2014 EoT Long Lan Xu Raw Puerh Tea

A tea friend of mine gave me a sample of this sheng some years ago and I am grateful for the experience. With >10g it’s quite a big sample so I went for flash steepings with 80° C. The wet leaf smells clean and floral with a little bit of earthy notes. 8 years (of dry storage) should have mellowed this Sheng out but oh boy, was I wrong.

The first steepings present the tea really bitter but not astringent with lovely floral notes of orchid with a hint of the earthy flavors to come with camphor. The steepings 3-5 show how fullbodied this tea is while licorice root makes it quite tasty. It’s also animalistic with a decent horse fur aroma. The aftertaste of dark chocolate / cocoa was surprising and are the reason why these were my favorite steepings. 6-9 were harsher and sweeter, the minerality shines through. The earthy flavors shift into bitter melon and now the increasing astringency left my mouth dry. Some rock candy and licorice root are sweet aftertastes, but these aren’t pleasant steepings if you don’t like young Shengs from Bulang or similar harsh teas. While the tea was becoming lighter colored in steeping 10 the flavors became more balanced. This indicates that I used too much leaf even for flash steeping. Some zesty citrus gave the astringency a nice twist. But after that the tea looses aroma and even the bitterness mellows out in steeping 13 with increasing zestyness. I increased the temp to 90° C for minute of steeping. After 16 steepings I stopped as I was quite tea drunk and it’s becoming late, but I think there would have been 4-5 steepings left which I will try to drink tomorrow.

Clearly this tea is not at it’s prime now but already shows some of it’s great potential. It’s a quite unique blend of delicate aromas and bold / harsh bitterness. I don’t think the bitterness will disappear completely for at least a decade as this tea was bitter from start to finish. By any means this is enduring fellow is nothing for a quick and easy sip, but it’s nice to see how many faces a tea can have. This review and rating reflects my experience now and not a potential future. It’s a pity that this tea isn’t available anymore as I like this style of Sheng. If you got a bing, store it for some years. And if you don’t have the patience or just don’t like it: PM me :D

Tea that I have received from derk, originally apparently from ashmanra, with prolonged California stroring, one month in Czech customs warehouse and now with me… for a week or so.

Derk noticed, it is very bitter. That discouraged me, so I took only three grams (from 7) and prepared gongfu. Quick rinse that I tossed out.

Several — rapid, short, longer, long steeps. I haven’t counted time nor number of steeps. I started about 10 seconds and ended up with 5 minutes maybe.

Honestly, it doesn’t deliver much. It starts with forest floor, quite dry one. Then there is some bitterness, but not overpowering, not in a single steep. But alas, it doesn’t deliver much more. It is rather boring. There is, again borrowing words, this time from Tea-ass, pekoe aroma (and taste). Light, unharmful tea. Last steeps are rather vegetal and the astringency arises, but not upsetting my stomach.

I already had a lot of tea when I stupidly decide to start a session with this one.
I’m feeling quite anxious. I’ve been very busy working in the last 5 days. And now it’s Sunday, I’m at home, and suddenly the awareness of my human condition hits me with dreadful thoughts, confusion, and feelings of hopelessness.
At some point in the morning I decide to start a session with this one. Maybe not a good idea, since my body it’s telling me to stop drinking tea. Anyway.
The wet leaves have a warm, low-keyed aroma. This is the last bit of my 25g sample. This tea feels like shadowy and unclear. A black pepper spiciness lingers at the roof of my mouth. Not super thick. Rough texture. On top of everything I found something that I may call “pekoe aroma”. Everything else is a sweet-dirty-roots kingdom. I start feeling some kind of pressure on my brain, and slightly stoned.
I don’t see much dynamicity here, there’s some floweriness like tiny flowers growing in a rotten tree trunk. Spicy aftertaste with “generic tea” aroma on the roof of the mouth.

Later steps: dryness. Cooling sensation. Herbal. Spicy. Sugarcane sweetness.

Actually as I’m writing this I’m feeling quite tea high. A paralysing heaviness. I like it. Now I’m gonna say the magic words that’ll turn me into a tea connoisseur: strong qi.

Oh my belly. While I love upfront bitterness, this has a kind of flat alkalinity that my body can’t handle. Five years of EoT storage is apparent in the dark, dry leaf (plus one year in Mediterranean California climate) with notes of forest floor, grain and very faint smoke. The warm leaf smells spicy with pronounced baked bread, some type of citrus (maybe pomelo), licorice root, impression of cherry. Rinsing changes the profile into something very pungent and vegetal. Parsley and celery root come to mind, root vegetables in general, more forest floor, dark soil clinging to tree roots.

From there… eh… flat alkalinity is upsetting my stomach. Thin body, tastes are… eh… thin with that same forest floor, moving later to something more tobacco-leathery but still ever-thin; mild, diffuse bitterness. Mellow aged aroma with a touch of cherry-prune. Light camphor feeling. Aftertaste later is citric sour. This tea is giving me a drowsing, heavy limb effect similar to the other Bangwai sheng I’ve tried though too dopey for my liking.

Long Lan Xu, back to the crock with you.

Buttery-smooth, fruity-spicy and slightly bitter-astringent.
Images and more at https://puerh.blog/teanotes/2014-long-lan-xu-eot

This one is solid. Despite having absorbed some of those off-putting ‘aged’ prune/leather/medicinal flavors of EoT’s other cakes, the underlying quality of the leaves are clear. There is a very solid base in these leaves that is indicative of old trees. The tasting experience isn’t entirely compromised by those initial storage flavors. After the 4th or 5th steep the tea’s unique flavors are revealed—raisins, menthol, cedar wood, and green apple. There is substantial body, prolonged aftertaste, big cha qi and dynamic mouth activity (cooling and tingly sensations) here. This tea performs exceptionally well in my Ni Xing teapot. This clay in particular subdues those storage flavors and releveals more of those fruity notes and fragrances. I got at least 15 steeps out of this tea and a distinct fragrance of honey crisp apples. It’s a bit out of my budget, but I’m glad I could at least sample this tea.

2014 Long Lan Xu raw Essence of Tea

Price:
25/25

82/100

Summary. A very good, fresh raw pu-erh with a strong body and very long finish. Flavours are sweet raisins. Emits strong energy. I’m impressed.

Dry: Dark brown; few silvery leaves. Very light, bright concentrated herbal. Med compression.

https://www.instagram.com/p/_fP26AoDqqolH2bXPtAiLSgd2m9w8Pt6K-B5o0

Wet: Light smoky, med bright concentrated herbal, fresh green. Slightly deep base to it.

https://www.instagram.com/p/_fQ3UUIDs89XZFKPyt_2is-uUGnU7JxUwY8Dg0

Rinse: Light golden.

https://www.instagram.com/p/_fQi5coDsTN0rPqdxhzaWZ79SOziAgTl4zDp40

Note: This is my first time using the my new handmade cup from Pottery West :)

10s – Light yellow. Flavour is sweet raisin with a lingering sweet raisin finish. The body is lacking. 75/100.

15s – Light/med yellow. Body is there now, and it has some strength. It does not stick around. This has the fresh concentrated herbal flavour, but it is not overbearing. The finish does have a slightly astringent grip. 78/100.

20s – Light/med yellow. Intense body and the flavour lingers for a long time after the swallow. It has a s strong base, which gives the sweet raisin flavour some depth.

25s – Med yellow. This is one powerful and strongly flavoured tea. Noticing a sparkle in the finish. The transition from sip to finish is quite heavy. I’m feeling strong energy from this tea.

30s – Good form and a long lingering finish.

35 – No multi layering, but very good power, body and finish.

40s – Med yellow. Thin. A lot of bitterness, med smoke, becoming base sheng, but still going.

Cheese pairings:
https://www.instagram.com/p/_feuuQIDpqZQ4rtbmloKzq6zU7YwxVfrJD01w0

Picos blue– Not so good. The cheese swamps the tea with it’s roqfort like acidity. 2/10
Dorset blue – The bright bitterness is clouded by the mellow creaminess, but the beefiness is too much of a contrast. 6/10
Yorkshire blue – Very good. The mild creaminess goes well with the bright bitterness and allows the tea flavour to be tasted. 7/10