64 Tasting Notes
While I have not had a lot of Wuyi yancha, this is likely the best of those I have had. Great mineral flavor that’s long-lasting, very nice durability, a long slow fade into into delicious sweet water, and overall good vibes from this one. This company isn’t cheap, but they’re providing value for the money.
If you’re not sure what yancha should be, I’d suggest treating yourself to a pack of this. You’re worth it.
Brewed pretty exactly per website instructions, except using gaiwan parameters in a wee pot.
Same cake owned by DigniTea from ChaWangShop, and reviewed by Hobbes as follows
http://half-dipper.blogspot.com/2007/10/2003-manluo-yiwu-zhengshan.html
Anyone who knows both the above fellows, I’d be intensely curious to see what the difference is in all the storage conditions this cake is available from – not that this is likely to occur.
The posting at Puerhshop notes that this cake takes a while to get going. I had incorrectly presumed this meant due to tight compression, or reticent leaf. It was thus to my surprise that the first few steeps were incredibly earthy, fairly bitter, and not terribly enjoyable.
If you push through that, however, you are rewarded with a very enjoyable brew, closer to the light and sweet Yiwu taste but punchy enough to keep it interesting. I suspect ChawangShop’s storage would be wetter, and minimize the early unpleasantness – bit at this writing Puerhshop is half the price, so it’s a value proposition everyone has to consider for themselves.
The material does not lead me to suspect the claims of ancient tree are necessarily above board – but at $50 per ten-year-old cake, did anyone really expect them to be?From the May 16 W2T club
One of the lessons I was probably supposed to take away from school but clearly did not was to do your reading ahead of time. As I did not, I sit here rather too late at night with this hong cha that just won’t quit tempting me to infuse again, when more caffeine is the last thing I need. Should have heeded the other tasting notes regarding this tea’s unusual durability.
It’s like that old cliche – you made your tea, now you can’t lie down because of it.
Flavor notes omitted since TwoDog spoiled the answers already. Quasi-related aside, though – I’ve had yams that tasted (and definitely smelled) less like yams than Zheng Shan Xiao Zhong spring 2
Porcelain gaiwan, 200-210 Ozarka water
Full disclosure – I have never had a liu bao before today, so salt all comments heavily before tasting.
My first note is that, should I ever drink liu bao again, I have been quite forcefully taught by this experience that a single quick rinse is not at all sufficient to the task at hand. Probably if I had a little more experience, the appearance of the first steep would definitely have clued me in.
I imagine if one were to be buried alive and forced to drink rainwater seeping down through the topsoil in order to survive, it would provide similar sensations to that first “steep”.
After I used an industrial strength road grader to remove the mud caked onto my tongue and proceeded, however, I was rewarded with several brews of a pleasing earthy and warming character, much more like I was expecting. I did not feel the thickness in the mouth that an excellent shou will provide, but this may have been due to inexperienced brewing. It also may have been the dry storage finepuer openly noted in the vendor description.
All in all, it left me desirous of trying more liu bao – but probably not this one.
Preparation
I have had a fairly mixed experience drinking Liu Bao older than 10 years. So many of them have been powdery and taste like old dirt.
Can I just say, your notes are so entertaining that I’ve gone back to read through all of them. Love it!
You certainly can, and I thank you profusely for doing so!
