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Addendum to my last tasting note:

I’ve tried many teas samples in between these two postings and I decided to purchase the entire cake based on the quality, uniqueness, and price. It’s a neat exercise to go back to earlier tasting notes while sipping on that same tea to compare current to previous flavor descriptions (and writing ability). The description still holds true.

Jim from the Puerh Shop claims it’s “truly grown wild”, and I think I can believe. It has that extra-long pleasant finish that fills the mouth and unique sharp edge (not astringent, but herbal and sweet at the same time) I’ve picked up in “wild” teas from other vendors. It’s also true that Jim doesn’t seem make that claim very often. Puerh Shop has gotten some bad press in the Western online puerh universe, but I won’t go into those issues.

The dry leaves are intact, attractive, and fragrant, and brewed leaves are olive green with an intoxicating orchid-like fragrance. It’s really quire remarkable. The tea liquid is a cloudy pale yellow and is thick in body. This tea is sweet, vegetal, flowery, medicinal, and packs a strong qi. It leaves a long gentle sweet finish and a pleasing sensation in the throat. This tea has that deep forest sweetness that I’ve come to associate with good quality sheng pu’ers.

Cake is very compact and is filled with fuzzy buds that are more stout than those from other regions. The dried leaf smells very sweet and the brewed leaf has a refreshing scent that reminds me of high quality Japanese sencha. It brews a golden hue that is somewhat cloudy. The tea is gently sweet with notes of crisp spring greens, plums, flowers, rock candy, and sweet wine. It has a very pleasant, flowery, and uplifting huigan (aftertaste) that lasts for at least 5 mins.

I actually prefer this tea to its 2014 Wuliang counterpart, which I find overwhelmingly sweet without that uplifting sensation of this tea.

This is a very impressive tea. It’s aging very gracefully, with no wet storage characteristics at all. It starts out very sweet with a sharpness in the background reminding you it’s a sheng, but one with a flavor that has matured into something very balanced and refined. This has a honey-like sweetness with notes of ripe plum, pine, bourbon, roasted barley, and flowers. The tea liquid is champagne in color the leaves are a golden olive hue, mostly intact, and highly fragrant. It starts to reveal its aged nuances in later steeps.

This is one of those hidden gems.

I’ve been wanting to try quality Wuliang sheng for a while and my samples just arrived last week.

I noticed my experience with this tea is quite different from previous reviews. I pick up barely any bitterness until the 5th steep. Dry leaf has a sweet, candy-like aroma and wet leaf has that musky, orchid-like, deep forest fragrance. The first few steeps have notes of sweet peach, honey, and tannin. It’s very smooth and leaves a pleasantly sweet finish lasting more than a few minutes. Following steeps are similar to the first one except gradually reveal subtle tobacco and woodsy notes. Prominent honey and ripe peach notes, with increasingly more tannin, minerals, and cedar wood in the 5th and 6th steeps. Astringency is minimal and the flavors continue to please past the 7th steep.

Honestly, I find this tea to be less interesting than those from the Lincang, Baoshan, and Dehong regions. I’m just not into very sweet teas. The 2014 Qing Mei Shan is just as sweet, but has a much more impressive aftertaste that I got me considering to put some money down. Also, despite its name, this one also doesn’t have that wild tea tree element YS’s other teas have, but it’s very enjoyable to drink now.

The cake itself fragrant. The fuzzy silvery buds are mostly intact, quite attractive, and can be easily picked off the cake. The tea has distinct notes of ripe Korean pear and honey. Later steeps reveal more interesting textures and subtle sweet/savory/nutty flavors. It’s very flowery and light with a velvety texture that may evolve with age.

The dry leaf is intact, attractive, and has a candy-like fragrance. The wet leaf is especially fragrant, reminding me of a wild orchid and sweet ripe plum (hence the name of the mountain where it’s from). The brew is pale bright yellow, pure in flavor, crisp, smooth buttery texture, very flowery, and sweet like candy-cane. I can walk away from this tea now and still taste it in my entire mouth and in my throat. Makes me wonder why people purchase expensive oolongs when you can get much more complexity and superior aftertaste from quality sheng like this one.

Upon trying this tea the day after it arrived, I noticed the smokiness overwhelmed all of its other nuances. I decided to return to it in a week or so. I find the flavor of teas change in a positive way after being broken into. After brewing it again 2 weeks later I realized I was right. This time the smoke was in the background and the savory, piney, honey-like, camphor, mineral, deep forest flavors showed themselves more prominently. The leaf aroma reminded me of other quality shengs I’ve tried. This tea definitely has a rustic quality that adds to its charm. I imagine it will only improve with age as the smokiness gives way to its true nature.

I decided to purchase MGH 1206 Green brick since the 1109 Mangfei and the 1214 Eco Big Tree left a good impression on me. Turns out this one is even better.

I’m using a yixing teapot dedicated to raw pu’er (the result differs with the type of brewing vessel). The wet leaves are have a pleasing flowery, honey-like fragrance. There’s no bitterness or smoke here. It has notes of ripe fruit, honey, camphor, minerals, thyme, and a very long sweet aftertaste that can last for 5 mins or more. Lots of good body with this one and a very pleasing feeling in the throat.

Honestly, I did not expect this to be THIS good, and I can’t believe how inexpensive it is ($9). I think I’m also better gauging the appropriate water-to-leaf ratio. Essentially more leaf (2 teaspoons), 5 sec short steeps with hot (non-boiling) water.

This isn’t like any tea I’ve ever tried. The brick is so dense it requires a chisel. For sure, this is not typical cultivated tea. The previous tasting note called this thing “Wild Child”. I don’t think I could’ve come up with a better name. I’m picking up deep forest flavors (something I love in sheng pu’er): pungent herbs, vegetal sweetness, pine, camphor, smoke, and pleasant tobacco notes (there is such a thing). I don’t detect any bitterness since I’m doing 5 second steeps. That said, DO NOT over brew this one. This one is full-bodied, interestingly textured, has a long aftertaste and strong cha qi, moving from the mouth down towards the gut and through the rest of the body after each sip. Given it’s potency and complexity, I’d say it would age nicely.