244 Tasting Notes

finished up my sample of this today.

4.5g, 100mL duanni, Brita filtered tap, boiling, 2 rinses as before.

think it’s been dehydrated since the last time, as the ziploc bag plastic zipper broke, but anyways not too bad. Realizing now that dehydration of ripe samples was why they all initially tasted more or less the same to me when i started drinking puer (even given that ripes generally have less complexity than raws). Sure, dehydrated ripe does better than dry sheng, but the notion that RH isn’t an important consideration for ripes is really a disservice to beginners who don’t know better.

Stronger bitterness the first steep. Generally good texture, and more of the slight sweet milkiness I noted last time in second steep. There was a bit of a caramel-like note as well in that steep. Other than that, not very exciting, similar to last time.

Verdict: Nice daily drinker level ripe.

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Thanks to Tykal for the sample!

6.3g, 100ml duanni, boiling, filtered Brita tap. 2 quick rinses with a few minutes in between. Mixed steep times. Some nice milky aftertaste that disappeared after the 2nd steep, which I had with second rate vodka sauce pizza during lunch, which may or may not be pertinent, perhaps a confounding variable. Dunno. Nice caffeine kick for today, basic woody shou aspects, slight medicinal notes and bitterness at some points. Nothing else really stuck out to me about it. Not a tea to call home about (and to be fair, rarely will a tea to call home about be shou puer), but a decent daily drinker for the price, were it still available.

edit: Hm. The overnight thermos of was more on the boring flat end of the spectrum.

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TShop Old Bush Shui Xian

Read last night that higher end of acceptable TDS (~100) works better for oolong so testing that on a pretty pricey sample… Yancha is a rich man’s game.

My Brita filter needs to be replaced, but TDS readings at about 96 last night when I checked. I would normally brew pricier things with Poland Spring just because I don’t like the tap here, but thought this might be interesting. Also, Nestle is an awful corporation to support, but PS is very affordable for cheap, decent water relative to the other options at the store.

212f, YS 60 mL gaiwan (45 mL functional volume (i.e. volume in cup) normally with ~2.5g of puer), 4.2g

Dry leaf has nice roasted hint and similar in warmed gaiwan. Maybe slight hazelnut chocolate-y aspect. Something bready, maybe creamy about it as well. Or maybe my nose is off since a lot of things have seemed like that lately. Wet leaf is pretty standard for roast, not as sweet as gaiwan lid
Steeps varied; didn’t time

First steep is a sugary taste, as well as the minty/soapy aftertaste that I’ve been associating with these teas, and transitions into something vaguely reminding me of celery sticks, if there was a certain floral aspect tagged on as well. Guess those must be the mineral taste mentioned in the descriptor
2nd: roast is very upfront, mixed aftertaste after like before from celery to crisp sugar to sometimes crushed mint. Decent texture. Something very floral, osmanthus reminiscent tinged medicinal slight bitter in taste. Sweetness in aftertaste lingers on tongue and in throat, with slight floral aspect. If this is an aspect of yanyun, I think this hits it.
3rd: roast less upfront. More obvious floral and slight bitter medicinal aspect. Aftertaste still has the soapy/mint aspect. Slight floral and sweetness in throat, less strong than before, but still lingers.
4th: some roast, a broad sweet floral taste. Lighter aftertaste.
5th: slight sharpness to roast. Sweet taste. Celery and soapy aspect to aftertaste
6th: sweet floral.
7th: longer steep brings out slight sourness and astringency before turning into a minty aftertaste. Stopped here. Will thermos remainder
Cold cup from part of first cup cooled: tastes like chocolate. Not particularly strong in any aspect of aftertaste, only slight crushed mint

Onto Poland spring water. 46 TDS today. Same gaiwan and parameters, maybe .1g less? Scale has been moody lately.

First steep: roast taste only. Aftertaste is strong sugar, then the crushed mint that I’ve come to be familiar with.

Second steep: also strong roast taste, some sour aspect. This is pathetic. Some of the crushed mint aspect lingers, combining with the roast on the front of the tongue, but nothing like what it was before. Some harsh, acrid aspect.

3rd: Harsh and sharp, flat. Crushed mint dominant on aftertaste. Will stop here and thermos the rest for another day.

I wasn’t able to finish the second session, being thrown off by the extreme difference. This was also more than enough caffeine today, considering that I have to finish up a thermos of yesterday’s shou too. Aside from that, finding that the PS almost completely hollowed out the tea, leaving mainly the roast and a sour ish aspect and crushed mint in aftertaste, with none of the complexity from the tap. This also explains why almost every oolong I’ve taken notes on appears to shift within the same narrow profile (I’ve been using PS for every oolong and most “nicer” teas I took notes for, just to keep things consistent) and also why my notes on some appear to differ from ones I’ve seen people post online for teas from say TXS and ORT. I’m distraught at all the roasted oolongs that I feel like I’ve wasted now… Another lesson to take tasting notes with a grain of salt I guess. Knowing myself, I can almost certainly guarantee that I would’ve grumbled here about this being $2.25/g for the sample if I’d brewed it the way I normally do. Sad, yet lesson learned.

edit: thermos with the partly used leaves from PS water and the spent ones with filtered water. It had a slight sharp bitterness from the roast, reminding me of something like coffee. Some of the aftertaste was intact, though slight. Aroma was nice. So not too much of an exception here; I find that only aged oolongs do well thermos’d.

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drank 1995 Anxi Tieguanyin by Wistaria
244 tasting notes

1.7g, 16oz Zojirushi thermos, boiling, Brita filtered tap. Faded roasted note integrates with slight plum here to give an aroma and taste of gingerbread cookies! Unexpected, but not complaining. Wonder if storing in the same container I used for the 1976 BaoZhong did something to it. Not as warming as before (ratio in effect?), but slightly relaxing. Muted mint in aftertaste. Finding that I enjoy these aged oolongs more at a lighter ratio, for the most part. Less of the medicinal character and more straightforward sweetness, so less complexity than before, but still interesting enough to keep it enjoyable.

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Probably not going to write detailed notes for this one again since I did it once and lost them. That was my first time trying YQH, and it was a sample from LP. I was quite enamored by that inital session and caked it not too long after. Having tried it again yesterday, I definitely would not have made the same decision if I could go back in time. It’s not that I think this is tuition tea. This is enjoyable for its own reasons (qi is pretty pleasant, not as intense as I remember some other YQHs being), but downsides are the relative lack of complexity and change from steep to steep and needs pushing a few steeps in. Forced (I.e. pushed long steeps) bitterness doesn’t resolve to be as sweet as I’d like, but this is also in the context of some particularly sweet non-puer lately. I’ve been trying not to look at teas always in terms of cost and moreso context, but I really cannot wholly divorce the two. Taste and preference are subjective of course, but I really think there are better options at this price point. I would 100% not pay what I paid for it again, and I’m not sure I can recommend caking this even at the current sale price from LP, which brings it to about 50c/g. Agree with a tea friend that this is a very pretty cake though!

Now that I’ve sold everyone on this with my lukewarm review, if anyone ever finds themself interested in buying half a cake, I’m happy to split mine. LOL

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According to XZH yearbook pics online, the material for this cake was a blend of LBZ (“老班章古茶園”), Yiwu (“易武正山”), and Guang Bie Lao Zhai (“廣別老寨古茶園”). No idea what the last one is, but BabelCarp says it’s “a small puercha growing village in the Hekai [tea mountain]”.

6.4g, 90 mL gaiwan, Brita filtered tap, boiling, 15s rinse.

Was going to write out notes for this, but I don’t think I’ll bother. Dominant medicinal flavor and warming effect, no grogginess. Needs some pushing a few steeps in. I can’t describe the medicinal taste well, but it’s another one of the TCM ailment cures that I remember having often as a kid. Okay aftertaste, sometimes particularly sweet. Some mushroominess. I can’t account for whether it’s placebo or not, but the LBZ may have contributed to a focusing effect. Who knows.

Purchased from some forum for something like $200 a while back for a mostly intact cake. The wrapper is extremely bug bitten and tea oil stained, but seems to have had milder storage overall. I have not seen any other English reviews on this tea, so possibly an underwhelming and overlooked production. Name translated into English would be something along the lines of “Choice formula/prescription”.

Liquour is a clean orange-yellow; rinse had quite a bit of saponins. Not too shabby a purchase considering Tony Chen’s stupidly high price annual price raises, but this wasn’t terribly enjoyable of a session. Will toss this back into Mylar and see what happens. Have heard mostly mixed reviews re: long-term XZH ageability, but this wasn’t enjoyable enough for me to want to try it again, much less finish it in the short-term.

derk

Yunnan Sourcing sells a Guang Bie Lao Zhai cake.

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Cake purchased from MrMopar. Haven’t ever taken detailed notes for this one. Remember enjoying it when I first tried it. The strong trad storage has really calmed it, and it was my first taste of trad stored sheng. I believe it was in drier storage afterwards.

The second time was several months later, which in the interim had been sitting in a Mylar with a 72 Boveda and some other samples. Not sure what that did to it, but it was notably bitter and much stronger than the first time.

This time was more calm, as I’ve pried off a bit and was airing off in a container (which I realized was not airtight…). There’s occasionally a nice sweet aftertaste on this in the early steepings, as well as some pepper-y notes that remind me of shou pu. Late steeps taper off into strong beets/geosmin taste (years in drier storage were not able to offset the effects of heavy trad storage). I seem to remember some mushroom-y notes as well. Can’t say it’s too complex, but perfectably comfortable daily drinker and in that price range (<25c/g).

Might add notes when the smaller session packs I’ve bundled are rehydrated if there’s notable change.

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drank Trust #2 by Liquid Proust Teas
244 tasting notes

An interesting last thermos with this tea. I gifted about half of what I had, and don’t regret doing so, but I will miss it. I had all but written it off as an exemplary showcase of the plum note in aged oolongs the last few times, a near tea note soliflore of sorts. Today it was a delightfully smoky, darker, and more complex version of its usual self, and strongly warming. This tea is generally consistently gently warming, but today I felt like I was burning up. Surprisingly erratic and strong today, including in the plummy aftertaste. I did have a different session (7.1g/90mL) of a Rou Gui in the morning, so perhaps I overextended myself in what I can really handle.

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boiling, Brita filtered tap, 3.1g in 80 mL shibo, 20s steeps, 1,2, 3 (10s), 4 (10s), 5th (10s), 6,7,8, 9 – 16 (untimed)

initially, strong medicinal aspect underneath the hongcha malt. Nice floral sweet aftertaste.
some steeps have a sharp bitterness that is quick, but unpleasant. Another steep is soapy.
9 and 10 taste like soapy sugar water but in a pleasant way
11 brings back the sharpness. I don’t know what it is exactly but not pleasant
12 is back to sugar water.
13-15: all the same at this point. it’s like when you keep steeping green tea and it just tastes like vegetable water, except this is a tad sweet
16 was a bit drying. Finally done.

Maybe I’ll actually take the temperature down a notch next time, since I didn’t appear to listen to my own advice to brew with a lighter hand last time I took notes on this. This was okay, but certainly isn’t winning any competitions any time soon. I don’t know how people brew hwang cha, so maybe I’m evaluating it unfairly, I don’t know.

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smell isn’t too interesting, just the roast basically. boiling, Brita filtered tap, 1.8g in 16 oz thermos, 2 quick rinses. The taste is just of the roast. Something like a lite version of the Zhang Hui Chun Strongest Roast from EoT; around the same price (40c/g for this, 44c/g for the EoT version assuming you aren’t bulk purchasing). Very slight minty aftertaste. It’s not bad, but if you’re looking for an aged oolong, like I was, you can’t taste it here. None of the usual plummy or caramel notes. If you’re just looking for a strong roast that doesn’t kill the tea though, this is okay. The EoT ZHC SR is richer and worth the 4c/g premium. I disagree that it steeps out for a long time; it didn’t for me. Got about one refill out of this, and I generally get much more. I don’t think not rinsing vs. rinsing should’ve affected it that much.

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Just a chronicle of a stranger’s tea journey. Keeping old notes up to see progression, but no longer really believe in all of them. Trying to learn!!

As of 4/21/21, I will no longer assign numerical ratings to a tea unless it is terrible enough to warrant one. There are a fair amount of solid teas out there, and reading mildly subjective reviews from others > very subjective numerical rating that gets skewed by Steepster’s calculating system anyway.

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