is a nice warming in the lower and nice comforting feeling.  Nice Qi.

The seventh infusion has a ash woody mild bitter vegetal quick moving onset that turns to a long floral and oily throat feeling. 

8^th is an almost ash woody mild bitter which has a floral vegetal oily taste with an increasingly sweet banana aftertaste.  Nice warming Qi flushes the face.

9^th the bitterness starts to increase and the sweet taste is much less… I could have kept going with this one but ran out of time.

I mug steep this one out for a few days and am left with some pretty tasting mugs.

Overall,  this puerh is pretty enjoyable for its price.  I enjoyed it quite a bit.  I liked the warming Qi, oily texture, and saliva producing effect... you rarely get these qualities at this price point.  The flavour and aroma is less exciting but preforms better than it should with fruity, floral and vegetal notes contrasting some bitter and astringent suggestions.  Great young puerh for this price! 

Peace

2019 Zheng Si Long Autumn Yibang Ma Li Shu: Building Power

I have been sipping away at this semi aged 2013Puerist Ma Li Shu that I purchased last year and wonder how this will compare?  This 2019 Zheng Si Long Autumn Ma Li Shu goes for $51.18 for 200g cake or $0.26/g. Thanks Tiago for sending this satisfying sample...

Dry leaf is of a mossy sweet floral woodiness.

First infusion has a watery floral with a soft returning creamy sweetness.  A strong heady Qi seems to be coagulating in the mind.

Second infusion has a soft creamy pear sweetness over a pure clean watery body.  There is a base taste of dry wood.  The taste is pure light and clear.  The mouthfeeling is as soft as the flavor with a sticky lips and mild mossy faint toungcoating with faint lingering cooling in the throat.  Qi is a mild spacy relaxing feeling.  There is an Asian pear aftertaste minutes later.  There is a faint opening below the ribs.

The third infusion there is a woody dense pear taste and orange peel that moves fast to a light pure icing sugar finish.  There is some mouthwatering over a fine clay like taste.  There is long pure sweet pear-sugar aftertaste is really nice minutes later.  Nice relaxing mind stopping Qi.  Slight opening bodyfeeling in ribs and chest.

The fourth infusion has a creamy sweet candy and floral pear like dense high-noted complex light onset which comes with a quick moving bitterness with a faint sugar that bridges the gap.  Very Sticky, almost dry, lips and clay mouthfeeling with this complex sweetness is really nice here.  Light limbs and Open chest sesnsation and mid slowly effects. Very nice infusion with a Qi sensation that is really strong in the mind and pushing me into an extreme spaced out.

The fifth infusion has a peachy banana woody mild bitter pear like onset.  There is a clay puckering monthfeelnig with very dry lips.  The aftertaste is a bit dry woody with a sugary finish, slight candy, Slight more woody.  Big Qi sensation.

6^th has a quick bitter lemon peel with pear and slight floral creamy surgar-honey.  Nice sticky lips and clay thin coating on the tongue.  Faint rubbery woody taste that fades when the sweetness returns into a fading out of pear taste on the breath.  Mind stopping Qi.

7^th Ooops… a good few minutes went by… very dense peachy taste, almost soapy floral peach with dense clay sticky tonguecoating and dry lips.  A bit bitter but not overwhelming so.  Strong floral presence in the accident strong push.  Big Qi is chest and relaxing mind.

8^th is left to cool as work gets a bit busier than I imaged and I’m honestly pretty spaced out from the Qi here… peach-pear with a touch of orange rind and faint slight wood that turns to a fading candy on the breath.

9^th has a peachy woody a bit of bitter orange peel.  Faint cooling at top of throat turns to sugary candy peach woody.   Very satisfying if not that complex right now.

10^th is left to cool and I get a more woody dry bitter balanced with creamsicle tastes.  Big open chest Qi.

11^th has a bitter woody orange peel with an almost creamy sweeter finish with a gripping but dense tonguefeeling and relaxing spacy Qi.

12^th has a bitter dry woody with underlying peachy suggestions.  The mouthfeeling has become quite strong and gripping on the tongue and lips with the upper throat opening as it has throughout the session.

13^th is a bitter orangey floral wood onset that is a balance of flavours with bitter being the strongest.  There is still lots of flavor here.  This puerh has great stamina!  Powerful Qi in the chest and mind but not at all harsh on the body.  The 14^th is much the same with still a strong presence and flavor.

The mug infusions afterward are super flavourful still with a bitter and sweet blend of tastes.

Overall, nice complex light sweet fruity florals a touch of bitter and dry wood.  Nice sticky almost clay faint mouthcovering.  Big spacy Qi in here.  Nice to drink now and space out or just age it out very dry for the powerful Qi experience.  I had a great day with this one.  This is a good value option for those looking for Qi and power and don’t want to break the bank.  It was a busy day but I was so spaced out I didn’t care… hahhahha….

Vs 2020 Tea Encounter Autumn Chawangshu.... these are almost the same price and both Autumn.  The Chawangshu is more complex and Balanced with less stamina as it gets weaker fast.  The Ma Li Shu has a power that builds throughout the session but has less balanced taste that tends to be more varied highnotes throughout most of the first half of the session.  The last half is a nice bitter and sweet balance.  Both nice cheap options with enough elements to enjoy for their price.

Alex’s (Puerh Notes) Tasting Notes

Peace

2020 Tea Encounter Autumn Chawangshu: Value + Chawangshu!

This was Tea Encounter’s only house autumnal offering and is picked from small younger bushes in the famous Chawangshu area.  It came from the same area and farmer as their now sold out Spring production.  This one was a free sample for review of my order of a few of these delicious 2015 Nannou DuoYi Zhai cakes that I decided to pick up months after sampling.  This 2020 Tea Encounter Chawangshu of whichonly 20 cakes were produced goes for $48.49 for 200g cake or $0.24/g… being both Autumn and from young small bushes you won’t really find cheaper Chawangshu…

Dry leaves smell of paper and lime woodiness.

First infusion is a lime woody creamy woody potato taste with a very subtle bitterness.  This infusion shows how young this puerh is.  It’s very green tea like.  Has a faint coolness with nice potato and creamy woody returning sweetness on the breath.  Slippery soft/ soft chalky mouthfeeling with a mid-upper throat opening when aftertaste dwells.  Qi is starting to subtly build.

The second infusion has a spicy woody potato taste with a full mouthfeeling of chalky mild coating and nice upper-mid throat opening sensation.  The texture is nice and oily.  The taste is a balance of salty, sweet, bland, bitter, and pungent.  A long aftertaste of wood and potato lingers on the breath has the most sweetness almost melon and comes after a slight cool pungent throat.  Nice warming hug Qi feeling that is pretty subtle.

The third infusion has a melon floral onset with a sweetness that splashes up into the mouth.  There is a bit of woody potato there is a chalky moderately full feeling in the mouth with a long aftertaste in the upper-mid throat and nice oily texture.  The Qi is nice and warming with a comforting feeling in the body and building spacy feeling in the mind.  Overall this infusion has a sweet oily feel to it which is quite enjoyable.  It offers me strange comfort for such a young puerh.

The fourth infusion has a pungent gamey border tea taste to it with a melon, potato, and woody underneath to give it some depth.  There is a nice chalky mild full mouthfeeling with upper-mid throat opening and a nice mild-moderate oily texture to the liquor.  The Qi has a nice revitalizing and comforting feeling this sunny morning.

The fifth is vibrantly sweet and juicy with a pungent gamey boarder tea flare to it.  It has a nice oily texture.  The cooling pungent in the upper-mid throat hold the sweet melon taste long on the breath.  This infusion has a mild sticky mouthfeeling slight warm chest feeling and nice vibrant mind Qi.

The sixth infusion has a chalky fruity floral pungent onset which spreads into the mouth.  There as subtle notes of potato, wood, but a chalky melon floral taste.  Nice feeling of comfort in the chest and happy feeling Qi.  The aftertaste is long.

The seventh infusion has a pungent gamey onset with a fresh cut of sweet melon. I really like the taste of this puerh pungent, gamey but very refreshing with a nice balance of elements.  Nice cooling throat with an almost lime like refreshing aftertaste with melon sweetness.  Nice chest warming with

8^th has a stronger potato taste with a slight woody melon underneath.  The mouthfeeling is chalky and mild to moderately full with a upper and mid throat opening where the long aftertaste dwells.  I like the mouthfeel of this puerh too- it’s not super strong but does the trick.  The feeling in the body is very comfortable and comforting.  Qi in the mind is happy.

9^th has a woody potato almost but not that sweet melon.  Overall these last few infusions are more savoury than sweet and have a simple balance to them.  The Qi is really nice and cozy despite this puerh’s youth.  I like this taste, mouthfeeling, and Qi.  Works great together for the price.

10^th has a lime mango creamy sweet onset over an increasingly sandy mouthfeeling and open top throat.  The mouthfeeling, aftertaste, Qi, and complexity is falling off quickly here.

11^th is the same with a buttery melon woody tasting thing in a chalky almost sticky sandy mouthfeeling with some open throat sensation.  The taste is a bit like chalk and melon with woody tones.  Qi is happy and bodyfeeling is vague but comforting.

12^th I push into a long infusion here… it cools down and gives off a syrupy almost potato sweetness with a bit of melon and wood.  Nice oily feeling still with not much bitterness. A mild silty mouthfeeling kind of sandy now with a mild open throat that holds some cooling and woody melon aftertastes.

I put this one into mug steeping…

Overall, this Autumnal xiaoshu Chawangshu production has good value and is quite enjoyable for the price.  It is solid in taste complexities, mouthfeeling and throat opening, liquid texture and Qi.  Overall, I am fond of puerh from this area and the overall package is nice for that price.

Peace

Edit: the next day I did some mug steeping with the spent leaves and felt that this puerh was a bit weak on stamina which makes sense given its pedigree.  It was more of an insipid potato, sort of woody pond almost but not quite sweet blandness. Not bad at all for the price you pay.

Double Peace

 

Puerist: Samples Round 2…

Okay… after a blind order of 2018 Puerist Wa Long Guo YouLin and going through some free samples that were sent for review, I put in an order of 2013 Puerist Ban Po Lao Zhai of the last tong of 5 was put up on the site a few months ago.  There is a lucky person out there who took home a few of these and I took home the rest.  I managed to get two cakes of the 2013 PueristMa Li Shu as well (If you bug Mark he might part with one).  Overall, the 2013 Puerist Ban Po Lao Zhai is my preferred go to over winter.  I called it gold before and I’m sticking with that.  Probably one of the best Nannou I’ve tried and I’ve tried a lot of Nannou.  Anyways… that purchase also came with a second wave of complimentary puerh samples to review…

As the Winter turns to Spring each year it’s really nice to sample some younger puerh from years past.  It feels right in the body and if you were in Yunnan you would be able to drink right off the bush… but we are so far away and know that we probably won’t get to experience such new pleasures for a few months.  So this is a suitable alternative.

Over the next month or so expect to see some posts on more of what Puerist has to offer (all really nice Puerh) as well as some fresh Tea Encounter stuff as well…

(For more info on the secret which is purist see here.)

Yay! Spring at last…

Peace

Wistaria Puerh Ranked/ Overview

I am grateful to have received some of these top picks from the Wistaria Tea House which I really enjoyed sampling this winter.  In this post I will simply rank them in order of enjoyment not considering price with a brief statement about their old school cred…

1-      2003 Wistaria Zipin Tuo- highest old school cred out of these samples with a distinct old school processing and feeling mixed with a bit of factory feeling, the qi and bodyfeelings are substaitial, this one is widely thought to be the best of the bunch by many others… and I concur.

2-      2007 Wistaria Lanyin –This is very bitter and ehas a very strong Qi and bodyfeeling, overall a strong puerh in an old school sense but produced more in line with newer processing, very clean and spacious tastes, this puerh is all about the Qi that takes you places

3-      2007 Wistaria Hongyin- very muich a new factory style that we saw coming out of China at this time, this purerh is all about the very complex layered sweet taste experience with stronger Qi layered in.

4-      2003 Wistaria Qingteng- has a strong robust Qi sensation and a compartmentalized dry stored sweet and pond taste.  Not much old school feeling here other than the Qi sensation maybe.

5-      2006 Wistaria Taihe Maocha-produced in more of a way leaning to modern gushu type productions this is a really enjoyable puerh with a very interesting mouth numbing feeling.

The prices of these, like many other Taiwanese Botique puerh vendors, is strongly controlled by the vendor and the prices of these are of good value for what you get compared to other things out there these days.  I think mainly you have to be alright with the dry storage of these puerh.  All of these are pretty enjoyable for me and I think it’s completely possible that I do a purchase of many of the above cakes and put them to a speed test to find out which I really prefer… they are all so enjoyable, I really don’t know which would come out on top…

Peace

2003 Wistaria Zi Pin (Purple Lable): Old School Purple Haze!

2003 Wistaria Zi Pin is a popular pressing from Wistaria that has had many reviews from famous puerh bloggers (see below).  This 2003Wistaria Zi Pin 100g tuo goes for approx. $83.00.

Dry leaves smell of sweet candy and rose floral over a pondy marshy odour.

The first infusion has a buttery and smooth creamy almost but not really sweet onset.  It finishes watery and pond in the mouth.

The second the tuo is still opening up… with pond sweet pea vegetal tastes almost woody and watery with a creamy not very sweet taste with lingering talc cherry finish in the mouth.  Nice dry storage tastes.

The third infusion has a buttery creamy sweet woody, pea, kind of forest-not-really-incense and almost talc cherry finish.  The mouthfeeling is becoming a strong full chalky feeling with a long and deep cooling throat which pushes a smooth creamy talc almost cherry sweetness out long on the breath.  The Qi is very relaxing and strong focusing with a strong chest thumping and extending to arms Qi sensation.  There are candy like suggestions minutes later.  Nice complex dry storage tastes.  A strong body sensation in the chest and arms.

The fourth infusion has a creamy buttery almost woody subtle complex taste.  The mouthfeel is thick and full chalky powdery there is some layered woody tastes and a deep cool throat.  Big Qi in here with a strong chest and Heart thumping with strong excitation and focusing energy.  A fine candy finish on the breathe. 

5^th has a creamy buttery almost sweet that kind of expands in the mouth through a mid-section of woody, foresty, talc kind of sweet cherry and faint candy marshmallow finish.  Big Qi and a full powdery mouthfeeling.  Minutes long creamy candy finish with faint pond.  Nice complexity in here and strong Qi.  Nice dry storage.

The 6^th has a smokey incense with slight creamy buttery and soft savory tastes onset that has a bit of talc sweetness and some dry wood forest over a thin powdery aftertaste.  There is a thin deeper cooling in the throat with pond and faint candy.  Nice focusing Qi.

7^th has a sweet pond taste with a creamy buttery and woody and incense onset.  The relaxing Qi is powerful and alerting and exerts a strong bodyfeeling.  There is a long talc cherry and powdery candy like breath over a chalky/powdery mouthcoating.  The aftertaste is elegant and long and pungent sweet with a touch of incense smoke.

8^th is a thick woody almost syrupy incense with a slight buttery and creamy edge.  The buttery taste reminds me of Youle.  There is a long deep pungency in the throat that teases out woody-incense, some floral and even faint hard to grasp candy tastes.  Big focusing Qi.

9^th has a smoky incense creamy almost woody forest tobacco juicy initial taste.  The mouthfeel is oilier here with a slightly cooling foresty woody incense finish.  This infusion has lots its sweetness but still feels condensed, somewhat complex and a bit oily in the mouth.  The Qi has a relaxing sustained focused feeling.

10^th has a woody, oily tobacco, incense taste in a faint deep cool pungent mouth.  The mouthfeeling in oily and a bit chalky.  Qi is still big. 

11^th has a smoky incense woody oily taste with a deep faint throaty coolness.  The Qi continues to build more in the mind and less in the body.

12^th has a brown sugar very quick moving faint sweetness over woody tastes.  The mouthfeel is becoming a slightly grabbing chalkiness and it pushes a faint coolness down the throat with an almost brown sugar and slight cinnamon taste.  There is still an interesting and changing complexity to this puerh.

13^th has a bit of a sweet spicy woody onset with a deep faint cooling breath.  These infusions are a nice spicy cinnamon.  With a Qi that is moving to more relaxing.

I mug steep out the rest and it gives off mainly moderately bitter, incense with a creamy underbelly and a low deep throaty cool pungent that finishes a marshmallow on the breath.

Overall, this is a nicely dry stored and Qi powerful puerh with lots of complexity and nice movement through the infusions.  It has an older school feeling and I think I would probably place this as a very nice Xiaguan tuo if I had it blind.  It has a factory sensibility to it but is a bit more.  Overall, I like this puerh quite a lot.

Pictured left is the 2007 Wistaria Hong Yin which days long steeped is still very sweet and a bit oily.  Pictured right is this 2003 Wistaria Zi Pin which days long steeped is still very nuanced and complex with forest tastes, long coolness in the throat and breath with a nice retuning sweetness over wood and decent incense smoke.  These are both very different puerh.  The 2007 Wistaria Hong Yin is very common with some of the newer factories coming out of mainland China in the mid-2000s.  The 2003 Wistaria Zi Pin has a very old school something in between a factory production but better kind of older school production with the heavier smoke.  Both are quite dry stored.  Both have fairly strong Qi with the 2003 Zi Pin having very strong body sensations as well.

James’ (TeaDB) Tasting Notes (in report and here)

Marshal’N (A Tea Addicts Journal) Tasting Notes

Shah8’s and TwoDawg Tasting Notes can be found here

Marco’s (Late Steeps) Tasting Notes

Hobbes’ (The Half-Dipper) Tasting Notes

Peace