The Essence of Tea

If my math is correct, this 6g pot of tea cost $60. Is it worth it? Well if I had Zuckerberg’s money I would get a tong of this as the flavor and qi are outta sight. First, the flavor/aroma . There is a state park near where I live called Trough Creek. The rims of the canyon are lined with cedar, oak, rhododendron and white pine. After the leaves have fallen in November and there is a rain followed by a warm day, a beautiful aroma of decaying leaves, evergreen mushrooms and decomposing oak fills the air. That’s the essence of this tea. The qi? This has all the nice tingly mood elevating properties of camellias much debated cousin but none of the goofiness and fogginess or paranoia. Just nice. Add a muscle relaxing property and a bit of mental clarity and you have it. I drank a pot of this at 2pm, took a convertible ride and it was like I was driving through a painting. I then went to a local jam session and each note played really resonated. Was this pot of tea worth $60? Well, I’ve payed that much for 50 year old English barleywine ales, 6 ounce bottle at that. I actually see a lot of similarities between old sheng and old beer. I also see how decades of aging really enhances the qi. None of the 10,20 or even 30 year old stuff I’ve had compares. I recommend this tea for very special occasions. I’m having a pot of 05 naka to see if this tea is really 10 times better proportional to cost. I’d say no but it’s definitely 3-5 times better. Makes me wonder how the puerh sk rareness will be in 50 years…

This is an interesting one, albeit more as an example than for its actual qualities. The description doesn’t lie; the tea is elegant, almost to a fault. The taste is essentially single note: a smooth, slightly bitter flavor that seems typical of the region, but which I have a hard time describing. It’s quite mellow, with low astringency and a bit of thickness; early cups left some tingling and my tongue and the session’s concluded with a nice lingering throat-tightness caused by the tea’s light bitterness carrying over into the finish.

That said, the tea is subtle: I didn’t really notice the finish much until the end of the session and the qi and caffeine are both present, but only if you search for them. I didn’t find much durability here, either, having to start pushing it harder than I would have expected after the first couple of steeps. My sample was very loose, almost like maocha, which may have exacerbated that.

I’m not sure I’ve actually had anything that’s single tree before, which is why I grabbed the sample. As I said, there’s definitely a purity here, but it results in a loss of dynamism. The flavor presents itself at its boldest in the first several cups and then fades (a bit faster than I’d have liked) without really changing much. I have no regrets about having the sample, but I also have no desire to go in for a cake.

This tea is chopped—chopped, and compressed hard enough that the last five gram portion of my sample fell out of the bag with an audible thunk. Breaking that apart took a bit of effort and was only really possible after the rinse. Fortunately, though, it did open up after a steep or two and I could get on with the session without too much difficulty.

The liquor itself brews up an orange-ish brown that’s relatively light for a tea of this age and is indicative of the relatively dry, humid storage this tea’s seen in Malaysia. The taste reflects that as well, with a tart cherry note predominating, along with a cooling finish and some tingling activity on the tongue. It’s got a decently thick mouthfeel and provides a qi that gradually sneaks up on you.

It’s not without its flaws, though. The durability’s merely tolerable—the chopped leaves give up the ghost pretty quickly—and there’s a bit of an unpleasant bitterness not unlike burnt coffee that clashes with the rest of the flavors. It’s not a dealbreaker—you have to look for that flavor and it’s pretty brief—but it does mar the experience a bit. Previous sessions with earlier parts of the sample have been intensely smoky, though this quality’s been absent this time around. My guess is that there’s some variability in the cake.

This was the second sample of this tea that I’ve ordered, as I found myself unable to remember what I thought of it the first time. I’m not sure I’d purchase it in the current market; it’s a pretty decent tea, but I think EoT has some comparable offerings that are better. That said, it’s pretty enjoyable and it’s not the sort of thing I’d complain about owning.

I dont even know how to review this:

God: Haha this will totally mess with their heads (removes all the wild tea trees around Jingdong)

Angel Gabriel: I hope you’re going to replace th…. oh my.

Angel Raziel: Thats throat numbing spray.

God: Dont worry lads, there’s a bit of huigan in it.

This is smooth and has a flavour that isn’t like shou, which I had difficulty placing. It isn’t exactly bitter and smells ‘hotter’ than shou. Another review said nutmeg – that might be it. Some spice that is not spicy. It has some mouth-tingling feel.

I also found this a very sleepy tea – I kept dozing off when drinking it.

Lovely aroma from the rinse, coats the mouth from the first sips with a sort of soapy moutheel (I know that doesn’t sound appealing, but it’s very nice!). A very light flavor with just an undertone of bitterness, and a nice perfumey, floral top. Some definitely heart-pounding energy to this one.

This is an awesome puer, especially for the price. The notes are clean and bright, tasting of mineral amber and rocks, rock sugar, stone fruit, and floral. The body is heavy and thick. Wuliang H has plenty of energy too. I got 13 good infusions.

Full review on Oolong Owl http://oolongowl.com/2016-wuliang-h-essence-tea/

Three sessions with this tea:
Session 1: Leafed the first bit of my sample into my gaiwan. Through the first few steeps, I noticed a hint of smokiness. Thankfully, this transformed into a mellow sweetness with the fourth or fifth steep.
Session 2: No hint of smoke. Enjoying the mellow sweetness and lingering cooling on the tongue from the first brew.
Session 3: Same as the second.

I suspect I had a leaf or two that spent a little too much time on the pan with my first session. The second and third sessions with this tea were enough to convince me that I needed to pick up a cake…or two.

Having been on a bit of an aged tea kick lately, despite the seasonal influx of new tea, I decided to pick up a sample of this with my most recent Essence of Tea order. I’ve brewed it gong fu a couple of times and taken it into work for a grandpa-style session once so far, and I can safely say it’s a pretty solid tea, although one better suited to gong fu.

The parameters here are for my most recent session. My work session with this was a little underwhelming—mostly smoke, not a whole lot of flavor or durability—and I was suspicious that I had underleafed, despite using my normal quantity of tea. Thus, this time, I went for broke on the leaf quantity, pretty well packing the gaiwan. I was rewarded for my efforts with tart, cherry-like flavors that gradually subsided to reveal undertones of softer vanilla. There’s definitely some smoke on this tea, though it’s mostly faded and present primarily when smelling the gaiwan lid; similarly, the camphor in the name seems to appear mostly in the aroma and maybe a bit in the finish.

In terms of less immediately tangible properties, the tea’s texture was nothing remarkable, although not too thin. There’s a calm but noticeable qi, and the caffeine levels seem to be pretty low, which is kind of a feature. The tea proved reasonably durable through the session, though it fell off a cliff towards the end—my steep time increments jumped from five seconds to thirty seconds or more pretty quickly.

For the price, this is a pretty solid tea. If you squint, you could think of it as a budget version of the YQH Teji, as the storage seems to have had similar effects. I’d definitely recommend sampling it, and it might be worth a cake.

Typical Hongcha notes and sweetness with little and rather untypical maltyness. Pleasant bitterness and astringency, as often to be found at Sheng Pu’erhs.
Images and more at https://puerh.blog/teanotes/2017-beyond-the-clouds-eot

Super heavy and full-bodied with an very spicy sweetness and subliminal bitterness which numbs the tongue. Wet-storage character but still a super strong tea and a very relaxed qi.
Images and more at https://puerh.blog/teanotes/2008-bulang-ancient-tree-eot

Mellow, multifaceted profile, light and fresh with an undeniable wild origin, this tea is lighter than its 2016 version (Tea Club only) and more similar to the 2017 Secret Forest Wild: A tame and calm wild Sheng.
Images and more at https://puerh.blog/teanotes/2017-wuliang-wild-eot

At first very spicy and nutty, which turns to a slightly bitter floral note. Somewhat astringent and very fresh.
Images and more at https://puerh.blog/teanotes/2017-nancai-ancient-eot

Very light and elegant for a Sheng and more so for a wild Sheng. This one is of a very different character as the other wild Shengs this year but nonetheless very lovely since it has a long lasting, cooling fruitiness combined with a light, relaxing Qi.
Images and more at https://puerh.blog/teanotes/2017-secret-forest-wild-eot

Very well compressed tea from what seems like the purple leafed varietal. There is forest moss and subtle hickory smoke in the dry leaf aroma. After the first wash, the leaves reveal intriguing aromas – dried plum, roasted walnut, pine wood, and moss after the spring rain. The tea brews a very clear and pale amber. Body is light yet the tea is somehow rich.

It’s a remarkable tea. The Qi is intense from the start. It moves towards the back of the head and envelops the cerebellum, spreads down my spine, and into my shoulders. It remains there, leaving feeling warm and elevated (not hyper) for the entire session and afterwards. It also spreads to my chest and remains. I’m fully alert yet calm and happy. This is really cool stuff.

Initial steeps remind me of Yunnan Sourcing’s DeHong purple tea, but then the tea quickly reminds you that it’s something else entirely. The bitterness and sharpness in the initial steeps is much more similar to wild spring herbs (raw mugwort or ssuk in Korean) than tea, as it covers my entire mouth cavity and morphs on the sides of the tongue into intense tart apricots, sour cherries, grapefruit, dandelion greens, and oregano, but then transforms via huigan into something fruity and savory…and lingers. There is no smokiness in the flavor.

Mid steeps become even more fruity (plum, peach, cherry, green apple), honeyed, and very smooth. I can taste and feel the purity of this tea. It has great depth and, despite my description above, it’s quite difficult to accurately describe. It must be experienced first hand. I am tempted to purchase another bing.

As the 2016 version this one comes with a plesant and strong bitter and wild flavor, but more fruity and heavy as last year. Again a strong and relaxing Qi – one of the best Shengs ever!
Images and more at https://puerh.blog/teanotes/2017-kunlu-ancient-tree-wild-eot

Bitter-sweet and very fruity ith a longlasting aftertaste like berrys and nice, decent Qi. Later on the bitterness turns down and becomes more sweet, like tart sour cheryys. You get really much for your money!
Images and more at https://puerh.blog/teanotes/2017-jingdong-ancient-wild-eot

Buttery-smooth, very light tastewise but with a heavy underlying strength. Very strong and relaxing Qi and with a lot of endurance!
Images and more at https://puerh.blog/teanotes/2017-yiwu-guoyoulin-eot

Gentle and smooth tea with strong body and good Qi.
Image sand more at https://puerh.blog/teanotes/2007-mr-feng-fd-eot

Very bitter in a pleasant way. Remindes me of the CLT Slumbering Dragon, but a bit more fruity instead of floral and good Qi.
Images and more at https://puerh.blog/teanotes/2016-kunlu-bitter-wild-eot

Strong and smooth, spicy with a thick body.
Images and more at https://puerh.blog/teanotes/2014-du-quan-eot

Very calm and balanced tea tastewise, but with a strong, underlying Qi.
Images and more at https://puerh.blog/teanotes/2008-mr-feng-selected-trees-eot

Fresh, slightly bitter with a instense, rustic somkiness. Recommended if you like smokey Shengs.
Images and more at https://puerh.blog/teanotes/2014-yunyun-eot