2005 Hai Lang Hao "Lincang Impression" Raw Pu-erh Tea

Dear glorb, I’ve tried to log this tea twice since drinking it and each time, something has come up. This time I had to take my old meow meow to the emergency vet. Hopefully some fluid injections, antibiotics and anti-nausea meds will remedy her ailments.

The dry leaf had an aroma of bitter apricot and the warmed leaf an addition of a woodsy aroma with a hint of vanilla? Rinsing the leaf brought out scents that better matched the taste of the liquor. I could smell grilled vegetables like summer squash with light smoke, cooked mushrooms, uncured tobacco and that bitter apricot. I can see how Togo interpreted the wet leaf aroma as egg shells, bbq sauce and celery root.

The liquor was a beautiful champagne hue with a tinge of pink. The brew was astringent and bitter (pleasantly so for a bitter puerh lover) with notes of minerals, wisps of smoke, grilled vegetables, earth, cooked mushroom and a carrot sweetness. The texture I found a little thin and it left behind a sandpapery roughness as I swallowed. The tea did not change much in flavor or texture throughout the session. The spent leaf is small and as noted by Togo, still very green. The cha qi moved in quickly on the second steep when I began moving slowly and my eyelids drooped. I was in the midst of packing up my belongings while drinking this and found myself getting sidetracked easily. It was a heavy, cooling, spaced-out energy.

Overall, I found the tea to be pretty pleasant and the light smokiness a nice addition to what is mostly a vegetable-mushroom tasting sheng with good longevity. I think it might continue to be a pleasant offering several years down the road.

This tea has one of the strongest dry leaf aromas I have encountered in a sheng – mostly smells of honey and cookies. After the rinse, the aromas change dramatically to smoky & earthy ones, and strangely enough the wet leaves don’t actually have such a pungent smell anymore. They give off aromas like egg shells, bbq sauce and celery root.

The taste is very strong and bitter right up front in the first few infusions (make sure you keep your initial steeps short). The quinine like bitterness quickly transforms into sweetness though. Other than that, it is a mineral tea with some notes of moss, dry grass and cranberry. The aftertaste starts off sweet but becomes slightly salty afterwards. In late infusions (above 10) I also get the standard tobacco and mushroom flavours, the former actually really strong in the aftertaste.

The liquor has medium thickness and is mouth-watering, oily and a touch powdery. It is also quite warming in the throat. The most memorable aspect of the tea is definitely the cha qi though. It hits really hard, this is not a tea to drink while working. I had to lie down after 3 infusions already.

The leaves are young (small) and still very green, attesting to the dry storage of the tea. It still has quite a way to go in terms of aging. I wish the mouthfeel was thicker overall. Because of the pungent taste, steeping more aggressively doesn’t seem to be a viable option to improve that. But ok, I can accept that this tea is not about the mouthfeel, rather the ‘mindfeel’ and, to a lesser extent, the strong taste. The longetivity is quite good too. Right now I am on steep 14 or so (each one of which was 90-100ml and the first few I should have done shorter tbh), and it seems like it will last for a few more at least.