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Didn’t realize I’ve already tried this before from when they gave me a sample with my order. No wonder the taste seemed so familiar. The remaining sample I own has been w me for a few years from when LP offered his big WS sampling some years ago

5.4g, 90 mL ZZZ, 212f filtered tap
wet leaf: BBQ, wood chip, smoky, barnyard
1. woody, very smoky, sweet on edges and finish like apple skin. Bit of the Wistaria storage note as well that I don’t know how to describe, I’ve seen “briny” online, but recognizably WS storage)
2. similar, apple taste is stronger
3. pushed a bit. a leafy mushroom taste, something floral in throat
tea overall is gentle, not much depth here for feeling (kind of similar to less popular WS shengs, like the light bit of a mood boost from caffeine maybe?), but for 0.36/g sample can’t complain. Would I cake though, probably not. 200g (iirc) cake price was roughly $100 USD back in 2022, maybe more now + whatever their expensive shipping is.
4. minty mushroom leaf taste. slight sweetness
5. kill steep. something bitter in finish, but does not really resolve or transform

Obviously certain Wistaria cakes get far more press than the lesser known ones like this one, but until the finish this is not bad. I have no idea how the ending bitterness will age, but as-is I’m happy to drink through the rest of my sample which i can’t say is true for every tea I sample

5g, 90 mL TWL ZZZ, 212f
Wet leaf: smoke, barnyard, sour woody
1st: bitter, woody, cooling minty semi sweet finish. Warmth
2nd: similar. Mushroom-y floral lingering in mouth and nasal
3rd: spicy woody
4th: caramel-ish, bitter, some upper throat presence
5th: dry mushroom
6th: something nutty
7th: dead leaf taste .

overall narrow band of taste this time. Was a bit more interesting last time, but i think my sample may have been a bit dry. Will be interesting to hold onto and see how it progresses

5.7g, 90mL ZZZ teapot, boiling

wet leaf: sweet, smoke, incense, wood

1. bitter, resolving w/ some tartness and mushroom, cherry, and woody. Lingers in mouth and top of throat and edge of nasal (hard to describe)
2. bitter woody. something almost salty, maybe smoke? texture is ok. Soft floral in background and some astringency on tongue. Throat cooling
3. brassy, and cherry taste

No notes after since I was distracted. Less sweet than previous in the gaiwan, possibly since heat retention in the pot is way better in addition to pushing it w/ longer steeps. Hoping to cake this at some point, though the price is just at the point where I hesitate every time…

5g, 90mL, boiling.

wet leaf: rose, grain (like those asian breakfast packets you mix with water)
1st: sweet, grassy
2nd: dark floral, but not quite hongcha malty floral. Bit warming
3rd: a bit of astringency aside florals, green tea like
No notes after, but more or less consistent all the way through. Not sure if i was sick or something today, but this was quite warming. I guess yinzhens in general are not very punchy or dramatic, but enjoyable, supposing price is not factored in haha.

old set notes:
The 2023 was very enjoyable, and reminded me of a less sharp floral TShop one that was more comfortable to drink.

Here were my notes from an individual session of that: “5/90/212. wet leaf has strong sugar snap peas and later reveals rose-like florals (if you’ve ever walked through a rose garden, they can smell wildly different, not what the rose/lychee edged note of perfumes would have one believe), before ending as general steeped green sweet-edged notes. taste has sweet honeyed notes, and a green quality (not mint, but something fresh) and lingers somewhat”

I didn’t take notes for the wuyi and the 2020 since that was with a friend. The wuyi was sharper and flatter, and the 2020 is a more honeyed and rounded, gently sweet version of the 2023 from what I remember. If I had the money, I’d purchase the 2023 or 2020, but skip the Wuyi.

Thanks to R2 for the sample! It’s been what, 3 years? lol.

5.5g, 90mL, boiling, mixed water
wet leaf: woody, berries
1. woody upfront, turns into a bitter taste that dissipates into sweet florals.
2. stronger bitter. Florals on breath and in mouth
3. light and sweet, honeyed w slight bitter in background and something tangerine like

Did not take notes for this after, but overall feeling is a bit downing, but maybe a few more years until that’s more gentle. Where it really excels is the aftertaste. Definitely one of the most enjoyable and interesting ones I’ve had. In the recent TWL release, there’s a quarter cake available in the MZ set, but I wonder if they’ll sell cakes of it in the future, and if so, for how much. Jade Leaf sells for $414, and a group buy a few years back had some available for I want to say ~$300, but I balked at the price then, and at that price still wouldn’t spring for it now. However, I do have my fingers crossed that my LSGCs age into something interesting like this.

I don’t have other info on this tea, but I’m sad to even be saddled with 30g of it from a group buy of wilson’s catalogue years back. It’s not the most disgusting thing I’ve tasted, but for 0.45c/g, I’m sure even bagged teas would beat this.

6.1g, 90 mL TWL ZZZ, 212f
1st: bitter, herbal tea taste, sour, watery. Something floral adjacent lingering in the finish
2nd: okay tasting, a bit sour and just hollow
3rd: not very good.
4th: meh. Ended here. I don’t think this has anything else to offer

Have had this twice now, with similar ish ratios (5.5 or 6.5 g to 90ml). Once with gaiwan, once in zhuni, both boiling. It’s decent, but I don’t think I’ll buy it because I hate dealing with iron cakes. It takes one rinse to open up the chunk slightly, and then another longer rinse to soften it so it’s able to be fully picked apart. Even then I have to use my fingers to separate chunks into manageable pieces which is fine for drinking alone if a real hassle, but I would definitely not do if I was brewing for others.

Wet leaf: sweet (tomato-like?), woody, light smoke, pond

Taste is mostly woody, grass jelly, herbal/medicinal, sometimes apple-like and bitter adjacent but not quite bitter in the oversteeped heizhuan/fu way. Good texture, though taste isn’t terribly exciting most of the time. Which is a good thing, i think, since it seems clean. Feeling is comfortable, slightly warming. It’s in a good spot as far as I can tell, though for price point, I think I’m leaning towards caking the 7532 TWL carries.

got around to this after 2 years…

6.7g, 90mL duanni, 212f

2 rinses. compression is not too bad, but was hard to separate individual leaves as is often the case for shou puer.

1st: slightly bitter, some acidity. rounded and something coffee like

2nd: like 1st. slightly sweet finish, almost like a sheng with a few years on it in a minty sweet floral kind of way.

3rd: clean.

i had dinner plans and so had to run, but this was a pleasant surprise. I don’t think I’ve made it a secret that I don’t fancy most of what I’ve tried from EoT, and find their teas I’ve tried subpar, or at best to be of mediocre value and/or quality. I enjoyed this! I haven’t bought anything from W2T in years, so have no benchmark for modern shou though

5.7g, 90 mL, 212f

nice complex wet leaf aroma: sweet, BBQ, sour, medicinal, woody

1st: medicinal, cherry, almost cola like sweetness. a bit stilling

2nd: good texture, some bitterness after oversteeping a bit. Some acidic sourness with a fruity finish. Sits on tongue, but only a bit in throat.

3rd: brassy? sour and woody with some mushroom in aftertaste

Steeped a few more times, but didn’t take specific notes on this after. Very tasty and dies out fairly elegantly. Overall a comforting and slightly quieting tea, would be good to do work with. Did not find it particularly heating as other online reviews have mentioned, but will need to finish the rest of my sample and re-evaluate. It’s not a tea I ever got around to purchasing I think since it’s just pricey enough where there’s a bunch of solid options (and also someone(s?) kept buying it out every time I ordered from TWL…), but first impression here is positive, if not necessarily astounding.

5.9g, 90mL, boiling, mixed water

1. bitterness that dissipates immediately into candied florals on tongue. bit of medicinal woody taste and maybe watermelon rind white part. some oversteeped hongcha taste reminiscent of the 04 nannuo gushu from TWL. Engaging and dyamic

2. more medicinal taste. heating, and sinking in center chest

3. dull leaf taste like most of my YQH. nothing like steeps 1 and 2

4. still dull, but feeling seems intact

5. kill steep. sappy mushroom taste and some bitterness when cooled

this is the second time I’ve had this tea and maybe the cake edges are just not very good compared to when i had the MZ. Will need to revisit down the line bc for the hype this tea gets, both sessions w this were disappointing. I guess I’m glad to have a cake to revisit, since the other tea I remember being amazing upfront and then dying almost immediately was one of the YQH jinchas. An experience akin to fireworks…