JC Send Message

NOTE This is based of an old sample so I won’t do a regular note for it

I liked this tea back when I bought it, but god it has come along really well.

The tea has an underlying vegetal note when dry with a little bit of sweetness. As soon as you introduce humidity you get an intense scent of maple (that chocolatey/caramel spectrum of maple) and some vegetal that resembles olive oil and this evolves into a more floral version of it as you keep steeping.

The taste is very similar to the scent, perhaps less vegetal in taste than the scent and you get a lot of that oily sensation together with the vegetal note that reminds me of olive oil, but the taste play between that savory note and that rich sweetness. The taste follow the trait of the scent, evolving into a floral version with each steep.

I can’t say that I recall how it tasted when I first tried it, but I have to say that it is thicker than I remembered.

Quick update, not so much notes

I had this one stored in a box because it is so different from most teas I have. I bought a big clay container from taobao and repaired it with JB Weld and to test it out I put this cake in it…

I thought the JB Weld and the clay were smelling weird and that I had wasted money, then I remembered that this cake has a very dank tobacco-green wood and medicinal bitterness. I replaced it with other cakes and the container is great. This one is probably one of the dankest (not wet stored or anything, just strong smelling) puerh I have.

I feel like it is a mixture of scents and flavors of: Chinese medicinal cabinet, woody tobacco, green wood and hemp with just some grain notes. The taste is not far departed from the scent either. It kicks you in the mouth up front then all of those notes become sweeter as the liquor goes down. I’d like to know if anyone else has this cake, what they think about it. I don’t hate it, I don’t love it, it’s just weird and can be pleasant at times.

Dry – Woody rich dark notes
Wet – Rich woody notes, broth-y/savory, wet storage, decayed wood.
Liquor – Light Brown
Initial Note/caveat – I’m drinking the loose version of this tea, the pressed version may differ due to the the pressing process

Initial steeps are smoother than you would expect for the scent of the wet leaves but still rich wet wood notes with cedar (spicy?) and some camphor and a fair amount of thickness that is brothy/leathery/musty (think mushroom soup) and as it washes down it has some astringency to it, but not unpleasant.

Mid steeps (4-6) were similar but with some of that ‘dankness’ of mushroom soup and leather mellowing down, but also loosing some of the body with each steep. Somewhere in here the cedar comes upfront, I think because the slight spice note numbs my tongue a bit and it also has some more astringency than I expected, but still not unpleasant at all.

Later on it keeps loosing steam in the strength of the steeps, so you have to start pushing it a bit. However, it does hold up well with longer steeps and gives more than I expected from it.

Final Notes
The tea kept loosing steam, but I lost steam a bit quicker. I came in biased with this tea expecting some bulang character and found none of it. I did a few more steeps and I was over it, I bet people who love wetter stored tea will love it.

Follow-up two years later

This is coming along MUCH nicer than before. I’d don’t thing it is great, but is a lot more pleasant. The perfume-sour note has dissipated, and a light petrol-like/tobacco note appeared (positive) that gives it a bit more body.

It has some more camphor and most of the fruit and floral notes are muted, which again its a very positive thing because those were gag inducing for me. Now there’s more honey-ed/caramel notes with nice woody base. I have about 120-150 grams left of this so hopefully this will continue to improve as it has, this is one of those I’m glad I forgot about in storage.

Follow up two years later

The tea has very similar notes as expected from a ripe, not much change in terms of taste. I will say the front, even though it is still bitter, woody and nutty still, it is a more refined version of itself, before it was a lot rougher and you could tell that I had to age to enjoy, now it is followed by a cleaner sweeter finish and very pleasant camphor. It has some thickness to it in the front but it fades away in to a cleaner and more refreshing cup as it goes down. I’d say an optimal age for this tea will be in about 2-3 years more where it still has a that strong front but it will be much cleaner in the front and middle.

Something that I noted was that the liquor smells very good and sweet (minor chocolate and vanilla notes in there), while the leaf has more of a bitter, woody-nutty note. The taste is more related to the leaf scent, with woody-nutty bitter notes, but the finish does hint that vanilla sweetness, no chocolate (at least for me) on the taste, pleasant camphor that lingers.

Quick Note I was rearranging my tea storage and decided to break this cake to store it in a clay pot (to open space for other cakes) and what didn’t fit I drank last night and brought to work some leaves to continue.

This is doing amazingly, smooth refreshing with dried fruits woody and even a slippery sensation on the tongue. The Huigan has definitive complexity that is hard to describe but easy to enjoy.

Initial Notes
I initially thought I was going to be updating my first note, but not I noticed that I never uploaded that. I will put this current one and just edit it later with the original at the bottom for reference (when I find that note from over a year ago).

Dry – plummy and prune like with some mid-aged bittersweet wood and a musky sweetness (wee like). lol
Wet – Prunes for sure, dried fruit (aged), musky melon, bittersweet woody notes, some hints of dark richness.
Liquor – deep gold/light amber >> amber.

The initial steeps with woody-tangy fruit and the ‘prune’ sort of intensifies a bit with hints of medicinal notes, yet they are a lot cleaner than I would expect from the initial notes. There is some minor astringency, but the final sensation is oily and numbing.

The mid steeps are more woody and bittersweet in the front with a more definitive ‘prune’ and slightly more bitter to bittersweet woody note, yet it goes down smoothly. There is some slight astringency followed by a pleasant numbing sensation, but it becomes oily and thick in the finish.

The final steeps are smoother still, but they ‘prune’ taste is A LOT LESS fruity like and more like medicinal, think like Chinese aged fruits that have that mix of ‘fruit’ but then has a lingering bitterness than can be just as pleasant as unpleasant (to me it depends on the day and the tea, but I’ve had this before in other mid aged teas from EoT.

Dry – Dried fruits, stone fruits, floral, apricots, sweet veggies, some bittersweet notes (tomato vines?) and possibly a hint of maple.
Wet – dried red and dark fruits, thick/creamy, stone fruits, floral bitterness, nutty, corn, maple?/candied fruit >> and later pungent and very pleasant musky fruit and a maple note.
Liquor – deep golden

1st 4secs – Good mellow and almost ‘umami’ front that develops a savory olive oil note and body. As it goes down it has more fruity notes but seem almost savory as well. Thick and numbing (love this).

2nd 4secs – Very nutty, bitter and bittersweet floral and tobacco notes and a slightly savory note that transition to sweeter nutty and refreshing sensation and there a pleasant bitterness that remind me of tomato vines (I usually get this note from purple varietal, but this is more gentle).

3rd 6secs – Nutty, strong tobacco-like bitterness that transition to savory middle and thick body with some fruity and floral notes that have a nice lasting thickness (oily sensation). I keep getting that maple? note that I like followed by that ‘tomato vine’ note that lingers.

4th 8secs – very nutty and tobacco-y notes together with thick body and minor astringency. There are notes of olive oil and tomato vine before becoming sweeter and fruity/floral, but keeps that tomato note that lingers.

5th 10secs – Very nutty and tobacco-y that is both thick and slightly astringent, the olive oil note is still there with the tomato vine but it isn’t as noticeable or as savory, the fruity remind me of dried persimmons and at this point I also noticed a slightly more refreshing sensation during the huigan.

6th 14secs – Nutty with strong bitter and bittersweet tobacco notes that develop thick body and astringency. Huigan has a fruity and floral profile with rich notes that still reminds me of maple.

7th 20 secs – Bitter and bittersweet, tobacco, nutty, some vegetal notes, that still remind me of tomato vine, floral. As it goes down it has a more nutty and fruity profile with a refreshing sensation.

Final Notes
I easily made it to 12th steep and I stopped taking notes to enjoy even more and chill while I did it. I’d recommend trying this one at least once if you get the chance. :)

Dry – Rich bittersweet note, dried apricot, faint toasty/smoke note and a maybe warm sugar.
Wet – Thick/rich apricot, musky (like musky melon), floral bitterness, ‘green’ wood note/herbaceous.
Liquor – dull gold/light amber (initially cloudy but cleans up)
Steeps 5,5,5,7,9,13,25,40,1min.

The tea starts smooth and quickly develops a rich and medium thick body with bitter floral and bittersweet apricot notes and hints of a musky fruit (pleasant like melon), as it goes down it gave me a metallic/mineral hint that I didn’t really enjoy in the first steep, but following steeps become more of a olive/oily note and a bit mineral (not metallic) and at that point it is actually pleasant. The Huigan is lasting and gets sweeter.

By the 4-7th steep the taste is very similar on the front but when it is transitioning (going down) it has a pine note that is very pleasant and refreshing, but resembles most silver needle puerh and still hold some of that floral and apricot note and some thickness.

Final steeps loose the smoothness with astringency becoming noticeable, but not unpleasant. The thickness goes away completely and it’s replaced by the pine note and is very refreshing in the throat.

Final Notes
This was fairly pleasant, but it does resemble most silver needle puerh I’ve had before, I will say that it is very aromatic when dry which is very pleasant to open and smell and the initial notes are thicker than most silver needle puerh. This was a nice free sample from Teanami. I have to check out their other samples and I’ll probably revisit this one later after I air it a bit more.

Dry – Nice semi-aged Raw scent with bittersweet and sweet woody and fairly medicinal notes, dried fruit (like tamarind shell), dried wood.
Wet – Woody bittersweet notes, slight medicinal with some camphor, good aged puerh notes and richness.
Liquor – light copper to amber.

1st 3secs – Woody bittersweet yet gently and thick upfront that coats and slightly numbs the tongue. As it goes down, it has a slight floral, combined with medicinal character that is sort of muted/gentle. The huigan is gentle and lingering.

2nd 3secs – bittersweet and somewhat bitter (pleasant) aged woody note with slight fruity note that to me resembles tamarind shell up front. As it washes down a thicker medicinal and slightly floral note appears that again coats/numbs the tongue but still feels muted/gentle/subtle (just not fully opened note). The huigan is very good with some of that floral-medicinal that lingers.

3rd 4secs – Bittersweet to bitter medicinal-wood front that develops a thick/numbing body. As it goes down, it feels briefly bitter (pleasant) and transitions to a sweeter, mineral, floral note. The huigan is still lingering with medicinal-floral.

4th 6secs – Non punchy Bitter and bittersweet woody front that coats the tongue and quickly mellows to woody (pencil shavings like?) note. As it washes down, tamarind shell notes with some camphor that refreshes the the throat. Nice huigan.

5th 7secs – Non punchy bitter and bittersweet, very woody-medicinal note that develops thickness and a tongue coating sensation. As it goes down, it is smooth with some camphor, pencil shaving (woody) and a musky sweetness (like musk melon or another musky fruit) and developing more floral/fruit notes in the huigan.

6th 8secs – Non punchy bitter wood and bittersweet medicinal notes that become smoother (before thicker). As it goes down the woody/tamarind shell note appears and becomes sweeter with some camphor that refreshes.

7th 10secs – Non punchy bitter woody and medicinal notes transition to smoother and refreshing (some camphor) and not so thick tamarind shell notes. As it goes down, it becomes sweeter and wears more dried fruit note (still tamarind, just not so shell/woody like). The huigan continues to have that floral and medicinal note that lingers.

8th 12secs – Bittersweet woody and slightly thicker again with some of the numbing sensation, nice muted and musky sweetness and a dried fruit finish.

9th 16secs – Bitttersweet woody and thick/numbing front. There is a ‘pencil shaving’ woody note in the middle with tamarind shell notes that linger until the more floral/medicinal huigan appears.

10th 24secs – Matching the previous notes but slightly weaker. This is the first decline which made me adjust steep times.

Additional notes I was able to get 13 steeps after adjusting the steep times. I feel like I could have gotten 14 and just MAYBE 15 if I had be more patient (I wasn’t).

Final Notes
I liked this one quite a bit, It has complexity and changes along the way or at least it is playful with which characteristics shine. I’m not sure if it is more related to the blend having the opportunity to open up at different times but it offers different notes and I’m sure my next session will have different results. Thanks to the friend who shared this with me so I wouldn’t miss out on the YQH wave. :D