2006 Boyou "0508"

Having a go at this one after a BIG Thanksgiving meal. I broke off about 12 grams of this to brew in the gaiwan. This cake is very dry probably due to the fact that it just came in from China last week and hasn’t had the opportunity to re-hydrate properly in the “pumidor”. The leaves in this cake are fairly large and from the aroma of the dry leaves it was deeply fermented. I gave a 10 second wash to rinse out the smaller pieces and leaf dust. First, second and third brews each five seconds apart starting with a 5 second steep. It brews very dark not as dark as some others. It almost has an “oily” sheen on the top layer. It has a woody vanilla plummy taste to it. It does leave the mouth a little dry. It has a slight honey finish to it. A good tea to settle back with after a wonderful feast with family.

Thanks to a friend for sending a sample of this my way… we are having a crazy rain storm here and I’m glad I can stay inside with my teas and keep dry; hopefully I don’t lose power!!!

I’ve been doing slightly longer steeps of this one and I like it a lot. It’s earthy but also very smooth and thicker than some shus I’ve had recently. When steeped for around 1 minute it becomes very dark with a coffee-like appearance. A mellow tea but also very soothing. NIce for the terrible weather!

sorry I can’t write more about it but I have a massive amount of homework for a class.

I got a lovely sample from a friend. This tea sure is pretty when brewed. It’s a very deep amber and quite clear. The steam seems to linger on the surface for a long while.

This one is smoothy and quite yummy for an after dinner sip. I don’t find it to be amazing, but it’s definitely good. It tastes a little like an earthy forest. I would have thought that with this number of years for age, it would be less earthy. I just did one rinse, but I think I may add a few more on the next session to see if any of the earthiness dissipates!

I’ll update after that. :)

Backlog from yesterday: I was gifted this tea by a good tea chum. Throughout I struggled to find much of anything in it, sadly. It is woody and rounded and slightly sweet. It’s not bad, but I found it a bit nondescript. I think the best description for it is ‘solid’. If you want a shou that is mellow and rounded but not too challenging, then this one would be a good choice. I could see using it as an everyday shou that requires little thought. I do wonder if I was really in the mood for a shou. That might be why I found less to it than I might otherwise, or perhaps I have been spoilt recently by other superb teas. Anyway, thank you to my tea chum. I enjoyed the tea even though I did not find it to be stellar. I have a couple more samples to try from my friend but I think I need to wait for the shou craving, because one of them is a mystery sample that he is testing me with. I really have no idea what to expect from it.