2012 EoT Baotang Puerh

Sure is fun to run into good stuff as I trip along in my puerh education. Thank you for this chapter of study, derk.

Warming leaf is smoky… grilled meat, dried apricot, medicinal, herbal. Pours golden liquor that smells like smoky mushroom broth, hay, dandelion smear. The first steep is thick in the mouth, with hay and camphor. Clear apricot huigan.

Back at the wet leaf, whew: smoked white beans, kelp, cooling herbs, camphor. Drydown on the lid smells like ink. Pour still smells of smoke, with medicinal notes like iodine and some tobacco coming through. Some new astringency in the mouth alongside the smoke; body is surprisingly lighter than the first steep but quite smooth, with clear camphor… ah, there is the qi hit… biiiiiiiing!… apricot huigan is strong and distinct — no real sweetness in the actual liquor yet, it’s all in the return. There’s something a little sour in here, too, just accenting everything.

Wet leaf is now aligned more with the liquor — smoky-medicinal. The taste starts mellowing and melding everything together. Smoke starts dissipating, sweetness pokes through a bit more in the liquor.

Super chonky in the beginning… I think I’m on steep twelve or so as I write this, and it is still turning out lovely cups that lean more comforting than curious. Beautiful.

I connected little more open-heartedly with the 2010 Ben Pen I had recently, but this reminded me of that quite a lot — especially with that delicious smoke. I want everyone to love tea in their own way, but I can’t relate to not loving smoky puerh, hehe. I am absolutely thrilled that the Ban Pen is still available, a little sad that this one isn’t… but they are both going on my tea map as reference points of lurrrrrrrve. <3

I found this issue of Global Tea Hut’s magazine dedicated to the Mengsong area, and it covers Baotang specifically. Pretty great resource:
http://archive.globalteahut.org/docs/issues/2018-03.pdf

Sipdown! Very sad to see this one go. the smokiness and complexity of each steep just did not stop! Will be hounding my friend to steep whatever he has left of this the next time we have a tea hang

I got a sample of this tea recently as part of a surprise package from the lovely derk, thanks! ❤❤❤

It is my first encounter with Essence of Tea and it turns out amazing. The storage is somewhat reminiscent to Yang Qing Hao, but I find this one interesting overall than the few I’ve sampled from YQH. The character of the tea itself is somewhere between a Bu Lang gushu and a wild, forest overgrown Yi Wu sheng.

The aroma is intoxicating and I find myself sniffing the leaves as well as the empty cha hai continuously during the session. The taste is bitter, sweet and somewhat sour at times with notes of camphor, wood, cocoa nibs, spearmint, and many others. An interesting aspect is the mouthfeel, which is not too heavy, yet quite viscous. At first, it is a bit egg white-like, while later it becomes smooth and bubbly (maybe a bit more like lightly beaten egg whites lol). One is also rewarded with a long-lasting, cooling aftertaste with notes of aromatic wood, spices, and butter, as well as a strong huigan. The cha qi is mind numbing but not overly aggressive.

All in all, EoT’s Baotang is a tea that is fully capable of capturing one’s attention and not letting go easily; today I got 15 infusions before I called it a day.

Song pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oFnjWS4cpU

This tea is a very strong contender in the “pine/resin/astringent/drying” category. There is a surprisingly mild, yet very balanced array of complexity in the flavors of this tea. The body is smooth and viscous and the color is a nice deeper golden yellow. It is slightly sweet, slightly herbaceous, and has a reasonably sufficient amount of the astringent mouth-drying effect, but without the offputting bitterness – this is a character I look for in these types of teas, and value quite highly in evaluation. Overall, I’d say this is a lighter, more balanced, “little brother” version of the 2005 Shenlin YQH (a personal favorite of mine). The Baotang delivers in quality without the mushroomy/earthy notes and the more potent drying effects of the 05 YQH. I do recommend giving this tea a try, it is certainly high caliber.

Song pairing first: Pachanga Boys — Time
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTbgyp5VnoQ

In the spirit of nostalgia and friendship, today I brought this out for a session with a coworker who has a history of puerh consumption.

I think it was too bitter for him, at least in comparison to the 2005 Changtai Yun Pu Zhi Dian we sampled first.

On the other hand, I was and still am at a loss for words. Nothing but wild associations with this sheng. At least there is often some inkling of shared subjectivity when describing sensate experience, of which I have some to offer but I feel it is inadequate.

This tea is a slow bewilderment that builds into a crystalline clarity. Something about winter in the high desert, pastel sunrises, icicles. It’s subtle beneath the balance of bitter, sweet and cooling. At times it’s woody, others leathery, or with impressions of cacao or fragrant desert wood or floral incense or frigid desert air. Lots of sweet vanilla-mint flavor. Mineral, tongue tingling, mouth-watering but still astringent. Pretty freaking amazing. Yeah, zing. Crystalline.

Thanks mrmopar <3 I bought a cake after trying it at the Great Table Commandeering.

Through the generosity of a tea friend, I am tasting my way through a number of samples of aged raw puerhs. I had also ordered a few additional raw puerhs to sample. When I first began drinking loose leaf teas, I tried everything (green, black, oolong, ripe, raw, etc), and gravitated toward mildly roasted Wuyi rock oolongs. However, I have always been curious if there are puerhs out there that I would love more if only I found the right ones. I already have a number of cakes in storage that were purchased several years ago with pure chance. With the help of a tea bud, I have already found a couple of puerhs I like in these samples, and I’m working toward sampling my way to my preferred sheng region, cultivar, etc.

I am creating tasting note placeholders here on Steepster as I go through the teas that I intend to come back later and add more detailed tasting notes. I was given enough sample material for at least two sessions (thank you!!) and so that will allow me get to know the outstanding character of each tea and those traits that are more common across raw puerhs.

So far I have tried:
2004 Yang Qing Hao “Te Ji Pin” Raw by Yang Qing Hao
2007 XiaGuan FT Shan 4th golden wrapper by Xiaguan Tea Factory
2008 Menghai “SPRINGTIME WATER” RAW by Menghai Tea
2010 “AUTUMN NAN NUO SHAN” RAW PU-ERH TEA BRICK by Yunnan Sourcing
2012 Baotang Raw by The Essence of Tea

Since this little summary of my experiment is posted under the 2012 Boatang Raw tasting note, here are my initial thoughts on this tea:

Brewed gongfu style in 70 ml clay pot with 5 gr of material. One rinse and very fast initial steeps of only 5 seconds, gradually increasing (very little).

Flavors/Aromas I pickup in this tea are a lot of sweetness. That’s very evident. I also get a little bit of cocoa in the early steeps, but it is nothing like the strong chocolate flavor that comes through with black (red) teas. It’s definitely tannic and possesses some bitterness, and in later steepings still reveals some young sheng characteristics. It’s smooth in the mouth and has very little astringency initially, but the tea does become more astringent after awhile. If I smack my lips, I get something like a blackboard chalk in the aftertaste.

In the 2010 “AUTUMN NAN NUO SHAN” brick, I felt some pretty strong qi or caffeine buzz or something going on very quickly. With this 2012 Boatang, I feel a little something in my body, but it came on slowly and is far more subtle.

I received a sample of this tea ifrom mrmopar in a Christmas card! I wanted to try it with family at a time when we could sit and discuss the merits of the tea and really focus on it, rather than when we were sipping as we palyed games or had snacks. The opportunity came a few nights ago.

The dry leaves reminded me of a tobacconist shop, not something I was expecting from a young-ish sheng. It is an aroma I enjoy, so I had hopes for everyone to enjoy this sheng, even the shu drinkers.

The steeped tea is very, very lively. The briskness translates to such an energy on the tongue, and the aftertaste is sweet and pleasant. We were drinking it shortly before bedtime, and I thought that it would be a wonderful tea to drink as a daytime pick-me-up when energy is flagging but there is work to be done. It didn’t keep me from being able to fall asleep at my usual time, however. The flavor was reminiscent of green teas I have had that are brisk on the tongue with a sweet rising aftertaste. My youngest said it was very minty to her, more like spearmint than peppermint.

My eldest and youngest had a sheng at a tea festival, and the Chinese vendor told them that his sheng sample might not be what they were accustomed to. They bravely told him that they drank puer all the time! He laughed and told them it wasn’t like his, and handed them a cup…and they nicknamed it murder tea. Apparently, it was a VERY sour sheng!

Youngest was one of the people drinking this Bao Tang, and pronounced it very drinkable. It has helped her recover from her sheng trauma. We had numerous steeps before heading off to bed in sloshy contentment.

Thank you to mrmopar for a nice new tea experience!

This tasting note is going to be short sorry!

I’d really say that this tea is wonderful for those who are accostumed to ripe puer and would like to start drinking raws, or the other way around. It’s a raw that has very comforting darker notes, such as vanilla, and almond, and some toasty flavours too. It’s like the perfect puer for a cold winter day, sat right next to the fireplace.

I couldn’t finish my session as I had to leave before I was finished, but from the 3 steepings that I did get in I’d argue that this is a very very good tea.

Very smooth with a slightly bitter sweetnes and a great Qi.
Images and more at https://puerh.blog/teanotes/2012-baotang-eot

I received a sample of this from a good tea friend. It was quite good. The first few steeps were a mix of bitter with leather and tobacco, all the while a sweet note trying to come through. The leather and tobacco were not incredibly strong like in a YQH tea. This tea evolved into a nice sweet tea although I am not sure what to call the note. If I ever order from EOT this one is on the top of my list.

Steeped this twelve times in a 100ml gaiwan with 7.3g leaf and boiling water. I gave it a 10 second rinse. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, 30 sec, 45 sec, 1 min, 1.5 min, and 2 min.