Yang Qing Hao

This is a very good tea and an excellent example of YQH quality productions. It is an authentic single origin Yiwu gushu. This is the first of the 2004 season’s premium Yiwu harvest – a Pre-Qing Ming or Yu Qian tea. Nice whole leaves. Fair amount with stems attached to one or two whole leaves. Sweet, smooth and silky with a very balanced taste and no astringency detected at all. It is worth noting that there is a blend of tobacco and old leather sweetness throughout the session (albeit more dominant in the early sessions). Definite sense of chaqi hitting by the 3rd cup. Overall this tea yields a more delicate, light tasting soup (i.e., not thick) – very appealing and enjoyable to me but not a complex heavyweight. Since the tea is on the lighter side, you can push it without fear. On one steeping, I intentionally used half the water and it still produced a delicious cup which was definitely thicker than the previous cups. A final comment on the tea’s longevity – this is an impressively durable tea. I’ve steeped it 10 times now (during 2 sessions) and the leaves are not yet fully open and my longest steep time has been 15 seconds. These leaves have much to offer!

6.5g in a 85~ ml shibo. If you read the description of this tea, the wrapper is labeled “wonderous fragrance” which couldn’t be more accurate. I received the tea in it’s original box still wrapped in plastic. Soon as I lifted the cover off the box, while the tea was still wrapped in plastic the aroma hit me right in the face. Obviously removing the plastic and wrappers ( yes two on this cake for some reason, works for more though, both are thin and I’m already a master of tearing them) only intensified the strong smell. I thought to myself that I’d like to tape it to my face and walk around all day with it. Enough on aroma for now just wanted to say a bit about it as it was very pleasant and strong.

Into shibo it goes and I start my normal routine. Quick rinse which I use to heat up my pitcher and cup. I take a sip to get some idea of whats going on. Due to compression the rinse is light but the flavor is already pretty good. I give the the tea a couple minutes to steam /loosen up and then begin to doing flash brews. First few steeps continue to remain light in body and taste getting a little stronger with each one but they give you signs of whats to come. First, while the taste is light its not lacking complexity in the slightest. Sweet fruit, vanilla, plums, some cups even had an extra layer of an almost strawberry flavor, ummmmm YUMMY! to say the least. No bitterness or astringency in this but I also didn’t push it too hard. After taste was not the strongest but was full mouthed, in the throat and I could still taste it almost 2 hours after stopping. Second, there is some serious no joke Qi going on here. Strong feeling in the throat. Someone else has said they can almost feeling it drip down and I agree with them 100%. That throat feel continues into the chest and stomach. Very warming as well, full body sweats from forehead to shins, I think its almost needless to say but I was very very tea drunk. The feeling was closer to the effects LBZ has had on me instead of the normal yiwu calm and relaxation. Third, this tea steeps forever and not only that but the flavor and qi never really subsided. I got 20+ out of this and could have gotten 3 or 4 more longish steeps before another couple really long ones. My initial session was about 12 cups before I took a break. Came back to it a few hours later to finish it up and the taste was still full, complex and the Qi was still full force. I’m not sure that I’ve had any tea deliver Qi of that level 15+ steeps in.

In general the body is not overly thick like some of the more modern teas of high quality. The taste is light but really good, need to pay attention when drink this. So this is not perfect but what does well it does exceptionally well. Right now this can be acquired for $275, so right around .50 cents a gram. I think that if you’re in the market for quality eastern banna tea then you really can’t beat this at that price. To elaborate a bit further, it’s cheaper than both Bosch and Tuhao from White2tea. Those are some good teas, I own both and I don’t want to sound like I’m knocking them but they aren’t in the same league as this in terms of durability, Qi and complexity. That and it’s got a decade of good storage on it! This is one I am without a doubt going to be “hitting with a hammer”