Dragon Tea House (H.K.)

5.5g, 90 mL ZZZ

wet leaf: sweet, very light retired smoke

1. bitter medicinal that melts away. something like burnt rubber that was also in the Jing Chang Hao recently, and clove-like note in aftertaste. Peaceful and stilling, nice tea for a rainy Thanksgiving in solitude

2. medicinal sour. some warmth. light floral edge, and a lingering bitterness. Leaves are the greenest of the aged Yiwus I’ve had recently, so maybe also needs the most time to settle. Some lingering aftertaste, but lighter than those ones.

3. strong taste and thinner texture than the others. Hawthorn candy flakes note that seems to crop up in some aged Yiwus.

4. similar.

5. leafy taste. Mugged and topped up with extra hot water after a few hours for a pleasantly sweet cup.

Lots of good aspects are present that need some coaxing. Maybe DTH’s Fujian storage is not as intense as TW dry that the other Yiwus I have went through. With age should be more receptive to pushing and make the nicer aspects more obvious. Fairly relaxing, and maybe not the best choice for getting work done.

ordered a cake from TWL and had it sit with a Boveda for a few weeks, but I don’t think it actually rehydrated… the dry leaf aroma is usually stronger (more noticeable with young sheng though) when it’s properly hydrated and the cake weight measured only around 370g, so 30g less than expected. Today’s session seemed sleepy and was consistent w/ when teas have dried out. It’s been very cold in my apartment despite keeping the thermostat 68-70 constantly. It’s not explicitly drafty, but my parents’ house the thermostat at 65 keeps the place downright toasty, whereas I’ve been wearing a shirt and sweater around here and still feel cold. I’m not sure if i should consider a hotbox-lite set up just to keep my teas at a more friendly and consistent holding temp.

anyway. 5.2/90/212, one rinse. fruit, smoke, and wood on wet leaf.

1: a restrained vegetal, almost minty taste. good texture. heady, slowing and settling. extends into throat.
2: darker and an engaging bitterness, in a juicy, gripping way.
3: not much change from here on out and lightens from here. texture is lighter, and slight floral aroma presence in throat remains for the rest of the steeps. something about the aftertaste reminds me of the end feeling on the tongue from biting into raw olives.

It’s clear that it’s good, but I think the session today came up a bit short of expectation and reinforces why I don’t like to brew puer for guests. Too many variables at play. So much easier to easily impress with a random green tea.