25 Tasting Notes

I got this a few months ago with the 2011 sampler and forgot about it but the video on it reminded me. This is a really nice tea. Scott’s description is pretty spot on – camphor, wood, and sweetness followed by spice and dried fruit aftertaste. I’m not getting any bitterness at all unlike him but this tea definitely holds my interest. I can definitely taste a lot of similarities with the Gong Ting version but I want to say that that one was sharper in flavor. I’ll have to order samples of the two newer pressings of the Man Tang Hongs as I really like whatever that fermentation master is doing.

Flavors: Camphor, Dried Fruit, Spices, Wood

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This tea is exactly as advertised – sweet, light, and smooth. It even tastes a lot like brown sugar. That said, I don’t really enjoy this tea. It just doesn’t hold my interest. It is really nice grandpa style though, more mineral notes.

Flavors: Brown Sugar, Sweet, Wood

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Just finished my sample so I feel like it is time to do a final review on it. Dry leaf has quite a bit of gold to it and opens up to fairly burly leaf. The aromatics of this tea are all around great – dark, bitter chocolate with occasional hints of spice. Similar in both dry and wet leaf but once wet I can make out a bit of pile funk. Taste varies depending on how hard I leafed this. There is a very clear sweet spot where the mouthfeel is best and the taste doesn’t punch you in the face. I’ve had some of the 2011 production and age will definitely make this a nonissue though. Anyway, tasting notes are primarily dark chocolate though spice notes come in later alongside some medicinal cherry flavors. There is a fair bit of pile taste in the early infusions but I only do a brief rinse and honestly, it makes the tea a more interesting experience to me. Qi is pretty intense and sheng-like but not overwhelming. Mouthfeel is one of the best parts of this for me. Though some of the first infusions can be almost chalky, once this gets going it has a very slippery oily mouthfeel. Aftertaste is lasting and interesting. This is a great purchase now for aging or if you like intense young shou but many people will probably want to wait a while to drink it. I’m planning on grabbing a bing or two though to drink when I get a taste for something strong.

Flavors: Cherry, Dark Bittersweet, Dark Chocolate, Medicinal, Pumpkin Spice, Spices

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98

I drank this twice in the last two days – once in a porcelain gaiwan and again in a Jianshui pot. The smell of the dry leaf isn’t super impressive, mostly dark chocolate with lots of undercurrents going on that I couldn’t make out. Wet, more aromas come out – dark chocolate with a bright cherry medicinal note. The tea soup also carries a very strong aroma. The leaves are also super burly, probably the most impressive I’ve seen in a shou. Glen recommends 2-4 rinses for this at the moment but I did one for 10 seconds and besides a faint off flavor in the first cup it was fine. The off flavor wasn’t even unpleasant. The first infusions are slightly bitter with a very strong sweet mineral aftertaste. The flavors are very complex and hard to describe but there is a cherry medicinal note that dominates the session and like I said in my first tasting of this it is nothing like cough syrup. I also occasionally get cinnamon like spice notes. The mouthfeel is very nice, super oily and lubricating with a mint like cooling sensation. The qi is also very intense like a young sheng. Honestly, my only possible complaint is price but what can you do about that? I think that if you are willing to pay that much for a tea period, that this is more than worth it especially if you are really into shou like myself.

Flavors: Cherry, Medicinal, Pumpkin Spice, Wood

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Just finished up my first session. The dry leaf is actually pretty unique with a very clean refreshing aroma of petrichor and spearmint. Wet, it loses the spearmint but the petrichor holds strong with additions of brown sugar and clean damp wood deep in the forest. Taste opens up with petrichor, wood, and a mineral vegetal taste (similar to tastes brought out by Jianshui clay). As I get more steepings in the vegetal taste becomes more mineral and then dry wood. Medicinal tastes pop up occasionally and when pushed in later infusions the tea isn’t sweet though still not bitter. The mouthfeel is great – slippery and oily right off the bat with just enough astringency to produce tingling. Overall, I’m pleasantly surprised. The later infusions do lack a bit of complexity but this is a huangpian and the earlier infusions are not lacking in any way.

Flavors: Brown Sugar, Mineral, Petrichor, Wood

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