The northern excursion of the Yunnan tour wraps up!
Region 2/4: Lincang. Location 2/2: Bang Dong village
Notes on tea:
Great tea. Starts off with complex, rich flavors that last several infusions. Most noticeable was a rich, fruity flavor that had a base not unlike dark chocolate. Intense and rich. Towards the end of the session, development and finish continue to develop with new grassy and fruit notes.
Although I didn’t get a bunch of different flavor notes off of it, all of the flavors were deep and complex. Sessions were interesting and very engaging. In addition, for a young tea, it shows quite a bit of finesse while still remaining powerful and flavorful. Based on my experience, it is easily in league with more expensive teas…
Notes on region:
OK, so two teas isn’t exactly a representative sample size… But, I really like what I found. Both teas (Bang Dong and Qing Mei) had quite different flavor profiles, but the nature of the flavors was similar – complex, deep, not easily described with single notes. I found myself saying things like “fruitcake” and “fruit-infused chocolate.” Also of note was their noticeable sweetness. Both teas had complex sweetness – saccharine and fruit sweetness that was accompanied by a solid base of “darker” flavors – spice cake, dark chocolate, etc.
I will be returning to this neck of the woods soon. Outstanding experiences, both of them. We’ll see how the fabled Yiwu teas stand up to these guys as the tour of Yunnan continues…
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Dry leaf – dried apricot, some leafy herbal notes, hints of grape. In preheated vessel: light sweet tobacco, fruit leather, sugarcane
Smell – grassy herbal – hay, a bit smoky, wet hay, wet soil
Taste – light tobacco and stable notes, fruity richness, cherry cordial, dark cherry-infused dark chocolate, some dried apricot notes. Later infusions had grassy/hay development and some baked apple notes in the finish.
