Yang Qing Hao

I decided to bust this out from storage for the after Thanksgiving celebration. The dry cake has some massive dark leaves. They carry a dry camphor and pipe tobacco. I placed a good sized chunk in my warmed Jianshui and gave it a shake. The pipe tobacco scent deepened and notes of pine resin and wet wood came up. I washed the leaves once and prepared for brewing. The steeped leaves gave off a whiskey, menthol, dark wood, and pipe tobacco scent. The liquor was a deep dark bronze. The taste was fantastic! This is a beautiful tea. The leaves are massive and whole and yield a delicious brew. The flavor is very slight and tasteful. The prominent notes of pipe tobacco, leather, and an underlying sweetness follow the drinker throughout the entire session. The leaves are unbelievably durable! I was able to pull over fifteen long steeping sessions. The taste is not a full heavy body, but its light, airy, and smooth. The best part about this brew is the qi. It is so good! The qi begins quickly within the first couple steeps. The feeling begins with a warming body and a nice head buzz. This feeling follows throughout the entire body and gets you zinging. My eyes blurred, and I became very talkative. This brew makes my body and mind feel really good and happy. I loved the feeling I received from this incredible session. I didn’t notice any huigan and zero astringency. This would make a perfect tea to serve to guests and get a gathering talking. I really like this, and I will definitely be sharing some with my guests.

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I am so glad that picked some of this up! Also, I am the first to review, which is always exciting. Once I got my package in the mail, I immediately took this and placed it in my storage to decompress from its long travel. Today I decided to open it up and give it a shot. The dry leaf is so light and flaky, but I can easily spot massive intact leaves. These decade old leaves give off an aged, slight menthol scent mixed well with some fruity tones. I placed a generous amount in my warmed jianshui and gave it a shake. The scent was very heavy and spiced. I was catching whiffs of leather, slight smoke, tobacco and decayed wood. I let these beauties sit for a bit, and then I prepared for brewing. The steeped leaves smelled relatively like the warmed ones, except the scents became deeper and spicier. The taste was unbelievable! This drink fills the mouth with a heavy liquid. The tongue is soothed, the taste buds are stimulated, and the throat is warmed. I loved it! The huigan was thick and lasting. The taste begins with calm leather, nectar, and a juicy sensation. The liquor itself smelled fantastic! I was reminded of Tahitian Vanilla Beans; the aroma was so creamy and rich. The creme flavor came about by the second steeping. The texture was smooth and silky and easily filled the senses. I was struck by tongue prickling and my hair on my head began to rise. The qi was a steady electricity coursing throughout my veins. A slight sour tone appeared in the background by the third steeping, and it grew consistently over time. The gorgeous cream note is replaced by a tantalizing leather and wood by the sixth steeping. The brew begins to show its age in later steeping with the dominating tones being leather, dark wood, tobacco, and a slight bitter. However, the liquor keeps its consistent vanilla aroma. The qi is quite powerful and all body encompassing. I was alert, happy, and giggly. The qi is centered at the head and creates a lot of pressure on the mind and temples. I absolutely loved this deep bronze colored drink. There were so many different scents encompassing this session. The leaves with their spice, the drink with its sweetness, and the taste with its power. I loved how intricate this tea is. I’m really glad that I have some of this. I’m going to let the rest store for a little more longer and compare notes. This is truly a King Tea!

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This is a very good tea and an excellent example of YQH quality productions. It is an authentic single origin Yiwu gushu. This is the first of the 2004 season’s premium Yiwu harvest – a Pre-Qing Ming or Yu Qian tea. Nice whole leaves. Fair amount with stems attached to one or two whole leaves. Sweet, smooth and silky with a very balanced taste and no astringency detected at all. It is worth noting that there is a blend of tobacco and old leather sweetness throughout the session (albeit more dominant in the early sessions). Definite sense of chaqi hitting by the 3rd cup. Overall this tea yields a more delicate, light tasting soup (i.e., not thick) – very appealing and enjoyable to me but not a complex heavyweight. Since the tea is on the lighter side, you can push it without fear. On one steeping, I intentionally used half the water and it still produced a delicious cup which was definitely thicker than the previous cups. A final comment on the tea’s longevity – this is an impressively durable tea. I’ve steeped it 10 times now (during 2 sessions) and the leaves are not yet fully open and my longest steep time has been 15 seconds. These leaves have much to offer!

6.5g in a 85~ ml shibo. If you read the description of this tea, the wrapper is labeled “wonderous fragrance” which couldn’t be more accurate. I received the tea in it’s original box still wrapped in plastic. Soon as I lifted the cover off the box, while the tea was still wrapped in plastic the aroma hit me right in the face. Obviously removing the plastic and wrappers ( yes two on this cake for some reason, works for more though, both are thin and I’m already a master of tearing them) only intensified the strong smell. I thought to myself that I’d like to tape it to my face and walk around all day with it. Enough on aroma for now just wanted to say a bit about it as it was very pleasant and strong.

Into shibo it goes and I start my normal routine. Quick rinse which I use to heat up my pitcher and cup. I take a sip to get some idea of whats going on. Due to compression the rinse is light but the flavor is already pretty good. I give the the tea a couple minutes to steam /loosen up and then begin to doing flash brews. First few steeps continue to remain light in body and taste getting a little stronger with each one but they give you signs of whats to come. First, while the taste is light its not lacking complexity in the slightest. Sweet fruit, vanilla, plums, some cups even had an extra layer of an almost strawberry flavor, ummmmm YUMMY! to say the least. No bitterness or astringency in this but I also didn’t push it too hard. After taste was not the strongest but was full mouthed, in the throat and I could still taste it almost 2 hours after stopping. Second, there is some serious no joke Qi going on here. Strong feeling in the throat. Someone else has said they can almost feeling it drip down and I agree with them 100%. That throat feel continues into the chest and stomach. Very warming as well, full body sweats from forehead to shins, I think its almost needless to say but I was very very tea drunk. The feeling was closer to the effects LBZ has had on me instead of the normal yiwu calm and relaxation. Third, this tea steeps forever and not only that but the flavor and qi never really subsided. I got 20+ out of this and could have gotten 3 or 4 more longish steeps before another couple really long ones. My initial session was about 12 cups before I took a break. Came back to it a few hours later to finish it up and the taste was still full, complex and the Qi was still full force. I’m not sure that I’ve had any tea deliver Qi of that level 15+ steeps in.

In general the body is not overly thick like some of the more modern teas of high quality. The taste is light but really good, need to pay attention when drink this. So this is not perfect but what does well it does exceptionally well. Right now this can be acquired for $275, so right around .50 cents a gram. I think that if you’re in the market for quality eastern banna tea then you really can’t beat this at that price. To elaborate a bit further, it’s cheaper than both Bosch and Tuhao from White2tea. Those are some good teas, I own both and I don’t want to sound like I’m knocking them but they aren’t in the same league as this in terms of durability, Qi and complexity. That and it’s got a decade of good storage on it! This is one I am without a doubt going to be “hitting with a hammer”