2005 Hai Lang Hao 'Nan Nuo Shan Gu Shu' Raw

This Nannuo is all the good things sheng can do. It’s not flashy, I wouldn’t say, but it’s delicious and solid and it makes me feel nice. A little smoke without being smoky; a little tobacco without being tobaccoey; some fruit without being fruity. Some sour, some flowers, some subtle cooling around my molars. Like a well-balanced bowl of noodles.

Longevity is so-so, as it starts petering out around 10 steeps.

This is certainly a region I expect to interact with more; reminiscent of nearby Bulang, unsurprisingly, a mountain range I’m quite fond of.

Suddenly I remember my Google mapping project, which I abruptly abandoned as life started unraveling, lol. I’ll get back to it when the dust clears; for now, I’ll just go tick Nannuo off as a good ’un.

I did not get any sweetness or fruit either. If I did I’d buy a cake for sure as I like the other things going on in this cha. I get lots of smoke, pepper, cumin and perhaps a bit of ancho. In fact, this tea reminds me of the burnt ends of a West Texas brisket hold the sauce. But i find it dry, bone dry . Leave your throat as dry as 120 proof scotch dry. It’s also thin. I like tea with an oily backbone and I’m not getting any. The qi, OTOH is amazing. Tingly, relaxing and chill and of a quality that I usually only get in teas twice the price…so I’m still on the fence about getting a whole cake. I wouldn’t think twice about splitting one with someone though…

Read around 130 minutes…all business statistics…

This tea was tonight’s session with college and I should have read about it. I got TONS of smoky taste with a slight dryness in the taste. Did not taste as if it was 12 years old at all, more like 5 as it was very mengku’like. Wish I got that sweetness that others got, but I got a rather dry smoke taste that would have been wonderful outside in the autumn so maybe I’ll retry this at a different time

Sheng are still an unacquired taste to my palate.

I would say this one is not too strong and a good introduction to appreciating them.
Smooth notes of hay and bamboo shoots, there is a bit more character through a smokiness that reminds me of whiskey. On it’s best infusions it gets sweet and floral,ending with a kick of red chillies.

Interesting and approachable.

may 16/17
wasnt expecting a session tonight, but the kids went to bed, and the wife packed it in early, so here i am. got this with my first package from the yunnan sourcing tea club. so many firsts with this one. i have nothing to compare this to, but im just going to throw this out there. i mustve went about 15 steeps or so. smoky, tobaccoy. i got a slight bit of astringency at times, but my mouth was always far from dry. after 7 or 8 steepings a baked apple taste came out while still maintaining the smoky tobaccoiness. the last couple steepings had a sourness to them. the taste, and especially the smell of the wet leaves brought the ghost of a memory that i couldnt quite grab. a little later it came a little more, something about arriving at a hotel, or somewhere at night as a kid. this is my first raw puerh, and this is the best tea i ever drank. if i can say that so early in the game with so little experience i cant wait to find out whats in store. cha qi fit this evenings atmosphere perfectly quiet, calm, meditative, heightened focus. finishing this off with a killshot 20 minute plus steeping. to my untrained sense of taste this tasted basically like a regular steeping albeit a bit flatter.

Honestly rather surprised that I’m the first reviewing this one.

The smell of these wet leaves are amazing! Fruity gummies, cherries and plums. The dry leaves smells subtly of plum preserve/jam.
2 Rinses at 10s each.

Steep – Time – Notes
1st – 10s – The aroma of the wet leaves is indeed imparted to the tea. Not much of the flavor in this steep though. I just finished the last cup of my previous tea session early this morning so that may be influencing this tasting, but I’m noticing a bit of a heady cha qi going on. We’ll see how it develops going forward. Despite not carrying much of the fruit flavors I smell it does have wonderful sweetness that blossoms at the back of the throat before gently fading away.

2nd – 10s – Heeyyyyy! There’s that lovely plum/cherry note I smelled in the leaves! _
Sweet, pleasant astringency. Nice dry finish. I thought there was no bitterness, but there is a slight bitter note in the aftertaste that quickly melts into that fruity sweetness. I think you have to really be looking for it to even notice it. I’d take it as a good indication that this tea shouldn’t be pushed too hard in the early steeps. Very good tea.

3rd – 15s – Light, airy, cha qi going on right now. :) The fruit notes are a little more subtle here and the tea tastes more grassy, sort of typical of shengs. The sweetness in the aftertaste has increased a bit. A little more bitterness in this one. Loving the relaxed cha qi. Feeling energized, relaxed and focused all at once.

4th – 15s – Slight bitterness in the mouth followed by surprising sweetness in the aftertaste. That’s a first. The fruity notes are still subdued as the grassy notes have taken center stage.

5th – 30s – Bitter note has disappeared, sweet finish is still present and some of the fruity notes are making another appearance. Nice cup… finished it too fast to say much more about it… my bad. LOL!

6th – 40s – Still fruity, but very weak. Need to up my steep time.

7th – ??s- Set my timer for 90s and then got pulled into a conversation. So… 2 minutes, 3, 5? I dunno. Long enough to bring out some bitter notes. :( I may brew one or two more pots tomorrow with these leaves. I screwed this one up, but those first few steeps were just lovely.

I need to establish my own tea rating scale so that these scores are actually more meaningful. Particularly when it comes to future purchases. Of course given how much tea I just bought from Yunnan Sourcing that may be a long, long, long way off. YQH’s Chawangshu is pricey, but that tea definitely defines the upper end of my quality scale right now. I’ll have to get in on Emmett’s next monthly buy.