Lovely tea! Dried leaf: intact, attractive shapes, and are easily pried off the cake with a lovely floral fragrance. Wet leaves have a delicate wild flower aroma and are of a respectable olive green, nice and veiny. I normally taste the wash of teas I’ve been anticipating to try out.
The initial steeps have an upfront floral sweetness, cooling, tingly sensations, and almost spicy/nutty notes of raw/roasted brussel sprouts. Honestly, if there was a liquified form of honeysuckle it would taste like this. That kind of delicate but prominent floral note comes more to the fore as the tea soup thickens. The body on this is just wonderful and consistent through later steeps. It has a very pleasurable mouthfeel. There is strong cha qi that spreads to my core rather than to my head. Tea buzz sneaks in on the 3rd or so steep. Mid to later steeps are consistently honeysuckle-floral, wild flower honey, thick/velvety, and tingly/cooling, with that good kind of bitterness I look for in pu’er.
I’ve tried this with my gaiwan and yixing. The sweetness seems to be somewhat enhanced with the yixing, but not by much. The honeysuckle and vegetal notes are more obvious when using the gaiwan. The tea remains active in the mouth for a while after drinking. I can’t get enough of that mouthfeel and tingly sensation! I ended up purchasing two cakes.
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Nice. I like this one a lot too. One of the two 2015 teas I actually bought.
Yeah, it’s an active tea, and very comfortable to drink. I’m very curious how it will age. It has almost the same body-affect on me as the Qing Mei Shan, only this one really gets to my core. I suspect this is a trait unique to gu shu cha. Which 2015 tea did you purchase? I picked up a cake of the Da Hu Sai—now that’s a powerful tea!
If I recall correctly, those two were a bit too strong for me to drink. The Huangshan had the best balance and offered the smoothest experience with my parameters of course.. I also like the Da Qing, but ended up going with this one.
I picked up this and a pair of Bosch. Also own a Little Walk, but that was more of a blind buy for immediate drinking.
Yes, I don’t blame you. The Da Hu Sai’s cha qi is on the edge of overwhelming for me, but I find it’s strength combined with those bitter/tobacco/nutty Mengku flavors a nice contrast to a lot of my teas. The Qing Mei Shan is also powerful, but in a more gentler way, I felt. I’ve read favorable reviews of Bosch and Little Walk, but they’re out of my budget. :( I’ll be on the look for your reviews on those two.
Tasting is such a subjective experience, yet it’s funny how much we care about others’ reviews. I’m certainly guilty of trolling for Steepster notes!
Yeah. The Bosch is a really nice cake.. I think YS does a great job in that $0.15/g-$0.30/g range. 400g cakes is a good amoutn of tea.
Been gravitating more towards teas with 5-7 years of age these days. Many less options, but I have increasing doubts how well these teas will age into something I like in the future.
I’ll also add that I tend to let my young cakes sit around.. A further reason for this trend.
Agreed. I’ve been looking for decent mid-aged teas to collect, as well. Something easy to drink that won’t empty my wallet (wishful thinking, I know). Have you tried the EoT 2006 Wild Peacock or any of YS’s semi-aged Shuangjiang Mengku band teas?
Yep. I filmed an ep with the Wild Peacock a few weeks back. It’s a good tea for the value. Soft, smooth, everything I’d like in a daily drinker. If you’re interested in it you should hop on it soon. I think there’s only a few left.
Shuangjiang Mengku. Haven’t tried the YS ones but I can vouch for the 2005 Mushucha available on Houde. Very good value if you like Northern teas. Only three left there though.
From YS, my favorite semi-aged for the price is probably the 02 Ancient Spirit.
Speaking of EoT, there’s currently a 20% Jan-wide sale on selected items. I still haven’t tried any of their teas, but I’ve heard so many good things about their teas from people with reliable taste-buds that I think I might just take a chance. Unfortunately, and rightfully so, the 2006 Wild Peacock isn’t included.
Yep. Mainly good stuff there. I’m not too familiar with any of the stuff on sale.. But the Green Peacock and Wild Peacock are very solid teas.
Nice. I like this one a lot too. One of the two 2015 teas I actually bought.
Yeah, it’s an active tea, and very comfortable to drink. I’m very curious how it will age. It has almost the same body-affect on me as the Qing Mei Shan, only this one really gets to my core. I suspect this is a trait unique to gu shu cha. Which 2015 tea did you purchase? I picked up a cake of the Da Hu Sai—now that’s a powerful tea!
If I recall correctly, those two were a bit too strong for me to drink. The Huangshan had the best balance and offered the smoothest experience with my parameters of course.. I also like the Da Qing, but ended up going with this one.
I picked up this and a pair of Bosch. Also own a Little Walk, but that was more of a blind buy for immediate drinking.
Yes, I don’t blame you. The Da Hu Sai’s cha qi is on the edge of overwhelming for me, but I find it’s strength combined with those bitter/tobacco/nutty Mengku flavors a nice contrast to a lot of my teas. The Qing Mei Shan is also powerful, but in a more gentler way, I felt. I’ve read favorable reviews of Bosch and Little Walk, but they’re out of my budget. :( I’ll be on the look for your reviews on those two.
Tasting is such a subjective experience, yet it’s funny how much we care about others’ reviews. I’m certainly guilty of trolling for Steepster notes!
Yeah. The Bosch is a really nice cake.. I think YS does a great job in that $0.15/g-$0.30/g range. 400g cakes is a good amoutn of tea.
Been gravitating more towards teas with 5-7 years of age these days. Many less options, but I have increasing doubts how well these teas will age into something I like in the future.
I’ll also add that I tend to let my young cakes sit around.. A further reason for this trend.
Agreed. I’ve been looking for decent mid-aged teas to collect, as well. Something easy to drink that won’t empty my wallet (wishful thinking, I know). Have you tried the EoT 2006 Wild Peacock or any of YS’s semi-aged Shuangjiang Mengku band teas?
Yep. I filmed an ep with the Wild Peacock a few weeks back. It’s a good tea for the value. Soft, smooth, everything I’d like in a daily drinker. If you’re interested in it you should hop on it soon. I think there’s only a few left.
Shuangjiang Mengku. Haven’t tried the YS ones but I can vouch for the 2005 Mushucha available on Houde. Very good value if you like Northern teas. Only three left there though.
From YS, my favorite semi-aged for the price is probably the 02 Ancient Spirit.
Speaking of EoT, there’s currently a 20% Jan-wide sale on selected items. I still haven’t tried any of their teas, but I’ve heard so many good things about their teas from people with reliable taste-buds that I think I might just take a chance. Unfortunately, and rightfully so, the 2006 Wild Peacock isn’t included.
Yep. Mainly good stuff there. I’m not too familiar with any of the stuff on sale.. But the Green Peacock and Wild Peacock are very solid teas.