111 Tasting Notes
So I’m new to rock oolongs and high quality oolongs in general (have had a few taiguanyins in the past but never got big into them) having spent the last 2 decades drinking black tea and getting hooked on sheng a year ago. When I first sampled this tea, it reminded me of tree ears and smoked pine cones boiled in bong water…and not in an unpleasant manner either, just unusual. I figured it’d be a great match to a Chinese stir fry that incorporated wild mushrooms, sesame oil, and Sichuan peppercorns. I made such a meal today and paired this cha with it and I was correct. It seems that a few months have softened the roastiness and astringency of this tea. I’m left with a brothy oily umami filled cup with vegetal notes similar to braised mustard greens. Don’t think rock oolongs will become a daily drinker but on stir fry shrimp and mushroom night I know what to reach for…
If I blindly tasted this shou I would have thought it was a 30yr sheng. It seems to be accepted that shou is a shortcut for producing something that tastes sorta like a well aged sheng but rather misses the mark yet if it’s good shou is its own thing. When I first tasted a sample of this I was instantly reminded of a 1985 tuo of gushu sheng made of Nanuo and Banzhang material I was lucky enough to procure . The elegantly woody, tobaccoish autumn forest notes were all there. The only thing it lacked was the sink into your chair and grin at the floor for the next 4 hours qi of the tuo. The qi I got from this was the calm but energetic qi I expect from a Jingmai. Bottom line…to my palate this stuff tastes not like a shou but a well aged sheng. If these folks could figure how replicate the qi of a 30yr sheng they could retire quite comfortably… as for now, they got the taste nailed.
Got a 12g sample of this and figured that 11 years old it’d be safe to drink the whole sample on an empty stomach…WRONG! I got a small amount of stoner qi but a ton of caffeine which makes me nauseous. I feel like I drank a quart of gas station coffee… There is a nice bitterness and menthol/tobacco character. I’m reminded of a menghai factory tea. Ok but for the $ there are far better teas of a similar age…
Next to the single tree lbz maocha from clt this may be my favorite sheng of 2017. Super complex. This tea is the only sheng I’ve had that has a bit of the pea soup aroma I only get from Japanese sencha. There’s lots of menthol and evergreen, tobacco and earthiness. Big uplifting qi. What more could one ask for?
Man this guy gets some amazing gushu! The Rareness is remarkable with its jasmine and almond notes with stellar qi and was the best young sheng I’ve had until I tried this Rareness 3. I could spend an hour listing all the herbal, wild floral , evergreen camphor and citrus peel notes I get. I could talk about how there is a lingering sweetness that clings to the throat for hours reminiscent of mango sticky rice. I could wax poetic about how this stuff made my whole kitchen smell like the Olympic rain forest in Washington. I could explain that during the 4th steep my face went entirely numb and I was grinning like Jimmy Carter and by the 10th steep I was so tea drunk I could have listened to Fleetwood Mac without my eyes bugging out my hair standing on end and breaking out into a rash which is usually the case. Yes, I could go on about this tea for hours but no words could do it justice. Best to try for yourself. One thing though. It is touchy. Brew to light and it’s thin and you miss a lot. Pushed too hard it gets bitter quickly. Brewed slightly hot for a little longer than micro steeps seemed to work best for me…
Big big big. That’s how I rate this tea. Big bold body. Wonderfully balanced bitterness. Nice spiciness. If you told me there was lbz in this tea I would not doubt it. Energizing yet relaxing qi. When the sample first arrived I was not impressed either way but after a few months I blown away by how a tea can be so bold without being harsh or obnoxious. Love to try this wet aged for 10 years. I plan to get a cake.
Not sure exactly what to say about this tea. I’ve had Jinggu Bang white tea but never sheng before. For starters, I thought with a tea in this price range it’d be safe to drink 10g before work…oops. Good cha qi for the buck. That’s for sure. It’s fairly sweet and thick with nice floral notes, almost locust blossomy. That said, there’s something lacking, like that bright snap one often gets in a young sheng. I just found it sorta flat, like it needed a shot of acidity or something. I was half tempted to raid my homebrewing stuff and spike the leaves with a pinch of citric acid to see if that helped but I had no time for such experiments so after 6 steeps I tossed the leaves into a thermos and did the grandpa style brew which was pretty good. This cha is a little young to make a totally accurate assessment but it does have its virtues but it also leaves me a little flat. I have about 30g that I’m gonna let sit a while longer and revisit it.
I did not get any sweetness or fruit either. If I did I’d buy a cake for sure as I like the other things going on in this cha. I get lots of smoke, pepper, cumin and perhaps a bit of ancho. In fact, this tea reminds me of the burnt ends of a West Texas brisket hold the sauce. But i find it dry, bone dry . Leave your throat as dry as 120 proof scotch dry. It’s also thin. I like tea with an oily backbone and I’m not getting any. The qi, OTOH is amazing. Tingly, relaxing and chill and of a quality that I usually only get in teas twice the price…so I’m still on the fence about getting a whole cake. I wouldn’t think twice about splitting one with someone though…
I usually don’t get excited over shou but omg! The complex flavors in this sweet brew makes me want to compare it to a port (or a Belgian quad as I’m always comparing tea to beer) chocolate covered cherries and marzipan with a woody earthy backdrop. This is the sweetest, thickest tea I’ve ever had. I’m enjoying it with a brunch of roasted butternut squash and duck bacon. Wishing I had a Peking duck to go with it but Chinatown Philadelphia is a 4 hour drive…not much qi from this but the mere flavors of this stuff has caused my brain to release enough dopamine to keep me smiling all afternoon.
This years is even better than last years. Those who were turned off by the intense bitterness of last years will be glad to know the bitterness is more balanced this year and there is a wonderful wild fruitiness and floral character that changes each steep. I’ve just now tried the wild monk and see a lot of similarities but this is more refined and the qi is awesome. I’ve had a few LBZ teas this summer and the qi of this tea is very similar. My buddy and I split a tong as we were both super impressed.
