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2006 Fall Lao Ban Zhang Raw – 5.08g in 200mL at 208 C with a 10s rinse 10 min rest.
Dry leaves smell fruity as of apricot or preaches. Wet leaves smell of raisins, apricots and tobacco. The aroma of the wet leaves is heavenly!

This tea is produced by Members of Mengku Shuangjiang Tea Factory, but I purchased it from Yunnan Sourcing.

Steep/Time: Notes
1/15s: The very first thing I notice is the mouthfeel. From the very first sip it has a sort of numbing/tingling sensation on the tongue. A little vegetal, very mild like water from steamed or boiled broccoli with a note of honey. A prominant bit of sweetness that really blossoms at the back of the throat. No bitterness detected.
2/15s: Sweet, vegetal with a really smooth finish. Just enough astringency to make it crisp to the tongue. No bitterness. Detecting a little bit of something fruity already. Very good. May be feeling the first hints of cha qi, though it could be wishful thinking.
3/20s: Same as previous though the cha qi still hasn’t come on stronger.
4/30s: This is a lovely tea as far as taste goes, but the cha qi is of the mellow sort.
5/45s: A bit more bite and more fruit in this cup. Much more astringency, but it’s perfect! I should have been giving longer steeps from the start maybe. Ride that edge of astringence and bitterness to get some really amazing taste. Big apricot and date notes here.
6/60s: Cha qi leaves a light tingling feel throughout the body now, but I’m wondering if I’m not feeling as much since I’m running on very little sleep at the moment. Still geting the tingling sensation on the tongue.
7/60s: Much sweeter with notes of dates, currants and apricot.
8/90s: This is a very good tea, I just wish it had more punch in the cha qi department.
9/120s: Sweet grass and apricot with the tingling mouthfeel. Interesting bitter note just as you swallow that melts into more sweetness.
10/180: Actually got a bit of bitterness in this cup. Pushed the leaves too much on this one. Still good.

I really have to try this tea again when I’m better rested. Right now I don’t really feel tired though I should, but I can’t say one way or another if that has an affect feeling the cha qi.

Dry leaves smell of fall leaves and leather. Wet leaves smell of wet moss and autumn leaves after a rain. The aroma of the leaves take on a sweet tobacco note after the rest. Very pleasant.

Steep/Time: Notes
1/10s: Sweet and mellow with a smooth mouth feel. This is the first aged sheng that has given be an idea of what shou pu’erh makers were looking to simulate in taste.
2/10s: Still sweet and mellow with a noticeable note of moss or forest floor leaves. Has an interesting mouth feel reminicent of breathing in through your mouth after eating something minty or camphorus. Mind, there is no camphorus note in the taste, just a similar after effect. Going to push the next steep a bit because so mellow.
3/30s: Not a hint of bitterness, but now getting a more crisp finish with the hint of astringency that shows up. Still sweet with a light mouth feel while in the mouth.
4/30s: A nice woody, moss note. This one is very reminicent of shou pu’erh.
5/45s: Woody and smooth. Good cup.
6/60s: Not a lot of complexity, but quite a good tea. Not sure I’d pay YQH prices for it, but it’s one I wouldn’t turn down if offered.
7/90s: Same as 5 & 6. Maybe a bit of sweetness developing. I like that this tea has a sort of shou taste with a sheng finish.
8/120s: Same previous though a light brown sugar like note is more noticable.
9/????: Accidentally steeped it for 10 – 15 mins or more. Got the quirky camphorous effect again. It’s a pleasant feeling, but odd and unexpected.
10/300s: Not a complext tea per se, but it’s consistent.

I think next time I will try adding more leave to my pot. Maybe 6g. It’s a tasty little tea, but knowing YQH prices I probably wouldn’t buy a full cake of this one. We’ll see if my take on this one holds true after the next sessions. All in all this was a very pleasant tea session though no cha qi (which I typically love) was present.

I seriously never get tired of this one. I’ve found other teas with more cha qi, but this tea is just delicious. So, I have a full cake heading my way now. _

Dry leaves smell of a minty camphor and autumn leaves. Really interesting, unique and wonderful smell. The wet leaves lose some of the mintiness, but the smell of camphor and autumn leaves remain and there’s and added note of sweet tobacco and prunes. If this teas is as good as it smells this should be a lovely experience. I have a new digital scale so now I can be more actuate when measuring how much tea I use in each pot.
10s rinse/10m rest.

Steep/Time: Notes
1/15s: The taste of autumn leaves is most prominitent to me, but as usual the first pot is quite light. Very soft finish (not particulary crisp/dry). I am picking up a slight camphorous note.

2/10s: Camphorus, woody with a touch of sweetness. Still has a soft finish. So far good, but not really impressive.

3/10s: Woody with that light touch of sweetness. Finish is a little more crisp. The camphorus note is light and detected in the aftertaste more than anything else. The flavor profile definitely reminds me of shou puerh.

4/15s: About the same, but a mildly bitter note also apparent in this cup.

5/15s: A little more sweetness this time around. Still woody and pleasant.

6/20s: Drier finish. I like it. Sweetness about the same as the last steeping.

7/30s: Good tea, but I don’t think this is one I’ll buy more of. Maybe I just needed more leaf in the pot with this one.

2010 Gu Ming Xiang “Lao Ban Zhang Gu Shu” Sheng Pu’erh
Dry leaves smell of herbs, grass and smoke. Wet leaves have a pungent, smokey hay aroma.
10s rinse/10m rest.

Steep/Time: Notes
1/10s: Light, honey-like sweetness. More sweetness at the back of the throat. Pleasant full mouth feel that’s more noticeable in the aftertaste. I’m always a little uncertain when I detect that first bit of cha qi, but this one is noteable.

2/10s: Sweetness much more pronounced in the mouth, back of the throat and aftertaste. Tastes of grass and honey. Cha qi developing as a slightly light headed alertness. Wow! Good qi! I pushed this just a tad too long as I can detect a tiny bit of bitterness.

3/10s: This tea as a really interesting mouthfeel. Almost as if your tongue is being coated with a very light weight oil or wax that vanishes a few moments later. The finish is only mildly dry. Sweetness has mellowed just a touch in this pot though still very noticeable at the back of the throat. Ok, I think there’s something to Lao Ban Zhang teas when it comes to qi. Wide awake right now and super focused… though not always on the right thing, LOL!

4/20s: Very good tea. A bit of what I can best describe as tanginess now going along with the sweetness. I have to test a Lao Ban Zhang without my moring coffee. That may be why I end up so reved up with this tea.

5/30s: Love the sweet after taste. Have to be careful though not to push this tea too hard. Otherwise there’s a bit of a bitter note when the tea first hits the tongue.

6/30s: A little of the honey like taste is tapering off.

7/45s: Good, but I’m thinking this tea will end around 10 steeps. Still has that nice sweet after taste. Not noting any new flavors or anything.

Man I hate losing tasting notes! Not sure what happened this time. I started recording notes in a text editor since Steepster doesn’t save notes in progress, but I could swear I saved the tasting note and thus thought it safe to delete the one saved in my text editor.
\-_-/
So working from memory…

Steep times: 10,10,15, 30,30, 60, 60.
The leave, both dry and wet, smell amazing! Toasted barley, sweet candy/gummies and fruit.
The taste is so consistent I stopped trying to right anything from steep 3 to 7 which could almost be deemed boring, but every single cup is absurdly delicious. Very robust tastes of chocolate and fruit with a lovely toasty backdrop.
When I initially saw just how much I’d purchased before tasting it I began to worry that I might have made a mistake. Now I think I didn’t quite buy enough.

Really hard to describe the aroma of the wet leaves. Sort of smoky, vegetal, sweet, and sort of prune/tobacco-ish.

Steep/Time: Notes
1/10s: Very light with a grassy note. Nice mouth feel, smooth. Small sweetness on the tongue and at the back of the throat. May already be detecting a bit of cha qi with this tea as a feeling of suddenly perking up and being slightly lightheaded.

2/10s: More sweetness with a pleasantly dry finish that leaves a lingering sweetness on the tongue and at the back of the throat. Gently building qi. Quite pleasant.

3/10s: Starting to feel a sort of tingling sensation throughout the body now. Taste profile is about the same. Not noticing any particular flavors per se, but man… as I get toward the bottom of this pot the qi is coming on strong! Me likes!

4/15s: Wow! Wonderful full bodied sweetness showing up now! Ok, I hope this tea isn’t too expensive, because this cup may have just moved this tea into my “Buy a cake… or 10” category. There is also a distinct possibility that I’m a cha qi addict. This tea makes for one hell of a fix! _

5/20s: Very good. Same as previous, though the finish is a little softer. Probably should have done 30s.

6/45s: Finish is still a bit less crisp than the 4th steep, but the lingering sweetness remains. Took a 15 minute break between the 5th and 6th steep and noticed an immediate energy bump halfway through this pot.

7/60s: Noticing taste of stone fruit and a brighter grass note now. Finish is crisp and pleasant with sweetness more noticeable at the back of the throat than on the tongue now. Wow, the qi just hit full force again. Another wonderful cup.

Fuuuuuuuuuuuu!!!!!!!
_;;; – I just went and checked the price for a full cake (400g)… $400…. _~ Going to have to break my piggy bank for this one. Sigh

8/90s: Tangy/tart fruity note is growing. I love tea with really strong cha qi and this one has me nearly vibrating, love it!

9/90s: This may be the first time a tea has presented more qi than I can handle in a single session, LOL! Going to have a meditation break after this cup. Sweeter still with a nice fruitiness.

10/120s: Had dinner after meditation so that break lasted longer than expected. The sweetness is slightly lessened, but the qi does not quit! I’ll do one or two more steeps at 180s for full measure.

11/180s: 2 day break. Pleasant, but light grassy semisweetness. Still has a nice crisp finish

12/200s: Accidentally went longer than planned, but it brought out that nice plum like fruitiness again. :) This is on par or better than steeps 8 & 9. Man that’s good!

13/300s: At this point I figure it doesn’t really matter how long I steep it so lets see what we get here. Definitely a nice bit of plum flavor here. I love these teas that start out with a bit of sweetness, but no flavors of any note until well into the session usually after giving a nice qi punch to the head. Three pots in today and still able to pick up echos of the earlier cha qi. Now it’s just a really tasty cup tea though.

14/300s: Got a little weaker on this one. If I want more out of this one it’s time to move the leaves to the thermos with boiling water for a while… and I do want more out of these leaves.

So this tea is easily on par with the 2006 Chawangshu (which I think is also cheaper), but the cha qi in these leaves are unsurpassed! A very, very good tea. I’m looking forward to sharing this with a friend later.

Dry leaves smell smoky with a hint of plums. Wet leaves smell of prunes with a hint of smokiness. 10s rinse with a 10 minute rest.

Steep/Time: Notes
1/10s: Sweetness immediately apparent with a bit of astringency. Probably should have steeped 8s, but it’s not at all over powering. Very interesting flavor. There’s a sweet smelling pipe tobacco that the taste of this tea reminds me of with the addition of a slight floral note. A very good first cup.

2/10s: Smokiness a little more upfront with the sweetness still in the background. Smoked prunes and tobacco. Bit of sweetness at the back of the throat with this cup.

3/10s: The tea is taking on a wonderful fruity, slightly grassy aroma. Less crisp, but still has the sweet aftertaste.

4/15s: Same as previous, but with the sweet, crisp finish again. No cha qi to speak of so far, though there was quite a break between the first and second steeping.

5/20s: Sweetness has faded, though the finish is still crisp/dry. Tastes lightly of grass and moss now.

6/30s: Wow, the grass/moss taste is still there, but this tea is pretty much done for sweetness I think.

7/40s: Same as above. No cha qi in sight.

Started out nice, but petered out really quick.