SOTD- sheng of the day

[shah8]

Naka and the wild tea lasted through the week fine, but I didn't enjoy them that much.

I did a thermos of the 2011 EoT Mannuo to compare with the Naka. EoT had a bit thinner viscosity, but same texture, and the taste (lacking barnyard, meatiness) and aroma isn't as rich or complex. Flip side was that the taste and aroma are more pleasant and agreeable. Aroma had strong wood/florals component, and the taste is intensely sweet--I would like to see the face of a person who doesn't like sweet puerh drink this. It is also really rather close to the taste of a banzhang/Guangbienlaozhai--it wasn't very different from the 2020 XZH Taiji maocha, for example. Lastly, while the quality of the aftertastes are about even (tho' the Mannuo aftertaste survives cooking and is present in later pours, in a way that the Naka doesn't, the Mannuo qi and throatfeel is much better.

The shu of Friday was the 2007 Dengshihai. It was largely its usual self--not much fermentation flavor, has rather nice wood character in aroma and a slight bit in taste. Good aftertaste and qi. This was a better session than last time, and normal sourness was present.

I did a couple of fancypants sheng this weekend from Essence of Tea. And one Liubao from TeaSide.

The first sheng of the weekend was the 2006 Bingdao Lao Zhai Ancient Tree from Essence of Tea. It was a mild disappointment in that this is one of those Bingdaos that has been tweaked to have that tangerine section candy character in aroma and taste, so it was never really going to age in a significant way. Also, the storage was a bit too heavy for this sort of tea.

On to the tea... As might be expected, this tea is pretty minerally in aroma and taste. Earliest brews can have wood, dark herbal in aroma as well, but most brews are mineral with a suggestion of fruit and sugars. The taste is pretty transparent. Again, usually mineral with a touch of sugars and tangerine section candy fruitiness. If brewed hard, there is a small, narrow bitter pole with a propensity to pinch the sides of the tongue. A couple of early brews has a real tcm bitter pole, dark herbals, and aromatic woods. This tea has a tendency towards sensate sweetness when you let the soup cool a bit. Good viscosity, with the oil texture that I'm routinely recognizing as typical of more real Bingdaos. Astringency is generally moderate level. There is some mouthcooling. Most of the fun in the tea is in the dynamic yiwu-huigan-mouthcoat segue. There were a couple of yuns. The qi is strong and tends to warm the body. Late brews do not seem to continue that strength. This tea is an indefinite brewer, and I stopped at about fourteen or fifteen brews to reuse the pot.

I can't say that this is a very good value. There are lots of good substitutes that do not cost as much, albeit usually much younger--for example the 2017 XZH Peach Drunk at $518/400g will give you the same minerals, fruitiness, big mouthfeel, qi, etc in transparent taste. Puerhguy has a single 2012 Baifuzangcang Bingdao at a price well below its worth 2012 Baifuzangcang Canglu Bingdao Ancient Tree - Puerh Guy - https://www.puerhguy.com/shop/bfzc/2012-baifuzangcang-canglu-bingdao-ancient-tree/ as well as another non-Bingdao but good substitute in the 2010 Upper Cave Man Art cake 2010 Xizihao Dingji Qiaomu Yuancha - Puerh Guy - https://www.puerhguy.com/shop/xzh/2010-xizihao-mountaintop-caveman-qiaomu-yuancha/ not fruity, but should be big on mouthfeel, qi, etc, etc...

The second tea of Satuday was the 1991 HongTaiChang Liu Bao from TeaSide. The first try of this tea, I was impressed by, so when I saw that TeaSide had a Thai New Year's sale, I promptly took advantage to buy myself a cake. Pretty easy win. Affirmative good teas from around 1991 generally costs more than the $136/200g it cost me, even the shu. And I certainly think this was affirmatively good tea. Not too dynamic and not too complex so it's easy to describe. Themes are a certain sort of aromatic wood (teakwood works, I guess), caramel, a slight nuttiness, and a dark bitter herbal verging towards choco. There is a bit of black eyed peas warehouse note early. As the brews go on and the taste thins, there is a more evident wine-toned plumminess (hey, like that 88QB). Decent to good viscosity, smooth and round in the mouth. Decent to good yiwu huigan and mouthcoat. Sneaky qi at about moderate level, good quality. Very durable--probably close to twenty brews, and still worth putting into the fridge for the week.

The Sunday tea was the 2005 Bangwai Single Tree from Essence of Tea. As for whether it's *the* single tree, I don't know, but yes, this has the classic profile of a single or few trees sheng. I find the blurb to be pretty accurate here. I think the blurb does play a bit too soft on being fried too high. It is definitely over-fried, and there's something of a nudge towards yancha character as a result. Or maybe it was an intentional processing step?

Like the Bingdao, not a super complex tea in aroma and taste. It is a bit richer, especially in aroma. Aroma early was relatively rich with roasted grain, a bit of tobacco herbalness, a touch of smoke. Latter aroma is more of a mineral and plummy aroma. Taste is transparent like the Bingdao with the core of it being this yancha congwei-ish mineral note, accompanied by subtle fruit, light roasted grains. Good viscosity with pudding texture. Moderate astringency. There is a light feeling down throat, a bit of cooling in mouth, a few brews has the tonguetip being numbed. Aftertastes are quite nice, a dynamic, sweet, mouthcoat that tends to last well after cup is finished, along with yuns. Qi is of moderate strength but is of good quality, and there is some chest warming. I didn't do enough brews, maybe eleven? to tell how durable this is, but pot's going into the fridge nonetheless.

It's pretty good, but it's not something I could even come close to wanting to buy at three dollars plus a gram--any number of teas at Sanhetang I'd rather buy.

 

[shah8]

Had a bunch of excellent tea this weekend...

The liu bao really went a long way before dying. The Bangwei performed about expected.

The shu of Friday was the 2009 XZH Beginning Blessings Mengsong shu. It was an outstanding session that largely stimulated well the later brews of an aged 7542. Aroma did not rise above the cup much except in the first one, but it was nicely aromatic wood with some dark herbal. There was no real fermentation taste, like the '07 Deng Shihai shu or the '16 BFZC shu, but it had wood, plummy, and dark herbals. Mouthfeel was good with a bit of real texture. This stuff goes down throat, has a bit of pungent huigan back up. Also has the rest of the standard aftertastes. There was a consistent really nice yiwu huigan to fruit on top of that plummy. Qi was strong-very strong. Durability not so great. the taste of dark herbals goes on, but it's kind of lifeless very late. This is the most expensive shu in Sanhetang's catalog, and it's probably easy to see why. Anyways, I saw that the cake was up for auction, and instead of $1500, I got my second cake for about $100 before shipping, and now I can drink more freely from this cake.

The first sheng of the weekend was the 2008 Shuangxi Lingmen Iron, because I wanted to compare with the recent Bingdao, and hey, I wanted to drink more of a favorite. It did its usual thing, a subtle yancha-pu experience (yancha as in minerally, not processing). Something else I took from this session was a greater conviction towards the idea that if the '05 Bingdao had been stored more gently, it might have been able to hold attention in a similar way.

Aroma is a subtle mineral, wood, florals, fruit thingie, oftentimes very pleasant even if never loud. The taste is mainly composed of a deep mineral-nannuo carroty bottom with touches of plummy, fruit, and honey on top of it. Notably, it was never bitter. Late brews are a nice fruit, floral, mineral taste. Mouthfeel is similar to Bingdaos, oily with good viscosity. Astringency is less than typical Bingdaos, generally at light. Full range of aftertaste and generally strong, other than the pungent huigan. As for feeling, light feeling down throat, good cooling in mouth. Qi is strong. Very durable. Put the pot in fridge after at least thirteen brews.

I did a second tea on Saturday, the 2005 Yiwu Ancient Trees Dragon Balls from Essence of tea. The dragonballs, by the way, are 5.5g, not ~6.5, for 22 instead of 26g. Also, the performance is more typical of a thick tcm bitter pole version of Yibang or Gedeng tea like the 2013 XZH top Gedeng or the 2014 XZH Hongyin Iron. I would not peg this as a Yiwu. The leaves are small as well.

The aroma and tastes are very simple and straightforward. They are both also strong. Aroma generally has dark herbal, umami, honey, vegetal, and wood notes. The taste is a potent, deep dark herbal with a bit of wood, and sometime some cola. Very thick viscosity with a texture that is pretty stiff and pudding. Not very much astringency. As the blurb goes, this does have a bit of mouthcoat aftertaste that lingers. Qi is mild-moderate. Taste seems to go a ways, but I didn't brew it as much as I could have because it's somewhat a boring tea. More or less worth the money, tho'.

The tea today was the 2015 Baifuzangcang Taiji Chawang. The review is pretty simple more or less--wild tea and all, it basically performs at a top level. Exceptional aroma, very good aftertaste game. The taste, rutabaga and all, was rather solid for a wild tea. Good viscosity, didn't really note the texture much. Not much astringency. Strong feeling down throat, a bit of pungent huigan back up. Yiwu huigan and mouthcoat are fast and dynamic and makes the overall taste complex. Strong qi, more sneaky than wild teas usually are, kind of high quality. Seems pretty durable and the pot is in the fridge. It's a lot of money, but it is worth it if you have that money to purchase a cake from puerhguy.

 

[shah8]

I took it easy this weekend, so I'm going to try and keep it brief. Let's see if I succeed...

Taiji wild tea performed very well through the week. Takes long brews, but tastes very solid as a result, even in the twenties in terms of brews. The '08 XZH did fine, maintained light, generally honey with subtle fruit tasting brews. Both had good qi during these late brews.

I did the XZH Chocobrick shu on Friday. Was a mild disappointment, compared to the brilliance of the '09 XZH shu. Main issue is that the taste isn't that solid and is sour pretty deep into the session. Also, completely a shu experience with no nods towards aged sheng pleasantness. Aroma was decent enough, not too strong. Taste was very nuanced for a shu, and late brew has an evident fruitiness. Lots of that nuance is from more complex than typical shu aftertastes. Qi is very strong for a shu. Durability not that great. Despite disappointment, still a rather good shu.

The first sheng of the weekend was the '08 XZH Puzhen. Mostly center of the cake material. Leaves were kind of mushy, and there was a lot of dust that got suspended in the soup. The clumpy mass of leaves repeatedly clogged the pot during the early pours, so session was a little messed up, and I didn't take this session that seriously. ARoma was sweet. Early brew tastes were bitter due to the overbrewing. Late brews had a nice sweet honey taste with other notes. One of the things I think about is that this tea used to be much more plummy and dark herbal than recent sessions have come out. Where did it go, and why? Mouthfeel and qi is still pretty top of the scales. Manages a decent aftertaste game, but nothing too shocking. Durable. But man, this tea is pretty different than the '07 Puzhen. Also a bit unreliable. On a good day, it's better than the '08 XZH Blessings Iron, but it can also be pretty uninspiring.

I finished off a sample of the '03 Thai Liubao from TeaSide. Not nearly as good as the 1991. Has an intrusive fermentation aroma and taste a bit similar to fermenting garbage in earlier brews, but not that bad. Does not have the nice aromatic woodiness or the sweet notes of the '91 Liubao. Qi and aftertastes aren't as good, either. Does have the basic taste profile of a strong, broad tcm bitter pole within a fermentation depth in later brews. Durability is good. Wound up not being interesting in drinking that many brews.

First tea of Sunday was the mid-Aughts dry stored Yiwu sold by Yiwu Mountain Tea. This was better than my first try a year ago. The aromatic wood and herbal notes in aroma and taste are stronger and better defined. Mouthfeel was pretty good, a bit better than good viscosity and some pudding texture. Astringency did tend to build as cup is drunk, but some of that is converted to aftertaste. There was a bit of nice mouthcoat and stuff. Some qi in the early session. Bad part is that the middle of the taste profile is a honey that is pretty faded. It also has fairly poor durability--taste profile more or less keeps going, but not much aroma, aftertastes, or qi involved.

The last tea of the weekend was the 2010 Essence of Tea Bada. Very enjoyable. Bitterness is way down, so is honey, but an intense and sweet raspberry is way up and is consistent through the session. Good mouthfeel, not much astringency, some yiwu huigan, some mouthcoat, and qi at moderate level. Seems pretty durable, tho' one has to be sure to brew to bitterness to get a good cup, doesn't have that intense bitter core that resolves to dark herbal and wood like it has had in the past. Anyways, quite a bit better than the recent EoT pressings of Bulang and Youle, for example...

 

[shah8]

Okay, blitzed through a ton of thaipu and lastly a chawangshu...

Puzhen and Bada lasted very well with sweet brews throughout the week.

Alright, the shu of Friday was the 2022 Choco Noir from Teaside, a relatively expensive shu made from maocha from the same tea garden as produced the 2016 Dragon Thaipu, that is also pleasantly adulterated with with some baihao yinzhen. Anyways, normally, I do not favor thaipu shu, as they tend to not be very rich in flavor in a way I don't like. And the tea started out like this, but in an extremely raspberry-yoghurt (heh, I see boychik has mentioned this in her reviews of this tea) way in aroma and flavor--a bit like some younger bitter forward bulangs and bangdong shu can be. The thinness of the taste kind of reminded me of the 2016 BFZC shu that is also thinner and fruity. The taste, however, is very dynamic. Early on, it's that raspberry, and also a firm bitterness, but not much choco, but later it has choco flavors. Past that, it's kind of a thin darkened thaipu sheng profile. Mouthfeel is good enough. Aftertastes are pretty good for shu. Strong qi. Very durable for a shu, as I found myself getting good cups very deep into a session.

I'm not really enthusiastic for this shu, not enough to buy it when I'm sick of paying lots of money for tea yet again, already, but this is definitely not a bad effort, and anyone with space for an unorthodox shu might well want to have some. Certainly no difference in the value that Looncall in the Dark has at a similar price. Hmmm, the finished leaves sort of looks like a moderately fermented shu, but there isn't that much ferment dark taste in it and it can act pretty shengy. Doesn't seem to have much wodui, unless that yoghurt is it. Also, this strikes me as a shu that specifically needs aging, beyond any settling, to be really good.



Okay, was basically putting a bunch of thaipu shengs through their paces. Quick and dirty--only the Dragon has any inkling of a really good tea. Most thaipu is definitely border tea with a degree of the meh that this means. It's just that the best ones are worthy of having and are too cheap. Another thing that interests me is that it seems like most of the good thaipu on Teaside were made in 2018 on, and 2014 Fox.

Alright. First one up was 2010 Dreaming Bird. It's a thaipu similar to Fox and Sky in Buckets--herbal-nutty-caramel-ish. This character is pretty thin though. Not that much viscosity, and moderate-high astringency. There is a bit of cooling in mouth. Aftertastes are a light yiwu huigan and light mouthcoat. Light qi. Not very durable in terms of interesting brews and dumped pretty fast. Not a bad tea, but not particularly special and priced similarly to considerably better teas.

Next up was the 2006 Hongtaichang 0801. The part of the blurb where it talks about the comparison to the 0802 is kind of right--main difference is that there is less wood notes in aroma and taste and it's less structured. Now, more broadly speaking, this is an okay-pretty good tea. Main issue is that the taste isn't really rich enough. However, it does a pretty decent job in terms of aftertaste and qi.

Aroma has prune with greater and less elements of herbal, wood, and honey. Later brews are lighter with more mineral. The taste early is more honey centered, with a bit of herbal, bitterness, and light sourness. Then it becomes a mostly prune and wood taste. Viscosity is only decent, but it does have a degree of pudding texture. Astringency is generally light. There is a touch of cooling and a little bit of feeling down throat. Manages a decent yiwu huigan, mouthcoat, yun, and paints throat a bit. Qi seems to be moderate of pretty good quality, especially for what thaipu usually gives. Durability doesn't seem to be great, but I'm pressed for time, and don't enjoy top taste that much, so it gets thrown out to make room for the next tea.

Sunday goes with 2016 Dragon from Teaside. Blurb talks about fruits and dried fruit, but there isn't that much of it here. There is some sour plumminess and I wonder if that's what all the fruitiness ages to or something. Anyways, there is a sense that this is a blended tea with a handful of truly good stuff in with the more pedestrian materials from the same garden.

Early session aroma is mushroom, spices, wood, which gradually changes to something dominated by prune with some herbal, wood notes. Taste is centered by a nice thaipu herbal bitterness, a bit like 2018 500y Bitter Trees, with mushroom, sour prune early, and again, converting to a more strongly prune late with touches of fruit and wood. Decent-good viscosity with a bit of texture. Light to moderate astringency. Light feeling down throat. Aftertaste game is pretty good and carries the tea. Yiwu huigan that segues to a dynamic mouthcoat and yun. Plenty of good quality qi. Actjve phase seems to be pretty sure, but firm brewing tends to give decent cups for a while, and I put this in the fridge with some pizazz left after about twelve brews or so.

The last thaipu of the weekend was the 2007 Hongtaichang. I think it's pretty simple to describe it. Not as dark herbal as it could be and was more like the 2006 0803 in being a solid-tasting-for-thaipu prune and wood in aroma and taste. Subtle honey sweetness underneath. Viscosity is good, with a light pudding texture. Moderate astringency. Doesn't have that much aftertaste or qi, though, compared to 0801 or 0803. Kind of equivalent to a 7542--a good standard product without much flash or frills, and I will definitely be enjoying this at work often.

Lastly, I did a 2007 Chawangshu maocha that KJ Wong is flogging for three dollars a gram. Worth that much? Naaah, but it is pretty good. The main issue with the tea is that it doesn't have a good aftertaste game and is very low in dynamism, so it tends to bore if one wants to be entertained by a tea. The strength of the qi also tends to fall off quickly after the first few brews. Now, what's good? It has a really great aroma and taste that is plummy with a certain aromatic dried out rotten wood, with some teensy nuances here and there and with a bit of propensity to be sweet. The viscosity is very good with a specific texture that makes itself known in the mouth. In one of my brews, a pour generated a large bubble that lasted quite the while before a wet pop. Light astringency. Very light aftertastes. Qi starts off pretty strong early and seems to fade. I'll see if it pops back up during the week in my brews after work.

 

[shah8]

Had a pretty good tea weekend...

Both Dragon Thaipu and the Chawangshu maocha lasted very well through the week with enjoyable brews. Notably the qi stayed pretty strong with Dragon in those late brews.

The shu of Friday was the '07 Dayi An Xiang shu. It was a bit unusual in that the taste in the initial brews were dominated by a plummy fruitiness, and the more traditional depth of cola/riccolla sweet dark herbals didn't come out on top until much later. I was going all OHO shu puerh are now all fruity with this being after last week's Choco Noir! It's not as if An Xiang didn't have some fruitiness, but it is usually a secondary flavor, often subtle. Now I'm wondering if I'll get this fruitiness regularly or something.

The first sheng of the weekend was something special that I've wanted to try for a long time, but Sanhetang had usually said that this tea couldn't be found. Then Liquid Proust got his filthy hands on a tong and sold the cakes at a dollar a gram. Of course, at Sanhetang, the price for a 2009 XZH Silver Taiji cake would run to $2600, more than ten times the price. Anyways, one of the folks that bought a cake sent me a sample of this and the '09 XZH Banzhang Lao Zhai teas for me to try. Anways the XZH blurb for the silver taiji went as such:
A silver Tai Chi
Areas - Ding Old Walled
--250 Gram weight
Taste - elegant orchid aroma of camphor scent turn, retained the strong degree of tea importers, throat rhyme full of original forest has a unique flavor.

Of course, if one has had a bunch of dingjiazhai, one knows that area doesn't really do this sort of profile, so it's pretty quick to the assumption of this being something collected at DJZ. With a third Anyways, with the drinking of this tea, it's pretty obvious that this is single/few trees Bohetang of some sort. Given the differences between various strands of quality BHT, we must be talking about a general area with several fields at this point.

Early session aroma is an interesting mix of herbal, wood, fruit, and honey. Then it declines to plummy/fruity and mineral the rest of the way. Aroma isn't too strong, and there is a delicate dance of nuance going on in the early brews. The taste is a super subtle plummy and mineral. Early brew also has a subtle sweetness and a mint herbalness. A time or two the mineral is dark, like in the '01 Dayi simplified yun, or that the plummy is sour. Very late brews verge toward plums as in fruit, similar to '15 Tianlong Chawang, or honey. In earlier brews, bitterness is pretty absent but can be got with a firmer hand. The viscosity is good with an oil texture most of the way. Astringency starts off low, but there are a few early brews with moderate to high astringency before declining back to low levels. The cooling (and associated dynamic mouthcoat) is a dead ringer for what Bohetang is good for. If you can get some, check out the 2012 XZH Chawangbing where Sanhetang does state this tea includes BHT. The early brews does the same thing this Silver Taiji does. It's a very interesting and engaging cooling relatively unique to BHT. Early brews does strong feeling down throat with sometime subtle, sometime strong pungent huigan back up. This tea has a dynamic mouthcoat that quickly follows a yiwu huigan in a similar way to other serious BHT and Fengwangwo teas. The yiwu huigan, and to a lesser extent the mouthcoat, provides much of the interestingness of the other wise subtle flavor profile of the tea. Qi is moderate to strong of high quality. Durability is very good. Active phase is longer than what the '12 XZH Chawangbing does, and is overall pretty indefinite--did about sixteen or seventeen with it feeling like it still had plenty left.

This tea is for a more sophisticated tea drinker in the sense that as with usually the case with single/few trees tea, the taste is relatively empty, the aroma isn't in your face, and everything requires attentive drinking to fully enjoy. It's not really a singular desert island sort of tea, and is something you get when you have lots of great more standard sort of stuff. One perhaps weakness is that this probably should have been pretty floral in a nice way, like the 2013 XZH Risk One's Life which is a lot less subtle in aroma and taste but without quite the nice cooling or aftertaste game. And the 2012 XZH Chawangbing has more mushroom, tcm herbals, choco early, etc, etc.

I was thinking about Dragon thaipu a lot so I took out the 2018 TeaSide Sky In Buckets and did a quick session of that. Generally a lot like a less rich W2T '22 Hypnotrain, generally pineapple and thaipu herbal dark bitterness. The fruitiness fades and the aroma/taste is more dominated by a nice dark/bitter herbalness often found in thaipu. Good mouthfeel, but was pretty grudging with aftertaste. Know it's capable of relatively strong caramel yiwu huigan, but so much this time. Good qi. All in all very much an enjoyable session.

The sunday tea was the 2009 XZH Banzhang Lao Zhai. Put simply, it's relative pricing oughta tell you everything--it's a thousand less for a cake than a Gold Taiji made with Hekai materials, or the Guafengzhai. It's a nice, well constructed tea, decidedly without the oomph that banzhangs are noted for. Much nicer to drink than the '09/'10 Chenshenghao LBZ bricks, but they have the bolder taste and maybe more substantiative mouthfeel such that they should be better long term prospects. The '05 and '06 XZH LBZs have their big weaknesses, but they really aren't chopped liver.

Aroma is generally a nice mushroom and wood with occasional fruit or camphor-floral. The taste early has an easy if narrow TCM bitter pole that can have a nice coffee accent along with the consistent plummy-wood base taste. This has good viscosity with a light pudding texture. Astringency is generally around moderate. The nicest part of the aftertaste is a lingering yun. Otherwise there is a more standard if kind of light yiwu huigan to sweet nutmeat and bit of bitter-fed mouthcoat. There is moderate to strong qi. Durability is pretty decent but I didn't test it that much as I was a bit bored with the tea.

This '09 XZH Banzhang is actually pretty similar to the '08 XZH Banzhang, but is more delicate and refined. Compared with most other Banzhangs, the aroma and top taste has a gross complexity of themes that banzhangs often do not have, going for a flat broad top taste with maybe a nuanced taste in there or something. With this fourth Anyways, the '09 XZH Gold Taiji and the '10 XZH Fog Soul Hekai teas are better stuff, overall...

 

[Sub10]

Through this week I read some of your enthusiastic notes on the 2012 Yeh Gu, so I wanted to refresh my opinion on that tea. I put about 7'5 grams from the cake in my trusty 120ml hongni shuiping. Very interesting how the bitterness performs in this tea. The bitterness starts very strong on the inicial brews and tends to smooth out after the third one. That bitterness is very pungent and carries the main flavours of woodiness and a kind of "dirty" chocolate taste that I can relate to as a "foodie" chocolatiness, all accompanied by a strong minerality which reminds me of yancha. Those main flavour pierce through the tongue and just stays there, while a blooming Yiwu fruitiness and slightly floral emerges on the backgroud. It's not a very broad taste or very dynamic through the session, but narrow, penetrative and cohesive, like a laser beam. It tends to generate some mouthcoat and later brews some cooling on the throat. Thickness was medium and the qi intense, coming quickly and persisting through the day, which for me is an indicative of very good quality tea.

Overall, this tea reminds me a lot the 2016 Wujin Cang. It also started with strong bitterness that calmed down after some infusions, although that one had strong floral and fruitiness on the main taste rather than the aftertaste, much less minerality and a more agitating qi. Maybe Yang wanted to replicate the Yeh Gu but in the end it went on a different path. To it's credit, I think the Wujin Cang is a very good price/quality ratio while being less taxing on the money than the Yeh Gu.

For me at least it's very difficult to pinpoint at the region the tea comes from. My impression from it is that it may contain a kucha from somewhere, as some of the lighter leaves are the most bitter, which reminds me of the leaves from the 2019 W2T Astro Kittens, while also complemented by a more "standard" Eastern Yiwu material which creates that cool huigan and gives the blend a lot of longevity.

Yesterday I had a nice session with a 2009 privately pressed Banzhang. It was sold as 80% Xin Banzhang and 20% Lao Banzhang, and my experience with it makes me agree with that declaration. The storage on the cake was Kunming until I purchased it in 2021 and is being stored at about 22'5ºC and 69% RH.

To the session: it begins very lightly with a lot of mouth activity, feeling zappy and creating some fruity huigan while also leaving a very retired smokiness that complements very well the woodiness. The taste gets stronger with a clean bitterness, chocolate, plums, fruitiness and leaves a woody + floral huigan. Some brews have strong cooling on the throat and strong citrus sensation on the rear mouth. It produces both medium astringency and drying, and good salivation, all at once on different parts of the mouth. Thickness was medium. Qi was very strong from the first brew, making me feel both a bit silly but also helping on focusing if needed. This is the feeling I get with previous Lao Banzhang puerh, so it corroborates that some material comes from there. It also cashes out pretty quickly, after 10 brews it's completely done, and that was my experience with Xin Banzhang.

Overall decent tea. Satisfying enough as I can't afford pure Lao Banzhang. At the momment of purchase it costed 380 USD for a 250 grams cake, which to me is reasonable considering it was good Kunming storage and not overly dry.

Tea of today is about 6'5 grams of the YQH 2005 Yuanshi Senlin Huangshan Cha (long name) from a 20 grams sample. It is very interesting, as the first brews have a strong savory taste and huigan. It leaves a ketchup/bbq and meat flavour, very into umami along sour plumminess and generates a Yiwu fruity mouthcoat. For the rest of the brews, that umami was only on the main taste, accompanied by some deep dark herbalness, smokiness, farmyard and leather, and eventually a honey taste, all that followed by strong Yiwu fruity huigan that didn't go too far down the throat. The wet leaves had a spectacular leather smell, I think created from the combination of farmyard and the smokiness. Thick texture through most infusions and very oily sensation, like olive oil in the mouth. The qi creeps up after the first four infusions, growing with subsequent sips. Pretty strong relaxing sensation with deep bodyfeel on the forehead, chest and arms, eventually the whole face and back of the neck. It put me in a meditative state while also helping with some mild anxiety.

Overall a great great tea which I'm considering caking when the opportunity arrives. It has the best body sensation out of any tea I have had to date which is indeed a new quality I'm seeking, as well as that particular umami flavour.

 

[shah8]

Nice to read an extensive review from someone else here!

Did a few evaluative thermoses over the week. The Sky In Buckets had a similar level of substativeness as the session. Doesn't seem to have that much depth as some other thaipus, even though it's a bright and fruity sweet tea to drink. I also did a thermos of We Go High as a check on where thaipu levels actually are. 2016 W2T We Go High was a substantial thermos and is markedly better than any of the thaipus except for the 0803, maybe. Incidentially, this had a pretty similar performance as the 2020 XZH Taiji, so another data point while I waver between whether this is a nice lincang or banzhang. Until it gets darker tasting, gunna be hard to know.

Of the stuff from the fridge, the 2009 XZH Taiji was pretty light tasting, plummy but finishing up mostly as mineral water. The qi on the other hand, was no joke all the way through. The 2009 XZH banzhang lao zhai did okay, and it seems more engaging when I brew hard to get plenty of bitterness. Doesn't really generate that much aftertaste or notable qi in comparison to the Silver Taiji.

The shu of Friday was the 2008 XZH Hong Yayun. This had settled down alot since my first try. Very mellow, like with the '11 porno shu, but not with as much flavor. However, it is much more nuanced. There is also a lovely slight camphor floral note in aroma and cake, but is most evident in the wet leaves. This had good mouthfeel, and the aftertaste were pretty good--sensate sweetness on tip of tongue, yiwu huigan, and mouthcoat. The qi was also quite strong. I really rather enjoyed it and brewed it a long way through the weekend. Fairly durable shu.

The first tea of the weekend was the 2006 YQH 600y Bulang to see whether if I'd ever want to get a cake and to compare with Tiancang. Long story short, it's pretty good, but not that spectacular. The base taste is more or less an old tea tcm taste that's similar to the 2006 Youle, which invites comparisons not in its favor. In general, gotta say, YQH was a better maker of teas in general 2010 and later.

Aroma is generally something like barnyard, hops/hoppy florals, and maybe a bit of sugars. It doesn't really go that deep into the session. Sometime later sessions might have some old tea tcm and wood aromas. The taste through most of the session is old tea tcm, a tcm bitter pole, a bit of wood, as well as some hops in the earliest brews. Gets more mineral late, of course. Good viscosity with pudding texture. light to moderate astringency. Good cooling in mouth. A bit of electric mouth early. Has a bit of feeling down throat early in the session, with a very light pungent huigan back up. The other aftertastes are also mostly only prominent early in the session--a bit of mouth aroma, yiwu huigan, and mouthcoat. Yiwu huigan can be strong. Qi isn't that remarkable at about moderate strength. Pretty good durability, but not very dynamic at all. Probably did about fifteen or sixteen brews.

The second tea of the day was the 2013 Unicorn thaipu from Teaside. It was pretty enjoyable, and ultimately more enjoyable than the bulang for the second weekend in a row... Bimbos and himbos rule, eh?

Aroma is generally canned peaches and dark herbals in varying proportions, can be nice at times. In taste, early brews have sour plummy like with Dragon, but it also has fruit vaguely like peaches. Early brews have a big dark herbal bitterness as well. In later brews, the bitterness softens and becomes more of a dark dried fruit as well as occasional light caramel. Viscosity is decent-good with about moderate astringency. There is some cooling in mouth. Most of the aftertaste is from mouthcoat, bitter-fed early on. Tends to have a sneaky and body focused qi at moderate strength. Durability is decent enough, about fourteen brews before I put it in the fridge with plenty left.

The last tea of the weekend was the 2021 Reserve thaipu from Teaside. Quickie is that this is pretty firmly gushu, but made me wonder if the tea trees might have been overpicked a bit over the years. Still quite enjoyable.

Early aroma is dark thaipu herbal with light fruit and floral edge before becoming more of a dominant fruity aroma. The taste isn't that strong, but there is good depth and layering in the profile. This profile usually has a broad nuttiness with a nuanced dark herbalness that is bitter early on. There can be fruit or caramel. This has good viscosity with velvet texture. Astringency gets to moderate levels and subsequently declines from an early peak. There is feeling down throat consistently, with a light pungent huigan back up. Strong cooling in mouth. Good yiwu huigan to fruit, and the mouthcoat can linger nicely after the cup as well. Qi is strong, mebbe a bit decent in quality. Durability seems to be okay, but might not be as good as Unicorn or some other other thaipus. Did about thirteen brews.

Ranking of western presses of thaipus...

Serious grade

Mae Hong Son
Reserve
Fox
Dragon

Good Stuff

Sky In Buckets
Bitter Leaf
Gypsie Crow (despite the oxidation)
Unicorn

Meh

Dreaming Bird
Pu Muen

Huh?

Chasing Spring