2002 Tai Lian Kunming Tea Market Opening Anniversary Raw

This is part of a YS sampler pack. These notes are a compilation of about 6 steeps.

Tasting details: 6grams of tea / 100ml per steep / 208 deg F / steep time starting at 20s increasing 5-10 sec with each infusion.

Color is a light orange amber. The wet tea leaves smell of cut wood and sweet hay.

Aroma of the liquid. Oak/wood scent with a touch of leather and slight sweetness (not honey, sugar, or floral).

Flavor: this tea starts extremely smooth with a slight cream flavor in the first infusion. This cream disappears in later infusions, and instead this tea starts very clean, turning into smokey oak with a touch of leather and the barest hint of sweetness. This is a viscous liquid that coats the tongue with a nice texture.

There a mild astringency that starts just after the oak, but it is not bitter; it is the astringency I associate with tannins in oak casket Scotch/Napa Valley Red wines. There is a bit of dust in this tea as it is a small sampler and part of it was somewhat crushed in transit. There was a slight bit of dust in the tea server after each pour, which could have attributed to the astringency.

This tea has an extremely long finish.

The cha Qi is mild, but consistent in nearly every single cup. By the 3rd steep, I felt heat flushed (not from the ambient temperature ) and I could feel heat rising from my chest towards my head.

Surprisingly, this is a fairly well-balanced tea esp in infusions 2-5. It’s easy to drink and super smooth.

Having said all of that, this is not quite to my preferred flavor profile but I enjoyed the experience. For anyone who likes the oaky flavor of Scotches or wine, this might be a good tea.

At the time of drinking, this tea is 16 years old. Just got a sample of this guy in. I find this tea very surprising. Upon first sipping, my mind is tricked into thinking I am drinking a younger tea. There is some bitterness that fades after the first 3-4 steeps, and a healthy serving of astringency. If I had to pick a wonderful exhibit of semi-aged Kunming storage done right. While many young pungent flavors still last in this tea on the nose, and through character, the tea transforms after swallowing to form a rounded and deeper flavor – immediately dispelling the expectations a young sheng would leave behind. Notes of honey and stone-fruit dominate the character of this tea. I definitely have no mastery over identifying regions, but I think this particular blend adds a nice character and complexity to the tea. While it is certainly a dry tea, and will force you into dryness, the flavors it leaves behind are more than worth the upfront aggression. For me the tea had a calming and relaxing qi, I felt focused and…actually got some things accomplished! Thanks tea! Overall, I’d call this a holistic success, but the more I experiment with dry stored teas pushing out past 15 years, the more I find myself falling into their sweet siren calls. So do take this with a grain of salt.

This full-bodied, sweet and smoky semi-aged raw still smells rather young for its age, but the dry storage has mellowed out most of the bitter notes (leaving only a mild astringency), to create an easy to drink tea with a medium cha qi.

After a couple of rinses this tea is clean, amber-brown. Got this one in the Yunnan Sourcing “dry-aged” sampler pack, late 2017.

This is my current favourite of my limited collection. It is very smooth with subtle smoke and honey flavours. It is very long on the palate and thoroughly satisfying.

It is worth noting that the image of the wrapper on here is incorrect. Correct image can be found here: http://yunnansourcing.com/en/tailianchamasi/1367-2002-tai-lian-kunming-tea-market-opening-anniversary-raw-tea-cake.html

What a nice middle aged tea. Thanks to Brenden for putting a sample of this into the TTB. It brews a deep amber color, with fairly thick body. The storage has been dry. It is not terribly complex, I’d say it is nice and basic. Early steeps have some smoke, which eventually clears. There is little bitterness or astringency, which is part of why the flavor is simple and straightforward. Later steeps are more on the fruity side. I got plenty of infusions out of it.