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“initial dry leaf smell very sweet and floral, almost perfume like. 212f, 100 mL gaiwan, 6.2g. did not rinse. wet leaf is lightly smoky and bittersweet smell. 7s: carrot-like perfumed floral...” Read full tasting note
$92.00
Yesheng Gushu Baicha, literally translated as “wild ancient tree white tea”, this tea comes from a wild varietal of tea leaf.
One of the most requested productions we have ever featured in any tea club, we were strong armed into producing this tea as a regular option, paying in early February this spring to secure the material.
A unique profile of bright wild vegetal flavors that drift between fresh cut cucumbers and a field of flowers in full bloom, simultaneously bitter and sweet. Whether or not those descriptions will fit your experience or not is anybody’s guess. It is wildly difficult to pin this tea down and place into a box. Experience it for yourself.
Each cake is 200g. Cakes are packaged in tongs of five cakes.
initial dry leaf smell very sweet and floral, almost perfume like. 212f, 100 mL gaiwan, 6.2g.
did not rinse. wet leaf is lightly smoky and bittersweet smell.
7s: carrot-like perfumed floral sweetness; sweet aftertaste in back of mouth and upper throat that shifts to a slightly vegetal note
7s: light floral black tea/hongcha edge creeping in. slight steamed vegetal taste and aftertaste
8s: slight bitter upfront, in the vein of unpleasant cucumber bitterness, ringed by a floral and slight vegetal that leaves tongue dry. cucumber aftertaste that I’ve never encountered before. transitions into light sweetness
8s: this definitely has to be the most aromatic tea I’ve ever smelled. If the smell were a perfume, I’d buy it. Anyway, on taste: a floral pea-like taste, akin to the floral of the LP bubblegum yesheng I’ve tried before, but fuller and more honeyed. This fades and transitions to a black tea/hongcha-tinged floral taste. drying on tongue. I suspect my shorter steeps are keeping potential bitterness at bay, and I don’t mind putting in the work to keep it this way.
8s: almost mint hint plus floral vegetal notes and a cucumber pulp taste. tastes like sweet pea shower gel smells like in a way. sweetened cucumber like aftertaste
8s: almost bitter but not quite with a taste in the black tea/hongcha vein. somewhat drying
8s: back to honeyed cucumber florals. slight subtle vegetal aftertaste
8s: similar, but lighter
8s: a sort of bland steamed vegetable like taste, some high floral note as well
12s: similar
20s: similar. now is probably the right time to admit that this session’s notes were taken over the course of a week. This tea isn’t explicitly offensive in any way, but it is so boring and lacks anything truly dynamic; all shifts happen within a limited range. Which is perhaps not an issue, but at this price point, there’s so many more interesting options to go for over this one. I started and finished 3 other teas in this same duration.
30s: same, but slight drying on tongue
45s: very mild
1 min: more black tea like, slightly drying in upper throat
unknown min.: bitter with a rounded floral aspect. moving to the thermos, don’t really want to drink more of this
concluding thoughts: very slight warming. There’s no doubt this is pretty good material, but dang I really did not enjoy this as a tea. Anything that approaches hongcha/black tea notes I tend to immediately find slightly repulsive and I can’t really explain why, it just is that way. If these notes seem good to you otherwise, I’m sure plenty of people would enjoy this one. I will say that I agree with shah8’s take on wild teas (yesheng), as the ones I’ve tried now all seem to follow a similar profile that isn’t too dynamic or interesting to me, and I’ll probably avoid these in the future. This one I ordered a while back before I’d concluded that wild teas were probably not for me, and well, shipping times from China just is what it is. These experiences are why I don’t sign up for monthly club subscriptions no matter how tempting. I like novelty, but I also feel less disappointed that it’s something I chose of my own volition to purchase instead of someone else deciding for me. Funny how things work.
Same reason I don’t bother with subscriptions.