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“5.5g, 100 ml duanni wet: sweet, nutty. light ferm? smells lighter than most shou 1. very bitter, and lingers. woody, background nutty choco. something like goji. a bit heady 2. bitterness. a bit of...” Read full tasting note
2022 Lich Tears is a blend of small batch shou Puer tea from Yunnan.
Several productions spanning several years, all high-end material that is rarely processed into shou Puer tea. All under our supervision from raw through to ripe, to the point that I was personally involved in picking and processing some of the raw myself. (a few of those kill green steps had my own two hands in the wok) Every small batch pile supervised step by step from start to finish in Menghai, with plenty of experimentation on high risk, high reward light fermentation styles. Suffice it to say, very hands on productions and a very unique blend.
Lich Tears begins with succulent enveloping bitterness, intense feeling and viscous red liquor. Layers of lightly fermented raw character peak through the darkness steep by steep as the tea evolves into a sweet and thick shou Puer with a tawny hue that will make you think you’re drinking aged sheng. A blend not like any tea you’ve ever tried.
I’d recommend anybody who loves shou, aged sheng or unique tea experiments to try it at least once. It’s freshly pressed in 2022 and already incredibly engaging, but with age it will truly shine.
Each cake is 200 grams of tea with 5 cakes in a bamboo tong.
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Menghai Tea Factory (King Tea Mall, AliExpress)5.5g, 100 ml duanni
wet: sweet, nutty. light ferm? smells lighter than most shou
1. very bitter, and lingers. woody, background nutty choco. something like goji. a bit heady
2. bitterness. a bit of minty finish when cooled
3. sweet choco and bitter sides are not particularly well integrated. Both present, but disharmonious
4. lightening, more minty sweet in finish in edge that reminds me of oversteeped young sheng
5. woody
6. kill steep since color was lightening significantly. finish has some date/goji notes. Sure, there is some low ferm aged sheng taste, but why not just buy a 7581 with some age and call it a day. Stopped here.
lots of char at bottom of cup. initially brew was a little cloudy. material is mostly small leaves/tippy and choppy, a mix of colors. I really did not like this one, did not feel cohesive but maybe some people will really dig the pill-like bitterness. There is a lot fighting for your attention, and the bitterness does not resolve in an interesting way. It is just there. Maybe age will tie it all together, maybe it won’t. Some warming, very caffeinating. Sitting here seven hours later typing this, completely wired. Was absolutely not worth the $1.38/gram; would take the TWL curated 90s Kunming 7581 brick over this any day. Taishunhe’s 90s 7581 and others (have only tried the former’s) seem to be less heating, but taste wise fairly similar for the 7581 profile.
