2009 XiziHao Diangu: Orange Blossoms Peachy Floral Heartbeats!

This sample was also acquired from Liquid Proust.  He also used to sell the whole cake on his site as well…

Dry leaves are a sweet creamy talc rose woody odour.

First infusion has an icing sugar with a rose and woody paper taste.  There is a watery creamy kind of fruity finish in the mouth.

Second has a tangy perfume floral cardboard box sweet taste initially.  It has that turnip taste and a sort of dirt and mint taste too.  The coolness in the throat is much more with this than the 2007 or 2008.  There is an almost peach edge to it.  The mouthfeeling is more juicy and lubricating too not the same as the 2007 and 2008 which was more fine sandy slight gripping… it might get there in later infusions…

The third infusion has a peachy fruity rose perfume creamy lubricating sweetness to it.  The coolness goes deep into the throat and expands in a peachy creamy perfume way.  There is some bitterness throughout here now and a flat cardboard taste.  This infusion is a nice balance of sweet, cooling pungent, bitter and bland with sweeter overall.  The Qi is quite strong in the Chest closer to the 2007 than the 2008 in its strong chesty heart beats.  The Qi is more invigorating and energizing than the 2007 and 2008.  The 2007 has more of a deeper profound effect with pronounced bodyfeelings which the others don’t.

The fourth infusion has a medicinal cardboard cherry cough syrup taste that the 2008 definitely had- bitter, sweet, kind of sour and dense.  There is a juicy bitter sour fruity thing with a dose of significant perfume.  The liquid is much thicker and oily than the 2008 and 2007.  There is a peachy, creamy bitter cardboard taste that comes out in the aftertaste.  Nice strong Chest sensations and intense energy.

The fifth infusion has a strong medicinal bitter cherry cough syrup and cardboard taste with edges of turnip.  This infusion is strongly bitter and leaves an oily but underneath fine sandy aftertaste.  Strong Chesty Qi and Heart beats with energy bursts.

The 6^th is left to cool and gives off a creamy bitter cardboard parsnip bitter sweet taste… mainly bitter with a lesser perfume body.  The aftertaste has a perfume and almost sour fruity cardboard taste to it.  This is bitterer than both the 2008 & 2007.  With more dynamic movement between initial taste and aftertaste.

The 7^th has a lubricating Sweettart candy like taste that is both sweet and sour and almost artificially tasting.  This infusion is more sour and less bitter or sweet.  The taste is really delicious and candy like here.  The aftertaste is pretty long but not at long as the 2008 or 2007 which would go even 10-20 min later some infusions.

The 8^th is left to cool and is a bland cardboard bitter woody sour fruity perfume kind of initial taste that extends into the aftertaste.  There is a kind of sour floral orange blossom perfume finish that lingers minutes later.  Decent Heart pounding Qi.

9^th infusion is very peachy pear onset with almost no floral bitter cardboard tastes.  It has a bit of a sour orange peel taste to it with orange blossom.  Nice citrus taste here that is a touch sour and bitter but volatile fragrances and mainly sweet.  The mouthfeeling is a faint fine powdery feeling.  The throat is deeply more cooling than the 2008 and 2007 but the mouthfeeling is less strong or full.

10^th infusion has a peachy pear taste with a subtle cardboard flat woody taste.  There is lesser bitter notes in there and lesser sour and still a floral perfume but not as strong.  The mouthfeeling is a fine sandy feeling that the other years have.  This one has a bitter orange peel and orange blossom finish.  Qi has still some chest action going on with some energetic focusing.

11^th has a bitter woody dirt floral nuance to it with an orange peel blossom bitter woody taste. The dry sandy mouthfeeling feels like the 2008 and 2007 now.  Nice mild energy still uplifting and mildly Heart racing.  Although this is the youngest of the tasting it isn’t at all raw on the stomach like the others can be in a few of the infusions.

12^th has an oily peachy pear fruity onset with not really any bitter or floral or spicy left.  There is an nice oily texture with some cooling deep throat and a bit of sandy undercoating with a mild energy now.

13^th has a strong Asian pear and lesser honey taste, pear peelings, nice sweetness of melon now.  Light fruitier notes are coming out now without any bitterness.  Nice mouthwating sensations.

14^th much of the same peachy, melon, pear tastes that really taste like Yiwu puerh here.  The 2008 and 2007 didn’t have the last handful of infusions that were very fresh and fruity with no bitterness.

Mug steepings of all three spent leaves…

2009 is bitter woody cardboard dirt like taste a faint underlying sweetness of candy melon that barely makes its way through the bitterness.  Big Chest pounding in this long infusion!  On the whole significantly better than the 2008.

2008 is a sweet plummy initial taste with some bitter cardboard underneath taste with a strong cherry cough drop cool pungency.  I think this is that weird minty taste working out.  Overall tastes quite delicious.  Very oily and lubricating. 

2007 is a deep sweet resin incense taste with this very sweet initial pop of flavour.  It’s weird that this mug steeping reminds me lots of the 2001 Naked Yiwu? Strange… but delicious.  More of a deep complex lurking bitterness underneath.  There is this deep penetrating perfume taste that just lingers for a long time on the breath.  2007 is by far the best of the samples mainly due to the strong Qi and bodyfeelings and very intense unique tastes and long stamina.  The Houde storage is significantly better to this year than the Taiwanese storage of the Liquid Proust samples.

These long steepings do much to reveal at its core the differences between these Dianggus!

Peace

2007 Xizi Hao Diangu: Drinking Power Perfume !?!

This past week I took 3 days to sample through Xizi Hao’s Diangu offerings 2007, 2008, and 2009. Due to my always way too long tasting notes I will break them into separate posts with the 2009 post having a bit of an overview.  It ended up being a crazy life altering week… because Diangu is kinda like that…

The first is my last sample from Houde.  It’s a 100% Houde Houston stored cake.  The 2007 Zixi Hao Diangu sold out last yearfor $495.00 for 450g large cake.  It is a much talked about and beloved cake of Shah8 so, it’s something we’ve all read about for years…

Dry leaves have a strong cardboard odour with a piercing nectar odour.

The first infusion has a vibrant powdery talc and perfume floral odour to it with a base of hongcha nuance similar but not exactly what you could taste from Tea Urchin’s storage perhaps? There is a metallic almost bitterness underneath and some nutty tastes.  The creamy sweetness is fluffy and cotton candy tasting thing.  Long creamy sweetness with a tight full and loosely salivating sensation.  Complex full dump of taste in its brilliant dry storage.  Nice focusing energy.

The second infusion has a very thick perfume talc and woody presentation.  The mouthfeeling is strong and puckering fine sand.  There is this floral talc cherry very perfume presentation.  This is a very unique tasting and feeling puerh. There is a strong heavy chest bodyfeeling and a wandering, unhinged mind feeling.  Nice wood perfume and floral finish over a talc and creamy sweet base.  Strong deflating balloon bodyfeeling.

The third infusion has a metallic perfume dense and thick layered woody presentation with heavy, essential oil based, perfume fragrances, flower shop taste.  There is a bitter base taste and a woody vegetal base.  Strong Qi makes me feel like I’m leaving my body.  This is a really strong tea that needs more aging still.  It’s a bit rough on the Stomach still.  There is a bitter woody floral talc taste in the mouth many minutes later.  Strong Chest heaviness and Heart racing with out of body feeling.

The 4^th infusion is left to cool… it gives off a very dry woody, kind of weedy bitter, but heavy perfume-floral finish.  There is a cooling almost minty rosehips and woody base.  That minty woody taste extends into the aftertaste.  This is a very unique and unusual tasting puerh.  The mouthfeeling is a sticky fine sandy pucker.  The Qi is full of strong bodyfeelings in the Chest and Heart and a floating mind, unhinged feeling. Powerful Qi.

The 5^th has a strong woody minty onset with a heavy thick perfume presence.  There is a heavy bitter minty woody perfume dense onset that keeps its form even through the aftertaste.  There is almost an overly soapy perfume taste to it like eating a bar or perfume bar soap.  Strong Chesty Qi bodyfeeling and some face sensations too- very strong. 

6^th is left to cool… it has a strong red tea note with woody minty bitterness.  The mouthfeeling is gripping.  There is less perfume but still quite a bit.  A tingling tongue sensation is very nice.  Long profile throughout.

7^th has a woody sour rosehips perfume woody bitter onset.  The taste comes at once initially then just stays long on the breath without returning, changing too much.  Like being hit by one big wave of flavour.  Qi in Chest and Heart.  Nice floating mind feeling.

8^th has a cherry perfume woody bitter vegetal onset there are some faint spicy notes in there a bit this infusion.  A flat wave of dense flavour that goes straight to the aftertaste.  No returning sweetness or ebb and flow to it, just a wall of tastes.  Soapy perfume nuances as well.  Dry full mild gripping mouthfeeing.  Flat single note with no separation of initial tastes, secondary tastes, coolness then returning sweetness.  That along with the insanely strong Qi feels maybe more like a wild tea or Mu Shu Cha type or varietal than standard puerh type of thing to me.

9^th has a woody almost medicinal minty bitters woody perfume taste.  The dense taste holds into the aftertaste. 

10^th is left to cool and gives off a medicinal minty soap- floral bitter heavy perfume wood taste.  There is some red tea note in there.  The mouthfeeling is flattening out and is a dry slight puckering slight fine sandy feeling.  The Qi is still in the Chest and floats the mind but less strong now.  The Qi has now pretty much rendered me useless and staring at the walls… stupefying Qi knocks me out hard…

11^th is left to cool and offers a woody bitter floral experience.  The taste of this puerh is dense but narrow and steadfast in its consistency and shows its single origin pedigree.  Nice flat full thin sandy slightly gripping mouthfeelng.  Nice spacy Qi now.

12^th has a more perfume taste with less bitter woodiness.  There is a more floral feel to it here with some orange peel tastes in there as well.  Nice floating feeling.

13^th has a bitter woody floral perfume onset.  Nice full, flat fine sandy slight gripping mouthfeeling.  Some minty medicinal tastes in there as well.  Nice floating.  Nice full fine sandy slightly gripping mouthfeeling.  There is a more vegetal type of bitterness in here.  This tea has good stamina and feels like it could just go on forever like this…

14^th has a rich bitter woods floral perfume taste.  There is a bit more richness in this infusion … bitter woody perfume floral … so consistent and still very intense… strong Chest Qi here.

Wow… a really good start to the tasting…

Peace

2005 Shuangjiang Mengku Mu Shu Cha (15 years later)

I remember actually trying this one fresh off the press in 2006 or 2007.  At that time it was very bitter astringent yet quite fruity, perfume, floral and vegetal- very Qi laden.  It was a pretty good Mu Shu Cha puerh and likely the first Mu Shu Cha I have ever tried and I considered purchasing some back then but never did.  It was obvious to me even back then that this is good tea but I couldn’t bring myself to buy it because of the unusual profile that I had never really encountered before.  I have said before here on ths blog that Mu Shu Cha is really a sort of different thing than puerh that shouldbe evaluated on its own merits, sort of like yesheng.  I don’t really believe these tastes too much like puerh and actually more resemble Yesheng.  I ended up trying some other Mu Shu Cha productions (including other Shuangjiang Mengku) throughout the years but this one, I think, is a very good benchmark Mu Shu Cha. 

I have kind of been following this tea for quite some time, watching it slowly increase in price over the years.  I debated purchase again a few years ago I remember seeing this one at King Tea Mall for a few hundred dollars.  I’m not sure of the storage but I think it might have been Guangdong stored?  It was on my long list of tea to purchase again but I now couldn’t justify the price especially when there were other Shuangjiang Mengku that I liked better that were cheaper.  I had also just purchased loads of Shuangjiang Mengku and figured I had enough.  I was surprised to see this 100% Houde Huston stored version available for $425.00 for 500g cake ($0.85/g) pop up this year.  In 2017 it was selling at Houde for $70.00 for 500g cake but this was before the 2018 price correction .

Guang wrote a blog post on this one hyping it as a first generation cake which is a collector’s item and also it being Bing Dao.  Often early Shuangjiang Mengku cakes are hyped as “Bingdao” or “containing Bingdao” however this is only speculative at best.  This marketing is often applied to all early Shuangjiang Mengku from this era inappropriately.  I agree that you are paying for the first generation collector premium on this one but having tried other Shuangjiang Mu Shu Cha this one is also considered the one of the best of them although I only tired the 2005 and 2006 I believe.

This sample was really the motivation to pay the heavy shipping and try some of these Houde samples after all these years.  I’m really excited to try this one that I sort of still remember from 15 years ago…

Dry leaves smell of light sweet candy.

First infusion has a watery onset with a creamy sweet expanding finish.  There is a candy like full expanding taste over a creamy cottony mouthfeeling on the tongue.  Subtle bitter vegetal that can barely be accessed here and has a bit of coco taste.

The second infusion has a strong mouth astringency first which is balanced nicely with creamy sweet candy like strawberry tastes and woody under nuances.  The throat kind of feels vacuous but deep and a nice strawberry aftertaste with faint pungency and a woody coco mild bitter finish.  The Qi has a strong mind-slowing and ultra focusing feeling.  I start to hear things far away my senses and honed.

The third infusion has an astringent and sweet candy like onset.  The astringency amplifies the sweet candy strawberry tastes and the taste expands over the tight pucker tongue.  The finish is first bitter wood coco then an almost cool pungency and strawberry candy sweetness.  The Qi is warming in the body and focusing.  The throat feels vacuous but deep.  The tongue transforms into a cottony feeling where tastes still seem to linger.

The fourth infusion has a stronger bitter pucker with some sour taste building and less sweetness here.  There is a creamy sweet strawberry taste under the more intense full bitter astringency.  This infusion has a dominating coco woody bitter astringency.  The Qi is a powerful warming, smooth in the body, and very focusing on the mind Qi.  Very very nice Mu Shu Cha typical Qi.

The fifth infusion has a creamy sweet with bitter coco onset over a slightly puckering mouthfeeling.  There is an almost unrecognizable faint coolness in the throat with candy strawberry finish.  The cooled down cup is bitter sweet coco.  Nice strong warming harmonious in the body and focusing strength in the mind Qi.  The Qi is typically good Mu Shu Cha.

The sixth infusion has a bitter sweet coco astringency to it.  There is a rolling creamy coco sweetness with a sweet fruitiness that attempts to push through the bitter profile.  The mouthfeeling is still a puckering but turns more into a flat coat on the tongue rather than the cottony fullness on the early infusions.  Big Qi.

The seventh has cooled down in the cup and gives off a bitter sweet caramel coco taste with still some flat pucker on the tongue and a faint open deep throat.  There is a pungent almost minty taste that is common with Mu Shu Cha in there as well.

The eighth has more of that minty vegetal taste its almost a flat bland taste that is common with Mu Shu Cha.  This profile is mixed into the milder bitter-astringent coco and less sweet creamy.  The mouthfeeling becomes stickier now.  Big Qi Mu Shu Cha continues.

9^th is more watery with coco bitter sweet and bland vegetal with a puckering but never dry tongue coating.  There is a minty vegetal almost floral taste.  There is also fruity taste.  The mouthfeeling is more puckering almost dry.  It even is felt in the upper throat.  The sensation leaves less aftertaste but what is there is an interesting cinnamon taste.

The 10^th is more watery now and less bitter but more vegetal bland now.  The Mu Shu Cha bland vegetal taste allows for some simple faint strawberry to bleed through.  The mouthfeeling is less strong and the bitterness is almost gone with more of a astringent pucker on the lips.  The Qi is losing strength too.

The 11^th infusion is watery bland vegetal.  With not much sweetness left, a faint bitter-astringency.  Not much flavours.

I long steep ( 10 min) out the 12^th infusion… it kicks up the power once more… bitter coco with astringent vegetal woody almost fruity sweet syrup.  Strong warming and Qi.  Gripping tongue and faint cooling open throat.

I go at it again at a 40 minute steeping… it is a stronger almost syrupy vegetal sweet slight bitter astringency.  It feels like a slight pucker in the mouth.  The Qi has dropped off and is mainly relaxing now.

I put the leaves into a mug and grandpa it out…

Fruity, slight tart, faint coco dirt, almost floral, not super strong but satisfying.

Overall, this is a nice early, example of Mu Shu Cha that has optimal storage for such a thing.  I’m not sure if I would spend that kind of money on this kind of thing now- remember that 4 years ago this exact cake was selling for 70$!  Really you are paying the premium for both good storage and due to it being a collector puerh.  Not for the relative experience.  To me this tastes less like Bing Dao and has much more in common with other Mu Shu Cha.  With that being said, if I blind purchased this one I would likely be satisfied enough with it.  For me it was most interesting to see how this one bitter astringent and vegetal sweet young puerh has transformed into something that still really retains its original essence but is now ready to drink and enjoy despite its stronger qualities.  I really enjoyed this.

Steepster Tasting Notes

Shah8’s Tasting Notes (also see here)

Peace

 

2015 Yunnan Sourcing Mu Shu Cha and A Bit On the Mother Tree Puerh

What exactly is Mu Shu Cha (aka Mother Tree Tea)???  Well, it’s a bit of a puerh oddity that seems to be only produced in the Mengku producing area.   They are some old large leaf varietal that is often referred to as “Primordial”.  It is my understanding that they are called “mother trees” because they are they ancient varietal which gave birth through selection the common puerh varietal.  They also seem to only be found at reasonably high altitudes.  They kind of have their own separate flavor, mouthfeeling, and Qi profile.  I kind of think of them somewhere between a wild tea/ Yesheng and puerh.  During my recent sampling of the Yunnan Sourcing Brand I thought to pick up some recommended Mu Shu Cha to see if it sparks my interest in a deeper exploration of this unique type of puerh….

I actually have quite a long history of sampling and drinking Mu Shu Cha.  I remember sampling the Shuangjiang Mengku Mu Shu Cha releases when they first came out in the Mid-2000s.  I believe 2005 is their first production and I’ve never even heard of Mu Shu Cha productions that pre-date these Shuangjiang Mengku.  It’s a bit of a different profile and I never really fell in love with its very unique character.  A sweet taste and euphoric Qi is what I remember most from these.  This is kind of like wild tea/ Yesheng and shouldn’t be judged next to more standard puerh varietals, Mu Shu Cha has a different stereotypical profile than other puerh.  I had never tried aged or semi-aged Mu Shu Cha.  This sample will be 4 years of age in completely Dry Kunming storage at Yunnan Sourcing’s warehouse. Although I have tried the Yunnan Sourcing 2011 and 2017 version of Mu Shu Cha in the past, this sample (a 400g cake goes for $192.00 or $0.48/g) was to test the waters as to whether I want to explore more Mu Shu Cha for purchase…

Dry leaves smell of intense strawberry, raspberry, and airy sugary sweetnesses.

The first infusion has a slightly bitter onset with a flat grainy taste that follows there is a low lying fruity nuance underneath a cereal taste.  The mouthfeel is slippery and there is almost a metallic finish in the mouth.  There is an almost non-existent mouthwash aftertaste in the mouth along with edges of dry dirt and grains.

The second infusion has a grainy almost raspberry dry dirt and wood nuance to it.  It’s an unusual single note taste that has more of a grain and berries taste in the finish.  The taste is real muddled in the initial taste then becomes this interesting grainy fruity strawberry taste in the aftertaste.  The Qi is migrating to the mind and it becomes at ease and relaxed a bit euphoric even.

The third becomes more fruity sweet strawberry.  That sweet note is there initially with mild bitter, dry wood and dry dirt muddle and a more clear barley grain taste.  It then becomes clear and vibrant and almost pungent in the aftertaste.  The mouthfeel is slippery and almost sandy and the throat feeling feels empty.

The fourth has a slightly bitter and more cherry fruit taste initially.  The bitter cherry taste is strong and vibrant.  There is a slight sour astringency developing.  The mouthfeel is slightly gripping now and the throat is stimulated.  There is a hollow fruity nuance in the aftertaste.  The Qi is dizzying now and starting to build on being euphoric.

The fifth infusion starts a bit buttery bitter and vegetal there is a distinct fruity cherry note with some muddled vegetal, rubbery, dry dirt like base.  There is some bitter cherry and almost beetroot sweetness in the aftertaste.

The sixth infusion starts with a moderate bitter fruity onset with a muddled beetroot base.  The mouthfeel is slippery/sandy with an open/ vacuous throatfeeling.  The sweet cherry-strawberry almost vegetable taste is then found in the aftertaste over a muddled, beetroot base taste.  The Qi is spacing me out my mind floats away.  Profound clam is found within.

The seventh infusion starts with a thick syrupy sweet cherry sweetness. There is a quick lingering candy sweetness in the aftertaste.  This infusion is very thick and distinctly sweet with any of the base tastes all but disappearing under heavy sweet fruity syrup.  Very nice infusion.  The mouthfeel is slippery and almost sandy the throat opens mid-way in a vacuous manner.  Qi has a nice euphoria going on.

The eighth infusion starts off brilliantly syrup thick dense sweet fruit note.  The note kind of trails off into a fait candy like taste with a very faint base of slight sour and biter and muddle beetroot tastes.

Ninth infusion has this thick syrupy fruity taste that transitions into a long candy like taste.  The mouthfeeling here is slippery and the throat opens mid-way to a sweet candy faint coolness.  These infusions are super delicious with a grounded dense syrupy sweetness which transitions to a distinct candy on the breath.  The base tastes are non-existent here but the sweet tastes are thick and full.

10^th starts a touch bitter then syrupy dense and thick fruity cherry syrup sweetness which transitions slowly into a candy like sweetness.  The mouthfeel is sticky and slippery and reasonably full giving the sweet tastes a completeness.  The Qi continues to be heavy in the mind, slight euphoria.

11^th is much the same as the last handful infusions a super enjoyable thick dense syrupy fruity sweetness than transitions to candy and faint pungency in the throat.  Big head qi.  Slippery full mouthfeeling.

12^th has a velvety almost syrupy fruity cherry sweetness that trails into a candy like sweet aftertaste.  The repetition here indicates that there is a really stable streak of infusions with optimal taste.  The Qi continues to relax with mild euphoria.

13^th has that same dense strong syrup sweetness that turns to candy but in this infusion the candy taste is coming quicker and lasting longer.

14^th is much the same syrupy sweet dense deliciousness there is a touch more bitter in there now which overshadows the sweet candy finish.  I feel very relaxed just sitting here drinking tea and staring out the window.

15^th infusion is much the same. The tastes is so dense, and obvious, and unchanged infusion to infusion that this post is really sounding redundant.  The Qi is making me feel sleepy in this relaxing feeling.

16^th is much the same.  The syrupy sweetness is real delicious and thick but monotone deliciousness for sure.  The mouthfeel also remains stable after many infusions.  The Qi becomes very sleepy and tranquil feeling.

17^th is holding stable.  I’m totally impressed with how long and stable the taste and mouthfeel is here.  It tastes solid.

18^th, 19^th, 20^th the taste is stable and thick syrup fruity sweetness with suggestions of candy in aftertaste.  I’m totally impressed with the stamina of flavor for this one.

I run out of daytime to drink this and it is put into an overnight infusion…

Stamina of taste, thick unwavering juicy sweetness that converts to candy on the breath is impressive.  Movement of Qi in the mind throughout the session is also notable.  Its starts relaxing then moves to a touch of mild euphoria then to a sleepy feeling.

I ordered this Mu Shu Cha to see if I want to sample more extensively to look for the best option.  I really like Yunnan Sourcing’s Kunming dry storage and what it has done to this cake and will likely do to the Mu Shu Cha series.  I’m just not too sure if I really am in love with the general profile of the Mu Shu Cha…

I wonder if you have ever tried any Mu Shu Cha?  How did you like its profile?

Peace