72 Tasting Notes
Bouquet: Even within its steaming unfolding this Raw with a tiny touch of age is highly mouthwatering and astringent with a sour layer followed by great hay field herbal flower nuances, steaming hints of chestnuts, leather and a certain pleasant elegant woodsy smokey flavor. You can literally feel Autumn within those already slightly brownish leaves.
Liquor: One major thing about this excellent buddy is its cooling mouth feel. Starting off with a lovely forest honey layer but just a hint of it – plus also subtle hints of beeswax. The cooling effect is really astonishing! It is like an actual cooling sensation – Like if you had an eucalyptus candy in your mouth and suck the air in and you feel this cooling breeze inside your inner mouth region. But on the other hand this buddy produces a very warming and relaxing body feel. There is a certain iron sourness to it which also combines some nutty aspects of pistachios in it which in whole reminds me somehow of a Bai Ji Guan Wuyi Oolong. There is also a nice composition of Autumn leaves, leather and slightly smokey wood within its actual tasting profile. But you can also find a nicely placed sweet layer within its unfolding which contains little traces of vanilla pudding with a fine lemon note to it but also sugar candies with an even more subtle mix of eucalyptus, thyme, sage and buckhorn and last but not least of sweet corn. The Hui Gan effect is one of the remarkable experiences within this slightly aged buddy. While the cooling atmosphere stays a mouthwatering sweetness is coming back within the aftertaste. Inside later infusions the sour sweet mouthwatering construction is gaining more and more in their importance. Great and affordable raw Sheng ~ perfect for immediate enjoyment and for aging.
Bouquet: Those dry and heated up leaves exhale a very distinct strong smokiness more than the Shiru – I would say above middle roasting. Very nice extremely mouthwatering texture with a dark ripe fruitiness of raisins, a tiny hint of plum and a kind of baked pickled version of cherries like within a pie or so. Major aspect definitely is the smokiness in combination with the very nice composed old red wine wood barrel flair. After it cooled down the fruity sweetness might get even stronger at your senses. In this case there is a certain blueberry gum fruitiness noticeable.
Liquor: The taste nearly hits similar spheres as the beautiful scent did. There is again this sour old dark ripe fruitiness of raisins and cherries plus a kind of vegetable echo of salad like spinach. The roasted woodsy layer is always a steady companion and also brings some chocolate hazelnut cream aspects with it. Ban Tian Yao is one of my favorite Wuyi Oolongs but also a sort of Yancha you can totally ruin if you’re not skilled but this farmer got the skills for sure! Always a certain type of salad spinach & lamb’s lettuce at the very echo’s end. Steeping 1-3 comes along with nearly the same full and strong profile – within the 4th and the following ones it’s turning more and more lighter – It not as “staying strong for long” like the Shiru did but this fellow doesn’t have to be! Within the 4th steeping it’s touching more the tender notes especially a full circled one of a wild blueberry bush = Berries + leaves + twigs! Really nice! Now within the aftertaste the chocolate aspect of dark chocolate is more within the center while the salad nearly vanished. Full power from 1-3rd infusion and good to go for around 5 in total! Very coating feel within your throat!
This fellow is special indeed in so many ways. First of all its leaves are quite huge and to make it clear this fellow wasn’t pressed it was a loose leave aged Sheng. Normally I am not really into wet stored stuff because it tend to scent and taste like basement mold. There is definitely a certain major aspect of this part within this very aged buddy too but in a different way. Scent-wise there is a main bouquet of beetroot stored in a more or less wet old basement but there is also a layer of from fresh fallen rain soaked up old wood. It transformed itself more into a TCM herbal structure than one of a Pu-erh – don’t get me wrong I am sure many would say this type of scent and taste as very typical aged considering its date because at that time nearly everything was stored more or less wet. But I am focusing always on the origin of its nature. What I mean is if you store a Pu-erh perfectly over many decades it definitely tend to transform more into something herbal dark-ish within its composition but it also should keep many aspects of its original form and formula. BUT even if this isn’t the case here it’s for sure a fantastic and unique example and experience because you also need to respect and discover the old way Pu was treated and processed to totally understand Pu-erh from its roots to its way of manufacturing over time and today.
Taste-wise this nearly dark red liquor express itself in a more or less similar way as its bouquet did. Its texture is very silky creamy with a certain herbal spiciness to it. The actual nuances as mentioned are a majorly slightly sweet beetroot with a certain basement feel to it and a woodsy wet composition while soaked up with fresh fallen rain. The actual sensation isn’t in fact a complex tasting profile or a long aftertaste it’s more what it does to you! The effect of this fellow is weird and so so typical when it comes to aged fellows with a certain funk to it! Those buddies never visits you without a certain type of hangover. I read within a scientific article once how much a Pu in fact contains. This was quite fascinating! Especially when it comes to Shou and really old wet aged stuff which is quite in a similar field when it comes to a huge amount of microorganism, bacteria, fungus and enzymes. They tested a bunch of old cakes within a lab and found out that there are around 40 different types of fungi within a cake and even more astonishing some of that stuff was to believed to be not existing anymore since thousands over thousands of years. This buddy first and foremost makes you tea drunk with the first sip especially if you are sensitive to it. It has an instant major impact on your whole functioning system of your head. I got a bit of headache but also a certain burning tingling feel along every corner and path of my whole sinuses system. You can feel it within you whole head back to your neck like an electrifying feeling but after a while the relaxation blends in and the whole drunken condition turns into a warming chill mode. This was definitely a special experience!
Scent-wise you can literally feel the age within those leaves – it reminds me very distinct about Chinese or even more of Indian old woodsy furniture – very pleasant! There is definitely a very soft and silky sweetness to its liquor which indicates a certain age. Those very fresh green field flower aspects are grown up – The whole structure gained a certain “old man ripeness” – sounds weird I know – What I mean is – if you imagine an aged man settled and being grounded – picture an image of Grandpa Pu sitting on his porch within its old wooden rocker enjoying a breathtaking red golden sundown while a certain tobacco pipe scent fills the air. Not like smoke or something disgustingly more like you might knew it from essential oils or perfumes with ingredients of tobacco, very tangy smoky and woodsy – this Sheng really aged well and masterfully in so many ways. With this whole sweet tobacco woodsyness there also comes along a fine nutty layer with a touch of bittersweet hints of green grapes with seeds. Different cultures and so many miles between them but this tea really gives me an image of a country like farm scenery in the American Midwest. Warm, chill, smooth, cozy and elegant
It is definitely a rare occasion drinking a tea (in this case a fine dark hand rolled Oolong) from Vietnam. Its profile really reminded me a lot of its origin Taiwanese version. My wife loved this buddy to its bits!
Aroma: It resembled a lot of an Oriental Beauty but still different with a nice sugary sweet roasted note. The sweetness somehow reminded me of cotton candy. Later steaming up the full honey structure was conquering every inch of my scenting buds. Such a deliciously mouth watering sweet structure plus a nice typical Taiwanese floral note to it.
Taste: Like the aroma the taste was very sweet. It was hard resisting this fellow. While I was shooting those photos the scent really messed with my concentration because the steaming bouquet was so lovely. The liquor unfolded so deliciously sweet like cotton candy with honey plus a hint of multivitamin juice (mango, passion fruit and a hint of pineapple) with an extra of dark sweet gums like blueberry and cherry. Beside those aspects a small hint of gingerbread and sweet roasted almonds showed up too. This was a great example of a well composed and naturally sweet Vietnamese Oolong
This aged dark force is creamy and naturally sweet followed by such a dark thick creamy earthy texture.You literally taste Autumn with all its facets. This tea easily and without a doubt conquers your whole inner mouth section within an instant.
This Shou is just amazing! There is so much going on. Even a hint of pickled cherry fruity sweetness is a undeniable part of this creamy fellow. There is definitely a certain roasted aspect to it which blends in perfectly with this pleasantly basement character which also forms and builds this delicious construction of dark power.
If you dig deeper you might also discover even more sweetness within a light consortium of bourbon vanilla pudding and a very subtle milky chocolate hint to it. This fellow is quite aggressive on the stomach so eat well and enough before enjoying it – would be recommendable.
This Shou Pu-erh was a pu par excellence! It’s age did so much good onto this dark fellow. Creamy and intensely thick as thick it could get plus such a deep and dense Autumn profile. Love it from the bottom of my heart
This was one of the best mini ball type raw I had so far! Very strong, full creamy body and very intensely fragrant. Major notes of Mango and Honey ~ this fellow is for sure very sweet and fruity with a certain spicy Sichuan citrus flowery pepper aspect to it. There is a lot of power within this ball. It can get overbrewed easily – so take care! This young Sheng is definitely strong on the stomach so eat something beforehand. Very long lasting and a good long way to go! Great good quality travel pu – worth to carry one or two within your pocket on your next journey
That this Oolong was re-roasted a couple of times within its time of aging is undeniable – so this aspect really is a key note within its creamy dense profile. The typical Wuyi “red wine wood barrel” is really an old one in this case. The wooden aspect really let the maturity of this tea shine like good old aged whiskey. Even within its dry stage this scent is always omnipresent. But there is also something quite unique to it which was quite a strong component ~ puffed rice crackers with a hint of chocolate. After boiling water kissed those crisp leaves this whole bouquet gained massively within its development. But instead of red wine another alcoholic odor conquered with all its ripe fruity aspects every inch of my senses – warm strong Chinese plum wine. Lovely!
The actual taste combines anything together with such a well balanced creamy thickness of plum wine, deep dense nuances of aged wood and residues of aged red wine plus such a nice creamy sweet play of hazelnut cream, chocolate and a hint of campfire marshmallows at the very end of it. This smokey fellow got a long way to go and isn’t giving up any of its aspects very soon. Just perfect
Dancong especially Milan Xiang at its best should be very thick, with a full body and a very tropical fruity profile and this is exactly what this fellow combines and even more. This again is by far one of the best Milan Xiang I’ve ever had. I tried many but not as fragrant, full bodied and so well balanced composed as this one. A masterpiece of its own. Mango, passion fruit a hint of pineapple a slightly nutty accent of sweet roasted almonds and pumpkinseeds a good amount of sweet ripe peaches and a nice sugary sweet aspect of cherry blossom hi-chew (Japanese fruit gums). This profile really lets your Dancong heart beat fast as a Speedster! This is the miracle of tea! This fellow keeps his strength of taste for at least three steeps after that a nice bouquet and liquor is still pleasing your tasting buds but with a slightly greener lighter touch to it – the tropical fruit note is now more noticeable within the long fragrant aftertaste
