2012 EoT Baotang Puerh

This was a gift from a friend, and I think it is wonderful!

The leaves are very dark and incredibly aromatic. The wet Malaysian storage has done wonders to the this tea. The scent begins with minty camphor, fresh hay, mulch, and sweet pipe tobacco. I warmed up my shibo and placed what I had inside. The scent opens and builds into a dark green eucalyptus aroma. A strong backdrop of pipe tobacco rises along side some anise; the mixture of smells were very strong. I washed the leaves once and prepared for brewing. First, the steeped leaves give off a sensational aroma of honey roasted almonds. Second, the taste begins warm and sweet at the forefront. A thick honey taste covers the tongue along with a favorable huigan. This brew is nice and sweet. A slight earthiness rises later on along with a rough wood tone. The qi is killer. An intense drowsing effect takes over my body. The smooth woodsy brew drowns me with a balance of bitter tobacco, cooling menthol, and honey desserts. I brewed this until the liquor was clear. It was a delicious treat.

Note: I have the 2013 bao tang from Tea Urchin, and this tea is a wonderful comparison to educate on how drastic and important storage conditions really are.

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This one deserves another review. Sampling this one that had undergone mrmopar’s storage motivated me to order an entire cake to air out in my pumi for a few years. My other cakes have responded well to my plastic container storage, so I figure why not.

Upon smelling the wrapper, I knew I wouldn’t have to wait at all. Perhaps having had over 2 full years to acclimate in Malaysia has resolved the issues I had with the storage smell of EoT’s sheng cakes. There’s nothing off putting here. Instead, the undesirable prune-like smells are replaced by soft cedar and dried fig notes in the aroma.

The tea vibrates in the mouth, leaving behind pleasurable and pronounced cooling and tingling sensations that spread in the mouth and throat, which lasts far into the later steeps. This is my favorite characteristic of this tea, and EoT believes this is enhanced by Malaysian storage. I don’t feel the qi on this tea as intensely as others do, but I do feel its clarifying and uplifting effects. It’s a young tea, but it already exhibits mid-aged notes of complex woods (cedar, sandalwood, oak), green apples, dried figs, cloves, and leather.

I’m happy to be able to finally enjoy this tea as it is.

Working this one up tonight. I bought this after tasting a sample of it a while back. Mengsong material is usually pretty decent.
I grabbed 11 grams out to start with and gave it a rinse and a little sit time.
Wet leaf you can pick some hints of floral but subdued and there is some smoke in there as well. The tea brews a nice aged golden color in the cup.
It starts out fairly thick and seems to rattle around in the mouth a bit. It is a pretty strong brew with the mintyness and camphor and bitterness rolling around in there. It is not as strong as a Bulang area tea but it is quite strong. Letting the cup cool a bit the bitterness can really come to the front. I see this one doing quite a few quick steeps as I am already 8 in and the leaf keeps giving. The aged profile of this will make you think it is a few years older than it actually is.