2005 Rocket Yiwu

I took a 3-day weekend. Work has really been getting under my skin lately. Patience is very thin. Without divulging, I will say I am severely disappointed in the company’s lack of leadership and of principle in an era when both are so sorely needed. Thank glob it rained for a moment today. Wash away the bullshit.

According to mechanic friend, this humid-aged Yiwu sheng smells like an old leather BDSM hood, the kind with a slit for the mouth. One cup of this tea also miraculously got rid of the crook in his neck. Mhm. I think he likes it. It is certainly a solid tea that I would drink the hell out of if I had a cake. Worthy of a spin of dank D&B with headphones. Dance, derk, dance!

mrmopar, eternal gratitude.

Album pairing: Matrix — Sleepwalk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvZyu1n_fss&list=OLAK5uy_neV05trqA_OZEU4J8lES3SA-Gu4FeC7Wc

Edit: while drinking and listening to this record, my turntable picked up the air traffic control frequency from the airport nearby. I can hear pilot chatter through my headphones in the quieter moments.

I really do like the cheesy space race reference on this cake. The tea is mildly aged with strong notes of damp wood, leather, spices, and some clear cooling wet tones. I warmed my teapot and placed some inside. The scent opens into some sweet earth/shou, fennel, leather, wheat, barley, mineral, etc. Its a whole medley of your down-and-dirty aromas. I washed the leaf and began my brewing. The brew begins pungently sweet with rich earth tones as a base. The exhale brings about dark fruits and some black cherry. The brew moves into heavier earthier tastes as it progresses along with some slight char and dryness. The brew progressively gets dryer and dryer and the tones get straight down to clay beneath the soil. This tea kind of reminds me of a shou, both with its earth aspect as well as dryness. The huigan is tardy to the party, but it makes quite a commotion with it arrives. Its thick and lasting, and it does help tone down the dryness. The pot soothes out, and my tongue has taken up residence in the Sahara desert. The qi distracts me with a strong relaxed feel yet still much alert. The sensation warms me up and produces a good vibe that soothes me out. This is an okay tea, but the dryness was a bit too much for me.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BHVTZxeA0CO/?taken-by=haveteawilltravel

https://www.instagram.com/p/6lFHF5zGSe/?taken-by=haveteawilltravel

It’s very interesting when you’re not getting a scent off of dry leaves. You really can go into a session having no idea what to expect, or ending up with something unexpected.

As soon as I poured water over these leaves to wash, I was hit with the smell of something like wet vegetation or musty, damp room. So THIS is what humid storage smells like. Pretty much knew from that moment rhinkle wouldn’t like it.

There was a good bit of dust in this sample, so I rinsed out as much as I could and did the first steep as quick as possible. Liquor is a deep amber and it tastes woody and mossy and kind of ash-y.

Second steep is better, probably thanks to finally getting more of the dust out. if I ever get the chance to drink this again, I’ll know to rinse twice. A bit of a cooling sensation in this steep, and rhinkle enjoys this one better more, as well.

The storage taste gives way to other flavors over subsequent steeps. taste really starts to even out over the next few steeps and more rich notes start to shine through. The texture gradually starts to smooth out and thicken up. I get a hint of sweetness and there is some drying effect, as well, but it doesn’t seem overwhelming to me.

This carries me throughout the rest of the afternoon, and I may revisit the leaves tomorrow. Overall, I’ve enjoyed it. Bit sad knowing that I won’t probably get the chance to drink it again!

My stomach is currently in a good place so I decided to try a sheng from the Beginners Puerh TTB last night.

This tea definitely has some humid storage notes going on. It actually reminded me a lot of a ripe in the scent of the wet leaves. The flavor itself is kind of like an in between point between a ripe and a raw. There wasn’t the stone fruit flavor I am used to with a sheng. A slight bitterness but not too much. Humid basement like notes were present. Also, very drying. I was trying to read out loud to my wife while we drank this but damn, I had to keep drinking to keep my throat from drying out. Vicious cycle.

Despite all of this, it was very drinkable and a decent tea. Nothing to write home about but not one that I felt the need to stop drinking.

Last session with this tea, though there’s a bit left to go in the random blend cup. I see that it’s sold out so I can quit thinking about whether I’d want to buy it.

When I first tasted this I was completely unaccustomed to humid storage and found the humid note an unbearable distraction. Whether because this sample has aired out a lot in the last 9 months, or because I’ve drunk a bunch of teas more humid than this since, I’m finding that much less of an issue.

The leaf grade is nice, mostly large pretty leaf pieces. The dry leaf when warmed gives a slightly musty scent. The first few steeps have a predominantly honey sweetness and a full sense in the mouth. By the 6th cup the dark orange color of the soup is fading and the feel is thinner with some astringent drying effect starting to show. The humid storage taste never completely goes away for me, though by the 12th or so steep it’s getting pretty faint.

I didn’t love this as much as I was hoping I would based on Oolong Owl’s review, but I think it was pretty decent for the price… on the third hand, I’m maybe glad to not have to wonder about fitting it into the purchase queue someplace.

An article for consideration, to the editors of Tea Chemistry Monthly

This tea starts off like a naked mole rat, in that you can’t be sure it’s seen the light of day or had any fresh air for its entire life. Also, they are both notable for their impressive longevity compared to their peers. I am not aware, however, of any studies regarding the incidence of cancer in the leaves of this tea.

After some initial steeps that bring the funk like a 70s throwback concert, the tea settles down and provide cup after cup of thick, tasty brew. Others (Proust et. al.) have remarked that it is somewhat drying, and leads to a desire to consume more tea, which I also experienced.

I did not, however, experience the same level of tea-drunkenness professed by OolongOwl in her seminal work on this matter. Due to inconsistencies in experiencing this phenomenon, I cannot consider this an experimental failure of my own making, though that possibility must be considered.

Owing to a shortage of supply from the one outlet which has heretofore provided all known researchers with the substance, further testing may prove difficult to come by. I do recommend, however, should you find a new outlet by which to experience the peculiar effects of this compound, you avail yourself of it toot-sweet.

Contact the author for a full list of supporting documentation and endnotes, should they be required.

Had this one for awhile – time to break into it. Interesting tea with nice complexity. The dry leaves are quite nice – lots of whole leaves; medium brown color; and they smell interesting. Hints of smoke and storage found in the first 2 cups but this drops off quickly. Tea soup is clear with a gold color in early steeps and then shifts to a dark copper color with orange highlights later in the session. The flavor profile shifts throughout the session – wet wood, vegetal, floral, spice. Nice enough finish. I began to feel a relaxing qi hit after the third cup and it continued to build during the session. Great value found in this 10+ year aged Yiwu area cake – only $0.22 per gram. I enjoy this tea!

From the Pu TTB

Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays to all!

Early steeps have notes of mineral, peat, citrus, pine and incense with a minty cooling finish. There’s some storage tastes which fades in the later steepings and reveals just a bit of vegetal/corn notes and a figgy sweetness. A nice aged sheng indeed!

Pretty enjoyable fun tea to drink. I didn’t notice any overwhelming astringency or bitterness, although there is some there. Not overwhelming qi but it is certainly there. It didnt kick my ass but it had me feeling very invigorated. I haven’t drank many teas this age and haven’t tried any Yiwu teas (to my knowledge) so I don’t have much of a reference, but I definitely enjoyed it. I look forward to trying the Gaoshan Qingbing to compare.

This is good, certainly a solid tea, it’s creamy, woodsy and floral, as I would expect from older Yiwu. For some reason I’m just not feeling it though… maybe it’s because I’m still jamming on young sheng and am not quite ready for the winter transition into older puer, but this just doesn’t come off as super remarkable to me. Certainly I can’t fault it, it’s very clean and there are no off-flavors, but imho the Gao Shan Qing Bing doe everything this one does and costs half the price…

edit- checked W2T, well, not half the price, but 20 less…