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2003 Xiaguan Jiaji tuo

Purchased from Liquid Proust
HK natural stored

6.0g, 100 mL gaiwan, 212f, Brita filtered tap

This was a pain to break apart and I ended up with a fair amount of dust and holes in my puer tray… the 6.0g here is all chunks though, so should be an okay session. Have never tried any XG tuos, so this should be an interesting reference tea session

20s rinse

Dry leaf smells slightly sweet, but nothing else of note. Not very aromatic, but I’ve also been noticing that some of my Bovedas need to be rehydrated so this might be dried out. I’m not sure.

Wet leaf smells just like aged sheng slightly mushroomy. But also none of the chunks have really come apart. Let it sit in the gaiwan for a bit before continuing.

8s: a light sweet mushroomy aged sheng taste, very slight menthol. Light sweet aftertaste. A warming feeling

10s: good aged light mushroomy woody taste, a hint of what might’ve been bitterness in its youth. A vegetal/minty and slight sweet aftertaste.

10s: slight sour medicinal aged mushroomy taste. Slight sweet aftertaste. Nothing special here but this is really easy drinking. If not for the pain of breaking up a tuo (some sessions probably will be majority fannings…) and slight annoyance at the rising cost, I would love to stock up on these for years to come.

10s: slight smoky bitterness atop the general aged taste. Cooling minty aftertaste with a nice bit of sweetness. Slight aroma mouth and upper throat.

12s: stronger sweet medicinal along with the usual sour mushroomy aged taste. Slight menthol and cooling aftertaste

12s: a slight sour rubbery taste. Leaves a drying feeling on tongue. Slight crushed mint aspect to it.

10s: light, nothing exciting

15s: light, mushroomy slight sour, but also slight sweetness. Tinge of astringency.

18s: generic aged sheng taste, very light medicinal bitterness. Slight cooling minty sweetness in aftertaste.

30s: color is still decent, but taste is pretty light, probably owing to the nature of a choppy factory blend. Will probably cap this session and thermos soon.

1 min.: surprisingly sweet woodiness. Slight hint of bitterness. Some drying, but fades pretty quickly.

1 min: light in taste, drying on tongue, but sweet aftertaste that turns into an almost wood chip like character. Sort of odd, not sure what to make of it.

2 min. 10s: Light taste, but still decently sweet aftertaste

2 min. 30s: similar

3 min. 10s: light herbal aged taste

5 min.: pretty light and not evolving much at this point. Will thermos remainder

Overall: some warming on the first steep, but slight warming comes and goes with the rest.

I like this far more than I expected. Also this steeped out for much longer than I expected from the other Xiaguans I’ve tried. ’03 must have been a good year.
Anyway, 36c/g isn’t terribly far fetched for a sheng in a nice spot with nearly 18 years of aging since this was produced back in December of ’03, but it’s painful knowing how cheap these were even a few years back. Someone has to pay for the prime HK real estate, I guess.

1.7g, ~14 oz filtered Brita water in a Zojirushi thermos, boiling, grandpa steeps.

Plummy aged notes from the get go, with hints of caramel. A lingering dried sweet plum in the front of the mouth. Some notes of a slightly sour and smoky plum and a general sweet woody medicinal as infusions progress. Ends on a light honeyed sweetness.

I was surprised, but I have to say that I’d give the edge to the Wistaria 1990 Wuyi Shuixian here. As I’ve mentioned before, I thought that was a pretty mediocre tea prior to these recent retained heat thermos steeps, and it’s obvious from my prior notes on this that I really really liked this tea. This time, this one was incredibly plummy, and quality-wise, is still pretty great, but taste wise, I preferred the stronger caramel and darker taste of the Wistaria.

grandpa brewed in a small Zojirushi thermos, 1.7g, ~14oz boiling filtered tap.

Was surprised at how much better it was than in a mug. I’ve been tracking my drinking lately, so I noted from the past few times I drank this that I leafed way harder and still wasn’t satisfied, so I drank other things on the same day, which is really unusual for me since I try to limit caffeine intake.

The initial brew was a nice light caramel with slight minty aftertaste, and never picked up the medicinal bitterness that I seem to get with normal mug brews (likely due to overleafing). Seems much longer lasting in a thermos too vs. steeped out in a mug, so the extra retained heat must really help. Subsequent brews are nothing earth-shattering, picking up some lightly sweetened woody notes, a touch of sweetened medicinal note, the barest hint of milk chocolate, and a slight smoky plumminess, but was nice on this chilly rainy day indoors finishing up a report.

Thanks Tykal for the sample!

4.9g, 90mL gaiwan, Brita filtered tap.

Overall impressions based on a cursory session. definitely sticky rice in profile, but also something about it has a slight caramel note among the lightly woodsy notes. In one infusion that I smelled the wet leaf, it had a slight smoky sweet woody smell, which I’m pretty sure I still might’ve reasonably mistaken for oolong had I not seen the label. And the classic shou smell does come through eventually, though it’s pretty clean here. for one cup, the empty cup aroma is also surprisingly sweet in a roasted oolong empty cup aroma way. This was kind of boring. Thermos’d after a few steeps.

2019 Peach Village Maocha
Liquid Proust Teas
5.1g, 90 mL gaiwan, 200f-205f Poland Spring bottled water

Leaves in prewarmed gaiwan have a sweet fruity smell, almost in a gummy candy sort of way

8s rinse

Wet leaves have a slightly smoky note, but still sweet, somewhat like a lighter oolong initial wet leaf smell. Very nice. Also a slight sharp candied cherry cough drop or acidic tomato-y like note some young shengs I’ve tried have.

6s: soft. Okay wow, it does literally taste like peaches, or the dried apricots snack pack things. Aftertaste isn’t strong, but it’s a really pleasant continuation of the taste. What have I been
missing out on all this time by hitting all my young shengs w boiling water?

8s: slight vegetal almost bitter note that fades immediately. Upfront taste is in the vein of the wild/yesheng young teas that I’ve had a few of recently, but the lingering aftertaste is
completely dried apricots that lingers and shifts to a nondescript almost minty, but not quite, sweetness. This makes me wish I could handle drinking young sheng more.

10s: slight bitterness amidst the soft honeyed floral taste. Had dinner in between the last steep and this one and so aftertaste is really muted which is kind of a shame.

10s: strong peach/dried apricots taste upfront. Slight bitterness. Aftertaste has a slight vegetal/boiled mint and mango hint

10s: soft pleasant taste that sits slightly in throat. Slight bitterness. Peach taste is somewhat lighter but still present. Aftertaste is more on the side of a sweet slight mint

10s: soft and simple, but comforting. similar aftertaste to before

10s: again, fuller taste and strong peach/dried apricot in a really long lasting aftertaste that moves to a general sweet taste

12s: very sweet; some of the very slight bitter vegetal tinge, then the same peachy, dried apricot, almost cobbler-sweet like aftertaste

12s: pretty soft on this one. Aftertaste is lighter, and more like a gummy candy taste

12s: soft and sweet

10s (accidentally did 212f): similar, but had a bag of Funyuns just before so not really catching the aftertaste

15s: similar. Regretting the Funyuns

20s: took a break and came back. Same soft peachy sugared taste and aftertaste.

20s: slight astringency and brisk, like a green tea. Slight drying, but otherwise similar.

25s: leaves have an apple scent. Taste is slightly in that vein as well (both apple and slight astringent note seem apple-peel related), though perhaps just due to lightening at this point.

30s: similarly lightened. Will probably cap this one soon

1 min: slightly bitter, with a sour sweet fruity taste.

2 min: just a really light fruity taste, slight bitterness and drying.

Will thermos remainder

Overall: A happy feeling, not sure if it’s qi or just from being surprised at how spot on the taste is to dried apricots. Doesn’t have a wild amount of variation in tasting notes, but in what it does hit, it performs excellently. Thermos was more of the same and quite enjoyable. Young sheng generally makes me uncomfortable, so the remainder will be for the once in a blue moon young sheng days.

2007 Yang Qing Hao Huangshan Lingya

6.1g, 80 mL shuiping, Poland spring bottled water

Dry leaf has classic sweet mushroomy smell of YQH

20s rinse

Wet leaf has sweet, almost incense-y smoky smell along with the sweet mushroomy note

8s: a mushroomy, slight medicinal sourness with a slight sweet aspect that fades almost immediately. Slight minty cooling on aftertaste that recedes back into a mushroomy note

9s: a lightly woody medicinal bitterness, similar sourness to before, but much less of the mushroom. Something citrus/tang like to it. Leaves tongue dry, but a shifting sour taste to slight sweet aftertaste slightly in throat. Definitely tastes like something my mom would make me drink when I was sick as a kid. Calming drowsiness, slight warmth

9s: crisp woody medicinal taste. Slight bitterness, much lightened from before. Sourness also lightened. Astringent again, leaves tongue and teeth feeling dry. Much lighter aftertaste.

10s: initially an oddly chalky candy like taste a la Smarties. Sweeter overall taste, but retaining general woodiness and slight sour medicinal taste from before. Still drying on the tongue, slight sweet aftertaste. Slight warming. Caffeine is kicking in.

12s: slight dark fruity aspect, generic slight medicinal clean aged sheng taste otherwise. Still astringent

15s: lightly fruity, sort of generic YQH taste. Can’t really pick any notes out. Slight drying

17s: similar. Not really an aftertaste other than slightly dry tongue, but aroma in back of mouth and upper throat

23s: same generic mushroomy, clean crisp YQH taste

37s: a slightly plum note amidst the rest of the slightly bitter YQH slight mushroomy background. Slightly bitter aftertaste

37s: darker taste, slightly drying. Slight sweetness/floral aspect to aftertaste. Can’t quite find the words for it, but I’m enjoying it

37s: similar

40s: gentle sweetened profile. A little drying

1 min: light Chinese herbal medicine taste. Still drying

1 min. 30s: lightly plummy aftertaste, but taste not too interesting, though comforting. Slight warming settling in again

2 min: a medicinal, slightly plummy taste, though light. Slightly drying

3 min.: a light, very slightly plum note

5min.: much lightened. Will move to thermos.

overall: light warming, relaxing qi. Made me want to nap, but caffeine kept me unable to actually fall asleep. I expected to like this better based on other reviews/tasting notes, but the drying aftertaste of many teas really kept me ambivalent to this one overall, so if this were still for sale from YQH, wouldn’t be one I’d cake

initial dry leaf smell very sweet and floral, almost perfume like. 212f, 100 mL gaiwan, 6.2g.

did not rinse. wet leaf is lightly smoky and bittersweet smell.

7s: carrot-like perfumed floral sweetness; sweet aftertaste in back of mouth and upper throat that shifts to a slightly vegetal note

7s: light floral black tea/hongcha edge creeping in. slight steamed vegetal taste and aftertaste

8s: slight bitter upfront, in the vein of unpleasant cucumber bitterness, ringed by a floral and slight vegetal that leaves tongue dry. cucumber aftertaste that I’ve never encountered before. transitions into light sweetness

8s: this definitely has to be the most aromatic tea I’ve ever smelled. If the smell were a perfume, I’d buy it. Anyway, on taste: a floral pea-like taste, akin to the floral of the LP bubblegum yesheng I’ve tried before, but fuller and more honeyed. This fades and transitions to a black tea/hongcha-tinged floral taste. drying on tongue. I suspect my shorter steeps are keeping potential bitterness at bay, and I don’t mind putting in the work to keep it this way.

8s: almost mint hint plus floral vegetal notes and a cucumber pulp taste. tastes like sweet pea shower gel smells like in a way. sweetened cucumber like aftertaste

8s: almost bitter but not quite with a taste in the black tea/hongcha vein. somewhat drying

8s: back to honeyed cucumber florals. slight subtle vegetal aftertaste

8s: similar, but lighter

8s: a sort of bland steamed vegetable like taste, some high floral note as well

12s: similar

20s: similar. now is probably the right time to admit that this session’s notes were taken over the course of a week. This tea isn’t explicitly offensive in any way, but it is so boring and lacks anything truly dynamic; all shifts happen within a limited range. Which is perhaps not an issue, but at this price point, there’s so many more interesting options to go for over this one. I started and finished 3 other teas in this same duration.

30s: same, but slight drying on tongue

45s: very mild

1 min: more black tea like, slightly drying in upper throat

unknown min.: bitter with a rounded floral aspect. moving to the thermos, don’t really want to drink more of this

concluding thoughts: very slight warming. There’s no doubt this is pretty good material, but dang I really did not enjoy this as a tea. Anything that approaches hongcha/black tea notes I tend to immediately find slightly repulsive and I can’t really explain why, it just is that way. If these notes seem good to you otherwise, I’m sure plenty of people would enjoy this one. I will say that I agree with shah8’s take on wild teas (yesheng), as the ones I’ve tried now all seem to follow a similar profile that isn’t too dynamic or interesting to me, and I’ll probably avoid these in the future. This one I ordered a while back before I’d concluded that wild teas were probably not for me, and well, shipping times from China just is what it is. These experiences are why I don’t sign up for monthly club subscriptions no matter how tempting. I like novelty, but I also feel less disappointed that it’s something I chose of my own volition to purchase instead of someone else deciding for me. Funny how things work.

Can’t find the description anymore, but got this a little while back from LP. an average green tea. smelled really nice in the bag but taste is not notable. it’s not bad, but I’ve just gotten too used to SweetestDew-level green teas and my bar for greens is probably unfairly high. I will say that this tea steeped for an impressive number of steeps, given I was doing basically kill steep times since I was pretty bored with it.

don’t have detailed notes, but I did 2x 20s rinses. Definitely smells HK cellar stored, and has some white frost. It had the same overall grainy date taste as the ‘04 8582 sample that Yee On put in the order. I’m not sure if this profile is just the house taste or what, but I like it. Overall, slightly less sweet, less thick, but almost the same in every other way, which is kind of baffling since one is an aged shou and the other is an aged sheng. Anyway, this ripe is 16c/g vs. the 8582’s 36c/g so under half the price for basically what I perceive to be more or less the same thing. Given the tuo form and compactness, lots of dust, but that’s to be expected more or less. Maybe slightly less longevity, but similar slight comforting, warm profile. Really wish I’d grabbed the 06 tuo so I could compare, but as of right now I wouldn’t hesitate to stock up on this. I prefer this taste profile significantly over the Vesper Chan Camphor flavor shou that I bought a cake of from LP (19c/g).

Thanks to MrMopar for the sample! Haven’t ever tried the 7532 recipe yet, so this should be interesting.

2008 Menghai 7532 <801>
9.4g, 110 mL gaiwan (yes, this is pretty high ratio, but it was late and I was too lazy to break up the sample), Brita filtered tap, boiling

Dry leaf has the fruity aged sheng smell

20s rinse

Wet leaf is smoke and dark dried fruity

7s: slight mushroomy and smoke taste, very fruity high notes, slight cooling and sweet aftertaste. Pretty nice texture even from the Brita filtered tap here which usually doesn’t give great performance in this area.

9s: a blander, more floral pea-like vegetal taste and similar lingering coating aftertaste. A slight bitterness.

12s: bitter and slightly astringent. Slight sweet aftertaste that lingers

12s: a dark fruity bitterness. Astringent, though not unbearably so. Warming in back of neck.

15s: a dark floral and bitter taste.

15s: slight floral and dark bitter, slight drying. Slight warming.

20s: crisp slightly fruity bitter. A slight sour note.

15s: a light smoky floral, like late steeps of some oolongs

24s: A generic sheng taste. Light sweet aftertaste.

30s: similar to before, mainly light smoky taste, slight fruitiness.

1 min.: a sharp smoky, almost metallic fruity bitterness.

3 min.: bitter and astringent, light fruity

Untimed several min.: general aged sheng fruity and slight bitter taste

Thermos the rest since it was getting late. Had to take melatonin to sleep because of the caffeine but this was better than I expected, though also more floral, so less in line with what I usually opt to drink, though whether that’s due to age or what I suspect is not as heavy of storage I’m not sure. I know this is an oft-mentioned topic and beating a dead horse, but given the relatively low cost of factory teas with nice aging and profile like these, one wonders why some of the young puers in the Western puer circles are as popular as they are.