2016 Into The Mystic

Bold sheng with both a good medium-full body and tastes that remain very consistent throughout the session. Balanced astringency and bitterness. Not sweet but I feel like this is going to develop a redfruit-caramel sweetness waaaay down the road (I’m probably way off haha!). Into the Mystic is currently bright, tart and herbaceous, to me an undeniable mix of cranberry and lemon thyme, with later infusions feeling more like sour orange and tobacco. Florals here and there. Old dark wood, too. Hints of unripe apricot and cream in the finish but the tea is lacking in aftertaste — at this point it’s just tart.

What starts as a whisper of pine forest crescendos soon into a full-blown clean peppermint/menthol cooling in the mouth and body. A very pleasant warm, numbing grip in throat, warm chest, sweating. I’m questioning everything, my notes trail off… restless, tracers, wanderings. Probably because I’m riddled with anxiety while withdrawing from snus. Spent leaf smells like white grapefruit and looks like a blend of two maocha — one of them showing oxidation mostly on the stems attached to thin olive leaf; the other a bolder, darker green.

The tea feels fairly clean and balanced but I am left perplexed? Because of its age? Nothing was off about it. Need more time exploring the Mystic to suss it out. Something about it makes me want to buy a cake and expose it to higher humidity buuut I’m not $150 rich.

Song pairing in my head: Primus — Too Many Puppies

Lincang?

Bought a cake of this last winter and after trying many other high end sheng began to agree with the ho hum reviews on this site. I then let it age a few months and broke it out with some cranberry scones recently. Lo and behold this tea came to life. Big cranberry, nice menthol and evergreen. The qi is pleasant but subtle. There are much better recent shengs in the same price range but I think this one is evolving into something special so you may want to revisit it especially when consuming cranberries. The flavors that were a semi interesting backdrop to this tea have now come to the forefront and are quite distinctive.

very good flavor, decent huigan, aftertaste left me wanting…it fell off pretty early. no qi. except someone mentioned feeling “happy” – I read this review during my session and thought to myself “am I feeling happy?” if I was any happier because of this tea it was most likely placebo, otherwise it wasn’t apparent.

It was VERY easy to drink, chuggable, I couldn’t steep it fast enough to keep up with my drinking. Went down smooth, no throat catch. Not so much oily, just smooth.

decent longevity, around 10 steeps it faded and I didn’t feel like to pushing the session. A little astringent when pushed, but this is a good drinking tea. smooth, thick, goes down easy. Not sure how it will develop, but I’m considering it as a “drink now” tea. Very gentle on stomach too. Just the smoothness, flavor, and drinkability are not enough, without qi or activity I have a hard time justifying price. I’ll need to spend more time to see if it changes my mind. For now, its priced me out of buying a cake, which I regret, since I like it a lot.

Thick and smooth with a nutty bitterness.
Images and more at https://puerh.blog/teanotes/2016-into-the-mystic-w2t

Wanted something unique for the second tea of the day. 8 grams, quick rinse, flash steep. Not too much of an aroma comes off this to start with, and once I do start getting something, it’s hard for me to place.

Liquor in steep one is gold in color and marshmallowy thick in the mouth. First sips are like cranberry, with the aftertaste being quite like that of cranberry sauce. There is some definite tobacco that becomes quite apparent in steep two. Got another good one out of this and then I oversteeped it and got all the bitterness in the throat.

Followed that up with a flash steep and it became drinkable again, but I’m going to have to give this one another go in a new session sometime to better evaluate the experience.

The White2Tea 2016:

I purchased samples of all the 2016 new line up this year, and I started at the bottom (cheapest) and worked my way up. I did this to taste the profile improvements and variances. I brewed in the same pot with same leaf water ratio. Also, this helps to hone in my palette to identify what’s a good deal and what’s not. At the conclusion of my tasting I will be placing my cake order.

I am still trying to figure this one out…

When a company states phrases like “the most out there” and “mystic” I have several thoughts in my mind. Is it taste? Qi? Aroma? Sensation? Processing? Terrior? Is it odd for this region of tea to do things like this one does? So. Many. Questions. So, I gear up with tasting tools in hand and begin! I was suuuper analytical and towards the end I’ll reveal my conclusion of the mystic diving brew.

I inspect the leaves and notice their small hairs, long slender shape, slight compression and they give off an intensely sweet aroma of berries, lemon, and thyme. A very fresh and sweet mix. I warmed up my pot and place the subject inside. The fruitiness expands to bosc pears, red apples, fruit punch, and the mild dryness of cranberries. I notice all my scents are “red”. I washed the leaves and prepared the lab to commence brewing. The leaves once steeped emit a shadowed scent of dark fruits, tobacco, and some faint peppermint or menthol. The taste is full and lasting. I notice some dark wood at the front which comes across as sweet and harsh. A wisp of smoke follows through with some heavy fruitiness. The tea is thick and the aftertaste is sweet and long lasting huigan (could I use the word sweet some more…). I pick up on some berry tastes later on and watch the tea flavors begin to fade after each steep. The huigan changes into a powerful menthol/mint cooling sensation the chills my throat and jaw line. The frigidness was refreshing. The qi is a nice feeling. It is a very slight and happy feeling the grows in power throughout the session. The remaining liquor gives a sugary aroma and fills up the lab. The testing has been concluded and the machinery and tasting tools lay scattered about, used and dripping. However, I still have questions in my mind. Am I tasting a wild old arbor material, for I picked up some viscosity and smoke? Was the unique characteristic the steeped leaves cooling aroma? Or was the mystery in the menthol powerful aftertaste? Was this all just a marketing ploy that I fell into? What makes this tea so “out there”? Honestly, I don’t have an answer. The tea was decent; however, I note nothing that is outstandingly unique about this brew. I am going to spend some more time and take it back to the lab. Once I find something out, you’ll be the first to know.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BJyC1YrgASI/?taken-by=haveteawilltravel

ok… i really like this tea. this is my second session; first was right out of the mail, so i didn’t really trust it. it’s been resting a couple of weeks now, which may be better?

4g:60ml. first time was porcelain gaiwan; second time in jianshui pot. drank the (~10s) rinse both times. started with flash steeps and increased slowly.

first few steeps vegetal, light astringency. thick liquid. seems to be a lot of flavour here! aftertaste is dry-mouth-throat and sweet, then floral.

kind of lost track after that, because it’s a work day. but i am enjoying it very much. seems like a nice rounded flavour, with moderate astringency, lots of sweet aftertaste.