2005 Six Famous Tea Mountain "You Le" Raw

After a disappointing session earlier today I picked this one out of the sample tin. I bought it some time back and have been very remiss in sampling it. Fortunately my current sheng binge is really getting me through the samples.

The dry leaf on this is gorgeous. It smells of warm horse and hay. That’s a homely and comforting smell that suggests a great brew ahead. The wet leaf transitions to a smoke and hay aroma, and the soup is orange. The first few steeps were smoky and sweet with raw carrot notes and a citrus sharpness that became a lovely bitterness. There was some astringency and the tea sparkled on the tongue. As I continued to steep and drink, it became smoother with less smoke, no bitterness and more sweetness. The astringency remained with a change towards a grape note by the end of the session. I steeped this over a dozen times and will return to it tomorrow, so I guess you could say its endurance is pretty good. This is more like what I want from a sheng and I am glad I had this one after this morning’s disappointment. It’s a great note to end the day on.

This one is a keeper!!! A few weeks ago, I was fortunate enough to stumble upon this cake held by a trusted seller I’ve been dealing with lately. I have long been intrigued by this 2005 Six Famous Mountains series, so I did not hesitate to purchase it. The original rice paper wrapper was a little worn after years of storage and it had a few rips in it. It was too tempting – I usually put my puer cakes directly into a special cabinet for aging but in this case I dumped out the loose leaves and scraped more so that I could fill the gaiwan and enjoy a few cups.
That was three days ago and I am now on the tenth steep. This little gem has not yet lost steam. It was a bit smoky in the first three brews (this surprised me a bit). Once I got through to steep #4, it was delightfully smooth, bright and sweet. I have been beside myself looking forward each day to a session with this tea. The cake is now in the cabinet where I plan to let it age for another year before I pull it out to pick off several chunks. I can’t wait!