The eye appeal of this cake is spectacular – great wrapper; nicely processed cake; beautiful whole leaf material (small leaf gushu). XiKong, Manzhuan and Yibang are all located in Mengla County, Xishuangbanna and understandingly their teas share many of the same characteristics. The scent of this cake is a subtle floral (rather like wildflowers). Light gold, clear tea liquor with the delicate scent of sweet floral and a granary sweetness in the taste. Decent mouthfeel with a low level bitterness on the edge of the tongue. The qi begins to make its presence known during the third steep. The mouth feel becomes thicker and pleasantly astringent as the tea session progressed. This most definitely is not a “knock your socks off’ sheng in terms of bold power but rather a delicate, sophisticated sheng that seeks to impress one with its underplayed subtlety (subtle aroma, subtle sweetness, subtle bitterness). The quality of the material is evident from beginning to end. This tea is best enjoyed when you can give it your full attention and drink it slowly so that you can appreciate all aspects of its elegance.

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 0 min, 15 sec 5 g 3 OZ / 90 ML
Stephanie

Gosh I love TeaUrchin stuff so much! And the block print wrapper on this cake…someone needs to hire me to design and print wrappers! :D

JC

Yes! This. I love XiKong for those exact reasons, is a definitive bouquet of floral, honey and fruits with a good body, but it is all done in a very delicate and subtle way. I feel like Regions like XiKong help us properly define that subtle and delicate are no synonym of weak.

DigniTea

well put, JC – subtle/delicate does not mean weak!

DigniTea

Steph – yes, you can always count on TU to produce high level cakes always processed carefully and made with quality material.

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Comments

Stephanie

Gosh I love TeaUrchin stuff so much! And the block print wrapper on this cake…someone needs to hire me to design and print wrappers! :D

JC

Yes! This. I love XiKong for those exact reasons, is a definitive bouquet of floral, honey and fruits with a good body, but it is all done in a very delicate and subtle way. I feel like Regions like XiKong help us properly define that subtle and delicate are no synonym of weak.

DigniTea

well put, JC – subtle/delicate does not mean weak!

DigniTea

Steph – yes, you can always count on TU to produce high level cakes always processed carefully and made with quality material.

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Bio

I drink mostly puer and sometimes what we as Westerners think of as black tea.

I no longer assign numerical ratings to teas because our enjoyment of tea is very subjective. Reactions to a particular tea vary from person to person and within the same person across different tasting sessions.

My tea notes are simply comments reflecting my impression at that specific point in time. They are helpful to me and if they happen to be useful to someone else that is good.

For me, tea is magical with its ability to transform by bringing one back to center and inspiring both peace and contentment.
Reformed coffee drinker. Switched to tea as part of my goal to work on living a healthier, more balanced life — haven’t looked back since.

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