63 Tasting Notes

96

This is a very, very good tea. This one we tasted before purchasing and my wife was insistent on buying a cake. Sorry I didn’t get the chance to put the picture up, as it has a decent wrapper. Maybe later, I’ll figure that out.

I’ve drunk this several times. Only one time did I errantly steep incorrectly, i.e., too long, which produced a bitter an unremarkable brew.

Now to the brew done right. The times were 15s/15s/15s/15s/30s/1m.

Round #1: The potent cha-qi is evident immediately. Long-jing notes, floral and round in the mouth, hints of black pepper and citrus. Touch of tannin which is a nice compliment.

Round#2: More of the Long-jing taste, less floral immediate taste but more floral huigan.

Round #3: Sweeter and sweeter.

Round #4: Sweeter still.

Round #5: The liquor grows lighter caste, though never is it intense. Don’t let that deceive you. Pleasant citrus aroma, with a taste of lime. Mild tannins. Still floral. The huigan is outstanding. Just waiting a minute or two and you notice your mouth feels full of flowers, polite sweet flowers, not bawdily unctuous like jasmine or tinged with a bitterness like rose. Flowers I can’t place.

Round #6: Blend of sweetness and mellow tannins, floral finish that just stays and stays.

Flavors: Flowers, Lemon Zest, Peppercorn

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 0 min, 15 sec 5 tsp 6 OZ / 177 ML
mrmopar

Glad I am not the only one that gets the peppercorn taste notes in puerh. Yum jingmai has some nice tea coming from it.

Yang-chu

I notice it more in a variety of Moonlight White that I have, the pepper taste.

Parsifal

I agree on the peppercorn notes… doesn’t happen all the time but sometimes there is a hidden smokey spice that seems to make me think peppercorns. Cigarette ash is another I am reluctant to use because it repulses some… but it is for sure a flavor in pu erh. Great tasting note btw :)

Yang-chu

Glad you liked it. I tried to place for a big order, but it sold out. I’ll be getting in a number from the same company in late Oct, pm me if you want any samples.

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

61

If you’re a cha-qi junkie then this tea is nothing to sneeze at, but are we, fellow tea-lover, more than just about a power buzz?

I think that’s why I must have rated it so highly, the buzz. I just brewed up a pot of some bitsy stuff that I had sitting out, to see if I could mellow it out in later steeps. Well see.

The colour is what I’d liken to tarnished silver, the colour of champagne.

Did I mention the qi? It gets all in your muscles. Warmth from deep inside works its way up around the chest. It creeps up on you. I’m 2/3rds through my first brewing of 6 oz.

There are some teas that should definitely not be drunk on an empty stomach. This is one. I started in after breakfast of an omelet made with leeks, shitake, and ginger and some toast.

It’s jasmine, of course it’s floral.

You really have to be in a particular mood for jasmine, certainly I do. This tea is a good pick me up, but really small doses.

I steeped this first round for 10s. Still lots of tannins. I’m certainly not going to put this in a zi-sha and ruin the zi-sha container. It may whip those tannins into shape but it’s not worth losing the container.

Bitter too. All those tastes become much more apparent as it cools. Attacks the tongue. Floral and tannic finish. I might consider blending this with something. It’s too much imho even for the small amount I used. The bitsy stuff isn’t very pretty either. I’ll see if that’s something I did as I work more into the cake.

Anyway, it’s getting downgraded. A cooler temp is also definitely in order. I’ll continue to play around to see how good I can get at this one.

Flavors: Flowers, Tannin

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 0 min, 15 sec 3 g 4 OZ / 118 ML

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

84

Not all of the teas I purchased in Kunming last year 2013 were tasted. I didn’t even open this one to take a look. This puppy is very tightly packed and was wet stored, manifesting those bits of “white frost” that made me a bit apprehensive.

Anyway, among the teas I purchased, which were mostly minis because I’m mainly endeavoring to get patients to drink tea for matters related to cholesterol, this one was the find, as I paid considerably less than what it was being retailed for online.

I busted into a bit of it almost immediately, as I wanted to know what justified the price. Well, I’d say its mellowness. It is visually beautiful, with many flecks of gold and brown throughout.

It had a taste that was light years more refined than the other other cakes. No flavours that challenged the drinker, no bitter, not floral, just sweet, mature ready for drinking immediately. This was not a tea that needed to be placed in a ceramic or zi-sha container. It was already drinkable.

Well, several months into the game, I decided to provide a systematic rundown. All told, I ran 8 or 9 infusions: 15s/15s/15s/20s/20s/20s/30s/1m/1m.

Round #1: Toasted marshmallow, smooth, gentle, liquor brassy yellow. Gentle is my first impression.

Round #2: Goldenrod liquor little floaties when held to the light, sweet aroma, tastes of marshmallow and vanilla, sweeter taste than Round #1, hint o’ bitter at the blade of tongue.

Round #3: Sweet marshmallow, bitter at back of throat, color is still intense.

Round #4: Hint of wet mold, bitterness arising, sweet taste, rich golden liquor.

Round #5: Lighter gold, more tannic, bitter, vanilla tannic finish.

Round #6: Lighter gold liquor, bitsy leaves with stems, bitter, sweet tannic. Small leaves.

Round #7 & 8: Lighter liquor cloudy, no sweetness, some tannins.

Over all, the tea is good possessing smells and flavors that I’d likely not associate with a raw puer. There’s no sense of smoke in this. As the infusions run on at the end, there’s more of the standard green-tea taste. I’m talking about the 7th-infusion or so. The wife and a patient had positive feedback as well.

Flavors: Vanilla

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 0 min, 15 sec 5 g 6 OZ / 177 ML

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

77

Ok, so I placed it in the zi-sha tea storage unit (guan) for two weeks and decided to try it out again since the weather has warmed up again. I don’t drink greens/raw unless the weather permits… all that cold not good for the stomach qi. Here goes…

Underwhelming. That’s my basic impression. I got 9 infusions before I just got bored. 15s/15s/15s/30s/30s/1m/1m/3m/3m, all at 195.

There was a world of difference in the taste since going into the zi-sha tea caddy (yeah that’s the word). All of the harshness of the tannins had essentially vanished. There were some, but they decreased by about 90%, becoming only evident after about fifth round.

Round #1: slight smoke, marshmallows, silvery liquor, vanilla, wee bit sweet, whispers of a certain metallic taste that I’m not too fond of.

Round #2: liquor more yellow, a hint of green, sweet vanilla taste, more metallic notes.

Round #3: liquor same color, itchy eyes.

Round #4: smokiness is really evident now, with slight soapy taste, liquor now quite yellow, more bitter, mellow, smoky, bitter, especially at the blade of the tongue.

Round #5: liquor is now more pale, smoky taste, a little soapy.

Round #6: bitter (finally), vanilla taste returns, smoky aftertaste.

Round #7: bitter but a roundness to the bitterness, no smokiness. liquor is still yellow.

Round # 8 &9: essentially the same. i didn’t note any new flavors.

It was nice to see how much storing the tea can affect its taste. In this case storing in the caddy for only two weeks changed this tea remarkably. It made it more pleasant in terms of tannins and “that metallic taste,” but it also seems that if it were to stay in the zi-sha much longer it will be even more characterless than it already strikes me.

I’d recommend this tea but probably not at this price. I really have only sampled pu-ers imported directly from China and this was the first I just purchased here at a tea event.

Flavors: Vanilla

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 0 min, 15 sec 4 g 6 OZ / 177 ML

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

86

This very rich Langhe mini is called “Chen Xiang,” meaning tangerine flavored. I can’t tell. What I can notice, however, is that it is a solid quality pu-er, very rich tasting that takes about 40oz of water to be become cashed. The cha-qi is in the 7 range, on a scale to 10.

This mini has a certain fullness that isn’t usually the case with minis. It’s an excellent product for those seeking to expand their pu-er repertoire, despite the absence of any tangerine flavor. Feels really good going down, especially on chilly days.

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 6 min, 0 sec
sansnipple

Pretty sure Chen Xiang means “aged aroma”, nothing to do with tangerines.

Yang-chu

you know you’re probably right, “陈” refers to both old and tangerine and being an herbalist, I just assumed that the chen was referring to the latter.
just looked it up and "’Chen Xiang’ (陈香) means ‘the smells that develop with ageing’. "
When I’ve seen other chen described cakes I never associated it with tangerine, but I must have been trippin’ in this case. Very good cake all the same. Thanks for the correction.

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

86

Minis often are less about the fine tasting experience as they are about getting oneself the power of pu-er. Such is the case with this mini, but among my collection this one stands out for its funk factor.

Now don’t get it twisted, I’m not talking about rank fishiness. I’ve landed at least one of those too. No, this has something to do with a certain intentionality, a boldness by the maker to have the fermentation find clear expression.

This pu-er brews rich and thick. Cha-qi is about a 6.5. Has an exceptional ability to calm the liver.

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 8 min or more

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

85

This is a very good pu’er. The Yunnan Sourcing site states something about an “off” taste, but that must have been at the time it came into his possession.

Anyway, we consider this our house brew, at least I do. It has a very strong, black tea like quality, hints of astringency, sweetness, and “wildness.” The cha-qi is very high and though this can be brewed for a long time, it is probably most enjoyable Chinese style, something like 30s/1m/1m/1m/2m.

I’ve had this tea for over a year and a half. It hasn’t changed as much as some of the others. It has a consistent quality from cup to cup.

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 0 min, 30 sec

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

74

I gave this mini to a patient of mine and she remarked that she felt she was on a mild narcotic all day. The cha-qi of this mini is decent. I’d give it about a 7 and a scale to 10. Can’t taste one lick of chrysanthemum in the brew, but might be there to enhance some of the liver treating properties of the tea itself.

This mini is another tea where it doesn’t much matter how long you steep it. The flavors don’t change much from one cup to the next traditional style. Therefore, it makes a good gift or “gateway” introduction to pu-er just based on the mellow taste that is both up-lifting while simultaneously grounding. Great for work too.

On the liver note, also, I should mention that I’ve had more than one patient report to me that certain complaints they were experiencing seemed to resolve after taking a course of these little gems. It’s not all about the taste, but also what it does for the body that makes these things so great.

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 3 min, 0 sec

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

73

I cut my teeth on this tuo and well what I can say is that it is the most diplomatic of pu’ers one could ever taste. This is to say that if diplomats are concerned about not offending anybody, then V93 2010 is the diplomat of pu’ers.

I like to cook with this in addition to drinking it mixed with other spices like ginger, dried long-gan, or rosebuds or even piloncillo. I don’t normally take my tea with sugar, mind you. I’ve also noticed that this is a very refreshing tea when drunk cold.

No errant flavors, but the depth of flavor itself seems to wane fairly quickly. I’d say this is a perfect tea for the person who likes to steep their tea for minutes and forget about it. A fine tea, but I cannot think of a time where I actually craved some V93.

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 1 min, 0 sec

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

86

I got this one about a year and a-half ago and it’s only getting better. It has such a rich roundness with just a hint of sweetness.

Lot’s of cooked pu-ers have a kind of tobacco, wet cardboard, with essence of molasses taste. After having drunk some richer varieties, and perhaps with age, the tobacco notes have become more attenuated. There is no sign of errant fishiness with this cake. The cha-qi might clock in at about a 6 on a scale of 1-10. It’s a grounding tea, a winter tea, something that would go most excellently with rich meals, like after all those sweet yams and turkey on Thanksgiving. It’s an top-notch aid to digestion.

As for brewing, I have two ways of going about it. The first is the technical pu-er fashion by giving it only a minute or so and pouring into a pitcher, but in the winter I like my tea hot, so I place a chunk into my 20oz thermos and drink at will. About half-way in, I’ll add more hot water, as the strength and quality of this Bo-you can more than accommodate 30-40oz of water. Maybe my serving size is bigger than 5g., but not much bigger. The tea is just that good.

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 1 min, 15 sec

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

Profile

Bio

I’ve been drinking Chinese tea since the early 90s when I was a student at Peking University.
My attention has focused on pu’ers, since by profession I’m a doctor of Chinese medicine and sometimes find it a useful lifestyle addition.
From there, I started importing, mostly for patients and other health professionals but also as an interesting hobby that can deepen individuals’ understanding of Chinese medicine.

Location

Los Angeles

Following These People

Moderator Tools

Mark as Spammer