2016 Last Thoughts

This morning I realized that this tea (at least the cake I own) is representative of my Puerh journey and perhaps my tea journey in general. Brief history. I got big into tea in high school in the early 90s after my parents brought back some loose tea and a Brown Betty teapot from a vacation in England that I still regret declining. Soon after my mom found an ad in a gourmet magazine for a company selling single estate teas. Hence begun my tea journey in 1991. I was particularly fond of black teas and the only puerh I’d tasted was in 2003 was a mini tuo of shou that the vendor instructed to brew western style. Of course it tasted like rotten mushrooms and I gave it to someone who’d drink anything and I never thought of puerh again until 2017 when my mom pulled out a Saveur magazine and told me about an article about people getting high on puerh teas and how horrible it sounded, to which I replied gimme that, snagged the magazine which contained the interview with Paul from W2T and quickly made an order. So this is 1 of the first cakes I’ve bought almost 4 years ago and it’s seen the evolution of my tea drinking tastes, storage methods and the ever evolving question of whether one can effectively age tea in the west. The answer is YES!!! When I bought this tea it was full of youthful citric, stone fruit, herbal, floral and minty notes with an uncommon thickness. I made the same mistake as many noobs and allowed it to dry out and lose character. It was then that I learned about crock storage and brought some life back to it…for a while. By 2019 this tea was in in awkward phase and while it still had good qi the flavor was meh. At this point I’d begun dealing with multiple vendors and my tasted leaned more toward the more robust teas of eastern Yiwu, Yibang and Gedeng so this tea got little attention. About this time I learned about experiments in heated storage and decided to use this tea (and my other 3-7 year old awkward teas) in the experiment. Briefly, for the uninitiated this involves heating a picnic cooler with a seeding mat to 85-90 deg f and placing cakes humidified to 60-70% into sealed Mylar bags and storing them in the cooler. Now I’ve had this method bring back top notes to say 3 year old teas and speed up the transformation of say 6-7 year old teas in which bottom notes were beginning to emerge but this is the only tea I’ve bought super fresh and was able to observe its transformation. I tasted this tea the first time this morning in the year that it’s been in heated storage and expected it to still be in its awkward stage as it’s still a little less than 5 years old. To my surprise I didn’t recognize it. I’ve been sampling a lot of drier Taiwan stored 7-14 year old boutique Yiwu teas from the likes of Yang Qing Hao, Chenyuan Hao, Biyun Hao etc and in its present state this tea fits right in with the more robust selections of the above. Woody notes have emerged and foresty camphorous notes dominate followed by sweet floral notes in the finish. Still super thick and stimulating mouthfeel. Still no plum notes but I expect these to arrive in perhaps another year. The qi, well I’m couchlocked and rambling about the evolution of a tea cake I’ve had 4 years and still managed to have 100g left when my reviews are typically short and sweet. It’d be interesting to taste this side by side with tea that’s been in Paul’s storage all this time. The point of this review, this tea is really good. You can effectively age tea in cool dry climates and heated storage can be very effective (at least in the relatively short term). No one has hotbox stored tea for a decade so who knows if adverse effects will arise.

For the last day of the year, I brought out a sample of “Last Thoughts”. Thankfully, I made a sensible decision not to use a whole 10g I had left and rather split it into two sessions :D

2020 will obviously be remembered for the pandemic, and rightfully so – we should definitely keep such events in our collective consciousness. However, at a personal level I want to avoid painting a picture of this year with a too broad a brush. This tea is indeed very suitable for reflection, and thus I used it to remind myself of all the love and great connections I experienced throughout the year. At the same time I realized I haven’t been to a live concert for the whole year, this being the case probably for the first time in something like two decades. I decided to at least watch recording of Cult of Luna’s gig from 2013 – not the most suitable music for this particular tea, but they are among my favourite live bands so I thought it served a purpose.

I don’t want to go into the particularities of this tea now. It is good, the huigan is amazing, cha qi likewise. However, there is no way I would buy it for the price it is going for. There are teas with comparable huigan and cha qi at half the price, while being more complex and in accordance with my taste preferences.

Finished the sample this evening. A tea best had for special occasion, of which there was none today but it was something instinctually plucked from the crock so I obliged the whim. The name of the tea is fitting for a week such as this, though. I had many last thoughts threading through my little circus peanut.

It started last Wednesday, when I called out from work due to debilitating depression from a big menstrual hormone swing. Shit got dark real quick as soon as I woke up that morning. Last Thoughts.

Sunday was the day of my Yia-yia’s passing 5 years ago. Last Thoughts.

A rough week at work, in which emotion overtook me several days ago and I lost my shit on a manager, who thankfully let me air my grievances with no repercussion. I was ready to walk out. Last Thoughts.

I got a call from my aunt on Wednesday that Kiki was taken by her employer to the emergency room. Heart attack? Mini strokes? Last Thoughts. Turns out Kiki is okay. Nothing shown on CT scan or MRI. She’s just Kiki being Kiki, a bit of a fireball, una diabla traviesa.

Wish I could’ve afforded a cake the year it was pressed. Good tea. Mellowed me right out. Healing.

Maybe one day I’ll listen to Bob Dylan’s Last Thoughts on Woody Guthrie. Fuggit. I absorbed it right after I typed that. Healing. Thanks, white2tea <3

I was using this tea every month to combat pain related to the menses but have since then discovered that CBD oil is far cheaper per serving for this issue. Now I only drink this when the pain is very bad or kind of as if it was single malt scotch, just as an occasional experience.

Song pairing: הזוג הזה – mergui

Crazy fizzy, tingling mouthfeel where the tongue meets the roof of the mouth, feels like my back bottom jaw is humming. Strong mouth and throat coating, like having rice paper thin gauze coating my mouth. Can feel the tea all the way down my throat into my chest and further into my stomach as it penetrates further throughout the session and kind of undulates up and down in an odd sensation. Kind of reminds me of those audio sound jiggly lines as a water droplet slowly stretching and separating from the body of water right before completely splitting from it. Man, did I get tea drunk.

6.66g/100ml ruyao gaiwan @ 207F

Best smelling dry leaf i’ve ever smelled. Stone fruit stone fruit stone fruit. and gummy bears.

Speaking of stones, yeah this tea kinda gets you stoned. It’s an expensive high, but I don’t know any drugs that taste this good. If anyone does please let me know.

Wet leaf is nice apricoty smell, but not as great as that darn dry leaf smell. Wowza

I don’t really get much mouthfeel from this tea. No throat feel. Or any other of those feels. Little bit of a nice bite to it. in the cheeks. in later steeps.

Super thick and heavy spicy with a slight sweetness and super strong Qi.
Images and more at https://puerh.blog/teanotes/2016-last-thoughts-w2t

First of all, I don’t think this tea deserves the 94 I’ve given it on taste alone. Of course, this is dynamic through the first 7 infusions before settling in to mildly over-extracted sheng puerh notes. I’ve done 3g in 60mL and 10g in 150mL, and I’ve found that the tea is fairly forgiving given the lower brewing temperatures that I use (170-195F). I’ve found that at least some of the initial steepings yield a nice thick, brothy, umami, middle tones that are pleasant. However, I think the tea makes up the rest of its price in the effects it has on the body. By the second cup I was already feeling warmth in the face, and through the next few I was giggling and feeling floaty and high. I made the mistake of having two steepings of 3g in 60mL (the 5th and 6th, actually) before going to class, and while I was able to take notes with full clarity, I felt myself having to both force myself to focus a little bit harder, and I had to bite back the giggles. I became self-conscious when I walked to my next class and had to try not to break into a smile during a lecture about 1950’s Stalinist policy. That said, I had one of the best days I’ve had in the last few months due to the fantastic mood I was in all day. I’ve yet to have a personal session of this tea straight through (the 10g in 150mL was with four other people, of course), but this isn’t a tea I feel comfortable merely taking out to brew on a whim due to the price and the psychological effects that need to be planned for.

Not for beginners (as the man says)
My most intense tea experience so far. I needed a break half way through and this has never happened to me before.

The flavour is very pleasant, mild and sweet. The dry leaves in particular have a very clean fresh fragrance. Hits all the right notes, absolutely nothing in the flavour profile disrupted the enjoyment of this session. Nothing to wash out, nothing to wait until it dies down nothing to bypass or get over.

The interesting (and high-price justifying) aspects of this tea are the effects and body feeling. I know it affects everyone different, but I feel stoned. Actually stoned. Properly stoned. Yes, stoned. Light sweating, numb head, floaty feeling limbs. Whilst this may be groovy, it limits when and where I can enjoy this tea. The term “Daily drinker” has never made more sense to me, because this is the polar opposite. I don’t know how often I could sit down and, well basically, consume drugs.

I want to get a cake though! I’m a big Bob Dylan fan and the fact that the name comes from one of his poems (“Last Thoughts on Woody Guthrie”) and the entire poem is transcribed on the wrapper…… This may just tip me over the edge. Darn you TwoDog and your cool hipster marketing ;)

Definitely get a sample next time you’re ordering. Just for the experience. And set aside a few hours.

UPDATE: I just ordered a full cake.

6g in 100mL teapot

Maybe the fanclub will come at me with pitchforks and torches, but here are my last thoughts on this tea. For a vendor to say “This tier of tea rarely sees the light of day in the open market,” but does not tell you why, instantly begs the question…why? Why not tell us what’s special about this?

The vendor says “Not a blend we would recommend for beginners” nearly compels the drinker to either force themselves to say they like it, or risk being called an amateur if they don’t. Ego aside, I did not enjoy this tea because the good aspects were too fleeting and overall it made me feel uncomfortable, restless, and agitated.

The aroma of the dried leaves was honey and dried ripe apricots. Wet leaves gave a burst of watermelon aromas I wasn’t expecting.

First sip sent a wave of goosebumps opening throughout my chest and then down to my legs, very pleasant. It did not return again. After the 3rd cup, I experienced a really nice cooling sensation rising in my throat, but also did not return again after that moment. As the session progressed I got progressively restless and agitated, with difficulty focusing. Its definitely potent material.

It never really had much flavor. The flavor was clean, clear, nothing off, no burnt, no smoke, no storage. Straw, unripe melon, a tinge of sourness, a hint of tart white grapes. These flavors lingered and lasted and lasted and just never went away. Then the aftertaste turned astringent, then to mushrooms, then to a sensation of mouth coating with no flavor, then it became raw vegetable/melon again, then back to mushrooms, etc. It wasn’t an aftertaste I enjoyed.

Everything was very subtle, and fleeting when it occurred. Its quality material that is well processed, and perhaps this will age into something wonderful. But for the price and my experiences with it, I can’t justify the cost, and there are older teas with more activity available at the same/lower price.

Maybe someone else will appreciate this more than me. Wasn’t what I look for in a tea.