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2013 Xiaguan Love Forever, Paper Tong, TW stored
Liquid Proust Teas
7.3g, 80mL shuiping, 212f Poland spring water

Curious to see what the hype is all about…

Dry leaf smells pretty dried fruity, but has been stored with my other samples, so that could be it too

10s rinse

Wet leaf is a dark smoky herbal medicinal with a touch of fruit, so essentially all the good aged sheng hallmarks. Something about is reminiscent of gasoline but not quite there

8s: bitter citrus tinged medicinal in the vein of the TCM stomach pain medicine my parents would make me drink as a kid. Aftertaste has a slight mint hint on the edges of sweetness.

12s: similar, but with a deeper medicinal bitterness. Leaves mouth and teeth a little dry, with a crisp sugary aftertaste, but is very fleeting.

18s: Bitterness in the TCM medicine aspect is very strong. Not much aftertaste, still drying.

22s: similar vein but a touch of fruitiness to complement what was there. Not much in the way of aftertaste… given that I leafed on heavier side and am left w abt 60-65mL per steep after accounting for leaf displacement, I can’t say I’m super impressed with this so far. I did probably set my expectations too high given how much hype is around LFPT though. As of this steeping, I would not purchase a cake (the lame cheesy wrapper is so tempting though I gotta say… all my other cake wrappers are on the boring side), though I’m curious to see how this will change over time and if the bitterness and drying will fade any. Granted, the maocha is from 2003, so it’s already aged quite a bit. Am feeling some jitters from caffeine, but also some calming effect. Not much in the way of warming or other effects that I might’ve been expecting from the qi, so pretty light in this one

30s: in between steeps I read through Shah8 and Oolong Owl’s notes. I smelled the leaves and I agree that there is a plummy aspect, though light. This aspect is something I’ve smelled before in aged sheng leaves but I’ve never noted it because it’s fairly subtle to me (probably would’ve just noted a slight woody fruity and left it there) and I wouldn’t have been able to distinctly point it out without reading other’s notes on it. It’s one of those things that you can’t unsee I suppose. I guess I am still sort of dense when it comes to this type of thing because the only time I’ve noted plums is when I was bowled over with the association from aged oolongs.
Taste is still medicinal, though less bitter and more of a forward fruity aspect. Something slightly crisp sugar and floral in the brief aftertaste.

40s: lightened, though with crisper aftertaste

1 min. 30s: still steeps a nice color but not much taste to it except a fruity bitterness

4 min.: something about this smell reminds me of tart apple skin. Still a light taste like before. Will do one more steep and thermos remainder

10 min.: quite bitter again. into the thermos this goes

Overall: Good texture overall, though this is something that is usually hard to evaluate for me due to usually using tap and getting thinner brews. I’m glad I never blind bought a cake, since the number of times I’ve felt tempted to is far greater than I care to admit. The bitter medicinal draws up more or less not too pleasant of connotations for me, and it was definitely the most drying tea I’ve had in quite a while, which was none too pleasant. Perhaps I would’ve been more generous if I hadn’t come in with such high expectations but that’s the downside of reading too many favorable reviews beforehand

1990 shuixian wuyi from Wistaria Tea House
called 1990 水仙 武易 or something like that in the Wistaria catalogue last I checked.

Bought this from LiquidProustTeas

3.2g in a mug, grandpa, Poland spring water, boiling.

Rainy day here felt suitable for an aged oolong. Medicinal profile a la one of the TCM stomach medicines I’d have to take when I was a kid, though nothing too bitter, tiny bit of mint edge in very fleeting aftertaste earlier, with woody and dark caramel notes sometimes in both taste and smell. Later steeps get a touch of that date/dried candied plumminess that aged oolongs get. Slightly warming, but nothing to the extent of the 1995 Anxi TGY that Wistaria sells.

Though I’d happily drink teas like this forever, there’s a reason why this is cheaper than the ‘95 Anxi TGY from Wistaria, or the Trust #2 LP used to sell. Less complex, less rounded, less powerful. At 52c/g for an aged oolong w 31 years on it, I can’t really complain (is this 3.8x less enjoyable than the ‘95 Anxi TGY? well, no, not when you put it that way), but I’d say there’s aged sheng in this price level and cheaper that I’d probably take over this. I’ll enjoy the rest of my sample, but I probably won’t purchase more.

2020 Essence of Tea Xu Jia Liang Zi
6.8g, 100 mL gaiwan, 212f, Brita filtered tap
dry leaf is dried sweet fruit
8s rinse
Wet leaf is a sweet and smoky honey, in the vein of a green oolong smell

6s: a light honeyed pea-like floral sweetness, with a dried minty edge in slight aftertaste, much like LP’s Bubble gum yesheng I had last week. Aftertaste transitions into a light honeyed taste as it fades

12s: a smoke light edge in the taste, with more prominent crisp crushed mint note that lingers on the tongue. Slight tingling in lower legs and warming in lower back. Leaves tongue sort of dry and teeth feeling oddly dry in that uncomfortable way when you bite into something too hot or too cold.

16s: that same sort of sharp smoky, but not quite bitter taste. Honeyed and rounded, again with the minty edge. Sort of a soapy floral in aftertaste, again reminiscent of LP’s bubble gum sheng.

Not sure if it’s the water, my storage, or brewing temp. or what, but I was expecting more from the reviews on EoT page. I’m not a huge fan so far, especially given sample $/g. Sample cost (96c/g) aside, I guess I haven’t drank as much young sheng as many Westerners into puer, but I’m curious what this will age into. Yeah yeah, me and everyone else. That said, I’m certainly not willing to gamble this kind of money on a cake that I don’t particularly like and would have to probably age 50 years in this climate (knock on wood) to see any changes, and I’m hardly sure we’ll even be around by then. I really need to hop into the heated storage game sooner or later… Anyway, as of current, I’m not sure if I’d agree with refined in the tea’s description, rather than boring. I do consider softer, gentler profiles “refined” in some instances, but this one just strikes me as boring.

30s: Ah, bitterness. Mint edge in aftertaste, which then fades into a lighter floral rounded taste. I would stop here, but I’m determined to get my money’s worth out of this session, whatever that means.

1 min: bitter and astringent. Minty edge in aftertaste. I changed my mind and will just accept this one as tuition and toss into thermos…

Overall: slight warming. I’ll pass on this one. Even taking cost aside, I couldn’t see myself drinking through even a 200g cake of this (which at 71c/g is quite hard to argue for when you can buy very nice mid-aged boutique productions instead…). Had dinner beforehand as usual, and can’t seem to escape the later stomach pains after drinking young puer, even though it’s not like they feel particularly punchy to me. What happened to being young and invincible??! Doubtful.

Lots of off-topic rambling today. Anyway, in sum, tastes like an upgraded version of LP’s bubble gum yesheng. Wouldn’t buy more of either, though if you’ve tried one or the other, they’re very similar in my mind.

Edit 10/2: this was actually quite interesting from the thermos. There’s a very creamy aspect in the way of milk oolongs almost, but very fruity/floral otherwise. I never know if these unexpected things are normal or if it’s because it’s starting to go bad from being in the thermos for over 24 hours lol. I drank two mugs pretty quickly since I had to run off to something else, and started sweating suddenly on my forehead, so that aspect is retained in thermos. A short headache and then I felt like I was burning up for a few minutes. Probably won’t do that again. Still wouldn’t purchase a cake, but it’s been quite a while since thermos has yielded anything unexpected.

2011 XG Huang Jin Yun 下关黄金韵 (simplified) or 下關黃金韻 (traditional)
From LiquidProustTeas, ordered as part of golden Xiaguan sampler
212f, Brita filtered tap, 6.6g, 100 mL gaiwan
Dry leaf has a light mushroomy smell
10s rinse
wet leaf has something of a burnt wood, campfire-y smell. Dark, but not nearly as forward or as crisp as a lapsang souchong might be.
7s: herbaceous and cooling, leaving a slight minty edge on the tongue. Lightly woody and mushroomy
11s: definitely brisk as LP’s description said. A bitter note appears that fades into the same herbaceous, cooling, and mushroomy profile overall
15s: less bitter, more rounded. More cooling with the mint edge sort of way, but less herbaceous and mushroomy.
25s: bitter woody mushroom. The minty edge is much lightened and takes on an almost sweet aspect
31s: losing steam. A bit drying.
1 min: woody water with an edge. Tossing into thermos.
Overall: Glad I finally got around to trying this one. Need to get better at sample organization, as I have unintentionally built up a sample backlog that probably rivals my actual tea collection, which is a little sad for me. slight caffeine buzz. Would recommend to leaf heavier on this one. A very affordable aged tea (pressed from 2003 maocha) if you like this profile, and probably hard to beat for the price + age + HK storage (from what I can tell anyway, and I believe LP sourced from Cloud’s Teahouse iirc). Not a personal favorite, but I can’t say I particularly dislike it either.

I bought a sample from when LP put up some during his birthday sale but couldn’t find the listing so used the original listing in the description.

2019 Bubble gum
LPT
5.7g, 100mL gaiwan, Poland spring bottled water, 212f
5s rinse
First time trying a yesheng. Dry leaf has nothing particular in the smell, just the classic dried fruitiness of shengs.
Wet leaf has a light fruity smokiness
5s: a light floral, somewhat pea like. A mellow honeyed sweetness.
10s: tiny hint of bitterness and astringency creeps in, but otherwise similar to before. Somewhat lighter. The aftertaste is subtle and doesn’t bowl you over, but I do understand why LP called it “bubble gum” now. Fruity high notes in a bubble gum sort of way.
2 days later… (story time: skip past parentheses if no interest. campus security likes to do this thing every once in a while where they trigger the fire alarms in every building and go through people’s rooms for contraband. I usually stuff my kettle in a drawer, but just so happened to have to run to host a TA session beforehand and had my kettle taken. long story short, I had to borrow a friend’s kettle two days later once the caffeine withdrawal effects started getting really bad to finish up this session. Not sure if that’s affected anything here, since I’ve long since had a bad habit of taking multiple days to finish up notes when busy, but thought I’d make a note here. My new kettle won’t be around for a few days, so I’ll have to stick with cold brews in the meantime.)
14s: a sort of almost soapy floral in that green oolong sort of way. A wisp of bitter that disappears quickly.
18s: soapy green oolong all the way.
30s: similar to before. Maybe it’s bc I’ve been drinking too much aged puer lately, but this tastes to me more like a soapy floral tea that you might get with some dimsum rather than a young sheng. Light sweet aftertaste, with a hint of mint, reinforcing my green oolong associations. So far, 2nd steeping was nice, but these ones were underwhelming. This tea feels too delicate, when I suppose my tastes have shifted towards stronger aged woody, medicinal profiles.
1 min: kinda flat. Nothing exciting.
5 min: astringent, a little sharp. Like if you slightly oversteeped jasmine tea w boiling water
Calling it quits here. Will toss the rest into cold brew, since if a 5 min brew couldn’t coax anything, I wouldn’t bet much on subsequent steepings.

This was the first yesheng I’ve tried, so if this is representative of good yesheng, I will probably avoid yesheng in the future.

edit: stomach pains. Continued the session right after eating lunch, but this is another reason why I’ve had to limit young sheng consumption lol. my stomach is pretty weak and can’t seem to handle younger stuff lately, even when this brewed seemed pretty delicate to me.

LME Old Tree Shou HCH via Liquid Proust Teas
5.7g, 100mL gaiwan, Brita filtered tap

dry leaves have a standard shou profile, nothing distinct

10s rinse, waited several minutes for leaves to decompress before separating in full w puer pick

wet leaf: some odd combo of cinnamon, caramel, and a light shou fishiness

5s: wet leaf smells of a light smoky toffee. Tastes of a very muted wood, with a slight cooling, sweet aftertaste characteristic of young sheng. The immediate taste is not strong (doesn’t taste like much really), and yet is incredibly pleasant. Mouthfeel is decent, even with water that makes basically every tea taste thin. A slight bready aspect.

8s: wet leaf smells of more of that dark caramel/butterscotchy sweetness, though muted. Again like previous cup, taste is a very muted woodiness, but a hint of bitter that disappears into the cooling aftertaste brings a hint of the pill-like bitterness that was also present in the CLT LME I tried before. Again, mouthfeel is incredible given this water. Some of this steep I drank while cooled, and bitterness is more present, but likewise does not linger.

10s: bitterness more apparent in warm cup, though still light and aftertaste rounds out overall a soothing light tea. Some warming feeling.

15s: similar. A medicinal aspect, woody and cooling, w/ sweet edged LME aftertaste. something syrupy about the taste.

25s: stronger undertones of bitterness, underlying dried fruitiness as well, though slight.

37s: just that muted woodiness. An edge of vegetal greenness in aftertaste, though slight. leaves tongue a bit dry.

1 min: stronger bitterness. Not much in aftertaste

2 min: light woody bitter. Something like if you mixed coffee and TCM lol

I didn’t have time to continue, so I tossed the leaves in the thermos. Think they’ve still got something left, so we’ll see. As usual, I will probably not update with thermos results since the thermos is definitely influencing final taste from all the teas I’ve overnight steeped at this point and usually thermos brews are merely decent at best

overall: great mouthfeel. Slight warming qi, which I haven’t felt from ripes before (though tbf I was not drinking ripes at this price point…past me would be shocked). Definitely the best ripe puer I’ve ever tried so far. Wish I’d grabbed a cake back when it was in stock, though $200 wasn’t something I could gamble on a category I am generally ambivalent towards. Because of the taste and price (considering it’s a ripe), probably not a daily drinker, but certainly worth trying, and much to my surprise, I enjoyed it.

2007 YQH Jin cha

7.1g, Brita filtered tap, 212f, 100 mL gaiwan

dry leaf: dark herbal, slight mustiness

1x 10s rinse

wet leaf: barest hint of smoke, aged sheng dried fruits

5s: stronger smoke and woody aroma in wet leaf. bitter initially with hint of mushroom. Bitter in that medicinal sort of way. Aftertaste is crisp and floral immediately, almost perfumey, before shifting to something seemingly like either mint or kale (in that dry leafy green sort of way)

7s: very strong bitterness vs. previous cup, leaving tongue slightly dry before floral aspect moves in and quickly shifts to an arugula/kale like edge. the floral edge is really quite pleasant. I can’t stand the later steeps of oolongs that start to obtain the soapy florals, but this is that intense floral without the soapiness. aftertaste is concentrated in the front of mouth, but slight in throat/back of mouth. If you’ve smelled Diptyque’s Do Son before, this floral reminds me of that in some way lol.

9s: more subdued bitterness. upfront taste is lighter. Aftertaste is lacking. Not much in the way of florals, only a light mint/vegetal edge that quickly disappears. Nothing lingers like before.

12s: Bitterness w/ just a slight sweet edge, almost a honeyed floral. Slight floral reappears, and disappears almost as quick in aftertaste. mouth drying is rather disappointing and unpleasant when not accompanied by the previous burst of florals.

23s: a mellowed honey before a light bitterness appears and disappears almost immediately. I can’t remember ever having a tea that went from 100 to 0 so quickly

30s: same as before, but even lighter

40s: same as before, but less honey, more bitter

1 min: the same boring light sweet w/ barest hint of bitter. I’m sure there’s more interesting bagged tea out there. Capping this session for the thermos, and probably won’t update. I wouldn’t bet on this becoming anything interesting.

No real qi to speak of, which I thought might’ve been due to water, but same as AllanK’s review below seems to confirm that. I had this on an empty stomach, and I’m shaking as I’m typing this, so the caffeine is definitely there.

I know this is basically the cheapest tea in Yang’s lineup, but wow is this disappointing overall. I’ve never been so impressed by something as early as steep 2 (post-rinse) to being as disappointed by the remainder. AllanK’s review seems to suggest longevity, but I might as well have stopped by steep 3 from this session. This was a single session purchase for me, and I doubt I’ll order more. I suspect this might lend itself to grandpa style brewing better, so it’s more consistent overall. Steep 2 was incredibly impressive to me, which is what makes this overall so disappointing. Like the brilliance of fireworks, and then poof, gone. If JHCW felt like a musical composition, this is a magic trick, and then everything disappears. If this review sounds dramatic, I promise it’s because the tea was too. what in the world?

2006 Dayi Classic 66 (sample purchased from Liquid Proust Teas)
5.2g, 100mL gaiwan, 212f, Brita filtered tap
1x 5s rinse
dry leaf has clean woody smell
wet leaf is the dark spices & shou kind of smell
5s: tastes like it smells. Classic Shou profile & taste
10s: stronger woody taste. Just the barest touch of sweetness. Less of the light peppery shou note than previous cup
18s: basically the same as before.
20s: stale bread and woodiness. I don’t dislike, but it’s not like I’d be fighting to have this
in my collection or whatever either… Also a bit of shou peppery note, and just the barest hint of sweetness
30s: Lightening in depth, but noticeably sweeter, perhaps because other notes are gone.
40s: same sort of muted sweetness.
1 min: sweeter again, sort of in a papery sticky rice sort of way. Improved thickened mouthfeel.
2 min: Same bready Shou taste, almost a hint of sour too.
2 min. 30s: A sweet medicinal that leaves throat a bit dry.
3 min: similar to before, but less medicinal so sweet is more forward
4 min: very light medicinal sort of taste, again leaving mouth a bit dry. Slight hint of some dried fruit that I can’t place in aftertaste, maybe dried persimmon?
overall: Nothing too noticeable in terms of body effect. If slight warming, hard to tell if it’s due to the tea or just how warm it is inside rn since the dorm traps a fair amount of heat. Tried this since LP mentioned it was a shou w/ lighter fermentation. It still has that distinctive shou backbone, but it’s definitely lightened in comparison to most shou I’ve tried before. Was this alright? Yes. Would I repurchase? No. I still don’t love shou in general, and a cake of this being 660g just sounds painful. That being said, I’m starting to appreciate shou more on its own merits as it’s meant to be. Shou is a different game/ballpark than Sheng, and trying to evaluate them on the same playing field like I had generally in the past is just invalidating, so I will admit my own mistake in that aspect.

2006 YQH Blended Brick

212f, mix of Brita filtered tap and Poland Spring, 100 mL gaiwan, 6.0g

dry leaf smells lightly dark and mushroom earthy

1x 5s rinse, which smells almost like a shou. Very clean, but also musty and earthy in that sort of shou way. Something crisp and sweet on the edges. Leaf material is pretty choppy in my single session sample.

5s: aged sheng woody medicinal. Easy drinking and leaves a sweet, crisp aftertaste that fades.

10s: slight bitterness in additional notes from previous cup. some weird and very offputting element that I can’t really describe is present as well. A light sense of the tea lingers in throat and mouth

32s: very pretty burnt amber color. stronger bitter woody medicinals. bitterness slightly lingers.

1 min: dried woody medicinal w pill-like bitterness, same as before. not a strong aftertaste, but generally tea just feels lingering in mouth, which is interesting. slight warming in upper body (back, upper arms, and light sweat on forehead)

1 min 15s: less interesting. Continued woody sticks w tiniest hint of florals and sweet in ending, w the sugared floral like aftertaste that sits in throat.

1 min 30s: bitter woody medicinal again.

2 min: similar

2 min 30s: bitter and less complex than before. drying in throat

3 min: fading a bit. weakened bitterness, emphasizing the darker woodiness

4 min: boring, but if this taste profile with crisp wood and light sweetness in the edges was in a cheap daily drinker, I would tong immediately. easy easy drinking, all the way

5 min: bittersweet water lol

10 min: very light wood, w touch of water.

tossed into thermos, but not expecting anything much. I’ve also realized all my thermos’d teas are starting to taste the same (not in a bad way though… I don’t mind), so I can either figure out how to deep clean the darn thing or just go with it. will not update unless it blows me away for whatever reason

overall: some warming effect. Taste is nothing memorable, but when it was available for purchase, not too expensive (relative to YQH, that is). Doubt I’d reach for it often if i owned a brick due to taste profile. wish I hadn’t lost my notes for Jinhao Chawang, bc in some parts, this brick gave a similar aftertastes, but much less refined, less sweetness, and stronger bitterness than the JHCW.

2019 Spring Lao Man’E gushu “Bitter” Sheng
Crimson Lotus Teas
8g, 212f, Simple Syrup water, 90 mL gaiwan

Will be interesting to see how water affects this tea… Last time I tried Simple Syrup on Bellwether and it reduced bitterness, which in that case, made BW feel a little less lively when brewing. I only ordered the single sessions of the bitter and sweet Lao Man Es from CLT, and based on my own taste preferences, will probably not opt to order more so we’ll see how this goes. As an aside, I hate 8g serving sizes because I’m forced to choose between using more leaf than I prefer, or having 1-2g leftovers that I have no idea when to use, so I usually have to go with the former.

Dry leaf: smells liked dried fruits, almost cherry-like, classic sheng profile. I’m never sure if my dry leaf notes are relevant anymore since storing all of my shengs together in Mylar probably doesn’t help.

Wet leaf: something surprisingly seaweed-y, tiny hint of vegetal smokiness

1x 5s rinse taste: I have a bad feeling about this session. Tastes like crushed pills of some sort, combined with how pencil shavings/graphite smells if it were a taste, plus something vegetal. A decent texture and sort of mint edged cooling that transitions into grapefruit-like acidity in aftertaste though.

5s: While mouthfeel is decent, the bitterness is quite unpleasant to me. This is my first Lao Man E I’ve tried, and I can handle (and sometimes welcome even) some bitterness, but this immediate crushed pill + pencil-like bitterness is not the kind I would choose to have. I suspect the water is playing some effect here to reduce the bitterness, so it’s not as bitter as it could be, both in its strength and how long it lingers.

10s: stronger bitterness, tinge of fruitiness the way the dry leaves smelled, then a quick fading vegetal mint-edged aftertaste with the bitterness present again in the aftertaste and lingering on the tongue before fading. Something about the bitterness in the aftertaste reminds me of high cacao % dark chocolate bitterness.

12s: the strongest bitter so far. That same weird combination of dark chocolate bitter and crushed pills with hint of mint on lingering bitter aftertaste.

3 days later: 12s: still that crushed pills sort of bitter, but rounded off with a soft mint like quality and something fruity, but not sweet. The fruity aspect could be from sitting out a few days, since I’ve noticed some teas will develop this when sitting out, prior to souring and going bad. Idk if mold, but I guess I haven’t died yet

15s: crisp sort of nondescript bitter, rounded off w/ that fruity sense, w/a touch of medicinal
Aftertaste fading quick.

255: strong fruity crushed pills bitterness again. Bitterness sits in throat for a bit.

Overall: probably some light cha qi. No other effects were noticeable/notable to me other than more jitters from caffeine than I expected. I had a full meal right beforehand, but the bitterness had a bit of a wonky feeling in my stomach. Nothing painful, just slight discomfort. This sample came as maocha, and I didn’t pay enough attention to dry leaves, but the wet leaves seem hairy enough that the steeps usually came out a golden honey hued yellow instead of a clearer yellow due to the furs.

So my notes stopped because several days later when I finally had time to continue brewing, I’m saddened to report that it went sour and I could no longer drink it. I also figured out why the one time I dumped old shou into the compost I caught a passionfruit smell a few days later, because it happened here too. I’m assuming it’s something to do with the process of going bad. Anyway, my $9 experience, gone just like that… I really would’ve liked to see where this went, but I doubt I’ll order more. It’s fascinating, but it’s not pleasant enough to where I’d ever reach for it purposefully.