A couple of good teas of the day, both with 4g gaiwan sessions...
The first is the 2010 BYH Wangongzhai. This was an interesting tea in the sense that the taste is very purple and un-shengy.
The aroma consistently is fairly fleshy floral and almost fruity. However, early on, there are more savory notes of grain and a bit of incense, and as the session goes on, it subtly moves to a more punchy fleshy floral and honey note. The taste basically follows the aroma with a bit more of a savory element and some slight tartness. In the late brews, it's almost all a sharp fleshy floral taste with an active sour finish (pleasant) with no grains or vegetalness. Early brews had an unusual slight bitterness that reminded me of the bitterness in the Diangu. The viscosity tended to be good, with a specific smooth texture. Astringency pops up in a cool soup for a few brews mid-session, but by the late session, it's a very nice, smooth, juicy body. Aftertaste only really happened during the middle of the session as the tea is pushed a bit more aggressively. Tends to be sort of a lingering aftertaste/yun sort of game, generally floral. Mostly adds a bit of subtlety to what is a non-complex top taste. Early to mid session the qi is medium to strong and hits the head. Durability is good. The tea last longer than I really had interest in--a basic taste and body continues. Not really qi, or any sort of sweetness/complexity.
This was a nice tea. I wouldn't be especially interested in buying this sort of thing myself, because I do have good purple tasting tea, like the '07 XZH Dinjin Nuer. I also found myself comparing to the '10 Fall YS Xikong. That one had a bit more complex flavor and stiffer viscosity. On the other hand, not as full flavor, and strongly bitter. Probably not as reliable a tea as this tea is. I also remembered the 2010 XZH Risk One's Life sample I got way back in late 2011 or 2012. That one was also very purple, sort of grape bubblegum, but it was a more complex tea with a wood layer that this only has a hint of. Not sure how well this BYH Wangong will age, though.
The second tea of the day was the 2009 XZH Gold Taiji. This was a Hekai area tea. I went in expecting something similar to the Black Wrapper. It's actually more similar to the 2006 XZH Guangbien Bulang, but much more refined and agreeable flavored.
The subtle and light aroma tended to have a sweet cream element early on, with varying notes of fruit, forest florals, dry florals. The cream dies out in favor of forest/tobacco florals before fading to a very light tobacco. The main top taste tended to be variations of tobacco, and early-mid session, with lots of nice subtle sweet flavors. Honey, of course, but cream, cream soda, port, some light florals all enhanced the basic sweet tobacco (almost chicory) character. These mainly showed up as aftertastes in the mouth, sort of yiwu-huigany. Viscosity is good, generally smooth-ish. It did have very early trouble with light unpleasant astringency in the throat. The qi was strong and of great quality while it lasted--made me want to go all Salvador Dali in my chair. Very appealing combination of strength and gentleness. Durability wasn't great, though. In real terms, the durability is good, but practically, what happens is that the tea simplifies into a tobacco note without all of the pleasant notes previously present. This made me wonder if it's that storage muting thing that's happening here. The clear integrity of the YQH tea flavors yesterday is an interesting contrast.
While I think this was really rather good, I'm a touch hesitant to be excited about it, and wondered about a comparison with my Pasha from the same year. Got to thinking about how it was likely to age better, and contrasted that against a previous statement of mine where I said that "these YQH teas are about ten years old. If the chawangshu '06 tea is tastier than the Qizhong, it's probably going to stay that way ten or twenty more years down the road." I justified this situation as different, in that the comparative richer character of the Pasha is more clearly coherent and likely to work together as time ages it, compared to the Qizhong. Eeeehh, random thinking. Not to get too excited about this gold dayi, but if one should show up at a reasonable price, probably should snatch it.
The first is the 2010 BYH Wangongzhai. This was an interesting tea in the sense that the taste is very purple and un-shengy.
The aroma consistently is fairly fleshy floral and almost fruity. However, early on, there are more savory notes of grain and a bit of incense, and as the session goes on, it subtly moves to a more punchy fleshy floral and honey note. The taste basically follows the aroma with a bit more of a savory element and some slight tartness. In the late brews, it's almost all a sharp fleshy floral taste with an active sour finish (pleasant) with no grains or vegetalness. Early brews had an unusual slight bitterness that reminded me of the bitterness in the Diangu. The viscosity tended to be good, with a specific smooth texture. Astringency pops up in a cool soup for a few brews mid-session, but by the late session, it's a very nice, smooth, juicy body. Aftertaste only really happened during the middle of the session as the tea is pushed a bit more aggressively. Tends to be sort of a lingering aftertaste/yun sort of game, generally floral. Mostly adds a bit of subtlety to what is a non-complex top taste. Early to mid session the qi is medium to strong and hits the head. Durability is good. The tea last longer than I really had interest in--a basic taste and body continues. Not really qi, or any sort of sweetness/complexity.
This was a nice tea. I wouldn't be especially interested in buying this sort of thing myself, because I do have good purple tasting tea, like the '07 XZH Dinjin Nuer. I also found myself comparing to the '10 Fall YS Xikong. That one had a bit more complex flavor and stiffer viscosity. On the other hand, not as full flavor, and strongly bitter. Probably not as reliable a tea as this tea is. I also remembered the 2010 XZH Risk One's Life sample I got way back in late 2011 or 2012. That one was also very purple, sort of grape bubblegum, but it was a more complex tea with a wood layer that this only has a hint of. Not sure how well this BYH Wangong will age, though.
The second tea of the day was the 2009 XZH Gold Taiji. This was a Hekai area tea. I went in expecting something similar to the Black Wrapper. It's actually more similar to the 2006 XZH Guangbien Bulang, but much more refined and agreeable flavored.
The subtle and light aroma tended to have a sweet cream element early on, with varying notes of fruit, forest florals, dry florals. The cream dies out in favor of forest/tobacco florals before fading to a very light tobacco. The main top taste tended to be variations of tobacco, and early-mid session, with lots of nice subtle sweet flavors. Honey, of course, but cream, cream soda, port, some light florals all enhanced the basic sweet tobacco (almost chicory) character. These mainly showed up as aftertastes in the mouth, sort of yiwu-huigany. Viscosity is good, generally smooth-ish. It did have very early trouble with light unpleasant astringency in the throat. The qi was strong and of great quality while it lasted--made me want to go all Salvador Dali in my chair. Very appealing combination of strength and gentleness. Durability wasn't great, though. In real terms, the durability is good, but practically, what happens is that the tea simplifies into a tobacco note without all of the pleasant notes previously present. This made me wonder if it's that storage muting thing that's happening here. The clear integrity of the YQH tea flavors yesterday is an interesting contrast.
While I think this was really rather good, I'm a touch hesitant to be excited about it, and wondered about a comparison with my Pasha from the same year. Got to thinking about how it was likely to age better, and contrasted that against a previous statement of mine where I said that "these YQH teas are about ten years old. If the chawangshu '06 tea is tastier than the Qizhong, it's probably going to stay that way ten or twenty more years down the road." I justified this situation as different, in that the comparative richer character of the Pasha is more clearly coherent and likely to work together as time ages it, compared to the Qizhong. Eeeehh, random thinking. Not to get too excited about this gold dayi, but if one should show up at a reasonable price, probably should snatch it.
