Various Artists

Aged Kangzhuan Sichuan Heicha

So rhinkle and I are drinking this as a celebratory tea since she will be moving to Sichuan province eventually, and we spent a good bit of time talking about the aroma of this tea before trying the first sip.

Carrots, turnips, root vegetables, sweet dirt – her opinion
Earth and sour stone fruits – my opinion

Skipped a wash on this one so there wasn’t too much to pick up on in the first steep, mostly light hints of some of the aromatics. The liquor is a nice brown. The aroma offers up some pickled notes. The flavor remains really light. rhinkle likens it to golden beets. A cooling sensation in the throat kicks in after a couple minutes. Swishing it around the mouth results in a bit of a drying sensation and some dusty earth notes.

In steep three I get more of an assertive flavor, especially in the aftertaste and the exhale. A blend of sweet, sour and cream. It almost reminds me of goishicha but much, much lighter and without the umami soya-like notes.

More sweetness in steep four with some medicinal notes coming in and a more reddish color to the liquor. I do start getting some flavor notes that I would almost characterize as carroty.

Fifth steep, stewed stone fruits and root veggies with a sugary finish in the throat. Tea starts to give out after this one. I sift through the leaves and notice the variety among them. All in all, an enjoyable session.

2005 Green 99

Backlogged note. No longer going in order, but who needs order!

The golden colored wash of this tea smells of smoked wood and petrichor, and has a hint of sweetness and huigan.

The first proper steep is more amber in color with a sweet, smoky flavor. A couple steeps in the color becomes more brown and the smoke dissipates, creating a very nice balance in the flavor.

A light cooling sensation kicks in and lingers in the throat from steep four on, and one more steep in, a pleasant hint of bitterness and a slight drying sensation kick in and the sweetness becomes distinctly honey-like, rounding out the entire experience.

Received a sample of a roasted yerba mate recently, which I’ve never had in my life before. rhinkle and I drank it last week, if I recall correctly, and it was actually quite good. Steeping it was interesting, but it ended up being quite houjicha-like in flavor. Sweet, roasted nuts, smooth. And, fortunately, there was no jittery caffeine high.

After having recently randomly spent a night when I couldn’t sleep reading up on yerba mate forums and now having finally tried it, I’d definitely be interested in exploring it more.

2006 yiwu from curated puerh box.

Had a couple of sessions with this sample over the past week. Fairly sweet aroma comes off the of dry leaves with a bit of smokiness becoming apparent once they’re wet. First steep pours a surprisingly deep amber with a piney, floral flavor and a bit of a drying sensation in the mouth.

2004 date aroma ripe from curated puerh box

Been making a point to drink through more of my shou samples lately and gave this one a try after it’d had plenty of time to rest following its travels. This shou is sweet-smelling when dry and sweet and mushroomy when wet.

Gave this one a wash to start, and the first steep poured a light red. Flavor profile was sweet with prominent mushroom notes and a hint of something vegetal at the end. A cooling sensation developed and extended well into the aftertaste.

Overall, this one was creamy and clean, with a sweetness that built throughout the session.
creamy, clean,
sweetness comes out more after a few more steeps

Received a sample of a tea friend’s own matcha blend. First and only flavored matcha I’ve ever tried, and most matcha I’ve consumed in a sitting (though some of that weight was from the sugar).

This was a pumpkin spice blend and tasted just like that—a sweet blend of pumpkin spice and matcha. It was a unique experience!

200x traditional qingbing from #white2teaclub

Finally, a tea I took some decent notes on! Would have really been a shame if I hadn’t!
Sniffing the dry leaves of this sample, they smelled a bit like sawdust, and after being hit with water, they smelled a bit like sawdust and basement. rhinkle thought they smelled like hot cucumber, and then hot salad. We agreed to disagree.

Anyhow, this steeped out to a red amber liquor and the wash actually did taste a bit like hot salad or warm cucumber water. Guess rhinkle was onto something.

The color became much deeper in the first proper steep, with a smooth texture and persisting flavors of warm, but fresh, vegetables with a sweetness hitting the back of the throat and the slightest hint of coffee trying to creep in.

The next steep became much darker, like as dark as I would expect shou to get, and it brought with it a hint of bitterness and deep, woody flavors. More sweetness and coffee notes emerged over multiple steeps, and the flavor must have evened out a bit more after that, because that’s all I got noted!

A very interesting session!
more sweetness and coffee notes emerge over multiple steeps

So this was the one tea I started Sunday, as I also had leaves from a couple other teas I continued with from the day before. This was the 2005 Menghai area wild material raw brick from Curated Puerh Box 0003. I used 8g, quick wash and a bit of a rest before getting going with the session.

At around 12 years old, this sheng produced a golden liquor and a soft, sweet aroma. It was smooth and oily in the mouth and sweet on the tongue, with just a bit of dustiness that revealed itself as it gradually opened up.

This was an easy one to enjoy and I will enjoy further exploring its subtleties in a future session!

This was the “hush hush” tea from Curated Puerh Box 0004 so I’m not going to list it. I’ll just say it was a Taiwan stored 2006 sheng. I did 7g of this in a 100ml gaiwan on Saturday, and I was so not ready for the wonderful experience it was about to pull me into. I drink tea on homework day to keep me fueled, but this kept trying to claim my entire focus!

These tea leaves have a very slightly smoky aroma that I found very comforting. The liquor steeped out to an amber color and was thick, viscous and mouth-coating from the very first steep. The flavor had a light smokiness to it up front, along with a bit of camphor and light fruitiness that gradually pushed its way in.

The thing about this tea that really draw my attention was its depth. Something about it pulled me in, and I didn’t want to make it let me go. As I continued with the session, a bit of fluffy airiness developed in the texture, bringing with it a nice sweetness, both up front and in the form of huigan.

After several steeps over a few hours, the leaves had a warm, comforting, foresty aroma. I steeped them a few more times the next day to enjoy that a little while longer. Fantastic all around!

Well I’ve got quite a few notes to catch up on since last Friday, so let me start with this one. rhinkle and I drank this one at work last Friday.

This was a blend Steph made and sent in the swap we just had, YS Laoshan Black with cacao shells and vanilla beans.

First of all, just let me say this has an incredible chocolate aroma, both dry and steeped, and it is so well supported by the vanilla. We can taste the flavors waking up in the first steep, but they really came together in the second one, a purely delicious blend of chocolate, malt and sweetness that melded together and persisted through the few steeps we had time for.

We still have a bit left, fortunately, so we are saving our next steep for home, where we can truly savor it! Thank you again, Steph!

Tea: white2tea May club box: 2017 Lincang fresh puer green tea and 2017 Lincang fresh puer maocha. Reviewing them together since they’re “related” and this seems to make more sense. I’ll call the first “green” and the other “puer.” They’re both extremely green and not surprisingly somewhat similar.

Prep: 60cc gaiwan, 3-5g. I’ve used both boiling water or cooler ~90C water. Mostly flash steep x2, 10s, 10s, 20s, 20s, etc..
Sessions with th(ese) tea(s): 5+

Taste: The green has a very open and round flavor to it. It has nuttiness and vegetal notes, I suppose as expected from a fresh green. I can’t put my finger on exactly what the note is but it somehow reminds me of a breakfast cereal? The puer is very similar, but it doesn’t have as much “roundness” in the flavor. It has more bitterness and I guess I can see the beginnings of a young cake. Both are extremely aromatic, both last around the same number of steeps. 2dog notes fruitiness in these teas, which I’m not really finding, and he notes the green has more bitterness than the puer, which I find to be the opposite. He also notes the green has a cooling sensation, which I do find to be true, and is very pleasant.

Body: mouthfeel starts medium, eventually turns thinner. Moderate energy, I keep clenching my jaw after drinking these. It doesn’t sit as heavy in the stomach as a lot of fresh greens, which is a nice thing.

Summary: is interesting to note both how similar and how different these teas are. I enjoy the green tea processing more than the puer. This was a really nice club idea from 2dog.

Tong Qin Hao 2007 shu. Some tea sent to me by a friend.

I steeped 4-5g in a 60cc gaiwan with boiling water, had 2 sessions so far, which is all of this I was sent, which is unfortunate. I got really excited about this tea, in my relatively limited shu experience. The taste was a deep, rich, creamy nuttiness, almost coffee-like. Most of the shu I’ve had so far have had a relatively thin texture and mouthfeel — this was thick and slippery on my tongue and gave me a buzzy feeling in my mouth and jaw. Teas like this make me sad I’ve neglected the shu world for so long while drinking sheng. Very enjoyable, no clue how to acquire more, may have to investigate.

Review for some “90s blue mark” sent to me by a friend.

Wet manure, grass clippings piled and left in the heat to compost in the Carolina summer sun. Absolutely unappealing. Pleasant buzzing in my jaw and good warmth in my shoulders and upper chest, but I could not continue drinking this post-lawnmower wasteland.

Tea: Handmade Shui Jin Gui by Tea Yuan, sample
Prep: 100cc gaiwan, full, boiling water, 10s, 10, 30, 30, 30, 45, 60
Sessions with this tea: 3

Taste: Opens with heavy-handed roast, which quickly fades into a dark fruit/cherry/raisin flavor with a sticky sweetness. Some floral notes in the background, then settles into a cinnamon-ish vibe, which abruptly ends. Sweet cherry/almond aroma. My second session with this I leafed lower, is generally the same but overall has more of a floral vibe, no cinnamon or cherry notes, but heavier on the nutty/almond aroma.

Body: Thick mouthfeel. Early playful feeling on tongue. Leaves a pleasant sour tang on the cheeks, similar in sensation to the cherry flavor. Extreme energy. I had to stop drinking this for a while because I got so over-caffeinated and jittery. Use caution. Second session same thing, I was through the roof after 5 steeps. Not sure why this is.

Good flavor, good aroma, but I really hate the jittery feeling this one gave me. Maybe I can try seriously underleafing to see if same flavor/aroma comes out without the feeling of impending doom? Edit: nope

Tea: 2007 Kunlu Mountain raw from Bana Tea
Prep: 100cc gaiwan, 8g, boiling water, 10s, 10, flashx2, 10, 20, 25, 30, 30, 45, 50, 60×4, stopped timing
Sessions with this tea: 1

Taste: Good god. Where to start? Delicate floral bitterness up front with a nutty walnut flavor. As it steeps out this transforms into like, honey that has been microwaved and is ready to add to cooking. With nuttiness built in. Maybe honey drizzled over walnuts and left in the oven a bit. That bitterness from walnut shells is there. The bitterness stays across all steeps, and is very pleasant, turning into sweetness. The bitterness and sweetness evolve from floral to deep and rich, never really veering into that fruity sweetness of like a darker tea.

Body: Darker orange color. Thick slurpy mouthfeel. Where do I put all of this saliva? Saliva floods my mouth like I turned around at the beach and got hit by a wave I wasn’t expecting. Except the wave is made of the burnt honey flavor which the tea tasted like. Cooling in the cheeks. The energy for this one sits in my upper chest and exudes alert calmness, not too jittery.

A very enjoyable tea. It has just enough bitterness to keep me interested, and the overall complexity of the interplay between the flavors is very interesting. I needed a bib to deal with all the saliva dripping down my chin. The body is great. Please someone tell me where to get more of this.

Tea: some 2011 Dayi shu puer that was sent to me, unlabeled
Prep: 60cc gaiwan, 4gish? boiling water, quick steeps
Sessions with this tea: 1

Taste: Very mild fermentation notes. Light leather and vanilla. Doesn’t evolve much across steepings. Later steepings bring in a kind of “pulpwood/paper” taste, which yes I am familiar with from chewing paper in grade school. Don’t ask.

Body: A lot less thick than what I expected. Fairly moderate thickness, the earthy feeling lingers a bit, and I feel strength in my jaw and upper neck. Get a bit of heaviness in the stomach also, not pleasant.

Not usually a huge shu fan, and this was sent to me by a friend to try something different. Is definitely on the lightweight side. Would have to ask to find out what this is, but I don’t care much to ask.

2011 Xing Ren Xiang Almond Aroma dancong, from Tea Habitat

Summary: I dunno if almond aroma or almond flower aroma, but I certainly convinced myself of the nuts

Prep: 100cc gaiwan, full of leaves, boiling flash infusions at first. After infusion 5, dropped temp to 190 and increased steeps out to chase flavor
Sessions with this tea: 2

Taste: Ok I convinced myself I got the almond flavor as soon as it gets in the mouth. Closed my nose, no almond. Opened my nose, almond. Maybe I’m crazy? Is very fleeting flavor though. I didn’t get a lot else from this tea, mildly floral, mildly nutty.

Body: light and smooth together, not as “bright” as I tend to think of dancongs

Not a beginner tea? I felt like I was tinkering a lot to draw out the essence. Maybe I need more sessions with it.

kuding cha from LP’s mystery buy.

having this a second time; i still like it. probably going to have to order more. i’ve been using 2 “nails” : 80ml, gongfu style. last time i did it more bowl style. both are good. definitely bitter, with a sweetness. idk, i like it, but i can see how it would be polarizing. :P definitely something to be in the mood for.

I’m trying out this tuo that matu sent me—“I didn’t like it, so now it’s your problem!” It’s a “2013 Menghai (region, not factory) raw I randomly bought on eBay.”

Dry leaf has no strong smell—I’m picking up a bit of menthol or mint lifesavers or something but that might be my nose playing tricks on me. Nice and easy to pick apart, not too dense. My crappy oyster knife did just fine.

Rinse: lid smell is pretty much neutral green tea. Soup is more amber than yellow. 1st steep (5s): lid smell is underspiced pot roast. Taste is astringent and chalky, I can barely taste through the bitterness. Dumped this steep after a few sips. 2nd steep (5s): lid smell is composting dried autumn leaves. Even though the water temp fell to ~203 for this steep it is far too astringent. The aftertaste isn’t very pleasant but it is going deep which is nice. I’m getting little teases of fruit but I can’t pin it down. Also dumped most of this steep. 3rd steep (7-8s, 195F): lid smell is a children’s playground wood chip bedding after rain and a couple kids peed their pants. I’m really smelling urine deep in the background. A little bit less bitter, not sure if it’s the water temp or it’s just chilling out. Tasting orange pith. Astringency is still there and not feeling great. 4th steep (12s, reboiled): Still getting a little bit of urine smell but mostly just wet earth/wood/grass. God, why am I still drinking this? My mouth is so dry. Bitterness is manageable at this point but it is still so astringent. Getting some cigarette ash notes.

I might do as Matu suggested and use this as pick practice.

“2004 Yang Ping Hao Kong Que Zhi Xiang (ripe)” as a gift from Liquid Proust included in the Pubertea group buy.
Shou really isn’t something I’m nearly as confident describing in depth as sheng, so I can’t give a great deal of insight into this tea. At 13 years old, this is also the oldest shou I’ve drank by 5 years or so meaning it is uncharted territory for me. I tried drinking a more recent cake yesterday appearing to have a roughly equal level of fermentation to it for comparison, and this older shou had less astringency/bitterness to it. There may have been a chocolate like sweetness to this, but I don’t know that that’s quite the right word to describe it. Imagine a very strongly brewed, decent quality shou with the slight bitterness present when steeped aggressively being replaced with a milder form of aged sheng profile. That’s the closest description I could come up with.
Overall this was a pleasant tea to drink over the course of 8 or 9 steeps. While there wasn’t a whole lot going on as far as fragrance at any point, the flavor hardly weakened from steep 1 until the end. I likely could have got 2+ more cups out of this, and I may go back tomorrow to ride the sample out.

Had the ball from the pubertea group buy today. I can’t remember if that was a “surprise” from LP or if I just can’t remember what the mterial there was. Either way, I enjoyed this one a lot. This was probably my favorite tea from that buy so far. No idea what the material here was or quality, but i thought this was great. The ball took a good three steps before it really opened up at all, but steeps 4-7 were fantastic. This had a sweater than the YQH and EOT stuff and was very easy to chug cup after cup. It didn’t last horribly long, and got to pretty mellow steeps a bit earlier than I would have liked for how good the mid stages were, but I also hit the first couple rinses/steeps fairly hard to get the ball opened up.
Also, this ball had enormous in tact leaves in it for being a rolled ball. Yeah there was chopped up stuff here and there, but several huge stems with two leaves and a bud each. That alone tells me this was much nicer than your average chopped up factory scraps used for many pu balls.

Enjoyed some lazers today from a friend. Unfortunately I should have taken better notes on the flavor, but a few things stand out. There were some seriously huge intact leaves in this sample. No dust, no fragments, all enormous full leaves. This was also a pretty powerful tea that kept going for many, many steeps. I didn’t count, but it had to have been at least 18-20.

First Pubertea tasting!
I debated not putting up any thoughts on this session as it was very lackluster, and only decided to describe it here after the last couple steeps. Anyways, here’s my first crack at the aged group buy teas: the 2006 YQH QiXiang.
I steeped roughly 5 g’s in an English tea cup using a mesh basket so this was very dilute compared to normal puer preparation. For this reason the first five or six steeps were basically warm water with zero flavor even after the leaves opened up a bit. Becoming frustrated with wasting part of my sample of such a nice tea I started pushing the steeps hotter and longer trying to get notes of something. I got a few generic aged notes from steeps 6/7-11 or so before finally getting what I wanted. By this point I was to fairly long boiling steeps and finally got to know what the tea was about. Even being so dilute and well steeped this tea became a pleasant surprise. The quality material showed itself in these long, hot steeps. A pleasant mouthfeel and thickness was present coating my teeth and leaving a smooth sweetness. I could see this tea giving a good tea drunk feeling with more leaf in less water as I felt a little of this effect late into the day after 16 or so cups. This could also make the tea more interesting hopefully as from what I tasted this tea had a good texture and lingering feeling in the mouth but a very one dimensional taste.

A couple of weeks ago, I posted about the milk tea I had at Crimson Teas tea shop. Well, I’ve been craving that milk tea—a big mug of full strength Ceylon with evaporated milk and a spoon of brown sugar— since then. Today, I stopped in to have some. Omgoshwow! Really really good.

I predict that the next time an out of town tea fren comes to visit, this will be one of our stops during our walking tour.

Where are you, Dexter?

http://www.crimsonteas.com