2016 Tuhao as F*ck

Tuhao as Fuck is a pretty big and powerful tea. I pick up some wet straw and apricot in the nose. Flavor was mostly bitter, a little bit of astringency, followed by a stone fruit finish. Not particularly sweet, even in the finish, though. I found this one more about body and feels than flavor – it certainly tasted nice though. The body was thick and full in the mouth and down through the throat. I felt progressively warmer as the session went on, getting almost uncomfortably hot towards the end. Went along with a pretty relaxing feeling as well. Hmmm, I liked it better than my review indicates, but I never took particularly good notes on it or anything. This one will definitely be on my radar if I decide to buy some higher-end cakes anytime soon.

I just tried a sample of the 2017 version of this tea, and I’ve gotta admit I don’t see what the fuss is about. I started at 200F and found it fairly bland, so I switched to boiling and still all I got was very mild bitter/resinous/sweet (not bad, just too mild for me). No particular energy or body effects or aftertastes or anything.

I dunno. I love a lot of w2t’s shengs, and I don’t wanna be a hater or anything. So many hits from these fine folks, it’s just that this one was a miss for me. (So I guess if anyone wants the rest of my sample, let me know :)

The dry leaves smell like sweet cake.

1st Steep: I get a taste that reminds me of a sweet green tea with some hay mixed in.

2nd Steep: Turned bitter and very dry. Lost most of its taste.

3rd Steep: The sweetness comes back some and gets a bite to it that lingers in your mouth afterwards

4th Steep & beyond: The bite disappears and the hay and grass tastes take over the remainder of my session.

Overall not to my taste. Its interesting so I still recommend it.

Note- this review is for the 2017 which I find better than last years. This tea claims to be very similar to LBZ without having any actual LBZ material. Now I’ve only had 5 true LBZ teas to date so I’m no authority but they all have had a specific taste I haven’t been able to put my finger on until now. Forgive me for another beer comparison but to me the flavor of LBZ ive had had all had a bitter backdrop identical to beers brewed with a hop variety called Northern Brewer. Brewers describe this hop as tasting woody and minty but it has a distinct unique flavor. Think Anchor Steam. Tuhao AF also reminds me of a hop variety but not Northern Brewer. It reminds me of a U.K. Challenger, the main hop in Fullers ESB. It’s more of a lemony peachy affair. So does this tea taste like any LBZ I’ve had? Not quite but damn good. Is the qi similar? All the LBZ teas I’ve had I’d liken to a stoned roadrunner feeling. This tea is no exception. I recommend an experiment get a pot of this and a pot of real LBZ (Hai Lang Hao from ys has the most of this character) and get a bottle of Anchor Steam and a bottle of Fullers ESB and you’ll see what I mean. Tuhao is a fine tea by W2T but Ive tried almost all their top shelf offerings for 2017 and my fave is she’s not me which is not listed here yet.

Fresh and strong with a bitterness that turns to sweetness.
Images and more at https://puerh.blog/teanotes/2016-tuhao-as-fck-w2t

Finally got around to trying an orb of this from the #shengolympiad. Started with a couple of rinses to open this up and then proceeded to flash steep. It starts out with a floral grassiness that has a strong bite. I have to admit, I oversteeped this a couple times early on in the session, which drew out some bitterness that probably wouldn’t have otherwise been there. It doesn’t take long for it to mellow back out into something smooth and sweet. The liquor is like liquid gold and becomes even sweeter as it cools.

Dragon ball from 2017 sheng Olympiad.

Should have started this on a free weekend since it steeped out forever and I had to refrigerate it a few times. I think maybe half a tea ball would have been a better amount for me if it were possible to split tea balls. Brewed this on a 200ml gaiwan with just under boiling water for the first steeps then a thermos of very hot water for most of the sessions. I found this to be very floral with a lot of lingering aroma in the back of the mouth. There was almost no bitterness, which I actually would have liked more of. A few times it verged on being sweet but that faded rather quickly. As I said it seems like this steeped out forever with long 20-30 minute steeps at the end.

This is the orb from the Sheng Olympiad.

I thought this was damn good. I was pretty impressed. The ball is not too tightly rolled and gives off a Sichuan pepper, peppercorn, and some sweetish savory notes. I seem to always smell Sichuan peppers on tea balls, not sure why. I warmed up my pot and threw it in. The aroma does a backflip and becomes very sweet with a thick green background. I can pick up an underlining bite that sifts through the brown sugar and maple fog. This is a very nice and inviting scent. I washed the ball twice and prepped for brewing. The taste begins light and grassy with some jasmine. The next steep is similar with dandelion floral qualities. Afterwards, the floral qualities truly bloomed and spread out on top of a nice bitter green base (bok choy/kale?). A punchy background of fruits follows throughout the session. The taste is really nice. The later steeping caused the floral and green qualities to reverse, so it was a base of floral and a hint of bitter greens. Personally, I thought this to be a floral bomb; it was packed with dandelion, jasmine, and iris. The tea gives off a crisp cooling sensation that sits at the tongue. The tea softens out and soothes with the fruit tones. The qi was noticeable but relaxing. This was a major kickback tea for me. I just put on some tunes and leaned back from my tea table. It was a good vibe-y tea. While drinking, I was trying to pull from memory how last years was, and I believe this one is softer and thicker; a more pronounced tone to it. I will have to look back through my notes.

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

Liked it, nice & sweet. slightly herby-camphor but no cooling, I was hoping a bit more bitter or lively tongue with strong huigan, but thats my preference & this i think my gf would like.

This review is from drinking a cake sample. This puer is a fragrance bomb. It is bright, citrus, sweet, amber, grassy, vegetal at first, then a sweet mineral, pavement, buttery, vegetal finish.

I feel this be a good puer, in its current young state, for an oolong drinker. It’s got that fragrance that you just don’t get in many puer, but what oolongs tend to have.

In comparison to the same priced 2016 We Go High, Tuhao is more approachable as it is less bitter. It is totally for an oolong drinker and a great tea to try if you are new to shengs that are expensive or hate bitterness. You more pro, want epic tea drunk, and got that young sheng gut for bitter – We Go High is a better match for $149 cake.

Full review on Oolong Owl http://oolongowl.com/2016-tuhao-fuck-sheng-puer-white2tea/