2006 YQH Blended Brick
212f, mix of Brita filtered tap and Poland Spring, 100 mL gaiwan, 6.0g
dry leaf smells lightly dark and mushroom earthy
1x 5s rinse, which smells almost like a shou. Very clean, but also musty and earthy in that sort of shou way. Something crisp and sweet on the edges. Leaf material is pretty choppy in my single session sample.
5s: aged sheng woody medicinal. Easy drinking and leaves a sweet, crisp aftertaste that fades.
10s: slight bitterness in additional notes from previous cup. some weird and very offputting element that I can’t really describe is present as well. A light sense of the tea lingers in throat and mouth
32s: very pretty burnt amber color. stronger bitter woody medicinals. bitterness slightly lingers.
1 min: dried woody medicinal w pill-like bitterness, same as before. not a strong aftertaste, but generally tea just feels lingering in mouth, which is interesting. slight warming in upper body (back, upper arms, and light sweat on forehead)
1 min 15s: less interesting. Continued woody sticks w tiniest hint of florals and sweet in ending, w the sugared floral like aftertaste that sits in throat.
1 min 30s: bitter woody medicinal again.
2 min: similar
2 min 30s: bitter and less complex than before. drying in throat
3 min: fading a bit. weakened bitterness, emphasizing the darker woodiness
4 min: boring, but if this taste profile with crisp wood and light sweetness in the edges was in a cheap daily drinker, I would tong immediately. easy easy drinking, all the way
5 min: bittersweet water lol
10 min: very light wood, w touch of water.
tossed into thermos, but not expecting anything much. I’ve also realized all my thermos’d teas are starting to taste the same (not in a bad way though… I don’t mind), so I can either figure out how to deep clean the darn thing or just go with it. will not update unless it blows me away for whatever reason
overall: some warming effect. Taste is nothing memorable, but when it was available for purchase, not too expensive (relative to YQH, that is). Doubt I’d reach for it often if i owned a brick due to taste profile. wish I hadn’t lost my notes for Jinhao Chawang, bc in some parts, this brick gave a similar aftertastes, but much less refined, less sweetness, and stronger bitterness than the JHCW.
