1999 Yang Qing Hao "Mi Tsang" (MiCang) Brick Raw

For an old raw brick, the 40’ish cents per gram is actually a pretty good deal but there are some things to know about this. While this is an easily brewed tea with a great dark color to it with a taste that comes out like a week ripe and then transition to an old raw tea that is more of an outside drinker.

This tea is certainly good, yet I know it can become better. The storage seems to be quite dry and since it is highly compressed, I really think this would be a nice brick to break up and put into a clay jar where humidity would be at a higher level so it could reach the majority of the leaf. The reason I say this is because there a depth to be brought out of this tea that I believe some wet storage could provid.

Dry leaves smell of fall leaves and leather. Wet leaves smell of wet moss and autumn leaves after a rain. The aroma of the leaves take on a sweet tobacco note after the rest. Very pleasant.

Steep/Time: Notes
1/10s: Sweet and mellow with a smooth mouth feel. This is the first aged sheng that has given be an idea of what shou pu’erh makers were looking to simulate in taste.
2/10s: Still sweet and mellow with a noticeable note of moss or forest floor leaves. Has an interesting mouth feel reminicent of breathing in through your mouth after eating something minty or camphorus. Mind, there is no camphorus note in the taste, just a similar after effect. Going to push the next steep a bit because so mellow.
3/30s: Not a hint of bitterness, but now getting a more crisp finish with the hint of astringency that shows up. Still sweet with a light mouth feel while in the mouth.
4/30s: A nice woody, moss note. This one is very reminicent of shou pu’erh.
5/45s: Woody and smooth. Good cup.
6/60s: Not a lot of complexity, but quite a good tea. Not sure I’d pay YQH prices for it, but it’s one I wouldn’t turn down if offered.
7/90s: Same as 5 & 6. Maybe a bit of sweetness developing. I like that this tea has a sort of shou taste with a sheng finish.
8/120s: Same previous though a light brown sugar like note is more noticable.
9/????: Accidentally steeped it for 10 – 15 mins or more. Got the quirky camphorous effect again. It’s a pleasant feeling, but odd and unexpected.
10/300s: Not a complext tea per se, but it’s consistent.

I think next time I will try adding more leave to my pot. Maybe 6g. It’s a tasty little tea, but knowing YQH prices I probably wouldn’t buy a full cake of this one. We’ll see if my take on this one holds true after the next sessions. All in all this was a very pleasant tea session though no cha qi (which I typically love) was present.