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“Dry – Sweet, lightly earthy and refreshing. Wet – Sweet, creamy, slightly earthy, dates, hints of wood, sweet spice, floral. Liquor – Dark Orange/Burgundy Red. Gong Fu in Yixing Gaiwan...” Read full tasting note
“This tea has been in my stash for awhile, so it’s time to sample it, finally. I went through all the usual gongfu protocol…I’m not going to insult the collective intelligence and experience of...” Read full tasting note
“This is my 3rd session with this tea. As it was described as “purely dry stored” by the vendor, I was nonplussed the first time I drank it, as it had an overwhelming damp basement flavor. Now that...” Read full tasting note
“Orange peel, sandalwood, must, must, must, bitter, dry, orange peel. Wet-stored treasure that is dry through and through. Very potent cha-qi, all head and not heat. Astringency, after all these...” Read full tasting note
Production Year: around 1990
Production Season:
Production Region: Yunnan
Factory: Menghai Tea Factory (the factory of Dayi)
Style: Sheng
Size: 250g
Company description not available.
Dry – Sweet, lightly earthy and refreshing.
Wet – Sweet, creamy, slightly earthy, dates, hints of wood, sweet spice, floral.
Liquor – Dark Orange/Burgundy Red.
Gong Fu in Yixing Gaiwan 4-5g/5oz
1st 35secs – Lightly earthy, thick, sweet, and spicy hint up front. As it washes down it is smooth and strong tasting with a slightly puckery, sweet finish with a somewhat floral-bitter note. The aftertaste is sweet with slightly floral/flower nectar hints. Time between steeps allow the sweetness to develop in the mouth.
2nd 15secs – (the piece opened) Sweet, smooth, lightly earthy, floral and slightly spicy up front. As it washes down it is stronger in taste and very briefly pungent floral note that slowly becomes sweeter. The aftertaste is a floral note that gradually gets sweeter and resembles flower nectar or wild flower honey.
3rd 25secs – Sweet, lightly earthy, floral, brothy and slight spice notes up front. As it washes down, it has a stronger present floral-bittersweet note with a tangy hint that becomes sweeter. The aftertaste is floral sweet, resembles flower nectar or wild flower honey once again. The aftertaste lingers in the mouth and has moved to the throat as well. It becomes sweeter with time and keeps coming back.
4th 35secs – Sweet, smooth, light earthiness, floral, brothy and slight spiciness. As it washes down, it is stronger floral-bittersweet tone with a hint of sweetness that becomes stronger and is very apparent in the mouth and throat. The aftertaste is sweet floral-nectar/honey that lingers.
Final Notes
I stopped taking notes here but I made several good steeps after. I really like this brick, it is amazing. A true example of what good aging can do to a brick. I had to stop taking notes. Not because I was having a hard time, but because I was having such a great time. The sweetness at the end reminds me of pulling the stem of the flower and taking that small drop of nectar. It can resemble wild flower honey, but somehow flower nectar (lightly/watery sweet not bitter, and somewhat perfumy note) seems a better fit. The liquor itself is very aromatic and pleasant, I would love to retry this tea in 5 years, maybe even 10. But I’m sure that if I buy only one it won’t make it to 10! I should have look at the price before falling in love! :P
This tea has been in my stash for awhile, so it’s time to sample it, finally.
I went through all the usual gongfu protocol…I’m not going to insult the collective intelligence and experience of this group to describe it in minute detail…
So this tea is smooth and sweet from the first sip, kind of with a creamy vanilla mouth, and essence of tangerine and sandalwood. It kind of reminded me of root beer, for some reason. There is a lingering sweet aftertaste of sandalwood and honeysuckle flowers, and by the 3 and 4 steeps it was rich with a thick quality and an almost cloying sweetness. Sadly, this was about the same time my soft palate started itching. I took a few sips of the next few steeps, but the itching only got worse spreading to my sinuses & eyes, and so the tea had to be retired early. Too bad, I was just starting to get a buzz on. And it’s a very tasty tea as well.
I regret not being able to carry it all the way through the rounds :(
This is my 3rd session with this tea. As it was described as “purely dry stored” by the vendor, I was nonplussed the first time I drank it, as it had an overwhelming damp basement flavor. Now that I’ve allowed it to air out for a few months, the dry leaf no longer has the musty scent it had when I obtained it. It is the oldest sheng I have found which is reasonably affordable, but I’m glad I didn’t buy more than a small sample.
I gave it two rinses of about 10 s each with boiling water.
Earthy, slightly sweet, somewhat astringent. Whatever bitterness might have been present when the tea was young is entirely gone, as are any vegetal notes in the lid scent. The damp basement taste and astringency become more pronounced with later infusions. A woody note and an almost ethereal mouthfeel emerge around the 5th steep. The dry cup scent is floral perfume, strongly reminiscent of the better grades of shu.
By the 8th steep there is a profound mouth-drying astringency and the dominant flavor is of wet stone with a faintly sweet aftertaste. While still a deep clear copper color, the soup is beginning to thin out. I’m giving up after about 14 infusions, though there is more damp stone and astringency still in the leaf.
Flavors: Wet Rocks, Wood
Orange peel, sandalwood, must, must, must, bitter, dry, orange peel.
Wet-stored treasure that is dry through and through. Very potent cha-qi, all head and not heat. Astringency, after all these years. Paul Simon would be please. Added time with each infusion.
Characteristically gorgeous brew colour: limpid, inviting, brassy red. Lingering taste of orange peel’s bitterness.
Tastes like a grown-up’s tea. Thanks for the sample JC.
Sounds like a spicy little devil with a little cedar and honey…right or wrong? Couldn’t quite tell if it was nectar or if you had some redwood in the mix too. Sounds like a good one though.
It may have some cedar taste, that woody-spicy taste. But is very faint, almost a tease that remind you is a Puerh. But at the end, just wow the sweetness is just sweet and floral, but not bitter floral (the slight bitterness is mostly in the midst of drinking), is a light sweet (starts watery and increases) with floral. That’s why I went with flower nectar.
I used to pluck the stem of these: http://farm1.staticflickr.com/148/431442633_1187237026_z.jpg and get the a small nectar drop. They are called ‘Cruz de Marta’ back home, I found some similar looking ones on Google but none are the correct one. Just in case the part I used to pluck was the small yellow tip, a long thin stem would come along with a nectar drop.