1113 Tasting Notes
So glad I was able to get some of this in a swap with someone because I have eye balled this tea for awhile.
From the sight of the broken tea I was already happy. Dark and light green mixed in with some purple and almost yellow hue. The first steep was kind of odd so I went on to the next. A few steeps in and I was tasting an interesting mixture of a roasted dancong and purple yaoba. This is a highly complex tea with a lingering astringent fruity taste. Still on the end of needing to breathe a bit, but I think this is still fantastic right now. I’m not much of the sour pucker taste that comes with the astringent notes however this is just something I really enjoyed. Highly recommended and I will probably grab a cake around June because I’m curious how something like this will age.
I’m guessing it’ll be a candy apple tea by 2019
Six different type of gui fei and all of them were bad… until I tried this. Crisp taste with a lingering toasted honey note.
Wonderful tea, but it’s the only one of the seven I tried that I can say was good… is gui fei bad or is this just amazing?
gui fei?
i’m not familiar with that term
“Precious Concubine”.
awesome!
i never understood what Chinese concubines were :/
what are they?
I’ve not really been impressed with the gui fei’s that I’ve tried. I can see their merits for people who like mild black tea, but I guess it’s just not my jam. Tastes like a slightly floral ceylon to me, most of the time!
I think I loved this one
@LP, bummer that this is only the first of seven you’ve enjoyed. I love Gui Fei – it has a very sweet, honey and jammy quality to me that’s incredibly lovely. Can’t love ’em all, right? At least you found one that does it for you :)
Yeah, this is one of my favorites from TTC. I bought enough for aging.
Thanks evol
The Trails of LBZ, Case 5 of 6
(Liquid Proust search for his favorite laser beam zensheng)
Drinking this last night was probably the most disappointing tea time that I have had in quite awhile. I brewed up around 7g around 12 times and decided not to review it then because my remarks were really negative.
The 2009 and 2007 that YS offer has quite a strong kick to it where it was almost like it wasn’t tea; just… kicked my butt.
This however, being a $400 cake I saved it towards the end, ended up just…. okay, taste wise this was the smoothest and more aged but it lacked any ability to make me stumble to the bathroom. There just wasn’t any feeling coming about because of this tea which is why I’m going through these LBZ; eventually I’ll find my best and have a cupping here in Columbus with many people to make them all lose their minds.
Unsure why this didn’t do anything for me, but as for the aging and taste it was good. If it wasn’t for my experimenting to find something that about knocks me out, this might have been a great tea… but probably not something I would buy at the price range due to my finances.
The Trails of LBZ, Case 4 of 6
(Liquid Proust search for his favorite laser beam zensheng)
I was told this one is a blend and not pure LBZ, but that’s fine :)
First brew was ‘eh’, but I was drinking this for kick/effect. A little smokey in taste which I didn’t expect, but it seems that the tea lost that taste as it opened up. A little more of the storage taste came out with some more depth.
At about the eighth steep I knew this was going to be a more milder tea than the others that I had tried. Some feels to it, little in the head and more around the upper body. Quite enjoyable, but nothing compared to the first LBZ I drank during my trials which about rendered me unable to walk and thinking didn’t occur for awhile.
Most noticeable in regards to taste of aged and storage though.
I drank this last year during Christmas time and never wrote about it… dang, I really messed up there. Someone put time and effort into providing a gift for me and I didn’t even respond :(
I’m sorry, I was probably really busy that week…. thanks though, I always appreciate when people put in effort to put a smile on others face; which you did for me an others :)
Drinking this at work and the one major thing I notice is how beautiful the leaf is. Many two leaf and a bud with stem attached. Unfortunately the nicely picked leaf doesn’t have a deep taste or anything unique to offer. Very thin and very light tasting. I steeped this at 15 seconds and still no major difference. Easy to sip at but no feelings and I’m unsure if the caffeine does anything with this one
The Trails of LBZ, Case 3 of 6
(Liquid Proust search for his favorite laser beam zensheng)
http://www.ebay.com/itm/357g-cake-YuBang-raw-puer-tea-raw-puerh-tea-green-tea-LaoBanZhang-Year-2013-/111586396968?hash=item19fb114b28:g:pK8AAOxyXDhShlZY
After two legit LBZ from YS, it is finally time to drink one that… isn’t legit.
Listed as LaoBanZhang and $80.00 for 357 but actually cost $40
Bought a 50g sample of this because a whole cake would be a bad idea.
The first steep wasn’t bad, kind of dark but nothing was opened up so I knew it wasn’t ready. Steep two and three began to show signs of roasted corn and camphor aroma which the other two LBZ did not have so I was like ‘dangit’ and took a sip; ended up being a bit tart and bitter already. Went into steep five already knowing it wasn’t getting better, but I just had to find out for myself. All of a sudden it fully opened up and 110% bitterness met me and I decided I was done.
Went ahead and gave it two more chances: Steep seven and eight did not improve.
With the bitterness being the most alive part of this product, it is also mentioning that from six full drank steeps there is no qi so I can’t even say the hard road with this is worth it.
Even though there isn’t a chance that these inexpsenive LBZ are legit, I’m still going to play with them because what if it’s good? After all, I’m looking for something that hits hard and someone who wants to claim it’s LBZ has to have a reason… maybe it’s money though.
Knowing nothing about this, I grabbed a sample and took it to work.
How do I put this… after six steeps I wasn’t sure how I would pass off being able to work. Someone thought I was asleep for awhile because I was so zoned.
This stuff kicked my butt and I wasn’t expecting or ready for it.
Finally looking for more info online… not much to go by, but this is really affordable for the year, quality, taste, storage…. everything.
I concur, this is a little gem. I think YS still has some of it.
Yeah, @ $16 for 100g…. it’ll go up for sure, 100% it’ll go up in price.
929 in stock.
What do you mean “zoned”? Did it make you tired?
ah, tea drunk ;)
If I got tea drunk at work, I think I’d get in trouble…
@kiwidelight, was that comment directed at me? :)
Liquid Proust predicted the price would go up, six years ago. And now we can confirm. The cake size has increased to 200 g, at $48 as of May 2022. A 50% increase.
So I pull out this, W2T Last Thoughts. And some 1991 oolong… My friend picked this out; damn coffee people liking their strong bitter teas!
Anyways, the first three steeps had a nice rum taste to it and yes it smells better than it taste… But it’s a fun tea.
I’m not a fan of this type of black tea so I sipped a little . My friend really enjoyed it though which makes me happy. I always try to spread my enjoyment of tea to others because after all I believe it’s a healthy thing to so; set time aside to relax and sip on something that taste good and also provides and experience.
P.S. typing reviews on a phone is not easy
So you can drink the spices straight as its own tea? I haven’t tried it yet. Nor have I looked up how to serve it online, obviously.
This is a tea that was aged in a barrel that was once filled with spiced rum.
I tried this with my Gaiwan; it didn’t workout so well. Anyway, I think that the flavor was ‘okay,’ but the smell was splendid. I noted that, “It needed to be brewed Western style, with a bit of milk.” I did like the rum notes, though.
Drinking this mystery shu from mrmopar while at work…
I think it is one of three things: really cheap, a mixture of sheng and shu, or a 25% cooked cake…
Has a strong grass profile to it while still having evidence that it was cooked. This is pretty odd. Thin liquid and easy to brew, but not the most appealing in taste.
It is a blend of a new cake Dayi put out a few years ago. I want to see how it ages as this is an experimental one I got. I think it is about 35% fermented.
Whew, so my taste are not off. It did seem like it was not even half way. Mixed feelings on it. Probably not that good new, but I’m sure age will edge out the odd grass notes
Your tastes are fine. I found that grassy edge as well. I bought a couple just to see how they age and as an experiment. I guess as CWarren says , a Frankencake.
I have a sample of the 2013 I think in a crock, aging experiment for red stoneware.
I really liked this. I wonder if the tang disapears