Starts off with a great mouthfeel, very viscous, rolls around. It feels on my tongue like what I used to call a ‘sea cucumber’ toy felt in my hand. Unfortunately I can’t find a picture online of the toy. Leaves a clean swallow followed by lots of side-tongue tingling that later turns pleasantly metallic. Astringency is controlled. Overall, very mild vegetal-dry grass like taste accompanied by bitterness that is also controlled, though it does become more pronounced. Soft and yeasty, honeyed plum-melon aftertaste is light and short. It reminds a bit of some Yiwu flavors. Peppery warmth in throat. Thin stevia-like returning sweetness sits at my sinuses. I feel in the future a lot of camphor will come out in this blend as I can in its young age already feel it in my ears, throat and chest. Sweating, calm, tight feeling in my head like there are dry florals hiding in the tea. Edit: That tight feeling later developed into a headache. It’s a good tea that in its current state doesn’t jive with my constitution.
As far as the leaf, one is still olive green; another noticeably browner, my guess is aged or autumn leaf or maybe even wild material. Some leaves, like oolong, possess oxidation along the serrated leaf edges. It all looks healthy and somewhat stemmy.
Delicate in taste yet strong feeling in the body (acidic in the gut), certainly a clean tea. Good tea for stepping up from more introductory sheng. Not my bag but I’m happy to sit on the rest of this sample for several more years. Realistically, it won’t last that long.
Fun fact: one half of the wrapper art is tattooed across my shoulders.
Flavors: Bitter, Brown Sugar, Camphor, Dry Grass, Floral, Grapes, Honey, Melon, Metallic, Mineral, Pepper, Pleasantly Sour, Plum, Smooth, Thick, Vegetal, Yeast
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I think they were called “water wiggles” around here!
Whoa. You’re good.
Was it a water snake? That’s what we call them here anyway (:
I just googled ‘water wiggle’ and that’s the same thing I was thinking of
Knew exactly what you were talking about! Very ’80’s!
That tea is one of the few Jingmai teas I’ve really enjoyed. I tend to find them thin and perfumey (opposed to honeyish florals) and jangling qi. This one is thicker and I drank a whole cake when it was young and I was just getting into sheng. I remember it being thicker and fruitier than most jingmai teas but it still made me feel like a wired troll.
Yeah, I’m not really feeling Jingmai. What you call perfumey might be what I interpret as dry meadow florals. The energy has a distinctive feel, too, at first calming, perhaps disorienting then I turn into your wired troll. They feel like good early afternoon teas, never quite relaxing or contemplative. I can’t shake the feeling of Ohio hay fever suppressed temporarily by pseudoephedrine. Maybe they’re just too young. Have you tried any aged Jingmai?
I’ve tried a 2005 Jingmai that EOT had for a brief period. It was excellent material and clean dry stored and basically had the same thoughts but to a lesser degree. It still was jangling but less so. The florals were still perfumey but a bit more subdued. There was a bit of cedar and tobacco. It was definitely the best Jingmai I’ve had but I decided against caking it. For teas from the Puer prefecture I’m sold on Jinggu and YS has a nice assortment of excellent teas for a reasonable price, I also love Jiangchen and Kunlu teas but the price has gotten absurd.
I’m currently exploring Puer/Simao and am digging Bangwai. There are at least a few more Bangwai/wei in my stash to try before moving on to a couple of Kunlu.
Your description of the EoT Jingmai sounds ok but those florals and energy make me hesitant.I won’t be actively searching for one, but if a random, affordable aged Jingmai pops up in my regular browsing, I might go for it. Jinggu — my experiences have been meh so far with both puerh and other teas made with Jinggu leaf. I’m open to trying more from there, though. Haven’t seen Jiangchen around yet.
My initial experiences with Jinggu were meh but this year’s Singularity from EOT and Da Qing and Long Tang from YS are excellent. Haven’t tried any aged Jinggu yet
I think they were called “water wiggles” around here!
Whoa. You’re good.
Was it a water snake? That’s what we call them here anyway (:
I just googled ‘water wiggle’ and that’s the same thing I was thinking of
Knew exactly what you were talking about! Very ’80’s!
That tea is one of the few Jingmai teas I’ve really enjoyed. I tend to find them thin and perfumey (opposed to honeyish florals) and jangling qi. This one is thicker and I drank a whole cake when it was young and I was just getting into sheng. I remember it being thicker and fruitier than most jingmai teas but it still made me feel like a wired troll.
Yeah, I’m not really feeling Jingmai. What you call perfumey might be what I interpret as dry meadow florals. The energy has a distinctive feel, too, at first calming, perhaps disorienting then I turn into your wired troll. They feel like good early afternoon teas, never quite relaxing or contemplative. I can’t shake the feeling of Ohio hay fever suppressed temporarily by pseudoephedrine. Maybe they’re just too young. Have you tried any aged Jingmai?
I’ve tried a 2005 Jingmai that EOT had for a brief period. It was excellent material and clean dry stored and basically had the same thoughts but to a lesser degree. It still was jangling but less so. The florals were still perfumey but a bit more subdued. There was a bit of cedar and tobacco. It was definitely the best Jingmai I’ve had but I decided against caking it. For teas from the Puer prefecture I’m sold on Jinggu and YS has a nice assortment of excellent teas for a reasonable price, I also love Jiangchen and Kunlu teas but the price has gotten absurd.
I’m currently exploring Puer/Simao and am digging Bangwai. There are at least a few more Bangwai/wei in my stash to try before moving on to a couple of Kunlu.
Your description of the EoT Jingmai sounds ok but those florals and energy make me hesitant.I won’t be actively searching for one, but if a random, affordable aged Jingmai pops up in my regular browsing, I might go for it. Jinggu — my experiences have been meh so far with both puerh and other teas made with Jinggu leaf. I’m open to trying more from there, though. Haven’t seen Jiangchen around yet.
My initial experiences with Jinggu were meh but this year’s Singularity from EOT and Da Qing and Long Tang from YS are excellent. Haven’t tried any aged Jinggu yet