Liquid Proust Send Message

Drinking this now as I thought to myself: I’ll brew a roasted oolong to sooth myself into the night.

Going to be brief. This is an excellent tea. I’m very picky about aged oolong; very. This one does not have the reroasting profile that many do. The notes include an underlining chocolate that one may describe as cocoa. Most roasted tgy go too far, but this one is either in the perfect zone or close to it. I need to try the 30year a bit more, but this one is just a solid choice. Quite thankful that I bought some of this as well as the 30yr and 10yr to compare because normally I go for the oldest trying to be the cool kid on the block.

The residual smoke in this tea is overwhelming for me. The mixture is a bit rough. While it’s quite unique, the smoke doesn’t steep out as quickly as you’d think. This probably needs a lot of airing out and some time.

2016 Sheng Olympics
https://www.instagram.com/p/BA4yZQFxYFa/
I was so glad that I had something like this to gift to everyone. This is a beautiful cake that is a type of tea that many have yet to try; moonlight. While it isn’t really considered a sheng, a gift is a gift!

Really looked forward to trying it after everyone said it was sweet tasting and notes of honey. I have tried this on two occasions now and the overall floral notes hit me as far too herbaceous for me to enjoy. The balance is wonderful though. Even though I don’t like the flavor, I am able to make remarks on other aspects. Visually this is one to own for sure. The scent is nice and does’t fade as much as you think it would over time. Break wise this is quite delicate and flakes easily.It is surely one to try if you are curious as I will say that the balance is nice, but if you don’t like the herb like floral taste it may not be for you.

Drinking the 1985 Hubei Zhaoliqiao black tea. Bought 15g of this because I thought it would be a fun time to drink it. At first I regretted that decision because it smells absolutely awful. Almost like body odor lingering in the field of hay. Went into this more skeptical then brewing insect feces.

The initial taste is very similar to lui bao. Interestingly though, there is a boldness to this tea that comes through the hay and leaves a lingering wet old grass taste. It’s kind of a confusing taste to explain because as it smells awful, taste of hay, and leaves a wet grass taste in the mouth… I still have no idea which of the three is most authentic to an aged black tea, let alone one that is from 1985.
To be clear: I resmelled this tea almost 15 times because it was just so awful I had to make sure…

Warning, long review ahead.
The following review is for two Bai Chamoux cakes bought from MX Tea on taobao.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BBitEHWxYNE/ The ram one is Yangyngdeyi and the monkey is 2016 Monkey Memorial. First I will admit that I spoke to MX Tea about suggestion and asked about these teas and they responded by telling me that they are new and not the best to drink now. I went against what they said because I wanted to buy from a place that nobody else was yet (that I knew/know of). I’ve asked quite a few people about Bai Champoux and had no luck finding anyone with experience. I went with two middle level cakes in regards to price. These were $50 and $40; thee numbers include shipping which I divided out for the weight of the order and distributed by the cakes weight.
Here’s a look at these two + the 2007 raw Mengku https://www.instagram.com/p/BB3gPJYxYHh/
Knowing that buying these two cakes would be a risky gamble of getting ‘eh’ stuff at a not so low price, I convinced myself to go for it because I had to try them. As many can guess, I did kind of buy these based on the wrapper and picture of the pressed material.
Firs thing to note: MX Tea has the best packaging out there. The cakes are wrapped in a plastic bag prior to shipping, put in a box, and then wrapped again. Anyways, it took me a few days to even try the teas because I was nervous that buying a 2015 and 2016 (that’s what it says) cake from a producer that nobody has said anything about would end up being wasted money. Then I tried them and committed to another session each before writing a review.
The ram / Yangyndeyi: This is the cheaper of the two cakes at around 11 cents a gram, it isn’t a bad price. I rinsed this tea and let it sit for 12 minutes before the first steep which was bitter and I said ‘damnitttttttttttttttttt’. However, the second steep wasn’t so bitter so I think there was some leftover water from the rinse sitting in there plotting a war on my tongue. With practically no aroma, to the point I can’t even comment about what it could be, this tea having a tasting note (1) to comment about is quite interesting. The only taste I can say stands out is that of tobacco. Texture wise this tea is almost to the middle level, meaning it is not thick but also doesn’t have that buttery feel. What this tea has that the other doesn’t is a mild qi. My favorite part of this tea is the coating it leaves in the mouth which is a warm feeling with a slimy touch.
The 2016 Monkey Memorial: At 14 cents a gram, this cake isn’t that bad of a price either but the fact that it’s a $50 gamble kind of had me nervous; along with the 2016 date on it. I did not let this tea sit because I was wanted to drink it right away on both occasions that I drank this. Considering how sensitive to bitterness I am, I figured this would be something that would take time until I could drink it. I was absolutely wrong. Steep 1 through 15 had no bitterness and I was completely surprised. What stood out most about this tea was the camphor aftertaste that lingered. To be more accurate, it was like an aroma that was trapped in your mouth that you’re tasting… it sounds odd, but it was pleasant. That taste for me was like a mixture of nut and cinnamon. I was in shock upon drinking this tea and I’m hoping others enjoy it as much as I did so I don’t feel crazy: https://www.instagram.com/p/BCBhqawxYHi/
Overall, I don’t think I’d buy more of the Yangyndeyi and I am unsure about the 2016 Monkey Memorial. While the Monkey brews a wonderful tasting liquid, I’m unsure what would happen to the camphor experience as it ages. I’ll keep some of this cake and check on it in a few months because if it stays or improves, I will look into buying another. As for the Yangydeyi, I just don’t care to only taste tobacco notes and have a slight bitterness following me around all day through the steeps.
80% of these cakes will go toward the puerh ttb and swaps so if have anything odd or fun you’re up to swapping just let me know :)

Comparing notes to the 2006 Benshan.
This particular tea has more of a woodsy and roasted taste profile while the 2006 has a slight cocoa (dry chocolate) taste. I prefer the cocoa taste notes, especially when the tea thins out. For those who like a medium roast profile, being less than most roasted tgy have, this is a tea that can last for hours. There isn’t much that has to open up for this leaf which helps with a consistent brew. My suggestion with this, as with most roasted teas, I advise to drink some water between steeps because the back of the throat dries out pretty easily after 20oz; this is my experience. My personal preference for Benshan is of a lower roast while tgy is higher and overall I prefer the roast profile found in wuyi teas. This is surely a hit for many, but the few (such as I) this leads to just a sampling.

Only brewed around 3g of this because I was sipping out of a small cup.
The leaf is absolutely beautiful when it is fully unraveled. Th bruise marks and the vein show signs of being crafted in a mastered way, unless someone is just really lucky. I have at least 8 nice cups of this and it reminded me of a baozhong and a tieguanyin all at the same time. It’s very light and delicate but provides a nice balance of floral and vegetable notes that you would find in the crossing of a green to oolong tea. If my computer didn’t get the 503 error I could find more information and evaluate the cost… but, blah.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BCECk4OxYME/

& for reference https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10102127065630288&set=a.10100599995376318.2515332.6706652&type=3&theater

2007 Mengku bought off of taobao… one of the most wonderfully stored cakes that I’ve tasted.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BBit5GYxYOf/
Breaks off easily, https://www.instagram.com/p/BB4DK_WxYPe/
Brews at ease and I can’t complain about anything. The taste has a sweetness and texture to it that reminds me of warm watermelon. This is something I can’t run out of so I’ll be buying a cake every few months.
In the meantime, if you want to swap for a piece let me know. The price after shipping (being split between items) comes out to around $23 for a 357g cake. I think that’s a fantastic price for what I’m tasting.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BB_MK_axYCb/

Rich gave me a sample of this and either he was trolling, something went wrong with the sample, or this tea is not meant to be drank.
I brewed this for 10 second with 100c and it taste like someone strained a pickle in maybe a drop of puer. One of the most sour drinks I have drank before and it is not appealing at all. There is no way I can finish drinking this or provide a positive remark unless you’re making candy with this somehow.

Finally got to try this yestrday and it went for 6 hours at work which was great. The first thing that anyone should notice while steeping this is how highly balled up this tea is. For at least 8 steeps this stayed in its shell before opening.
This is the coffee ewuivlitant of tea for sure. Wonderful roasted notes with as deep flavor as you like. Steep it 20, 45, 90, 300…. how ever many seconds you want and you will taste the difference. While this is a premium roasted tgy, I will say the one downfall is that it caused me to pee more often than normal. Considering I drink a lot and daily, it is something I notice.