2015 Last Thoughts

Thanks again to twinofmunin!

I’m very glad to have sampled this instead of purchasing it. It’s definitely a lot more complex than other shengs I’ve had. Throughout brewing it, I whiffed and tasted zucchini, pepper, and grape skins. Still a bit on the bitter side for me, but a lot sweeter than other Pu’s I’ve had.

I brewed 3 grams in less than 3 ounces at 200 F, beginning with 15 sec and going up in 15 second increments. I got about seven cups before I gave out. The rest of the brews were just vegetal and bitter at that time. Oddly enough, I wasn’t really tea drunk. I got a euphoric buzz of clarity, but that’s it. It could be due to how I brewed it and how much of it I drank, or maybe a tolerance. Who knows.

I enjoyed the experience.

60ml porcelain gaiwan, porcelain cup. I’m drinking indoors, in the air-conditioning, which seems to do funny things to my sense of smell and hence my taste, lately… but it’s just too warm to have the windows open right now. 5s rinse, few minutes’ rest, beginning with flash steeps.

Dry leaf is lovely. Long pieces that are loosely acquainted. Smells strongly fruity and sweet.

Damp leaf smells sort of spicy/peppery after a rinse. First steeps are… light, some clean vegetable flavours. Just a very light hint of astringency. The liquid feels soft, with just a hint of viscosity. Some vaguely floral sweetness after. Third steep starts to climb around the sides and back of my tongue with some drying.
A few steeps later (lost count), the inside of the gaiwan lid starts to smell like a mild green bell pepper spice. The flavours shift more floral, more drying astringency, still with a clean vegetal backdrop (hints of sencha), and a smooth feel to the liquid. A soft fluffiness has invaded my hearing, and a slight buzzing in my body that feels grounded.

The aftertaste is rather long, and my tongue actually feels tingly at the tip.

This is just… good. A very nice tea to have on a quiet afternoon. There’s a lot to it that I am unable to articulate. The flavours are well-rounded. Glad I ordered myself a sample and have a few more sessions with it. :)

After I finished my oolong session this morning, I knew I needed to open up one of the reserved sheng samples I have. Being that it was nice outside, I wanted one with no smoke and little to no age on it. The selection was down to about 12 things so I kind of just grabbed this one at random, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, which is quite odd but I learned something interesting" The word ‘fecked’ means stolen. I hope one day I can tell a girl she fecked my heart because that’ll be witty :)

At first I looked at the leaf and there was a mixture of dark and light colors to it. Also to note, there were no silver hairs or white leaf within the piece. The first brew came out much lighter than I thought it might. I was expecting something strong, like ‘THIS IS MY LAST THOUGHT, YOU GONNA REMEMBER IT’ but it was nothing like that. Interestingly enough this tea wasn’t that complex and I nailed it down pretty quickly which to me says that this tea exemplifies in one area: clarity.

At first I thought there were notes of sugarcane, but then I quickly realized it was more of the sweet notes you get from a pickled vegetable. The theme for this was asparagus for me. Bang Dong has always been a zucchini tasting sheng and now that I am tasting something like it I am able to say that this has more of that texture taste that asparagus has; with a little more of a distinct sticky taste. Now this liquid is lip smacking which you’ll hear said about sheng that has some syrup likeness to it; which this has. While some may say it’s like honey, for me it’s like syrupy with the main difference of being a runnier sweetness rather than a honey which is thicker and for me sticks around longer.

Now the taste was great, very light which agreed with me 100%. Still taste quite new without that bitterness coming through as the leaf opens and settles. This leaf doesn’t open for a few steeps and was a little unique. At first I thought it was smaller and then I noticed as it opened up it almost looked like some wet dancong leaf. Some of the veins were twice the size of others which looked funny next each other.

My first session with this tea last about 90 minutes and then I went and ate some jalapenos and drank some Irish cream soda to reset my taste buds. Came back to the tea later on to see if it was the same. The sweetness was as I thought because it wasn’t near sugar, but clearly had some sweetness you find in a pickled mango (which I dislike); but no sour notes. Liquid still brewed out pretty clear. The sharpness was faded when I came back and it was dying out as I could tell which sucked, but I was at around 22 steeps by time I realized I didn’t have long before I said goodbye. I probably ended at 26 steeps, but this was meant for the clarity and taste for me rather than the longevity so I was quite pleased with it.

Price. Yes, that’s a thing as many have remarked on.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BGCmSa1RYHQ/

There is no way to do this tea justice with a mere tasting note, and anyway I lack both the palate and the vocabulary to speak with any authority about things like “stonefruits” and “vegetal” and “astringent” and stuff like that, particularly with a tea like this.

I’ll be honest, this is been kind of a crappy year so far. I do believe with all my heart that the secret to happiness is gratitude. And so, I am grateful for many things. And while I try to be zen about things as a general rule (I wear a ring with “this too shall pass” engraved on it), sometimes shit just gets shittier. And when you happen to do what I do for a living, most days you feel like Sisyphus at the rock and wonder why you even try. Which is why sometimes you need to spend the money on a tea like this one, and you need to drink it, because life is short.

Tiger above me
tiger below; slowly now-
fall. This tea is sweet.

Does tea have Buddha nature? Enjoying Last Thoughts I venture to say yes. Opening the wrapper one can easily see the tree in the leaves. One handles it with care, as if it were the baby Buddha itself, mindful of the countless hours and tremendous effort that went into acquiring the material, pressing it and packaging it with care, the time, energy and resources needed to make the purchase and receive it half way around the world. At $439 a cake one handles it with mindfulness and attention to every leaf, measuring and preparing it with as much skillfulness as possible. The heartbeat accelerates and the spirits lift in anticipation as the water heats. As the gaiwan fills with water one senses great purity and is moved to drink the rinse in a rare moment of freedom from habitual behavior. Each drop a precious resource to be savored and protected.

Holding the warm cup one is already elevated and the nose drinks first, enjoying the smell. With each sip the warmth spreads, the senses focus in sharpened clarity – mind and body are one in the precious present moment. An elemental awareness arises: fire, water, earth and air, separate selves transcended in each drop of the soup.

In the half empty cup one discerns the arising and ceasing to be of all phenomena. The interconnectedness. As the cup empties the heart fills with warmth and gratitude for the effort of countless beings and generations of care that went into this. Notions of here and there, known or unknown are transcended; one feels a kinship and closeness with the hands that created this.

After a few steeps… the mind quieted in the rising tide of cha qi, a direct visceral experience. The cup, now empty of tea, perhaps full of my last thoughts?

Why did the Buddha continue to meditate after full and universal enlightenment? Maybe because it felt so good… time for another pour. Peace.

Intense waves of euphoria. Steeps to infinity

NOOOO I wish I hated this tea as the price tag on it is high! Unfortunately, I love it. No wait, I hate it. I hate it so much that I need to consume it like a lust for revenge and blood like I’m a 90’s kung fu movie hero.

First off, cha qi off the charts. Maybe I should of made 3g instead of 7.5? I ran to the gym already and deadlifted 200lbs laughing like a maniac as I worked the railroad. Thankfully, it’s my birthday today so no one is questioning my sanity as I get a pass today, others think I hit the bottle early and needed a muscle pump before birthday dinner. But its TEEEEEEEa!

The flavor is freaking smooth, new born smooth with an aftertaste of pretty orchid floral and fruity green grapes. It’s thick and lubey (HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA) of a tea. That fragrance is the best though

I’m on steeping 10 and it’s not showing signs of quitting. No quitters here, just tea. RAWHHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Dammit, my eye makeup is crooked.

So disappointed. This is beautiful tea though. It has an odd vinegar like taste that’s too strong for me.

boiling80ml4g 10 seconds, 15, 15
This tea leaf was purchased in 2015, and this is the fifth time.
There is a thick and round sweetness at the beginning and it is very delicious. The return has a deep sweetness in the back of the throat, and the front and back are good. Mineral feeling continues slightly throughout the tongue.

Then 15 seconds.
I started drinking Taiwanese tea from around 2014, so I didn’t understand at that time and bought this pu-eru. Finally, you can understand the taste of this tea leaf.
Recently I realized that taste was developed.

Next day boiling80ml4g 15 seconds, 12, 11, 10 series
The 5th cup is sweet and full-bodied from the beginning. There is a sharp, very mellow. However, from the 6th cup, it sound with a bang, and like a firework, bread and tea could be played. Minerals also become stronger. I wonder what it will be?

3rd day boiling80ml4g 12 seconds, 12, 13, 15, 15
From the 9th cup, sweet and sweet. Because I left it all day, the tea was calm. Come on the stomach. The sweetness is not honey but sweet like sugar. Tea feels good when I get used to it, but tea that strikes I am very stimulating.

4th day
boiling80ml4g 15 seconds, 15, 15, 30
From the 14th cup, the sweetness is very good. Minerals also came out.
I was impressed alone that it was delicious tea.
Sweetness has returned to the tongue.

after that
45 seconds, 72, 90, 180 end
A very dramatic tea leaf that is very gentle at first, then suddenly becomes intense, and then turns around and continues with a mild sweetness. Last Thoughts, what is the last thing in your life?

Wow! This tea is everything and much more than everyone has said. Pulled out my gaiwan and did 5g for 100ml. Let me tell you, I felt the effects almost immediately. I did 20+ steeps. One very short rinse and then very short steeps. The effects of this sheng are very potent yet you don’t think that based on its taste and texture. It does not feel like this young of a sheng. Very smooth and mellow. Not as dry as dry as other young Shengs I’ve had. It is a very well balanced sheng. Can’t say enough about this one. Do yourself a favor and get you some of this.