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This is the last of the samples I received from Tea Side, another aged pu’er. Unlike the 2006 Hong Tai Chang 0802, this one lands on the opposite of the spectrum of my experiences with aged sheng. It has a weak-ish aroma and a fairly flat taste profile with decent astringency. The mouthfeel is more interesting, but doesn’t save it either. The tea is not cheap, but pales in comparison to much cheaper offerings in my opinion.

As for the particular character, its aroma has notes of dried plum, dried apricot, lamb meat, and fernet. The taste is woody and herbal with no flavours that particularly stick out. Aftertaste is aromatic and spicy with a light camphor note. Liquor has medium body I’d say and the mouthfeel is initially very bubbly and becomes quite smooth later on.

As a final comment, let me say that the tea (especially its aroma) reminds me of some of the YQH samples I have, even though I haven’t had those in a while so I may be misremembering. I wonder if it’s just a coincidence or a case of convergent storage conditions.

I still have some old CLT samples, and Jinggu Bàng is one of them. I found it a little boring taste-wise, and no other aspect particularly grabbed my attention either. However, today I did like it a bit more than at our first encounter – it seemed to have a greater depth of flavours with some fruity sweetness and camphor present.

Aroma is mostly reminiscent of forest floor, thyme, and mushrooms, with hints of alcohol, oregano, and peppercorn. The taste starts of herbal and honey-like, but quickly becomes very vegetal and astringent. There are flavours such as straw, spinach, kale, and ginger. Later on, the minerality gets enhanced too and further flavours such as fenugreek emerge. The aftertaste is long, cooling, and drying with a hint of smoke and a good hui gan.

I think the mouthfeel is actually pretty good in early infusions – soft, creamy, and active/mouth-watering – but it gets less interesting fast.

One of my favourites from the Hei Cha sampler is this aged Liu Bao. All Liu Bao teas I’ve had have a somewhat simple profile and this one is no exception. However, it is exceptional in how much of a comforting brew it produces. I have little doubt that it has to do with a successful maturation process over the last 17 years. Moreover, it seems to last longer than similar teas, I got just short of 200ml/g from it.

The dry leaf aroma is distinctively “dungeon-like”. In the wet leaf smell, I further noticed notes of decaying wood, pear, leather, tobacco, cherry, and burnt popcorn. The taste is tart, earthy, bitter and nutty, with notes of pine, wet wood, walnuts, and nutmeg. I find it very hard to place the aftertaste in relation to anything, but it is long-lasting with an interesting character – seems to disappear and reappear over time. Finally, the mouthfeel is very smooth and colloidal with a medium body to the liquor.

Song pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0xlVDLCXGo

Rhino white tea seems processed similarly to Yunnan black teas, but with less oxidation. I guess it bears strong resemblance to Yunnan ‘yellow’ teas. It is quite complex and subtle, but I must say I find these kind of taste profiles – where subtle floral notes compete with robust malty ones – a bit unappealing.

The dry leaf scent has a strong bergamot oil note complemented by caramel, chocolate, raspberry, hay, brownies, and roasted grains. After the rinse, the aroma is slightly more robust, on the side of malt, toffee, light roast coffee beans, and cranberry pie. However, later throughout the session it actually becomes very floral.

The taste is very sweet and smooth, with notes of nectar, wood, roasted nuts and straw. On the other hand, the impression from the aftertaste is overwhelmingly floral. It still retains a lot of its sweetness and induces a cooling sensation in the throat.

The body is quite light, but I think it fits the tea very well. I found the mouthfeel fairly interesting too, very soft and delicate. All in all, it is an interesting tea for sure, but I don’t really have many occasions I would like to drink it. I think my main problem with it is that I find it a bit directionless.

This is a complex and well-balanced Tian Jian with a pungent aroma. I am likely to purchase more once I finish my sample.

Dry leaves smell of old books, nuts, old leather clothes and have a very noticeable cooling menthol quality, especially in the preheated gaiwan. After the rinse, I get further aromas of wood, tea tree oil, petrichor, and mushrooms. It is a very distinct and memorable scent, reminiscent of aged yancha and also a bit like a clean side street in a city after some rain.

The liquor is very smooth and comforting. It tastes sweet and metallic with a slightly sour finish and notes of wet earth. In the aftertaste I can taste sage and molasses, but it is quite nutty overall. The mouthfeel is another great aspect of the tea – it is creamy, smooth, and thick. Finally, the cha qi is not too strong, but I found it to be very nice too. It felt mind-clearing, sedating, and relaxing.

Fox is an unusual and hard to describe tea. The closest one to this that I’ve had is the 2014 Dehong Ye Sheng Cha, but even those two are quite different. This one has more fruity, tart and sweet quality to it, in a way that brings it closer to some Dan Cong oolongs. Personally, I consistently find the profile this kind of wild tree material more suitable for white and black tea than pu’er, but other people generally seem to love it, so I am always curious to sample more of it to find out what it is that I am not getting.

The aromas range from fruity (mostly tropical fruits and compost) to milky (krówki) and spicy (coriander seeds). It is a sort of deep aroma overall. The taste profile is a mix of bitter, tart, and sweet with notes of pine, tree sap, and menthol. More aggressive brews lead to a sharp medicinal, bitter and herbaceous taste. Aftertaste also has a light smoky fragrance (noticeable in the wet leaf as well) and a fish meat taste.

Texture-wise, the tea didn’t really steal my attention, but the body is medium to light I’d say. Cha qi is decently strong and has a spacey, heady, and dizzying character, which is not uncommon for wild teas.

Here’s another sample I received from Tea Side, a 13 year old Thai sheng. Unlike a lot of other aged shengs I’ve had, the body is not too light. I think it’s the best aged sheng I’ve had a chance to try. It has a nicely aged taste profile – spicy and comforting, a smooth, oily texture and a pleasant defocusing cha qi.

The aroma of the leaves is very sweet, but seems a bit muted, and is probably the least interesting aspect of the session. There are notes of camphor, wood, and swimming pool.

Taste-wise, it starts off very spicy, tart, and woody with flavours such as cumin, almond, roasted red pepper, turmeric, oak, and lychee emerging over the course of the session. Lighter infusions seem more sour, while the more aggressively brewed ones have more of the sweetness and spiciness. The aftertaste is sweet with notes of raisins, black pepper, and resin. It has quite some bite to it, but it’s not too drying. It makes my throat feel warm when exhaling and cool when inhaling, an interesting sensation for sure.

As I mentioned already, the mouthfeel is very nice – thick, oily, and smooth. The body is medium to full and the liquor becomes very active and bubbly when brewed harder.

This is the first Thai pu-erh I’ve ever tried so I am curious how it compares with its Yunnan cousins. Thanks for the free sample Tea Side! It has aged much more than the 3 year old shengs I would normally drink – ones stored either in Kunming or Canada. In fact, I would classify it as semi-aged at this point.

I feel like the tea shines in its flavours rather than the aroma or the texture. Nevertheless, the smell reminds me of musk, grass compost, peat and stonefruit pits, the latter making it somewhat similar to a bunch of Dan Cong oolong fragrances. In the empty cup, furthermore, there was a strong beeswax scent.

Honey is a note that keeps coming back in this session, it is one of the most dominant flavours as well. The taste is quite well balanced with a bitter, tart, and sweet element pulling against each other. It is nuanced and the notes are not very well-defined, but there are notes of grass, red apple, barley, and roasted nuts among others. On top of that, the aftertaste displays flavours reminiscent of white wine, yeast, and sugarcane. It is long and evolving, and often fairly sour, unusually so for a sheng. In the second half of the session, there is also a very nice persistent minerality coupled with a numbing sensation.

The body is medium to light and the texture somewhat bubbly with an above average astringency. Cha qi is not very noticeable at first. Soon enough, a throat and chest warming sensation appears that spreads throughout the body. Rather than being aggressive, the energy of the tea is creeping and relaxing, but ultimately quite strong and heady as well.

Overall, Gipsy Crow reminded me the most of Menghai county shengs. If you are after a flavourful, fruity and balanced sheng with lighter body, this is a great choice.

Yang Luo Han is probably a tea I’ve drunk the most of over the last year or so, and I see no sign of getting bored of it. It is a harmonious and smooth one, but continuously interesting. Today I found its taste a bit more on the tart and umami side of the spectrum with a molasses sweetness in the aftertaste as well as some metallic character.

On top of that I noticed a bunch of new aromas. Besides the popcorn and orange that I mentioned in my previous note, the dry leaf smell also reminded me of old clean wooden furniture. The wet leaf fragrance was an explosion of various notes, among them animal fur, coconut shell, tiramisu, ice-cream, mussels, milk, wet rocks, and charcoal.

I got this tea more than a year ago, and now it’s almost gone. Its aroma and taste profiles haven’t changed much, but I do find it smoother and sweeter now. I also think the aftertaste is more fragrant and spicy than it used to be. Overall, it is less abrasive and more enjoyable, so I might pick up another cake once I finish this one.