313 Tasting Notes
5.3g, 90 ml zzz
sample from a different source but I’m too lazy to make another page
wet leaf: smoke, sweet, moth ball
1. gently sweet upfront, lurking bitter, gasoline-like note, sour, burnt candy. a range of notes. Alerting, lingering sweetness in mouth and upper throat
2. medicinal, generic mid aged sheng taste. good amount of bitterness present alongside sour note
3. similar, slight mushroom, slight mint on finish
4. something floral and almost perfume like lingers in upper throat
5. forgot and oversteeped. woody medicinal
6. soft honeyed
did not take notes for the finishing steeps after, but this is way farther ahead than the Hou De stored version and so it seems promising. I found this quite lovely, if a rather big departure from classical Xiaguan.
5.3g, 135 ml zini.
wet: medicinal sweet
rinse smells ginger-y sweet
1. ginger spiced, sweet woody. settling if not sedative. aftertaste like concrete?
2. taste is like unburnt sandalwood incense (tam dao EDP is a good representation of a narrow band of the dry sandalwood smell). also a bit ginger-y when cooled
3. rock, ginger
Was a bit distracted today. steeped a few more times but did not bother to simmer the rest since reflux has been kicking in again even with heicha and ripes.
5g, 90 ml gaiwan.
wet leaf: retired smoke, honey, sugar
1. light bitter quickly dissipates, sweet that slightly extends into throat, mint
2. goji berry swetness, cooling finish
3. more bitter and woody. floral sweet w a bit of raw olive finish
4. berry sweetness. feeling very warm
5. a bit bland sweet, mild bitter
6. bit minty
7. steeped a bit longer. not too much bitter
I stopped here and did not push more since it was part of a 3 tea run with others. for something not that old, I was surprised by the relative lack of strong bitterness. The only other tea I’ve tried of comparable age is the LSGC, and I remember that still having quite the bitter kick. I guess my brews were with a much lighter hand this time, having remembered how the LSGC went. I think the texture and aftertaste quality could be a bit better here but I could’ve been a bit too gentle with steeps. I wonder how it’ll continue to change. It had a lasting heating effect for me, but I can’t say for certain since my body has been acting up again lately with most teas. It didn’t feel as rough to drink as the LSGC though…
6.7g, 135ml zini.
wet: incense sours, woody, barnyard, BBQ
1. bit astringent like banana. BBQ
2. smoky
3. a bit bitter, mostly generic tea taste. lacking in structure overall
4. woody, and a bit floral, like steeped out jasmine
tea 2 of a 3 tea speedrun with guests. I feel like I remember thinking it was okay before (but I want to say it’s been at least three years now since the last time…) but I think having it right after a significantly better tea did it no favors.
6.7g, 135 ml zini.
woody herbal sweet with plum finish.
No other notes since this was the end to a three tea speed run when some friends visited for lunch last minute. Definitely a comforting dessert type tea, insofar as heicha fits the bill for that. in terms of personal preference, I’ve been gravitating towards darker profiles so I don’t reach for this much, but it’s nice.
5g, ZZZ
wet leaf: varnish (?) furniture like, burnt rubber, retired smoke, medicinal TCM, BBQ smoke
1. herbal bitter that dissipates into sweet herbaceous cooling. Bit of raw olive taste. something reminiscent of strawberry
2. herbal sweet WS taste. calming. Sweet BBQ lingers in the throat
3. brassy upfront, decent aftertaste.
4. crisply sweet
5-6. Thinned out. Pushed and it was ok. Brought out a more concentrated bitter, but nothing especially redeeming.
Reflux has been bad again lately and it seems to affect how i perceive any somatic effects. The Taihe is not a favorite of mine anyway. But all in all, I’d say it’s ok. It’s not that strong across any of the times I’ve had it, but not especially uncomfortable either. The one time it seemed to show well was with someone else, and I’m not sure if maybe pacing is my issue when drinking alone.
4.7g, 90 mL ZZZ
wet leaf: YQH storage, light smoke, sweet, dark fruit, slight barnyard
1. sweet, slight cherry, effervescent alcohol tinge to taste and finish like the other YQHs recently. some woody and underlying bitterness though nowhere to the extent of the CWS and DJYS recently. light sugary quality like watermelon
2. herbal tea. some sweetness alongside oversteeped astringent bagged tea taste on rear of tongue. relatively strong bitterness here
3. similar in taste. bitter lingers on tongue.
4. sedative. woody. YQH dark marshmallow-y taste
took a long break in between to watch the snow outside since was super lethargic already. steeps 5-7 were mostly similar, and pewtering out. Outside of my earlier criticisms on taste (bitterness not resolving well, and fairly linear), I can’t drink this tea too often, because it is one of the most downing teas I own. There are some teas that are comforting and settling (e.g., aged BYHs and most older LBs), but this is not that. It feels forceful, like you are trapped doing nothing and unable to change that for some time. For an errand-free Saturday (yay for modern day grocery delivery), it is fine. For any other day (which is 99% of the time), it hardly fits the bill.
4.4g 4GC LB 90s, 90 ml duanni
Mothball, beet smell
1. Kind of thin. Just a general beet taste, some powdery sweetness on finish. Light headiness, maybe from a recent caffeine break
2. Pushed a bit for thicker texture. Still beet, powdery finish. Some touch of floral in the finish that some dankly stored teas seem to get (like the changtai 03 bamboo spring/jinzhushan)
3. Steep color lightened. Beet, hint of spice/peppery, light warmth in shoulders
4. Color lightened here as well. Flatly sweet taste. Decided to simmer the rest for 5 min.
simmered mug was decent, drinkable enough. Not a huge fan of this one, since I prefer the woody profiles to the beet heavy ones
Stumbled on an old Hou De blog post about brewing aged oolongs. This one isn’t as old as the ones mentioned there, but anyway, adapted those parameters a little with excellent results. Will try to stick to these going forward for older oolongs.
5.4g, 90 ml ZZZ
Leaves in prewarmed pot: caramel, plum
Wet leaf: roast, inky sweet. Lid has the empty cup smell of a roasted oolong
1. 30s: tea has sour plum and medicinal in the cup. A bit bitter medicinal in taste and sweet grassy roast/smoke/plum in the finish w a strong celery/mineral note that I usually get w apparent zhengyan teas. Lingers in the throat
2. 35s. Sour plum aroma. Bitter medicinal taste and some sourness. Some aftertaste lingering smoky mineral
3. 40s. Mostly plummy. Not as much aftertaste as steeps one and two, but some sweetness on finish that builds into the lingering notes from those
4. Forgot about it but prob 1 min+. Lightened. Finish has shifted into mushroom-y and tire smoke
5. 2 min. Plummy hint
The first time where the cold remainder of the first cup didn’t actually taste chocolate-y or that great. But, over the course of steeps, the aftertaste continues to build and linger and is really lovely. A cursory glance at my notes on EoT offerings probably makes clear that I have a general indifference towards most of the teas I sampled from there, i.e., not terrible, but not worth chasing down. Happy to report then, that though this is pretty pricey, the tea is quite pleasant. Am I going to buy the full pillow pack after sampling though, probably not. One can dream about winning the lottery, but not healthy to do so too often.
Thermos’d (500ml) the rest for 2.5 hr. Was a solid but not outstanding cup the usual roast oolong thermos profile. Warming feeling that I didn’t feel during the active brew session, but tbf my apartment is sort of cold bc winter heating costs are borderline outrageous.
Simmered the rest for 10 min or so. Mostly dead but is the sharp floral of oversteeped light roast oolong w barest hint of plum on finish
