Liquid Proust Send Message

So Tea Urchin sent me some of this 2017 maocha called ‘along the border’ and it was super funky in a good way. First sheng that I’ve actually encountered rose notes to; like a dry flower with a little flirt to it.

I am looking forward to everyone dropping all the 2017 cakes… but the prices, ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Anyways, this lasted a decent 8 steeps which is typical for most maocha that I have had. Really nice floral notes that faded into the firth steep and then went light and vegetal on me.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BVxeEPbgaLW/

This tea has girth… like an enlarging depth of flavor that takes up your mouth through a shrinking via bitter notes.

From the first steep I knew this was quality. This is some good stuff and I expected to see something more than $50 for a cake and that was true after I looked it up. Still, $45/200g is less than what the average silly 200g pressing is going for when it comes to something that has serious potential such as this cake.

It has some nice plucks to it, but dang this tea is solid and I look forward to having someone remind me to revisit a year down the road.

Mainly tannic vegetables with a hint of ‘stuff’

I am going to have to say that this at the moment is too dry and astringent for me. The material is compressed on the tighter side but there would need to probably be some storage adjustment with this one so it develops over time to something I would like… no sweetness which is a downer for me, but not all tea with have a sweetness and that is fine because not all tea will be for my taste buds.

2003 Serious Formula from Henry Trading co…
My goodness… talk about a tea with depth at an EXTREME value. Incredibly glad that I’m including this in the Pubertea. This tea delivers like no other. I’m sure there will be lots of conversation around this tea when people get to it.

I didn’t intend on drinking any of these, but this was a blind buy based on a high recommendation and boy am I glad that it came through the way it does/has.

Randomly threw some of this into a gaiwan and began a session that was bleh.
Very basiic raw puerh with some umph to it in regards to bitterness.

After 12 steeps I was like… this is not on the same level as the other at all ; ‘what the heck mayne???’

Well… $22 cake, I suppose that answers my internal thoughts; not to say cheap tea is weak or weak tea is cheap or expensive tea… yadda yadda

This brews out a bit darker than everything else I’ve tried from the chawang 2016 lineup thus far.

Pretty deep taste to it that comes with a little dryness on the back. Thea leaf when wet has a great aroma that is strong and the liquid comes out with a small amount of viscosity that would be above normal, however I think the mouth is confused by the dryness to think so. The huigan does come through quite nice on this tea as well with the slightest hint of lingering smoke.

Considering where this tea is at now, I really think it has great potential to be humid stored for 3 plus years before it gains some ‘legs’ and I really think that it’ll improve as the slight smoke goes away but the boldness of this tea sticks. For the price, it’s a good throw in the back of some area type of buy.

After around 12 steeps on this tea I decided to take a step back and think to myself: A newer raw puerh has to REALLY set itself apart to be looked at again in the near future opposed to potential for down the line.
With that train of thought I came to conclude that this was was quite similar to the majority of spring jingmai cakes that I tried from 2016 to the point that this didn’t really interest me much afterwards which is fine, however the question is how long the sweetness will last in this tea before it mature and takes on a possible new road if that happens.

Not on the bottom, not on the top, probably somewhere in the middle.

After breaking this cake I had about 2 to 3 grams of dust and REALLY broken leaf.
The cake itself was comprised of pretty ugly material, but at this point it has some age to it and I think it offers some unique taste to the Pubertea buy; and a little bit of insider info since you’re reading this, I am going to do this yearly while older tea is still within my grasp.

So the brew comes out rather dark with clarity to it. The taste is really bold and upfront with this interesting smoked fruit lasting taste. Taste last for awhile and the body heat does as well.

Really solid tea here for the price. Semi smoked fruit…. but the smoke is distant memory, if you know what I mean. Fun times ahead for many : )

Drinking this 2002 cnnp bulang again… stored in Hong Kong for over 10 years and I bought this dudes last cake. Really strong stuff, I think it needs to settle but sometimes a brisk brew is a nice thing.

Strong camphor coming from this… hope my storage lightens a bit

https://www.instagram.com/p/BUqfUKLA4yH/

A rather decent tea, however I have to admit that the 2012 dancong they have is at least 2 to 3 times better. Longevity of this tea is brief and the fruit notes are not as powerful. Drank this with a hand full of people a few weekends back and then again today to really test it out. Not something I would/will stock up on while the 2012 might be.