SOTD- sheng of the day

[shah8]

Today I did a 2004 Chenyuanhao Songpinhao reproduction that was bought from a tea reseller in Taiwan. There was some controversy over this as that it was sold much cheaper than the same tea that had been stored in Malaysia. There were also questions about why some of its character was different from the Malaysian stored variant. I used 7g instead of my normal eight.

The session today wasn't a success. Initially, it was quite good, but not mindblowing. The aroma was decently strong, and had things like aged plumminess, nice barnyard and spice, some incense, tobacco, etc. The top taste was essentially a deep vegetalness bracketed with lighter floral-wood-incense and plumminess, and the dance between these elements was fun to savor. The viscosity was only just enough though, and it consistently was kind of high in drying astringency with a touch of that unpleasantly in the throat. I didn't find much aftertaste besides a bit of cooling. The qi was moderate and head focused. This was five brews, I think.

I had to vacate the premises on account of holiday preps, so left it for two hours. When I got back to the tea, it was mainly that dark vegetalness, with little pleasant flavor, but did have an acidity, and a sharp citric bite at the tongue root. The tea improved in viscosity a lot and was thick, though. However, I stopped after a few brews rather than hope that the ship could right itself because the qi made me feel not right. So, sort of a bust, but I do have one more try. Spent leaves were mostly mulch though, not even in the high factory shop way, but like tea dust with slightly bigger leaf bits. I did not find leaves with multiple colors, either in bruising or differential age.

I had a second tea today, which was the Dayi 8582 (2005)502 that had been stored in Taiwan. It was much darker (and less sweet) tasting than the 801 that I had finished, but basic character is the same. It was much easier to drink than the 801, which I always really had to make sure the stomach had food in it before drinking. Anyways, it tastes and behaves more or less like an 8582 would, with a broad, dark taste with some subtle nuances there to seek out. Decent viscosity and texture, a bit of caffeine-converted qi, but not too much aftertastes. I did enjoy this, and more than I did the Hong Kong Henry yesterday. However, the durability was sort of poor, about 12 brews. I could have pushed it more, if I really wanted to, but I had enough tea for the day.

 

[shah8]

Doing some housecleaning of teas drunk this week before the weekend...

Did a full 8g of the 2003 Xiaguan 8653 special stamp. This was smokey, as expected, but it was also fairly astringent, and a tendency towards tart sourness. The flavor is of dark grains with some light florals. There was decent to good viscosity, and the aftertaste had a strong sweetness, which probably was the point of this tea. Apparently not much in the way of qi.

Did a full 8g of 2004 BYH (forget the full name, but puyuan helped to source it) Manzhuan. The dry leaves were brittle and crispy, which was a warning... The tea seems to behave as hongchapu, that might also have been soaked at one point. There is another theory that the tea was adversely affected from being frozen in the mail. Anyways, it only lasted five brews, more or less, like if you got some fake tea. Wash had plummy aroma and taste. Main tea taste is of twigs and choco. Which was sort of nice when it was stronger, but even then, this was a bit hollow tasting. Best brew was the first real brew, and third brew threw up lots of malt in the aroma--uh oh. Anyways, the second brew had previously described taste, it was thick. The soup left lingering cooling in the mouth and a yun at the top of the throat. Respectable. Good qi, too. There was also a bit of nice mouth aroma. Third brew to fifth, it declines precipitously in quality. Qi was really only in the wash and second brew, maybe the third. Dumped. Should assume there was something wrong with the sample first and that there might be a better example out there.

Did a thermos of 2007 XZH Jinggu Nu'ercha in order to compare with the '07 Kuzhushan I tested last week in the thermos. I thought it might be a good comparison because the original youth taste were similar tobacco natures. I expected to find more flavor, but instead, I found it was less flavorful than the Kuzhushan, mostly on account of the nature of the flavor, I think. While the Kuzhushan had some wood, incense, and off-jinggu taste, the core Jinggu Nu'ercha taste is basically something like milk of magnesium, with a touch less incense note than the Kuzhu. The core taste may be more solid than the Kuzhushan, but not sure. Anyways, the Kuzushan also is somewhat stronger in sweet aftertaste. However, this week's tea had a much better aftertaste that was so compelling, it was distracting me from work. Something like almond milk, sugarcane, and florals, where the Kuzhushan is vaguely like banzhang in sweet honey-grains. The Nu'ercha also had better mouthfeel in terms of thickness, smoothness, and texture, and it is stronger in qi. More things happened in the aftertaste department as well, compared to the Kuzhu, probably because drier storage preserved more youthful attributes. If you accept white2tea's B_D_ as being somewhat typical of bingdao, then this tea, which sort performed similarly to B_D_, is a very Bingdaoish tea.

I did a thermos of the 2015 TeaUrchin Guafengzhai. It was okay. I was mentally comparing to the YQH 2016 Yiwu. It had a stronger dark taste compared to the YQH, but that was about it. The YQH had stronger overall taste, better viscosity, more qi, aftertastes, more complex taste, aaaaaand it's cheaper.

I did a thermos of 2016 EoT Wuliang H. Was a good reminder that this is my favorite wuliang tea. It does everything, and delivers a nice qi. However, it's not quite *good* enough to be a must buy--doesn't express good traits strong enough, if you're not someone who needs a good deal on a tea. I do wish I could just go ahead and buy a pair, though.

 

[shah8]

Two 2007 XZH teas today, an 8g Mengsong and a 4g Yiwu session. Off the top, it makes more concrete the sense that anyone who buys XZH teas from Taiwan has to have a deliberate mentality when it comes to '05-'07 XZH productions (especially from 'Banna), because it does seem that many of these teas have lost more than they should, in aging under normal Taiwan circumstances (Using YQH as benchmarks). Northern teas seems to be much less damaged than 'Banna teas, limited to being darker tasting, and less sweet flavors in the top taste.

Some else that was interesting was that in both teas today, the difference between what a tea smells in a pitcher is very different from how it smells in the cup, with the cup being very much better.

The Mengsong's aroma tended to be barnyard in the pitcher, but more floral in the cup. The taste in earlier rounds tend to have alkaline florals, similar to Naka, a bit of sourness, and a deep taste characteristic of the deep note found in more buddy teas like 7532 or 0622. Hard to describe exactly what the dark taste is, specifically, though. There is little wood or tobacco found in this tea the way you would a 7532 of this sort of age, or like white2tea's '05 Naka. The florals are a minor part of the flavor that gilds the dark taste, and that aspect diminishes as I go deeper into the session. Towards the later part of the session, the deepness lightens up, and some plummy notes appears. There are usually some subtle flavors inside the deep taste, adding at least a little sense of complexity. The mouthfeel is good, with moderate to good viscosity and a bit of smooth gelatinous character to the texture. Later brews occasionally are mildly drying. There is some energetic feeling left over from the youth, creating a buzzing feeling in the front of the mouth around lips and tongue. There are also some nice cooling moments. The aftertaste game is relatively weak (and always has been)--some transition to fruit taste or caramel taste, but best effect is the lasting mouthcoat after I was mostly done with the session and headed off to other tastes. Lasted about fifteen minutes. Mouthcoat wasn't that obvious during the session. The qi is moderate, and is of good quality in a relaxing sense.

I would not purchase this tea, but I would be lying if I said I didn't enjoy it--it seems like a good sort of tea when you want a very quiet and simple session with not too much in the way of fireworks. I'd certainly consider a cake at a price discounted compared to the others. I definitely think that it lost a lot of higher note richness. I'm pretty sure I should have gotten more tobacco, floral wood, and maybe plumminess than I got, if the standard was something like a 7532 or say the '05 Dayi Peacock of Mengsong. This tea is certainly *bigger* and more mouthfilling in that deep note than the factory teas.

The other tea was a tea that I actually own and have had a number of sessions with--the '07 XZH Yiwu Chahuang, and the differences between what this session offers and what I get from my own cake makes me a little more sure that a storage issue of some sort is present when it comes to KJ Wang's offering. The fact that Wang offers cakes from different collectors' storages makes this issue more difficult to parse. The White Taiji also has this problem, but it wasn't sold by KJ Wang.

The aroma of the tea, particularly in the early going was quite striking! It was an intense incense-chocolate(that cheap flavoring note that you find in flavored teas or tootsie rolls) with varied bright fruit notes like berry or that orange slice wedge candy. A tootsie fondue where you dip a strawberry, or perhaps, like that cartoon owl, you crush both the hard candy and the tootsie in the center and eat it all at once. After about seven brews, this aromatic character diminishes. My cake also has a sort of chocolate aroma to the soup, but it's much more similar to a yancha like a dahongpao, and more floral, savory, and loose. The early taste is very mild, sort of a light yiwu hay with a touch of yiwu honey. This is substantially different to mine where there would be richer, if still mild and transparent, tobacco and chocolate notes. The Taiwan stored version gradually comes closer to my own tea in character, with more birch, wood, etc, notes, but never as rich as mine normally is. The tea eventually moves towards a very light ginseng candy note that's sweet in the long brews. The viscosity is usually moderate, but it has a very soft and smooth texture, so the mouthfeel is pretty good. The aftertastes aren't that great with this tea. An occasional light yiwu-huigan in the mouth providing some caramel. There was a nice choco mouthcoat. One brew was long enough to reach some bitterness, and that generated a few notes. Not much happens in the throat, though. The qi seems to be about the same quantity and quality as the earlier Mengsong.

While this is materially not as good as my tea, and it's also much less rich than YQH of the same period, this still has a really unique aroma, and the broad behavior of the tea is still pretty different to most other Yiwu of its time.

 

[shah8]

Okay, three teas today...

The first tea was the '92 8582. First, when I got the box of samples, I immediately opened the foil package to take a look at the leaves and give it the ole sniff test. Unfortunately, I apparently misplaced 2 grams, so instead of what should have been 8g in a pot, turns out to be 4g in a gaiwan, which, for an aged factory tea, I strongly suspect was not optimal. The reason I opened the bag, though, is that I'm inherently suspicious of any claims about the age of factory teas that sound a bit old, old being 25 years or more. This is because there is a ton of fakery and misselling that goes on with Menghai Tea Factory aged tea that goes on, and so I wanted a quick look to see if the dry leaves looked and smelled aged.

Now, how was this tea? I got the basic elements of all higher leaf grade aged teas, such as 8582, 7582, 7581 (sheng version), 8892, however that sheng/shu blend works... a bit of TCM verging on ginseng, a bit of wood, the basis flavor is a sort of loam/mushroom sort of sweet flavor. In long steeps, I did manage to capture some very slight warehousing notes. In general, I found the flavor too light and high, which made the nuances too "naked", I guess? I was told this is dry stored--if it is, it has managed to avoid early sourness. The aroma generally reflected the taste, and declines quickly. The viscosity is good, and the texture is somewhat velvet. However, I generally expected it to be a bit better, because my memory of older big leaf sheng has it a bit thicker. Big leaf sheng, though, usually starts off thin and slowly thickens as it ages. There was a tendency for an astringent bite in the throat, and a bit of drying astringency. Both declines in the latter part of the session. Aftertaste includes a yun early on, but the best part is clearly the late session fruity mouthcoat you get after finishing a cup. I found the qi moderate to strong, but not that interesting and relatively focused on the head, for an old tea, though ultimately it was whole body. I guess the durability is okay, but I got bored with this tea, and wanted to move on, and just sort of accepted that I busted it, this time.

Solely based on this sample, I wouldn't be inclined to spend very much on this tea, and I would search harder for one that has a bit more booty which could twerk with verve, and pay lots for that 8582 or whatever.

The second tea was the 2005 BYH Yiwu, which has been in the Puerh Teapot Magazine tea ranking against other 2005 puerh teas. This was much, much better than the poor 2004 Manzhuan.

The striking feature of this tea is the complexity of the brew in the cup. Flavors continually changed from one note to the next like if it was a pop single. Wood, fruitiness/bitterness, dark taste, sweet tastes, descends into aftertastes. The aroma is usually just wood. The viscosity was good, mostly smooth, with a little drying astringency. Aftertastes tended to be production from tartness/bitterness that is fruity. There was also a couple of lingering yuns. These, along with some cooling, created some feeling in the throat. Qi is decent to good, but I started this right after the 8582, so likely to have been boosted by the previous tea's qi. The durability is pretty bad, it's basically over after five or so brews, with the wash brew being sour and so thrown out. Of course, with some flavor that continues on, but not very interesting. I almost sort of thought that this tea was at superpremium level, but I think the complexity of the taste wasn't that elegant, and the durability was a big negative factor. This didn't do that well in the puerh magazine's competition. It could be your usual rivalries and politics, but I suspect that this tea would not make a very coherent experience if you use competition brewing, much like how Crimson Lotus' '08 Jingmai tastes much better, if disorganized, in a gongfu session, and much worse when thermosed.

The last tea of the day was the '06 XZH Lao Man'e from the fall set of five cakes. This tea got hit hard by the storage like all the other XZH from Taiwan. However, what is here is very elegant and much more like a nice lao banzhang than a Lao Man'e, except for the times I let it brew very long, which provoked a touch of that famous bitterness. Like yesterday's Yiwu, there was a tight incense sort of aroma, of wood, but this only really happened in the wash and the next brew. Third and fourth brew had herby aromas. Subsequent brews didn't have a particularly significant aroma. The taste through about the first five brews were magnificently elegant, if light and washed out from storage. A lot goes on in the taste, behaving much as the previous '05 byh did, only much more smoothly and elegantly. There was bulang honey in it, herbs, barnyard, choco notes, fruit, and it seamlessly converts to aftertastes, which includes some surviving very lightly pungent ones in the throat! The viscosity was good, and the texture was really great with something of an oil feel, tho' not like buddy tea, more like northern tea. There was a little bit of drying astringency. Aftertastes were generally winey fruit, caramel, or almond notes. There was some sweet sensation involved as well. The qi was pretty heavy handed early, but lightens up after the seventh or so brew. The durability of the active phase was pretty short, like most lbz, but the more sedate brews afterwards were more enjoyable than the long brews of the two earlier teas today, and I continued to enjoy late brews. In general, I found this tea to be very compatible with the idea that this is what White2tea's The Treachery of Storytelling will evolve towards in a decade's time. The overall behavior is really rather similar.

The last tea was my favorite of the day. Houde sold these, and sold out in 2007 or 2008. I wonder what the tea is like, in those people's hands.

 

[Ad Astra]

Great read. I'm still working through the White2tea sheng sampler, though I've found a shou I really like - 2008 Menghai quizibing, a 7572 from Yunnan Tea Research Institute.

AA

 

[shah8]

Thermosing during the week:

'07 XZH Mengsong. Results in a deep taste with a bit of naka-ish alkaline floral fringe. A little bit of qi. I think this tea is pretty similar to the '05 CGHT Menghai Yiehsheng, except there isn't any woodiness. I think this is one of those that is reasonably purchaseable, if the price is very acceptable. While it lost a lot, this tea did gain darkness and depth.

'07 XZH Yiwu Chahuang with a few leaves of XZH '09 Golden Brick to round out 2g. Higher, sweeter, it was alright. Definitely not what it should be, but like that actual session, it does have its charms, like being somewhat sweet.

'07 XZH Lao Man'e, with a few leaves of '09 XZH Golden Brick, showed some of the sophistication it had in the 4g session, but like the Yiwu, never gained any depth away from the erosion to the higher, fizzy top done by the storage. Definitely some elegance, and few moments of nice small aftertaste moments. This one is a tragedy.

'05 XZH Youle, a slight understregth at 1.8g. Mostly had a dark and mild choco and soil character with a few subtle notes floating around. It was nice.

Friday, I did a calibration (well, for 'banna teas), using the '06 Black Wrapper. You know those cartoon scenes where the villian places the hero in some diabolical torture device? And when they turn it on, the hero goes "ooooh, that tickles!"? Black Wrapper did that. It didn't really turn into noise, and maintained a distinct aroma (particularly this) and taste highly specific to BW and not generic pushed puerh of that age. What came out of that thermos was basically mindblowing, to the point that my co-workers were asking me if I was okay, and I had to tell them I was drinking some particularly good, unsuitable for work, tea. I think this incident is a strong suggestion that I had been underbrewing BW, because it's usually a thick flapjack of sweet nutmeat, and thermos was a very layered tea, composed of high fuzzy paper-floral-wood (the sort of note that's usually eroded away in my other thermosed XZH), cherries, sweet nutmeat, and honeysuckle. Honeysuckle was sufficiently weird that I wondered if some northern is doing some work here. Aftertastes were so fast, that kept in mouth, they added to the top taste in a very active sense. Strong qi, very strong feeling in mouth and throat, with strong cooling everywhere too. Texture was really good, if not too thick, and it did have that typical banzhang astringency.

Okay, now for today's teas...

The first up is the 2016 BYH Guafengzhai Single Tree. I liked it, and I guess it's a reasonable value at a dollar a gram. The tea is fairly similar to the Theasophie Chenyun, and to a degree, the '06 YQH Chawangshu. The main difference is that, particularly early on, it's more strongly fruity than the mentioned teas. Something like a more tropical fruity version of dried chinese dates not meant for savory dishes. This is typically a warning sign for hongcha processing, but I didn't really get much in the way of other signs. The aroma and taste are at relatively high levels and is louder than other teas. However, it's also more simple with not much nuance to search for in the depths, and begins to drop at about brew four. The aroma had fruit, black pepper, wood, and brown sugar in various ratios. The taste is fruit and wood, with various florals and tobacco notes peeping out. As the volume drops the aroma and taste gets a bit more of a deep vegetal note typical of chawangshu. By the seventh or eighth brew, aroma is mostly gone and the taste is residual. The viscosity is pretty good, and better than the other mentioned teas. It also seems to be quite a bit more durable than the taste, as it was still going when I quit the tea. Generally smooth, with some occasional drying astringency mid-session. One of the major weak points of this tea is that the aftertaste game isn't great. Occasional slight yuns at the top of the throat, and a more common mouth aroma arising off the tongue. A bit of mouthcoat. The qi is about moderate in strength and is of good quality. I think the Theasophie Chenyun may be a bit better than this tea. Well outpaced early, but it's much more durably nice.

The second tea was the 2007 XZH Kuzhushan originally from KJ Wang. As said before, northern teas aren't so affected, and don't tend to be so muted. What was a surprise to me was that this tea was pretty deep in the early brews. However, the basic character of the tea was as I remembered it. Stronger character early on, and lots of weaker but sweet brews later on. Aroma tended to be either off-jinggu (sort of a combination of rubber, woody-herbals, choco) or honey dominated. Dies down at about brew five. The taste early on tended to be deep, mostly off-jinggu with some peripheral floral and plummy notes. It had a tartness and a more gentle sourness as well. As the session progresses, it loses strength and gets higher until it's something of a dark grains and honey experience (with less tartness and no sourness), and stays that way. The viscosity is good and is fairly smooth. Compared to the thermos, there wasn't that much aftertaste, it being mostly a bit of sweetness after the finish of the sip. The thermosed tea must have taken the whole potential session worth into a more potent sweetness and feeling. At around brew three and four, the Qi was pretty strong, but it didn't stay that way and died down to something like moderate. Not that good quality. It's probably durable, but I was bored with this and wanted to move on. I would not recommend this tea unless you got it cheap. Like a hundred bucks or less. A dry, well stored tea probably would have a nicer, strong honey aroma and taste. But even then, this is probably among the more boring of XZH's earlier efforts.

The last session of the day was pretty frustrating. 4g session of the Fall '05 XZH Youle. Muted like all of the rest of these teas, with plenty of evidence for real elegance, somewhat like the Lao Man'e. This is less complex than the Lao Man'e, and more easy going. Aroma tends to be TCM, herbs, and soil. Some hints of plumminess. The taste tends to be camphor taste, soil, wood, herbs. Teensy bit like aged big leaf factory tea like 8582. Viscosity is on the thinner side for gushu, but it does have a very nicely creamy texture. There is camphor taste, but there is also a relatively strong camphor cooling in this tea, if not as hugely strong as the taiji black. This tends to grace the mouth lining and the top of the throat nicely. The tea tends to pretty consistently end in a sweet finish, a bit more strongly than the kuzhushan. I think this has good qi, but after all this potent tea today, couldn't evaluate amount and quality. The durability though is poor. So not only mute, but only about seven to ten worthwhile brews, before a generic cup in taste and viscosity. Had I a cake stored here through most of its life, I think this would have been a very nice tea. However, it's really rather different than the '06 Youle, which isn't TCM, or has much in the way of camphor, and seems like it was always a much richer and more punchy tea in taste and aroma. I think this '05 is potentially worth it at some price, but y'all had better be prepared to tweak amounts(MOAR) and brewing times to get the best out of it.

 

[shah8]

Two mengla teas today...

The first was the BYH '05 Manzhuan. I enjoyed this one, and there wasn't the sort of disaster there was with the '04 Manzhuan. This also had much better durability than the '05 Yiwu. Errata, the '05 Yiwu I tried is not the one that was in the Puerh Teapot Magazine contest. The brand used a similar wrapper for most of their tea at that time, and the names generic. Anyways, from the top, the aroma was pretty weak throughout the session, and was generic any time it got even a little bit of strength. As far as taste is concerned, it was deep and dark. I had trouble thinking what that taste is like, but Denny of Teadb discussed the tobacco actually tasted in the mouth (when I discuss tobacco flavor, I thinking of it tasting as the finished leaf smells) with a sort of raisin note, I guess I sort of agree with that characterization. After five or so brews the tea starts lightening up in taste to a sort of white sugar and light wood note, with occasional forays into darker vegetalness. The viscosity was very good, and it was smooth for the most part. There were occasional bursts of drying astringency. The uniquely good thing about this tea is the yun at around brews 4-6 or so. Sits on top of the throat and gives off a sweet incense sense. That wasn't the only aftertaste of merit. This tea had some decent feeling down the throat and a very slight pungent aftertaste in the very beginning, and throughout the session, this tea give off a nice yiwu-style huigan that added plenty of sweetness to the finish. The qi is about moderate. The durability was pretty decent, as I went about twelve brews before being too bored to continue. Soup was still giving off flavor, but nothing really happening and I didn't love the flavor, which seems not to be the point with this tea. I have been told that the suggest retail cost of the tea is about $600. I do not think this is a good value at that sort of price. I don't think it's as good as the sort of XZH and YQH that would be available at such a price--it would really need to be better at aroma and taste to do so.

The second tea today was a proper session of the 2016 Wujin Cang from YQH, from state forest Yiwu area. I had lost the package that had this tea in it, and in the process, dug up some 2015 CYH Yiwu Chawang and 2015 W2T Last Thoughts, that I didn't know that I hadn't finished, before finally finding this tea again. Productive, huh? This was the first production of YQH tea since 2013, and was one of two, the other being an extremely expensive Wangongzhai, of which only 85 cakes were made. This Wujin Cang didn't have a high run either--1277 cakes. However, the price isn't too bad at $225, less than other guoyoulin from the likes of Theasophie or W2T. Okay, now about the tea itself. The aroma and taste is fairly sheng, with choco notes being consistently found on the fringe of that green. I also found some subtle floral notes and some sweet notes that might just be some fast yiwu huigan. After about five brews, it settles down to a more flat performance. The viscosity is moderate, particularly after the first three or so brews. It's generally pretty smooth. Aside from some subtle yiwu huigans, I didn't find this tea to have much else in the way of aftertastes. The qi seems to be on the mild to moderate side. I did about nine or ten brews, and put the pot in the fridge. My stomach was feeling a little tender, especially from too much tea yesterday. I view this tea as something to invest in buying a tong of and storing, as a way to have a lot of good yiwu in 15-25 years. The price reflects its qualities. It's not nearly as good as the BYH single tree GFZ, and not as good as the other teas mentioned. It's a pretty solid tea, though, that needs some time. The leaves does seem to have a bit of mixed oxidation bits in there, but that's likely the usual issues with picking and processing deep in the forest, at least the good stuff that anchors the blend.

 

[asdfasdfggggaaaa]

I'm curious about your thermos brewing - are you just putting a couple of g of sheng in with a few hundred ml of water, and leaving for a couple of hours?

 

[shah8]

yup. It's mostly a torture test, though.

 

[shah8]

Lotsa ground to cover...

Did a couple of Old Whitey white tea thermoses and compared to the Lochan Teas Doke Black Fusion, which is a fairly honey-focused black tea, with some almost shu puerh-like depth. Old Whitey is really rather good at intense, long brewing, and wins, even if the Doke is quite respectable.

Did a '98 DaXueShan maocha from Sanhetang thermos. It was nice, and subtle amid dark character. It made me think that I really like depth and darkness with most aged factory teas, and that this was a major reason, if not the major reason, I didn't like the 1992 8582 as much as I might have otherwise.

Did a '10 EoT Bangwei thermos, same "not good enough" issue.

Did a 2006 White2tea tea of the month Guangdong dry stored 2006 Qingbing. It's a rather savory tea on top, with medicinal, leather, heavy grains character in aroma and taste. Has a bit of a sweet finish. Viscosity was enough in the very beginning, and thins down to factory tea thinness. There is a degree of acidity as well. This doesn't seem that great, but eventually things settle down and it's a somwhat acceptable tea that goes a long way. Seems to have a positive bit of light qi.

Did a 2016 maocha from Lao Man'e, four grams. This was very good. The striking aspect of this tea is that it has a very oily texture, and I mean more in the silky slick way than the sort of feeling of thick flowing feeling that buddy/small leaf tea stimulates. This is not a particularly thick tea, though. The aroma tends to go through various floral sensibilities, with a menghai focus that includes honey grains and barnyard at various points. Can be pretty refined. The taste starts off as high and straw/honey, and quickly drops through barnyard to a more bell pepper vegetal + choco sensibility. During that process the tea becomes more bitter and slighty the more typical strong Lao Man'e style bitterness. While this bitterness is productive, this tea in general tends to have a yiwu-style huigan in the mouth, sort of caramel. It mostly just creates a bit of feeling in the throat and maybe a light something else. The qi is strong early and moderates as the session goes on. Seems to be pretty decent at durability, but I didn't brew this out as long as I could have. Main weakness of this tea is that it could be stronger in taste, and have a stronger feeling and flavor in and around throat.

2002 "dry stored Yiwu" from one of Jamesteadb's blind buys on taobao. Starts off very acid, but did have a decent honey aroma and a strongish yiwu style huigan, and it wasn't that thin. Thins out third brews, and positive aspect goes away, leaving nasty dreck. Dumped quickly.

Today's teas were...

2006 BYH Yiwu. This has been shrinkwrapped in food grade plastic, so it's supposed to be "dry stored". I found it roughly as dry stored as the white2tea tea club offering of the same age, though, and not the sort of cryogenic dry stored that somehow, so many Kunming cakes wound up as. Listening to Leaves blog mentioned that she likes the shrinkwrapped teas best because, at least in part, it preserved the aroma. I did find the aroma well preserved, and fuller than the previous three BYH teas I've tried (though the '04 Manzhuan can't count). However, I found this tea consistently aggressively tart and prone to periods of excessively high drying astringency. It had a character that I immediately recognize (tho' I may well be wrong) as a Gaoshanzhai profile. I remember being told that the BYH guy is fond of blending mostly Gaoshanzhai with bits of other Yiwu. Has a sort of dark sugars/wood aromatic profile, and a mostly dark sugars taste with a touch of wood. Some very subtle fruit notes here and there. Viscosity is god early, thins a bit as the session goes on. Aftertastes tended to be slight yiwu huigans. There are some fruity mouthcoats as well. Qi is mild, as wasn't that much of a factor here. Durability wise, I didn't push this because of the issue this had with tartness and astringency. When I stopped at around eleven or so, it was lacking in activity and was sort of a hollow dark sugar flavor. I wouldn't recommend this one.

Wanting to erase the early session and risking the tummy, knowing I'll have one more brew later on, I brought out the 2004 Changtai Jinzhushan that I just got in the mail yesterday. This tea was pretty good. It's not awesome or anything but... Anyways, the aroma and taste behave exactly as the XZH Kuzhushan does, which would be logical as they're both from the same area. However, the off-jinggu note is much more rounded, mild, and enjoyable than the XZH, even if it's *much* lighter. Very woody-herbal, with a tendency for sweet finishes, particularly in longer brews. The viscosity is very good for factory tea/Changtai, and it's smooth with little astringency--probably the major factor in how enjoyable it was. If there is much of an aftertaste, its in the sweetness of the finish, and doesn't do much in the throat at all. The qi is light, but it's really rather positive and soothing, compared to the heaviness of the XZH Kuzhushan. It helped me forget my first session well, and was easy on my stomach. I can't really recommend this too much, because there is a lot of similar quality tea out there at similarly good prices, and there's nothing revelationary or hugely good about this. It's not going to beat something like the Mingyuanhaos at Houde, or perhaps the 2009 Yiwu sold at white2tea in terms of character. But it's a really good, casual drinker (that's much easier to drink than the better teas mentioned) that doesn't cost that much.

The last tea today was just something something maocha that's labeled Northern. And indeedy o it is, something like Bangwei or Mengku. Has tobacco, floral, with a sort of butter-sugar sweetness. Some fruit notes hidden here and there. Decent viscosity and smoothness. Not a whole lot of aftertastes (some fruit finishes) and not much in the way of qi. It's much easier to drink than the gut-bomb Smooch from white2tea, but said gut-bomb ultimately has more complexity, dynamacism, etc. Decent casual drink that would be nice if this was my only tea of the day. Quit well before it was done, due to lack of dynamacism.

 

[shah8]

Three teas today...

The first is the 2009 XZH Golden Brick, which is supposed to be a blend of LBZ and Yiwu. Because I was expecting the sample to be more than 8g, I unwisely used a few leaves to bulk up other sessions, and wound up with only seven grams, so a little underdose against the standard. I didn't find a great deal of Yiwu character in this tea. With respect to the storage, there were some higher, fizzy notes, compared to older teas, but not *that* much. Now, from the top...The aroma and taste tends to be more or less the same. Early on there was a sort of aromatic soil notes, woodsap, and some plumminess. Then it swerves to a sort of broad sweet vegetalness, maybe sort of like honeyed squash. Fourth brew was best with a high degree of complexity, and a couple of later ones had some unique notes. However, the taste becomes pretty constant, if durably solid a long way. The viscosity is pretty good, and a bit juicy/gloopy. A bit of drying astringency early on, and is mostly smooth thereafter. There isn't much of an aftertaste game here, a bit of mouthcoat, a little cooling, not even that much feeling in the throat. Qi was also milder than expected. So I paused...

And took out my own XZH '07 Huangshanlin cake and got out a quick 4g try. This was really good. Extremly complex aroma that's based on various tobacco-florals, herbal, and sugar notes. The wash had an interesting mustard seed aroma this time. The taste tended to be herbal, a very little like Ricola cough drops, but less root herbal and more tobacco, tulsi. It also tend to be intensely sweet in a sugar, caramel, and butter way. Late, the taste is artisinal clay, cream, mineral. Both the aroma and taste are relatively thin, especially compared to the earlier Golden Brick or the evening tea. The taste also tended to have a flat juice feeling typical of hongcha, but I didn't get much else about this that was hongcha. The viscosity was medium and only just enough for gushu. The texture tended to be good, though, velvet early and more creamish late. The aftertastes are top of the league, though. Engaging cooling, still has pungent huigans in the throat at ten years, strong and complex mouthcoat and the same for a yun at the top of the throat. I missed the really nice bitter-generated mint aftertaste this tea can generate, but this wasn't bitter this time around. The qi is medium to strong, more on the strong side, and it was a big part of the enjoyment in drinking the slight and subtle late brews, bit of a relaxing downer.

The last tea is the 2001 Big Red Stamp Jia Ji from White2tea. This is a low leaf grade tea with lots of buds in it, and is fairly similar to other high buddy teas like the 7532 or 0622 recipes--a big dark depth, cola-choco here, and aromatic wood. The theme is generally orbiting those notes through the session, sometimes it'll be a bit more fruitish cola, sometime more austere wood. Also typical of these teas is a decent viscosity for factory teas, and this tea is thicker than usual, it's fairly high viscosity for factory tea and is comparable to the Golden Brick earlier. Earlier brews are a bit tart, but its strongly astringent. After the third brew or so, both smooth away. This doesn't have much in the way of aftertaste, and has a little bit of qi. I liked this tea because it is robust in aroma, taste, and viscosity, but I also found it sort of boring as that it doesn't really do much dynamic behavior for me. I stopped at seven brews, and will save for later brews in the week. Felt more like going back to Huangshanlin. I'd say that this is a bit more of an ager, as that it still has some stuff to age through.

 

[shah8]

Only did one interesting thermos this week--XZH Mengsong with the previously sampled Lao Man'e maocha. That one was awesome in the sense that the Mengsong depth got complemented with Lao Man'e floralness and in the finish with its sweetness. Thoroughly enjoyed.

Friday, I did the labeled 1998 Xiaguan Red Stamp (tho' the cake is actually from 2011). This tea was much better than the 2003 Xiaguan Special grade, in that it was much less astringent and more pleasant to drink. Aroma starts off with sweet dark grains, then subsequent brews add wood, and by the fourth or so brew, aroma is low and TCM'ish. Taste follows the pattern but is more woody with slight smoke and camphor edges. Bitter very early. Also winds up at a sort of bland sort of dark TCM taste in due time during the session. Viscosity is good for factory tea, and it has a very nice oily texture. Aftertaste is good early on with some light conversion to fruit in the mouth and some yunnish stuff going on at the top of the mouth with substantial camphor feel and cooling. A bit of mouthcoat. This dies down quickly though during the session. Light qi. I didn't take this very far, as this got boring quickly--maybe eight brews? Inspection of the leaves showed that it was extremely fragmented, so it seems obvious that this tea released the best pretty quickly. Early on, I was more pleased with this than the '90's 8582, but that tea easily outpaces in its steady durability. I personally wouldn't be very interested in this.

Saturday morning, I did the 2004 Biyunhao Yiwu. I think it was pretty good, but its positive attributes are delicate, and requires attentive sipping. Of the three BYH Yiwus, the '05 seems pretty clearly the best as that it's reasonably full and complex. The '06 is the sweetest and fullest tea. This '04 is more internally consistent, keeping to a theme, and doing complexity at the fringes. Personally, taste-wise, it recalled something of the YQH Teji in the Yiwu leather sense. Aroma tended to be a sweet Yiwu profile (plummy) with a hint of resin. Dies mostly down by brew four. There is a little bit of bitter-tart and later mere tartness in the taste, but it's much gentler and closer to pleasant in this '05 rather than the '06. The taste tended to have hay, leather, barnyard, some floralness and a bit of resin/incense. Late longer brews tend to be leather and wood. The viscosity tended to be good, generally smooth, and with an occasional burst of drying astringency. In the first four or so brews this tended to give a good yun for aftertaste, with some feeling down the throat. The tart sense tended to convert to a sort of purple floral-fruitiness in the front of the mouth. The qi goes up and down, between a mild sense to more of a moderate level. I wasn't quite feeling that great this morning and didn't want to push the tea after it had gotten boring for me, so I didn't do more than eight or nine brews. It could have gone on, but mostly just as flavor.

Evening was the 2001 Green Stamp (stained). This was produced by a former big factory guy who tried to go on his own for a bit. It started off fairly nutty in the early going, but then hews close to the Xiaguan iron cake theme I've been on. Aroma started off as dark grains, wood, smoke, moves through nutty, and ends up in the sort of Xiaguan TCM. The taste essentially follow the same path, only starts out as nutty, then woody, then the background Xiaguan flavor. It's a bit sour early on and gets milder as the session goes on. Viscosity is pretty good for factory, with a lovely pudding feel earlier and more of an oil feel later. Much like the Xiaguan Red Stamp (but Green stamp leaves aren't nearly as chopped), this has some aftertaste in the early brews like some fruit conversion in the mouth, and a decent feeling down throat, and all dies down fairly quickly. This one does have a moderate level qi, at least for a bit, and it was somewhat relaxing to drink. Again, I stopped when this tea got boring, but it was a bit more dead than the BYH. This tea cost roughly $160 for a cake. I suppose this is an okay value for some people, but I'd rather pay that for more Tai Lian.

 

[cherrybomb7]

Not posting much because I haven't been drinking too much lately, what with movings and finals and all sorts of person my age stuff. I ordered some Crimson lotus tea, from Jingmai and Yunnan Sourcing samples from mostly Lincang Prefecture. Its been a couple years since I have sampled, because economically it makes way more sense to buy cakes, so I am excited to put a lot more knowledge into a big round of samples. Expect some posts in thematic pairings in a month or so (although I have been thinking about so many other places $150 could've gone for better tea). Hopefully, some other stuff might be fit in before that to post about. I also have a 2003/4 Xiaguan 8653 from Toby on the way.

I have been fretting lately over Xizi Hao stuff. I want to buy the 2013 DXS and would ideally love the Youle and Diangu from Emmett. I wish there was more great Bulang/Menghai on the market. Like a Teapals equivalent of different villages/area of young Menghai would be a dream. Anyways, I am turning to Pu-erh.sk, and hope to buy the Youle, Huazhu Liangzi and the Naka. Maybe some TeaUrchin stuff, which apparently is not leaving the shop anytime soon, like the Pasha and Bulang Star.

Shah8 keep bringing the good stuff.

 

[shah8]

Well, how much are you willing to pay for that menghai, cherrybomb?

Today, I did a full and a half session. I'm also getting tired at this pace, though, even with plenty of samples to go. I might just do one tea a day on weekends.

The first tea today was the 2004 Nanqiao Wang. I've had the 2005 version previously. This tea turned out to be more humidly stored and lower toned as a consequence, than the 2005. Aroma is pretty erratic, varying from light low notes of depth and minerality, to stronger relatively fruity scents, that's sort of plummy and citrus and kind of burnt smelling (not smoke, the fruit). The taste generally is a sort of misc. choco note with minerals, hay, barnyard, though one brew did have some of the aromatic fruitiness in the taste. There is a a sourness and tartness that intrudes a little in the first four brews or so. The viscosity is enough, and later brews pick up a more velvety texture. These later brews also pick up a bit in terms of drying astringency. There didn't seem to be much in the way of aftertastes. I did find some fruit notes in the length/finish of sips in some brews. Qi is mild to moderate. I didn't push this tea in terms of endurance. I did put in the refrigerator for brews later in the week. It's a good tea, but I think I'd prefer the '01 Jia ji even though that doesn't have the qi of this one.

The second tea today was 4g of the 2015 Chenyuanhao Yiwu Chawang. I enjoyed this one. The aroma is also pretty erratic. Goes from honey-hay-barnyard-choco to barnyard tonothing to pollen, and fading to misc herbals and yiwu low notes. The taste early tended to predominantly be a sharp tasting deep tobacco note, sort of like the '05 BYH Yiwu. How deep varies and there were associated flavors of choco, florals, you know the drill. The taste eventually lightens up into a more consistent flatish yiwu honey taste for many light brews. The viscosity is only moderate, given its gushu, tho' the texture sometimes got more velvety. Aftertastes were pretty decent. Some feeling the throat very early. Around the third brew, the tea starts to consistently give a nice floral yun at the top of the throat. The focus eventually transistions to a more bitterness generated huigan that releases floral and fruit character in the mouth, sort of combo mouth aroma/mouthcoat. And this was consistently happening at light levels through the late brews before I stopped. Qi was also a decently moderate level and pleasantly relaxing. I probably took this thirteen to fifteen brews before dumping.

 

[cherrybomb7]

Well, how much are you willing to pay for that menghai, cherrybomb?

Yeah right. I guess there is some lower premium stuff on the market, I could just really stock up with a few K on that 2011 YQH and XZH from Emmett and have a decade or two where I can occasionally pick from these cakes. I looked around after posting that the other day, and it does seem like pretty decent stuff will remain in boutique vendors lineup year to year. Tuhao, Bosch, We Go High, U2 from W2T, the Naka from Pu-ersk. etc..

So I guess its not as bleak?

 

[shah8]

Did the '04 Songpinhao reproduction sourced from Wang today. Sort of confirmed that it's likely fake, and beyond that, not a good tea.

The second tea today was the 2006 BYH Manzhuan. This was pretty good. The dry leaf was fairly whole, pretty, and tippy. The aroma early on tended to be something like hay that's almost wood. It quickly becomes indistinct, though. The taste starts off deep with notes centered around choco and wood, and eventually rises to more of a sugercane character. There were often nuances, like dried fruit, around the main character to be found, so it was a bit fun. The viscosity wasn't very high and thins in later brews, but the texture is the classic Manzhuan syrup, which was nice. There wasn't much aftertaste early on, it was more of a light lingering mouthcoat, but in longer brews, some light yiwu style huigans extended past the finish of the tea. The mouthcoat was also a bit more aggressive. I did not find this tea to have much in the way of qi. I took this tea about twelve brews before being bored--tea ends up high, mild taste and sweet. I enjoyed it, but it's a good example of why I don't rate Manzhuan as a favorite tea area, usually. It doesn't tend to product tea with outstanding characteristics. However, it does age into solid tasting tea with characteristic viscosity and texture, so many other people think highly of Manzhuan. In comparing Manzhuan vs Manzhuan, the 2010 XZH Manlin beats the snot out of this tea on its better days. Strong aromatic performance, and again, on its better days, it's insanely delicious. Doesn't lose on viscosity or aftertaste, and has a stronge qi. The 2005 BYH Manzhuan, which is the best tea out of the BYH for me, has a true notable strong point in the quality of its aftertaste.

 

[shah8]

Last Sunday, I drank a blend of two Yiwu maocha. This was really good stuff, though. Aroma was generally on the fruity side of floral, a touch more fruity than a gardenia blossom. The taste tended to reflect some of that fruitiness early on, while the aroma was active, but is mainly based on barnyard or choco notes. The taste does rise in the later sessions, but only to a more vague character. This isn't a particularly thick gushu tea. More medium and does decline a bit as the session goes on. The texture could be interesting at times. However, the real show was in the aftertaste, an simply a really great throat-coating yun at the top of the throat that lingers. There is also some of that mintiness that I associate with Bohetang area teas (and XZH Huangshanlin) that shows up well after the swallow. Some feeling went down the throat, but there was also some mobile sense of cooling much like really good Mengku or LBZ. The qi was more medium, medium to strong, but it was of very good quality for me. It's not a particularly durable tea in the active phase, maybe about eight to ten brews, but I kept brewing for maybe five-seven more brews.

Thermosed on of those YS gushu bulang cakes from '09 that can be so erratic. Very nice, actually, behaved vaguely like how the XZH Black Wrapper did, only tobacco instead of sweet nutmeat. Rather good texture, and has good fruit notes in the depth and aftertaste. Good feeling at the top of the throat with cooling, etc, like ringing a bell.

Thermosed a blend of '01 Jingmai from EoT, the last bits of XZH Huangshanlin and a couple of sprigs of this '06 Yunhai "LBZ". Didn't make for anything momentous.

Thermosed some 2012 GFZ from TeaUrchin plus a couple of leaves of Theasophie 2014 Bulang. It was a rather decent brew. The GFZ is of respectable quality. Still has an odd astringency.

Thermosed some Anxiang shu. Beloved.

Some 2012 Taochaju Yiwu. Okay. Had a nice sweetness that doesn't always show up in proper gongfu sessions.

 

[shah8]

The tea yesterday was a traditional storage Qingbing from roughly the first half of the aughts. This was one of those white2tea tea of the month packages, along with a 2006 dry stored Qingbing, so as to facilitate understanding of different storages. I've reviewed the '06 earlier. This tea, I rather liked, and it was somewhat similar to the '87 8582 that I had fond memories of sampling. I really prefer traditional storage to mere humidity. Alright, to start with, the aroma and taste were pretty consistent in being humid and TCM. The taste also had a sweet aspect. There is sometimes an issue with some youthful bitter-tartness The viscosity was good with good meaty mouthfeel. There were some subtleties in the taste, but not too much, and that, along with the aftertastes were predominantely in earlier brews. The qi was mild to moderate, more to the moderate side, and was pleasant. This tea could go a pretty long way as a relatively boring tea. I enjoyed this quite a bit, and stuck to just one tea, as I wasn't feeling great yesterday.

Today, I had two teas.

The first tea was the TeaUrchin 2015 Guafengzhai. This seems to be comparable to the 2012 TU GFZ that I just finished the last bit of, in basic nature. However, it seems that the 2012 was probably the better tea. The aroma lasts about five brews, and changing much of the time, from a generic Yiwu, to more barnyard and chicory, to more of a dry floral as it peters out. The taste is much more consistent; a celery-like vegetalness combined with somewhat masculine herb-wood. The taste increases and decreases in depth and darkness through the first six or so brews, and then becomes more consistent light taste past that. Viscosity is a good point with this tea, and it's rather smooth until late. The aftertastes are more limited than the 2012, with a bit of mouthcoat at the back of the mouth and top of the throat (where that tea had more energetic aftertaste when young). This also did a little bit of that Chawangshu yiwu-style huigan in the mouth. The sweetness wasn't that strong and not as strong as, say, the Theasophie Chenyun or the YQH '06 Chawangshu. Late brews had some astringency that converts to floral aroma in the mouth. The qi was mild, and comfortably easy to enjoy. I estimate that $150/200g is somewhat rich for this tea. The YQH Wujin Cang is probably a better value for this level of Mansa tea. However, this savory tea is more ready to drink than the Wujin Cang right now, and the YQH will take some year to lose the shengyness it has.

The second tea today was the 2002 Tai Lian International. I've said plenty of wrong things when talking about tea in this thread, especially near the beginning of my involvement, but what I said seven years ago about this tea is still pretty true today. This is very good stuff, and it practically has to have gotten material from trees that today would go into extremely expensive cakes. It's really good at what I care about, lots of complexity, lots of aftertaste, feeling, and qi. Yunnan Sourcing's price for this cake is very favorable to the Lincang luva. I drink this with mind to compare against the recent '03 and '98 red (actually 2001) Xiaguan. Okay, onwards to the tea. Aroma is around very deep into the session, and is very dynamic. Does tend to have smoke and wood, but mixes in honey, fruit, caramel, dry florals, and some vegetalness in different ratios. The top taste is predominately smoke, wood, honey, and vegetalness in different ratio. The first four or so brews after the wash has some degree, perhaps strong, sourness. I found it pleasant because it was a rather lively sourness. The late brews are generally a sweetish light honey taste. The taste in general is not partitularly bold or full, compared to the Xiaguans mentioned earlier or to anything like the boldness of the YYX. The viscosity is on the thinner side, relative to something like the '98 Red Stamp. However, it had an excellent oil-silk mouthfeel, with no real astringency until very late. Said astringency was also very productive, anyways. This tea created a great deal of feeling all around the mouth and down the throat in various ways. Much in the way of cooling and numbing. A consistent caramel flavor shows up a bit after the intake, and sometimes before the swallow--early brews were a paradox of energetic sour entry and sweet finish. Pungent huigans have aged into a yun that has a lot of floral character rising above the throat. Some from the tongue as well. A lot of mouthcoat, particularly late when some productive astringency releasing flavors from various parts of the mouth. The qi was strong in a downer sort of way. Very much "sit yer *** down and enjoy the ride" sort of qi. Durability was pretty great. At least over fifteen brews were made, and probably close to twenty. A very high caliber tea for that era that has never gotten the sort of marketing that other teas have had, even though it's clearly some sort of strongly Bingdao or Xigui sort of tea, and has never really gotten a high price, aside from Tai Lian/Yibang Chamasi dominated shops. People must be aware of it, since it was apparently worthy of being faked.

 

[shah8]

First was an anon maocha of no real merit. Has thickness, a somewhat sweet vegetal-choco character in taste. Some sharp sourness. Doesn't really do anything. Not much in the way of aftertaste or qi or any sort of thing to hunt after. Doesn't develop through session. Dumped after a bit.

Then I tried the Pu-erh.sk 90's Wild Brick. I suspect it's that old, early nineties. It has a TCM taste with a sort of off-barnyard caramel sweetness. Prone to an unpleasantly lingering citric tartness at the root of the mouth. The taste is on the thinner side on account of size nine and huangpian leaves. It might make an okay western or grandpa brewing on account of broadly agreeable and sweet taste, but I don't think this is good tea, and is a poor use of hard earned money.

This was a holiday, so I wanted something good. Took out the 2008 XZH Puzhen for another spin, this time 4g in a gaiwan. I'm more used to its character now, and I find that the aroma through the first four or so brews are very complex, and offer quite a bit of entertainment in that dog's head out the car window sense. The taste was more or less like what it was before, more of a stronger plummy note. The gaiwan doesn't seem to quite bring out the viscosity and texture that I got from previous session. Qi also isn't as dominating. Aftertaste was pretty good, strong mouth filling aroma in the early going, and keeps active later on, especially in producing sweetness. All in all, the Tai Lian yester day was much better than this session, because of the strong, diverse, mouthfeel, much stronger qi, more sweet tastes... It's weaker than this Puzhen in terms of lighter taste and thinner viscosity. I think much of the advantages are due to aging. At around the same age as this Puzhen, in 2011, the Tai Lian was more bitter and astringent, and it didn't have the sort of strong qi that it seems to have today. Nor a reliable sweetness.

 

[cherrybomb7]

2014 Jingmai from Crimson Lotus. This is out of that small 10gram tin. This tea opens up simple and acts like a green oolong until about steep 7 when I am then pretty surprised by its growing astringency until that dies along with any other reasons to keep steeping the tea. It tasted like generic sweet sheng before steep 7, honey, the whole thing subtly reminding me of baked goods. It had some incredible creaminess, while it wasn't active at all.

I did a side by side of Yunnan Sourcing Bangdong's seasons from 2010. Autumn was more subdued overall but more centered. Autumn is a pole in the mouth, Spring spreads out through the entire mouth in all directions and senses. As for their age and storage, autumn is slightly sour and both are pretty dry stored, although the spring had no issues, I'd say. They are steeping up a dark yellow, medium dark orange? Spring is pungent. Autumn opens up simply. They meet up around steep 5. Both taste like Mengku, apricot, bright, astringent, dry florals, sugared (white) greens. Autumn has this bright pineapple thing going on that directly compliments the extra acidity in it and both are astringent. Spring smooths out sooner.

Today I drank the Nuo Wu 2016 also from Yunnan Sourcing. This was pretty good I thought. It is more elegant, slightly less rich than the Bangdong, or compared to Heart Of The City. The dry leaf smells extremely enticing, but nothing else really offers much in terms of smell. It is thick and oily and I kept thinking about cotton candy. Once again, a lot of Mengku notes: sugared greens and those specific florals that seem to wrap the whole tea in a wonderful, slightly rambunctious bowtie. It is done pretty well here and later steeps are pretty yummy and sweet. The astringency doesn't give much aftertaste and I would dock it a lot there for this price range. Overall, the tea is sweeter than the Bangdong.

More Yunnan Sourcing stuff in the next couple weeks (Nahan, vertical Bangdong, some Simao stuff...)