1113 Tasting Notes
https://www.instagram.com/p/BS620RkAtXn/?taken-by=liquidproust
This tea isn’t all that bad for the price, but for something that would be in the mid range of $10/oz I think I got exactly what I wanted out of it. A little heavier texture to the liquid with some darker notes of hay while having that wild aspect that makes it not so much like a sheng but an weird oolong. The session changed pretty quick in taste and went flat sooner than most, but I would suspect that would be the case with most of these teas that are barley processed and I believe different material than stuff coming from Yunnan (however, it would be super close)
I’ve had three sessions of this and I find it more enjoyable than the purple cakes that get pressed but nothing too impressive yet as it’s only a few years old. I believe this one will get even darker as it has more birthdays and will continue to have that thick soup which will lead to a beautiful session later down the road. Keeping my eye on this one because it has the look and smell, might just need the time.
After a year of reading the Hojo articles and really wanting to try their stuff, I finally took my tax return money and made the purchase!
This tea was one that I read about for 2015 and 2016 as it is so unique and beautiful; how can one not? Really glad that I picked it up too because it’s a wonderful tea all around. It was pressed into cakes so the pieces are hard to get full leaf, but inside that material you do get them. The colors are wonderful: https://www.instagram.com/p/BSuHlIvgC4t/
The smell comes off quite strong and gives you an impression of warm juice. The taste is like a fruit with skin that had honey rubbed on it. This tea went a good 6 steeps before I ended it. A cake for this runs a bit high at $65/200g, but dang… something like this is quite unique and I have yet to see anyone else product wild white tea cakes. If YS does so with the purple moonlight then I’m in trouble : P
Really like this stuff all around though. Going to save the rest to brew with other people.
After four different sessions over the months with this tea, I think I have it down…
Coming from Adventure in Every Cup at a great value this tea offers: a workout for your mouth, appreciation for cinnamon’s cousin, and a dark raw puerh to make you contemplate what teas could also turn out like this.
With no regards to power, qi, energy, or whatever else we want to call it, this tea is one that is a bit more harsh to drink as it has that spice/wood note to it that demands that you follow every 5-6 brews with some water so it isn’t like liquid sandpaper. The taste is very lingering, but only in such of the notes that it has; just like a good cigar will leave the specific notes that it has in your mouth for some time.
I find this to be a tea for multiple occasions and doesn’t really resemble raw puerh as much as many others do do to it’s woodsy’nessssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss(that’s a word now, but with less Ss)
If this was available to buy I would say put it in your arsenal so when you need something different or you want to show off how raw puerh can vary a lot in texture, taste, aroma, stuff, other words, and some more jargon, this would be one to share.
I had set this bag aside of ‘2000 CNNP camphor EoT’ for when a specific friend came over and today was that day. Due to the darkness of the leaf, I really thought this was a ripe puerh which is why I put it to the side. The first brew came through and I said “wow, this tea has REALLY aged out fast because it resembles an old raw at this point” and so we drank it and I was mind blown. Excused myself to grab my phone, this is because I don’t have my phone with me when I do tea sessions with friends generally, and found out this was a raw!
Some strong tingling with this tea and serious aging on it. Really solid brisky brew each pour towards the end (being 3 hours, 18 steeps). Really enjoyable.
Story time: So we are outside drinking the end of this tea when this dog walks up to us and we are like ‘ugh, what the hell this is a big dog’. Staring at each other, minutes pass and this lady comes by with a Budweiser in her hand and just goes “that’s Luna, she’s a baby”. Then we realized the dog was staring scared that we would move rather than us being scared that the dog would move : )
So we are just chatting away about how she works with autistic children, which is her job since humans are so prone to knowing what people do for a living, we poured hot water in this clear glass device called a gaiwan. Now for the most past in Ohio, gongfu brewing is not a thing. She looks right at us and goes “what the fuck is that”. We both laugh and respond, “tea”. Then as always, we got some confused and somewhat concerned looks. So at this point it’s been a bit so she opens another Budweiser and we talk about poverty until someone brings her Chinese food and then she leaves.
It was beautiful. I don’t know who she was, but at 10pm at night she was able to just stand there and talk to us for an hour not even knowing who we were either as we poured hot water into this gaiwan thing and drank it over and over making remarks like ‘does your mouth tingle still near the roof of your mouth?’. Thinking about it, she was probably somewhat amused by the odd stuff going on with these two men talking about how their mouth feels when a liquid is introduced.
Some solid tea here. It has that same quality and price that the Yiwu had.
I’m really looking into doing an order with Teamania now… just a few more to try and I’m going to just do it.
This is very vegetable like, but unlike the Yiwu it can be over brewed. I believe this is very close to the type of teas that cost around $70 to $80 a cake which makes me happy to say that it is less thankfully. This is pressed a little looser than some cakes so it will probably fair well in a pumidor as more cake will be exposed to the conditions in there. Unless the other cakes have qualities I like more, I plan to pick one of these up at that low cost and store it away for awhile as this seems to be something I can get to age within a decent amount of time.
In the search for those 2012 raw cakes that have not been bought up…
I found the two sessions I had with this to be pretty much the same which was a good thing. Both conclusions came back with this tea being average for what I expect for a sheng that isn’t brand new but not old either. Nothing set this apart, but it’s hard to say where these cakes will be in terms of progress in a couple years. No offsetting notes either which would have been a good sign for going downhill, but there is only hope for this one.
This leaf is really easy to notice the tips and see color in the medium sized leaf that wasn’t over or under pressed. I will have to come back to all of the YS 2012 cakes next year again, been really fun and I’m still not completely done either.
The sun came out and it was hitting 60s today so I brought a newer sheng outside hoping for some vegetable notes. Whatever ‘Yiwu Lucky Bee’ was suppose to be, ended up being what I needed.
So at first this looked like it was pretty new but also blended by the look of the leaf. From the first steep, I new this was a rather pure product that was going to need some serious attention so I did my best. I can tell you from experience that this tea is above what people would call ‘good’ and deserves to be called great. It reminded me of the pure taste that comes from Last Thoughts, but there isn’t a lingering taste. Notes of grass, fresh vegetables, and maybe a hint of sweetness, came through and make me smile because here I was finally enjoying a newer sheng once again proving that new or old, puerh can be amazing.
As I finished up outside, I took this inside with me to watch Collateral Beauty. Sheesh, this tea just kept going and I didn’t expect that. Little color, faint taste, and no way to over steep as I got towards the end.
Finished with the tea I expected a higher cost because I believe Teamania presses their stuff? Maybe, maybe not? Still know nothing about them. However, I looked online and this cake is all of $40… what? This is one of those really good bargains apparently, even if good Yiwu is EVERYWHERE at this point. I find this to be something a newer drinker would really appreciate as there is no need to know all the differences of puerh to just drink something light that last with a price that this has…. solid choice.After four hours, I ended it up with some (what I thought would be ‘light’) reading
Being busy… something I’m not use to, but this past few weeks I have experienced it. Since Tuesday, I have gone out every single night. Enjoying company with friends, drinking about anything/everything, and eating some of the most interesting foods. It’s been great, but it caught up with me and I feel the need to recharge. So what did I do? Instead of brewing tea at home, I went out : P
Got me a nice green tea late at Belle’s Bread and read some of the fourth book in the Expanse series. This was a really good drink. Thick full bodied green liquid with the sweetness that came from the upfront notes as it was ontop until it vanished and the brisk taste of almost matcha but more green tea came through. An enjoyable way to just relax today, but a great reminder that I haven’t been giving myself the alone time with tea that I know I desire; and that I haven’t been reading reviews or leaving my own, a practice I miss.
03/04 red mark XG from Toby’s boxes
https://www.instagram.com/p/BSGtkPGA4CE/
There’s something about XG that starts to become enjoyable as it ages 10+ years out due to the stronger smoke profile and their rather tight compression. This tea had a nice color coming from it for a solid 12 steeps, but then my mouth couldn’t do any more of the light smoke and dry taste coming off from the interesting aroma/taste that comes from XG when they are roughly 10 to 15 years old as it seems.
Good tea with a nice kick. Would like to visit it 5 years from now to see if it gets darker and smoother.
Sister is nicely compressed daily type of sheng. Easy to break. Simple to brew. Consistency is a for sure here as well
Maybe not the best for longevity, but it’s an easy sipper for a daily drinker.
“Easy to break”
One of the funniest things I’ve read in awhile. The whole brick is compressed to a masocistic degree. I was actually thinking about contacting 2dog to give some constructive critisism on this. I understand heavy compression on something that’s largely intended to be aged, but when the point is to compare processing techniques, the compression doesn’t have much upside.
