92 Tasting Notes
86/100
Price: 100g £7.66 ($11.98) from Dragon Tea House.
7g in Gaiwan.
Dry: Dark brown; medium compression, slightly fishy.
Wet: Creamy, slightly fishy, chocolatey, electrical smoke.
5s – Med brown. Good body, soft bitterness on the swallow, woody.
10s – Dark brown. Strong, complex body. The flavour profile is woody body with a creamy, slightly fishy, sweet finish that lingers. This is excellent tea in terms of body and finish.
The only negatives are that the wood flavours can carry a bit of funk. i.e. Sometimes they don’t seem to fit.
This tea brews well when brewed for longer to give a darker flavour.
Flavors: Creamy, Dark Wood, Wet wood
Preparation
2002 Top Aged Yunnan CNNP 7542 Zhong Cha (raw)
Price:100g £8.95 ($13.98).
7g in Gaiwan.
Summary: This tea has an interesting aged taste, and has good longevity. Looking at the wet leaves I cannot see any black leaves, which leaves me to believe its age.
Dry: Dark brown; medium compression; dry dusty aroma.
Wet: Light porridge sweetness, dust, then hot fruit. Faint church-like aroma.
5s – Light brown. Woody-creamy. An aged flavour.
10s – Slight bitterness on the swallow contrasts with the mild woody-creamy body. Taste is smooth and interesting.
15s – More of the same.
20s – Some sourness, but still have that aged taste.
Flavors: Creamy, Wood
Preparation
4 g – the remainder of my sample.
A quick check of my previous review tells me this is good. Having done two rinses, I then separate the leaves using a fork; this opens up the aroma, which has an aged, musty building scent. After all, this is from the 90’s. I have now left it to open up and I will return to it later this evening. I want to know if this will improve on the score I gave it last time – 82.
5s – Doesn’t look like ripe pu-erh…
30+s – No sure what happened. I will abandon this.
Preparation
5g. Gaiwan.
I bought this after reading a favourable recommendation from AllanK. Thanks – keep up those reviews.
Dry: Dusty, musky, chocolate. Loose leaves. The leaves looks like roasted Oolong. There is a powdery dust on the inside of the zip lock pouch.
Wet: Aroma of porridge, sugary sweet and hot milk. There is a mixture of dark green and dark brown leaves. No large twigs.
It brews dark brown in seconds and has a soft flavour of porridge oats, with a soft sugary sweetness that is picked up on the sip and continues into the finish. No fishiness here. Not creamy sweet like White2Tea CNNP and not as dark as YS Menghai 2008, so somewhere in between.
This tea sits well above low quality ripe, but is too singularly porridge-sweet to be outstanding. It delivered an impressive number of steeps (7-10) and is still going.
Preparation
68/100
6g Gaiwan
28/25g
Summary: This tea has its best moment in the first 3 steeps, showing an interesting soft and dry texture, with a sweet raisin sweetness; however, it fades after this with bitterness.
Dry: Colourful, loose compression. Aroma is concentrated herby and fruity. Nice aroma.
Hot Gaiwan: Warm berries.
Wet leaf: Hot apples, then hot fruit, and when it cools, slight mushroomy.
5s – Cloudy yellow/light orange. My first sip has a very sweet raisin sweetness. It does not linger. The third sip does linger. Pleasant raisin sweetness. A succinct sweetness. Flavour is mild, with no strong bitterness. I’m not feeling any throat rhyme. It’s not too thin. 75/100
10s – Light yellow/orange. Not so cloudy. This does have bitterness, of course it is raw pu’erh, but it is so mild and met by an almost dry sweetness, which gives it a rather unusual texture of something soft and dry. 80/100
15s – Sunburst orange (light orange). Sweet raisin fruitiness with a very balanced sweetness. Becoming a little astringent. 70/100
20s – Light orange. This has a nice bite; the heat has really gone through the tea. I can almost taste base sheng in the lingering finish. 65/100
15s – Same light orange. The water may be too hot; the Gaiwan really heats up with consecutive brews. Raisin sweetness is getting some bitterness and astringency. There are some sour lemons in the finish.
20s – Raisin sweetness. The texture of soft and dry has gone.
30s – Water has cooled in kettle. This tea works better with cooler water temperature. This is less bitter and less astringent, and is pleasantly raisin-sweet.
35s – Lemons – both sweet and sour.
Reboil.
10s – Very light yellow/orange. Very light on flavour – mainly sweet/bitter lemons.
60s – Brighter orange. Base sheng taste – end of session.
Preparation
Summary: Lapsang souchong, grey, electric smoke overwhelms the fruit, unfortunately.
Free sample with my order.
4g Gaiwan.
Dry: Dark. Light smoky, light toasted wood.
Hot Gaiwan
Wet: Very dark grey smoke; some clay.
5s – Light bronze. Dried fruit. Light smoke. Thick syrupy texture. The fruit combined with the smoke gives it as upbeat electric/chalky taste. 82/100
10s – Light bronze. More smoky, and of the dark grey kind. The fruit is soft and sweet. It is not raisin, it is more like subdued mango. The fruit goes to the roof of the mouth. My mouth is left with the grey smoky taste.
15s – Lapsang Souchong, pine like smokiness (Twinings teabag version) Gives a nice sweetness in the throat on the swallow.
Had some Camembert.
30s – Med bronze – Mild bitterness and astringency.
~40s – Med bronze. Good mix of fruit and smoke with a good texture.
45s – Med bronze. Aroma is slightly smoky Mild flavour now.
60s – Light bronze. Mild fruit and smoky End of session.
Flavors: Mango, Smoke
Preparation
Congratulations to Teadb.org for reaching their 100th episode. I enjoy watching your youtube videos and reading your articles very much :)
6g using tea strainer.
Dry: Dark, high compression. Mildly sweet.
Wet: Sweet and creamy, then smoky, then milky creamy, then just milky.
30s – Light brown. This was just a rinse as there wasn’t much flavour.
Mashed chunks with a spoon.
5s – Dark brown. Dark tasting; not creamy; smooth; quite intense. Thin.
10s – Thick dark brown. Thicker. Creamy and dark with some astringency. This is in contrast with White2Tea’s creamy and milky 2002 CNNP (Zhong Cha) 7572 Green Label Tiepai Ripe.
15s – Dark brown. Dark tasting and a little astringent. Some chicken shed has appeared.
30s – Dark. Intense flavour. Some sweetness, but mostly dark. Robust flavour.
25s – Dark brown. Loosing intensity, but still dark.
40s – Dark brown. Dark, strong and becoming woody. This is a solid, well made shu with no off flavours. No fishiness too.
50s – Dark lighter brown. Pale in comparison to previous brews. More woody; still dark and intense.
~60s. How does it pair with Camembert of Normandy? Quite well. The sourness of the cheese infuses with the rawness of the tea.
Preparation
Notes: I ordered a 100g piece after reading a favourable review by AllanK.
Summary: Good tea, with a nice raisin sweetness and some throat stimulation, but short lived.
5g in Gaiwan.
Dry leaf: Very high compression. Outside of the cake piece looks like good leaves; inside it is so compressed that it looked like different leaves.
Aroma is hay.
How Gaiwan: Grey smoke; some clay; fruit.
Wet leaf: Fruit; grey smoke.
Rest for 50 minutes.
10s – Pale salmon liquor. Very smooth, light smoke, sweet raisin fruitiness. Lingering sweet, slightly fizzy finish. 70/100.
15s – Pale salmon liquor. Long sweetness, gently stimulating the throat. Well balanced: no sharp bitterness and no astringency. Lingering faint raisin-sweetness. 80/100.
20s – Pale salmon liquor. Very gentle bitterness against the light raisin sweetness. Some very mild astringency this time. Again, some light throat stimulation.
25s – Light bronze liquor. Raisins are stronger; sweet raisins return after the swallow.
40s – Light bronze liquor. Flavour is a little sub-dued compared to previous sessions. 60/100.
50s – Light bronze liquor. Some base sheng – end of session.
I thought this was a short session for 5g.
Flavors: Raisins
Preparation
11 grams this time. The Gaiwan is full. The flavour is concentrated spice, pepper and raw beetroot. It leaves the mouth with a peppery, raw beetroot tingle. The flavour hangs around.
Preparation
82/100
4g in Gaiwan.
Dry leaf: Dark brown. Med/high compression. No aroma. Square shaped.
Wet leaf: Bird cage/chicken hut old aroma; creamy.
Summary: An interesting aged tea that shows how the development of flavour can distinguish it from other teas that show that raw beetroot flavour.
5s – Light/medium. Lightly earthy. Not particularly flat; it has some roundness in the earthiness.
10s – Medium brown. No bitterness; no astringency. A buttery taste accompanies the still mild earth. Liquor has a grainy texture, which may be the specs of tea leaves.
15s – Med brown. More earthy/soiliness. Very mild with nothing standing out. Finish is subtly sweet; body is soft.
20s – Med brown. Ah that’s better. Raw beetroot has appeared in the finish, which is bright but subtle. A swill around the mouth reveals mild earthiness and mild raw beetroot. The finish at the last sip is spritely; it is slowly gaining pace.
25s – Darker med brown. Much brighter raw beetroot; mild earthy in background. The buttery base sits on the front of the tongue, while the raw beetroot shifts towards the back of the throat in a fashion likened to liquid man T-1000 on Terminator 2 passing smoothly through the bars. Raw beetroot is left in the mouth.
30s – Med brown. Buttery base on the front of the tongue; bird cage has joined the beetroot on the finish. This is interesting: the tone of the raw beetroot has dropped and merged with the bird cage.
35s – Med brown. Grainy thickness. Very smooth; raw beetroot shines again.
40s – Darker med brown. It has some thickness. It is very enjoyable. It is mature in it’s form: it is smooth and has not rough edges. More the bird cage; the raw beetroot has softened.
60s – Med brown. Streams of raw beetroot flavour rise to brightness, then sparkle in the finish. Bird cage can still be found.
3 minutes – Med brown. Soil; buttery; bird cage.
Preparation
Well I first noticed it in white2tea 90s Hong Kong storage and I also notice it in aged raw pu-erh. You may have noticed it in my notes: )
You pin point the flavor. I was associating it with wet soil. Beets are better description. I especially notice it in White Tuo
I like this one as well.