Ice Queen 2007 Spring Bing Dao Ancient Tree Raw Puer

Tea type
Pu'erh Tea
Ingredients
Not available
Flavors
Cream, Dust, Honey, Sweet, Apricot, Brown Sugar, Dates, Dried Fruit, Earth, Fruity, Fur, Hay, Lavender, Nutty, Smooth, Vegetal
Sold in
Loose Leaf
Caffeine
Not available
Certification
Not available
Edit tea info Last updated by mrmopar
Average preparation
Boiling 0 min, 15 sec 6 g 4 oz / 113 ml

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4 Tasting Notes View all

  • “Back to catching up on the backlog of notes stored in email drafts and on my phone. No longer have any clue when exactly I drank a lot of these, but that’s not the important part! I picked up a...” Read full tasting note
  • “For a key to my rating scale, check out my bio. A really nice example of 陳韻 (“aged appeal”, or the smooth, mellow texture that is created as a result of aging) in pu’er. Not a particularly sweet...” Read full tasting note
    81
  • “Excessive length warning Also – if you’re reading this, shah8, don’t. I walked into the office. Still no messages, no work, no anything. I lift the lid off the pot – nothing inside. I know the...” Read full tasting note
  • “BitterLeaf gave me a free 7-gram sample of this with my order, along with brewing instructions. I followed them as closely as I could, using 95°C water, a quick rinse, and then steeps ranging from...” Read full tasting note

From Bitterleaf Teas

Still under a decade old, this 2007 ancient tree Bing Dao is exceptionally smooth and sweet, with a strong honey taste and plenty of cha qi. The huigan is also quite noticeable and long lasting.

This is a great top-shelf tea for lovers of Bing Dao or Lin Cang region teas, as it does a fine job exemplifying the sweeter, less abrasive side of Puers. This Bing Dao is at an excellent stage to be savoured, staying young in flavour, but with a phase of maturity already behind it. We recommend brewing this when you have adequate time and attention to enjoy this tea to its fullest.

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4 Tasting Notes

358 tasting notes

Back to catching up on the backlog of notes stored in email drafts and on my phone. No longer have any clue when exactly I drank a lot of these, but that’s not the important part!

I picked up a sample of this as part of my last order on a tea friend’s recommendation, as I have recently discovered that I really enjoy bing dao material. Used 6 grams of leaf, which had a honey and beeswax aroma while dry and a stewed fruit aroma once wet.

The liquor had a slightly dusty aroma to it, but the flavor wasn’t dusty at all. This tea is smooth and tastes of a blend of honey and sweet cream, with a hint of something else. I got nothing but enjoyment out of this session, and would really like to cake this tea someday, tea fund allowing!

Flavors: Cream, Dust, Honey, Sweet

Preparation
6 g

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81
57 tasting notes

For a key to my rating scale, check out my bio.

A really nice example of 陳韻 (“aged appeal”, or the smooth, mellow texture that is created as a result of aging) in pu’er. Not a particularly sweet pu’er, but absolutely no bitterness and incredibly smooth. The flavor is like dried Chinese dates and molasses. A subtle aged Bai Mu Dan flavor (like dried lavender stems) is revealed in the finish. Very subtle but lingering 回甘 (sweet finish). A relatively pricey tea, but very pleasant to drink – smooth, understated, and very comforting.

Flavors: Apricot, Brown Sugar, Cream, Dates, Dried Fruit, Earth, Fruity, Fur, Hay, Lavender, Nutty, Smooth, Vegetal

Preparation
Boiling 0 min, 15 sec 7 g 4 OZ / 125 ML

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64 tasting notes

Excessive length warning
Also – if you’re reading this, shah8, don’t.

I walked into the office. Still no messages, no work, no anything. I lift the lid off the pot – nothing inside. I know the landlady will be by again soon, asking about the last two months worth of rent. Going to be another long day.

Suddenly there’s a knock at the door. I don’t really want to face her, but she has a key anyhow, and I’ll just look silly standing here not having answered. I prepare a conciliatory face and throw the door open.

It doesn’t take me long to realize that I’ve misjudged the situation. Leaf like this – she shouldn’t even be in this part of town. A gentle scent wafts to my nostrils. It’s going to take me a minute to bend down and retrieve my jaw from the floor.

When I finally manage to make eye contact, two things are clear. One, this is a reaction to which she is totally accustomed. Two, she has done a much better job sizing me up in the interim than I’ve done of observing her. Her eyes are penetrating, and she knows everything at a glance. Even more shockingly, she hasn’t cut and run.

“Are you going to invite me in?” she asks. I move out of the doorway and beckon her in, not trusting my voice yet. She makes herself at home, clearly in command of the situation. It seemed as if she would always be in charge, no matter what the situation was. But with that aura, men and women alike would follow.

“Did you make a wrong turn, Miss…?” I manage to choke out. She turns a wry smile on me that is clearly designed to turn off all rational brain capacity, and it’s working well. “Hugin sent me,” she said simply.

Ahhh, Hugin. Her name is legend around these parts. Nobody had ever made it out of this part of town – until Hugin managed it. Nobody seemed to know how’d she managed to break out of here, but rumors placed her in an impossibly nice part of town, drinking 88 Qingbing from a diamond encrusted gaiwan. An exaggeration, I had assumed, but if she could afford to pass something like this my way, perhaps I’d underestimated her meteoric rise of fortune.

“…and you are?” I probed, trying to gather necessary info without driving this opportunity away. “They call me the Ice Queen,” she said, gazing at me to judge my reaction. But I knew what had happened to my predecessor in this chair when he was unable to contain his mirth at a man who glossed himself the “God of Night Sweats”. He wasn’t seen for weeks, until the fishermen down at the bay started bringing him up piecemeal. I didn’t flinch or crack a smile.

“Shouldn’t you offer a lady a drink?” she asked, in a manner that answered the question. I decided I needed one too, to calm my nerves. I found in her presence that it went down immensely smooth, with a flavor that lingered in the back of the throat. After a few rounds it was becoming clear she’d still be going strong when I’d fallen under the table. It was time to cut to the chase.

Our discussions were lengthy, and frankly, none of your business. I was immensely comfortable in the lady’s company, but I didn’t have the resources to bring to bear for a situation of such magnitude. She left a memento “for me to remember her by,” and the taste even now lingers on my lips.

It killed me to watch her walk out my door, but I simply don’t have the assets to take care of a lady who’s grown accustomed to such a comfortable lifestyle. She’s totally worth it, but I’m just a man trying to make it in the cold, uncaring city.

If she knocks on your door, however, you should let her in. Treat her nicely, and you won’t regret it. As you sit in your chair, thinking of the unusually fine times in your life, if you don’t have riches or power, a day like that can bring a smile to your face when nothing else will.

And you can’t put a price on that.

Cwyn

Bravo! Nice review, fun story.

Zennenn

Loved it!

Bitterleaf

That was better than anything I could have said about the tea. Well done!

sirturtletheknight

What great fun!

mrmopar

This is a fantastic note. I wish I had the eloquence for writing as this.

Wocket

Thank you all – I do enjoy writing my thoughts on teas, and nice ones like this tend to provoke a more… unique reaction?

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987 tasting notes

BitterLeaf gave me a free 7-gram sample of this with my order, along with brewing instructions. I followed them as closely as I could, using 95°C water, a quick rinse, and then steeps ranging from 3 to 8 seconds. The dry leaf was brownish-green with a few golden tips, and didn’t give off much smell. Rinsed, though, it as a different story: the wet leaf gave off aromas of earth, grapes, tobacco and hay.

The first few steeps were pale and mild, but over time both the colour and the flavour deepened, going from grass and smoke to a tart sweetness like grapeskin and quince. (Quince! So astringent, but so satisfying to chew!) The first steep was a pale golden amber, but the following few steeps were a lovely deep amber with a green overcast — looking at my cup, I couldn’t help but think that I was about to drink some very fine, very rich olive oil.

However, it didn’t feel like olive oil in my mouth. Instead, it had a very clean feel on my tongue; not thin like water, but not thick like broth. “Lively” is the best word to describe it — like I was drinking something sparkling and vital.

As the steeps continued, the depth and rambunctiousness of the second, third, and fourth steeps gave way to something that was mellow and incredibly well-balanced: the tea grew earthy, tart, and astringent, but no single aspect dominated the others.

I eventually went through 10 steeps, and even after the 10th steep the tea was still a rich amber colour with flavours of sour grapes and grapeskin. I have no doubt I could have made the tea go beyond 10 steeps, but I really didn’t have the time or inclination to test that assumption. In the end, I was left with a lovely vessel full of olive and russet leaves.

Full review at: http://booksandtea.ca/2016/03/a-sneak-peak-at-bitterleaf-teas/

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