YQH Longtuan Fengmei
Thanks to Tykal for the sample!
5.3g, 90mL gaiwan, Brita filtered tap, boiling
Dry leaf isn’t strong, or my perfume today is overwhelming everything else
10s rinse
Wet leaf: initially a hint of the YQH mushroominess, but then quite clean and the usual berry hint and slight smoke of mid aged sheng. Some darker woody aspect as well
5s: slight bitterness dissolving into a bright fruity sweetness. Something about that aftertaste reminds me of
finishing an orange or clementine, though it doesn’t stick for long
12s: some tongue numbing, grassy aspect to taste, but otherwise similar. Mostly mild. A bit slowing, and a bit of a throat aftertaste. Can see why Mattcha calls it cooling
25s: medicinal taste, but not especially bitter. Some sweetness in the throat. Same mild orange like finish in aftertaste.
Untimed: woody medicinal and some bitter notes. Also, agree with Mattcha’s honey and black licorice notes. This tea is more subtle and lighter in taste than the other YQHs which seem to fluctuate within a narrow spectrum. Bit of a heady feeling here.
KamJoved remainder since it’s midterm season. From what i remember, the slight melon note can pop up here and there, as well as some of the usual YQH mushroom, but in a much more delicate way than usual. I don’t know what the deal is with this cake, like if it’s because it’s young or what, but at moments, delicate and refined seemed apt for this tea, and that is not a descriptor I would use for a single other YQH I’ve tried. As Marco has reviewed somewhere, YQH taste tends to shift within a narrow range. But this is very different from typical YQH. Feeling-wise, it seems a bit unfocused and not too comfortable, but not sure what is just me vs. tea. I did eat beforehand, but had all the symptoms of an almost immediate, sharp blood sugar drop and had to take a break from the paper I was reading on the side since I couldn’t focus at all.
Overall I liked this tea. It tends to be on the lighter side, and notes are more subtle vs. the generally broad and darker YQH tastes. So do I like it enough to cake? Last September, I was quoted $260 USD from a different Taiwanese seller, before currency exchange, shipping, and logistics costs. At $260, I would cake it without hesitation, though it’s not really worth the hassle to me of doing so + given my backlog of other cheap teas to finish off, so I won’t. At the current $450 (90c/g) pricetag from Emmett, absolutely not. One likes what they do, sure, but this certainly does not feel worth near $500.
