Ranking of Xiaguan 2001s: 2001 Xiaguan Green Mark King Bing

I was relieved that Teas We Like offered this one in a Quarter cake because I really wanted to sample this one but yet couldn’t fully commit to a full $450 g Qing bing.  That’s right- this 2001 Xiaguan Green Mark King Bing is a big 450g cake that goes for$1.00 g!  The description of this cake describes it has the same commissionaire as the 2001 Green Sun cake that I quite enjoyed!  At the end of the notes I will rank all 2001 Xiaguan productions which I sampled over the last year or so…

Dry leaves smell of peat and subtle incense and dry grass.  I go right into flash steepings after a 10 second rinse.

First infusion has woody peat onset with a watery feeling and dry grass sweetness.  Has a bit of tongue tight tingling.  Slight pond-marshland storage taste.  Still too tight in the pot…

Second infusion has a smoky fruity woody onset with a vibrant oily sweet fruity glimpse.  Nice vibrant oily smoky and slight sweet fruit taste.  Tingling mouthfeeling especially on the tongue.  Subtle marshy peat storage taste.

Third infusion has a sweet peat woody grassy onset with a resin incense body to it.  Overall the taste is sweet but it’s hard for me to explain the sweetness- not quite fruity, not really pastry, more like a sweet grass taste.  The mouthfeeling is oily with a mild tingling sandy feeling on the tongue.  Nice relaxing focusing feeling Qi. 

4^th has a caramel sweet onset with an oily woody resin like taste.  The sweetness returns on a long faint cool throaty breath.  There is this resin woody oily almost fruity taste.  The sweetness dominates but not overly so with a balance of resin-woody, and incense.  The mouthfeeling is really nice with a tingling numb tongue feeling with a subtle gritty sandy mouthfeeling with a very faint going into the throat happening.  There are some relaxing sighs and spacy focusing feelings.  Face and shoulder feel floating.

5^th has a fruity tingling sweet pop with resin incense to follow.  The texture is both a bit oily with the contrast of a tingling tongue feeling.  The cooled cup is more caramel resin incense taste.  There is definitely smoke in there.  The Qi is a relaxing wavy bodyfeeling like I’m in a boat bobbing back and forth.  The cooled down cup of tea is a smoke and caramel taste with an oily body and some resin and incense in the finish.  Nice rocking bodyfeeling and spacy focusing.  Minutes later there is an interesting taffy taste in the distance.

6^th has a resin sweet woody oily taste with a smoke incense finish.  The tingling feeling on the tongue and oily texture is an interesting contrast as is the oily sweet onset and smoky incense finish.  There is a sweet subtle returning that is a bit like taffy and a bit fruity- it lingers minutes later.  Nice Face and shoulder have a numbing floating feeling. 

7^th infusion has an oily resin sweetness with a smoke incense resin mid-profile with a faint breath cooling that is hard to feel but brings out nice taffy sweet taste.  Nice relaxing feeling.  Nice taffy taste minutes later in the mouth which is really tasty and pretty unique.  Face and shoulder Qi feeling.

8^th the liquid is left to cool and then it gives off a caramel with a candy taffy finish.  This candy finish is a nice dry stored feature that is really sought after.  Nice face and shoulder floating Qi with a relaxed feeling.

9^th has a bland woody with a fruity edge less smoke and resin here.  The mouthfeeling is really good with a tingling tongue.  Long taffy sweet finish in the mouth.  Nice relaxing focusing feeling.  Shoulder and face bodyfeelng of floating.

10^th has a resin smoke and subtle emerging sweet taste.  The texture is an oily but a bit rough and dry smoke underneath.  Nice relaxing feeling with face and shoulder sensations.  It’s thinning out a bit here.

11^th has a smooth sweet onset with a thin woody almost smoke mid-profile.  Somewhat oily onset with edges of fruit sweetness and a dry gritty tongue and mouthfeeling that makes the mouth pucker.  Nice focusing energy- shoulder come up and face feels heavy.

12^th has a woody sweet onset with a smoke mid-profile and some faint returning candy like sweetness in the distance.  Nice numb tongue and faint candy but also gripping and puckering strong mouth and upper-mid-throat feeling. 

13^th has a woody smoke taste upfront with some cooling breath and sweetness that tries to come through.  A bit rough in smoke and dry and puckering mouthfeeling.

I mug steep out the rest and get a nice rich resin smoke taste with any sweetness left.  The mouthfeeling is a bit harsh dry pucker.  It almost reminds me of watered down coffee and has a nice soothing Qi feeling now with face and shoulder Qi sensations.

Longer mug steepings have a medical bitter woody taste there is a bit of sweetness underneath but the bitter-astringency is just so overwhelming here and with the smoke taste doesn’t come off too enjoyable.

The overnight infusion of spent leaves gives off a very deep sweet plum taste with a deep mysterious fruity taste and not much else.  This gives you an idea of how durable these leaves are.  There is almost like a black berry and coco taste to it.  Its very rich and sweet and deep.  Nice rich sweet taste here almost brown sugar at times as well.  This one will continue to age well…

Overall, this is a nice oily sweet resinous tea with a nice smoke and amazing tingling tongue mouthfeeling.  The Qi is really nice too with great bodyfeeling in the shoulders and face and a nice relaxing Qi.  As the session progresses the harsher smoke and dry astringency shows itself which suggests it’s not quite ready to drink to full enjoy.

Ranking of 2001 Xiaguan and Xiaguan-like productions

1-      2001 Xiaguan 8653 Huang Yin- ($1.00/g) (wet leaves pictured above) This one spent its life in Houde’s epic Huston storage.  I had this one before drinking the strong 2001 Green mark and it is significantly better in my mind mainly because it is strong but not harsh where the Green mark is a bit rough and harsh.  This one is just crazy insane powerful!  Much stronger that the Green Mark.  It has an insane strong alerting and really overwhelming energy to it, as well as a strong bitterness but not any astringency really.  I use only ¼ to ½ of the dry leaves I normally use and its still insanely strong.  Love it.  Easily drank through my sample.  I passed on a cake a few years ago but obviously would have been pretty happy with one.

2-      2001 Iron Zhongcha- ($1.00/g) This one is the outlier of the group, its storage is also a nice drier Malaysian giving it a much richer aged feel.  Material seems better than the rest.  It is basically an oily tasty lubricating cherry fruity puerh with satisfying well aged taste and it’s something I could easily drink through really fast!  Nice relaxing Qi with a heavy chest bodyfeeling.

3-      2001 Xiaguan 8653 Iron cake- ($0.79)  This one was purchased from Teas We Like and has Taiwanese storage on it which leaves it both powerful and a bit harsh but also complex dense and a bit aged.  The result is stunning and the old factory puerh nerd in my lost my shit over this storage in a completely blind tasting here.  I ended up picking up two cakes when it was available.  Probably not truly as good as this Green mark but as far as just a really good and satisfying example of the classic 8653 Iron- it is better.

4-      2001 Xiaguan Green Mark King Bing- ($1.00/g)- maybe the roughest of the bunch.  Storage similar to the 8653 above.  Not as powerful as the Huang Yin.  Has the best bodyfeeling of the bunch with its floating face, shoulders, body levitation.  Could easily be at the top of the list for some other people.

 

All pretty amazing 21 year aged Xiaguan productions!  I had a really awesome experience with tasting these!  Thanks to Teas We Like for curating these!

 

Peace

2005 Bi Yun Hao Manzhuan: Smoke& Stregth & Fruit!

This 2005 BiYun Hao Manzhuan was one of three Biyun HaoQuarter cakes I picked up at Teas We Like for $160.00 for 115g or $1.40/g.  There is still one sample for sale on the site at the time of writing…

Dry leaves smell of smoky BBQ and rainforesty woody odours… really unique…

First infusion has a sweet smoky onset with a watery sweet bbq mesquite thing happening.  There is a nice mouthwatering and soft light mouthcoating.  Light almost flower water taste with mesquite BBQ nuances.

The second infusion has a spicy woody sweet bready onset with a smoky sweet mesquite BBQ layer.  The taste has a sweet pop of fresh fruity taste initially with a chalky soft full mouthfeeling and moderately oily returning saliva.  Relaxing slightly spacing me out Qi.

Third infusion has a syrupy dried fruity thick onset with a bready sweetness and a BBQ sweetness that emerges underneath the dominant syrupy thick sweet.  Nice oily sweetness here.  The cooled infusion is really delicious with that hinting at tropical fruity sweetness with a mesquite mild under taste and oily saliva producing thickness… Real nice there is a bready sweet taste that finishes in the mouth. 

4^th has a juicy fruity sweet onset with nice mesquite under taste which adds a bit of depth.  Nice sweet bread tastes cap off the finish here.  Creamy smoky and mysterious depth perfectly counterbalance this oily fresh tropical hints of sweet taste.  Nice sugary sweet bread finish.  Lots of oily saliva feeling in the mouth.  Nice numb bodyfeeling and slight space feeling.

5^th has a woody sweet bready less fruity sweet and more sweet bready oily syrupy sweet onset.  The silky feeling and oily coating with a bit of lip drying and grasping feeling is quite nice with a strong sweet profile through and through!   Oily sweet bready sugar and almost milky chocolate taste.  Nice chocolate taste left in the mouth minutes later from the oily texture and nice slow saliva release.

6^th infusion has a sweetness that is sort of a bread and sugar and not really fruity anymore but slightly there is also a faint floral edge to it.  It ends with a bubble gum taste on the breath.  The feeling in the mouth includes an oily texture with a silty and sticky lips feeling.  Nice relaxed bodyfeeling with a heavy base-of-skull feeling. 

7^th starts with an oily sweet and bbq fruity onset with a more surgary, bready-sweet, and smoke finish.  Very nice tastes here.  Thick oily mouthfeeling.  The oily texture is meet with a stickier lip drying sensation in the mouth which is really nice.  The smoke or BBQ nuance is never overwhelming.  Nice strong relaxing but now uplifting and energizing feeling with strong heart beats. 

8^th has an oily peachy fruity thick bready onset.  Nice thick layering of taste.  The cool infusion sort of has a cooling menthol foresty taste there with lots of peachy tropical fruity sweetness that turns to sugar and bread sweetness.  The smoke is less in the cold cup it seems like.

9^th left to cool is an oily thick full taste of bread and coco like sweetness that turns more coco in the breath.  Full delicious tastes in a thick oily texture is nice in this cooled down infusion. 

10^th infusion has a more fruity sweet taste upfront with a more bread and coco finish.  Nice thick and oily feeling in the mouth the smoke is pretty much gone now.  Nice focused feeling.

11^th is an oily bready coco sort of thick dense taste with oily texture.  Chest beats give me a surge of energy with a backdrop of spacy relaxation.  Mouthfeeling is a soft gripping silkiness with oily textures.  Nice minutes later coco on the breath.  Very good tasting.

12 oops left the water in the kettle for 2 minutes!  Strong thick syrupy tastes with a mild smoke incense under the woody bitter-sweet chocolate taste.  Stronger dry gripping here and more of a fruity blob caught in the throat.  Strong sweat with chest beats now.  Invigorating feeling that makes me want to get out there and get something down.

13 infusion has cooled down but gives off a thick oily coco and woody taste with a bit of bitterness lingering with coco – a bitter-sweet coco taste.  Nice salivation effect still. 

14^th is cooled down but gives off a fruity onset that is less thick but still substantial with coco and woody finish.  Nice slow salivation still. 

15^th has a flat woody onset that quickly shows some sweet fruity then coco that rides out on the breath. 

The mugs steepings are terribly sweet and delicious… thick syrupy sweet taste with a cool pungent woody underbelly and intense thick sweet bready creamy sweet finish.  Thick syrupy layers that finish coco chocolate in the mouth. Very oily still lots of salvia producing dry lips and subtle silky chalky full feeling.  Nice chest beats and energetic focusing.  There are grape and date like tastes that emerge in the initial thick taste as well.  Overall tones of thickness and sweetness and oily tastes.

Vs 2003 ChenYuan Hao Manzhuan…(pictured top wet leaves) I’m drinking these back to back and they are both very good Manzhuan… but the 2005 BiYun Hao is logically better but it has not fully intergrated its flavours and feels a bit young compared to the 2003 ChenYuan Hao.  The high points for me are due to the bbq nuances which are super interesting juxtaposed with the thick layers of sweet Manzhuan.  I feel like the BiYun Hao has a bit more depth and variety to the sweet layers and also has a more invorogating energetic effect.  It also is a tinny bit astringent when pushed hard and still a bit younger and not the dense and thick package of the 2003 Chen Yuan Hao.    

Overall, I definitely crave the 2003 ChenYuan Hao Manzhuan over this 2005 BiYun Hao.  For sure some of these earlier BiYun Hao have a bit of old school factory style influencing them before the move to more gushu modern style this is especially evident by the smoke and BBQ nuances.

I need to sample the 2004, and 2006 to get a better read on the Biyun Hao Manzhuan… but this one was a good introduction.

Peace

2005 BiYun Hao Yiwu: Qi Extraordinaire!

I picked up this 2005 BiYun Hao quarter cake in the second release for $160.00for 95g or $1.68/g.  This is one sold out quickly in the first drop of cakes and quarters and I wonder how it could be better than the 2004 BiYun Hao Yiwu I sampled the day before… it turns out its pretty much a completely different Yiwu…

Dry leaves have a sweet hay and distant grape bubble gum candy sweetness.

The onset is woody hay with a fresh creamy candy like sweetness that is light, airy, and watery.  There is a juicy feel to this first infusion with a long expanding air and creamy Yiwu sweetness that returns very strong on the breath.  Very deep throat opening with slow salivating release.  Lots of bubble gum and creamy sweet tastes with no storage tastes or deeper tastes to ground its progression and unraveling.  Nice strong calming peace.  Very high quality, entrenched, and ethereal Yiwu qualities.  Strong deep and gentle tension relief.

The second infusion left to cool and has a creamy cooling sweetness that goes deep in the throat and candy creamy sweetness stretches out on the breath.  There is a woody sort of almost herby undertaste.  But the sweetness is long and evolving and long candy finish.  Soft out of body feeling to the Qi.  Spacy in this regard.  Nice soft chalky mouthfeeling.  Slow release saliva.

3^rd infusion has a woody creamy sweet onset that is a bit dry, a bit sour, but mainly this long evolved creamy almost candy-like sweetness.  More depth here with the drier woodier note but still slow mild saliva release.  Spacy out of body feeling.  Very very nice Yiwu here.

4^th has a melon juicy pop of sweetness with a sort of resin woody base taste.  The sweetness has a sourness to it but slowly expands and returns on the breath.  The mouthfeeling is this soft dry chalky feeling that is similar to the 2004.  The breath taste is way more ethereal and sweet.  The Qi is a spacy out of body feeling.

5^th has a rich sunny fruity onset with a coolness imbedded in the breath which pulls along the returning sweetness which is a creamy sweetness.  There are subtle melon, woody, and cookie, and sour tastes in there.  Nice sweet Yiwu profile with distinct spacy feeling.  The Qi sensation feels a lot like Wan Gong Qi- a high out of body spaciness.  Strong saught after Qi experience here!  Creamy lingering almost candy-like sweetness.

6^th has a sweet juicy and a bit syrupy sweet almost melon like creamy sweet taste pop initially.  There are nuances to the sweetness that reminds me of waffles… don’t know why?  Long sweet taste here.  The thicker richer taste is not really there so it’s just this long progressing sweet taste.  That has a melon edge to it and a fresh light juicy feeling.  Nice spaced out feeling a bit out of body experience with the intensity and deep spiritual Qi and mind floating here.

7^th has a syrupy melon sweetness that is a bit creamy and more syrup-woody tasting.  The mouthfeeling is more dry now.  Strong melon tastes now.  Mildly spacy. Soft mouthfeeling with a touch of dryness.

8^th melon and pie crust and woody sort of sweetness with a more juicy taste overall.  Spaced out tranquility now.  Subtle chest beats.  Nice soft chalky mouthfeeling.  Lesser sweet fade out.

9^th has a syrupy sweetness with distinct long menthol like creamy sweet taste.  There is a slightly dry chalky mouthfeeling.  Still a bit oily texture with an overall juicy sweetness but less obviously fresh melon and more creamy juicy vibrancy.  Nice saliva release.  Strong spacy feeling a bit out of body experiences.

10^th has a woody juicy syrupy creamy sweetness with a juicy and shining taste with a long creamy sweetness over a full slightly dry chalky mouthfeeling.  There is this lingering creamy almost melon sweetness that is really nice and nice spacy feeling.

11^th has a creamy sweet bready taste onset.  A bit of woody underneath but it moves quickly to a creamy and almost melon taste that turns to candy Yiwu sweetness.  Nice space out feeling but still somewhat focused.  Chalky bland breath finish now.

12^th has a creamy almost coco bready taste.  The sweetness is obvious throughout but has a woody bland chalky taste to it underneath with some bitterness emerging there.  Nice spacy relaxing with a bit of Heart beats.  Not too much bodyfeeling in this puerh despite its strong Psychological Qi state.  More of a body disassociation more than anything.  Some Melon and coco on the breath.

13^th infusion has a bland woody coco with some cool breath and faint bready sweetness underneath.  Some bitter chalky blandness emerges now.  Spacy relaxing here.  Cooled down it has a nice coco and creamy sweet taste with some wood and bread over a chalky full mouthfeeling.

14^th has a woody almost medicinal but more creamy sweetnesses and coco.  Still very oily and full mouthfeeling.  Spacy and relaxed.

15^th is left to cool… and gives off a juicy somewhat oily coco creamy bland woody but mainly still expanding sweet taste.  Nice relaxing feel and somewhat out of body but not unfocused. 

Mug steepings of the spent leaves gives off a honey and herbal woody slightly bitter onset with a creamy long sweet milk chocolate nuance.  The taste is still very vibrant and full.  Nice long creamy sweetness is probably the main note here.  A full chalky mouthfeeling with a touch of driness.  Nice relaxing and subtle high feeling.  Nice long aftertaste still.  Nice full feeling with creamy coco breath tastes minutes later.

Vs 2003 ChenYuan Hao (top leaves)- is a very much a feel good Yiwu to me compared to these 2004 & 2005 Yiwu.  The Chen Yuan Hao is not as complex as either of these but is more of a classic Yiwu in its pure taste and Qi.  Again very different than both BiYun below.

Vs 2004 BiYun Hao Yiwu (middle leaves) these two are actually very different which is a bit shocking to me… They are both really good but really different.  The 2004 is much rougher, intense, and complex in taste- it is almost like a factory gushu type thing where the 2005 (bottom leaves)is deep, ethereal, elegant, with long expanding sweetness and otherworldly in its Qi experience and feel more like a modern gushu production.  In some ways, the contrast represents the historical shift happening with these productions at the time.  The 2005 has a Qi experience in it that is pretty amazing and harder to come by so it’s noticeably better of the two but my factory leanings have me really enjoying the 2004 for its complexity and power.  If this 2005 becomes available again it’s possible that I might pick another quarter or even a cake-djvbdvbdv.  The price is the main deterrent for both of these Yiwu for me-its probably priced right but it ain’t cheap either.

Marco’s (Late Steeps) Tasting Notes

James & Denny’s (TeaDB) Tasting Notes

Peace

2004 Biyun Hao Yiwu: Complex Taste +++ Power +++

Got this 2004 BiYun Hao Yiwu quarter cake ($170.00 for 95 g or $1.79/g) from Teas We Like in their drop of early Bi Yun Hao productions.

The dry leaves smell both woody and intensely herby also a bit sweet.  There is a slight pondy marshland Taiwanese dry stored smell and lots of depth to the odour.

First infusion has a medicinal root beer like onset with a subtle bitter sweet taste.  There is a nice deep cooling happening here with a silty full mouthfeeling and herbal sweet taste.  The texture is nicely oily with a subtle pondy marshland nuance of the storage.  Nice very complex balance of herbs, woods, sweet almost brown sugars.

Second has a rich woody resin herbal bitter sweetness.  It is classic wood-bitters taste with a resin and herbal edge.  There is a vibrant sweetness of brown sugars taste underneath and on the edges.  The mouthfeel is full and almost drying silty.  The throat is a medium-upper depth cooling.  Complex taste here.  Very root beer like complexity.  The Qi is pretty strong in the chest you can feel the heart go and a euphoria building.

Third infusion is left to cool and has a creamy menthol medicinal herb taste to it there are emerging caramel sweetness and a nice rich depth.  The throat opening and cooling is middle-deep and opening where the mouthfeeling is silty and slightly sticky and faintly drying.  The oily texture sort of just melts over the tongue.  Nice stronger chest beats with an uplifting energy feeling subtle high with stronger body chest feeling that almost wraps around the ribs.

The fourth infusion has a very herbal medicinal deep dark menthol root beer thing happening here.  There are just very faint suggestions of pondy storage but not really and more herbal-bitter-sweet-medicinal tastes.  The taste is deep and dense.  There is this initial splash of tastes that comes up in the mouth a result of a pop of bittersweetness.  Nice chest beats and uplifting Qi with subtle mild high.  There is a creamy sweetness left in the mouth minutes later.  Dense and rich and deep tastes.  Strong Qi.

5^th has an almost turpentine good woody taste with a sweet almost floral taste to it over a caramel.  There is an emerging candy like sweetness in the mid-throat and breath.  There are also layers of herbs, chalky sweetness, and creamy sweetnotes.  There is a bitter sweet taste in there and less of the bitter-sweet woodiness.  Lots going on in this Yiwu blend.  The mouthfeel is chalky slight dry-sticky full in the mouth.  This infusion has that sweet almost candy-like breath… Yummy!

6^th has a deep medicinal syrupy taste with sweet edges but a bitter-sweet woody rich taste and nice oily texture.  There is a deep sweet almost resin and incense.  There is a lingering rich sort of caramel.  Nice strong chest beats and upbeat energy with mild high.

The 7^th has a woody almost bitters that quickly turns to melon fruity Yiwu and lingers in the mouth like this a while before sort of fading into a creamy sweetness, there is some richness there and some woody caramel resin sort of thing, even slight herbs.  Nice chesty bodyfeeling with heart beats and some mild euphoria high building in the body.

8^th has a woody bitters and resin taste with a pop of sweetness underneath it.  There is a creamy sweetness that emerges.  Lots of rich depth to the taste.  Nice Chesty Qi feeling with a bit of uplift and kind of zoning out.  The mouthfeel is a bit of an oily chalky now.

9^th has an incense woody onset with a sweet edge.  There is a bitter sweet pop with some melon tastes also some bland woody tastes starting to emerge now as well.  The mouthfeeling is a dry chalky feeling.  There is an almost melon creamy sweet aftertaste left in the mouth minutes later.  Nice mild building high with chesty feelings.

10^th has a woody varnish with some sweet edges that develop into a melon sweetness that then turns into a creamy sweetness only mild cooling here.  Still rich taste in a way and deep things that are less obvious now but still within grasp. 

11^th has a rich syrupy woody bitters deep like medicinal sweetness.  There is still some oily texture and sticky mouthcoating.  The taste goes toward a long creamy sweetness with medicinal woody base.  Sometimes it tastes almost mushroom.  Nice mild high with chest beats and energy uplift.

12^th has an almost sour bitter woody with touches of coco and flashes of melon tastes.  There is more mouth salivating here than in the infusions before it and it has a sweeter and syrupy and fruitier feel.  Nice uplift and chest beats…. This Qi is pretty steady throughout.

13^th has a rich juicier and thick sweet almost tobacco fruity sweetness that is a bit caramel and flashes of fresh honeydew melon.  The mouthfeeling is very sticky and full the breath is faintly cooling.  Nice high with a bit of pep.

14^th was another complexity of sweetnesses.  With a caramel sweetness creamy sweet with melon tastes and creamy tastes over a sticky mouthfeeling with less intense mouthfeeling and less woody-bitter herbs.  Now is the time for the sweetness to shine.

Mug steepings reveal a mushroom bland woody taste with creamy sweet and almost sweet potato sweetness that you could get out of Gua Feng Zhi.  Nice oily still, still lots of depth and complexity.

The longer overnight steepings pushes out more strong bitterness and woody-bitters with a rootbeer like sweetness at the edges but strongly bitter… there is still lots of bitter bones in this deep complex Yiwu blend.  There are some pond-marshland notes in there as well and herbs… complex…

Overall, this is a pretty intense Yiwu experience.  It feels more like a factory tea trying to make a gushu type of thing than a Taiwanese Boutique production!  It likely represents the historical transformation of factory type gushu productions to more modern type gushu productions that we will see in my next post.  It has still a strong bitter back bone and intense invigorating Qi to it. 

Vs 2004 Nan Qiao Bulang King- It reminds me lots of the 2004 Nan Qiao Bulang King for some strange reason.  I think the dry pondy marshland storage, factory/gushu type production and the general intensity of the Qi are strangely similar.  They both have a sort of herby body to them this 2005 BiYun Hao has more Yiwu sweetness layered in for sure but a lot of other complexity which includes cola, herbs, woods, bitters, creamy, vegetables, melon-candy, mushroom, medicinal… anyways the dry storage and blend gives this one way more complexity than most Yiwu of this age I’ve tried but it has a strength and harshness that could almost be aged out longer and is more of a rugged beauty than an ethereal Yiwu beauty for sure.  It was interesting and intense enough for me to pick up another quarter cake to play with mainly because it left me feeling so good…  but it is pretty pricy to go in for a full cake for me right now…

Vs 2013 BiYun Hao Mahei -This cake also reminds me of my blind tasting of the 2013 BiYun Hao Mahei which almost tricked me into believing it was a Bulang blend, before reflecting that it was actually a Yiwu… this 2004 BiYun Hao Yiwu is very much in this stronger BiYun Hao style.

Marco’s (Late Steeps) Tasting Notes

Peace

BiYun Hao: Where Art Thou????

Where has Biyun Hao been all these years?

I think, I remember first seeing it for sale, a 2007? Byunhao Yiwu at Puerhshop of all places!  Then you really didn’t see any Biyun Hao at all really but you knew it was going to be pretty good because James of TeaDB got a hold of the better older BiYun Hao cakes a while ago and it was my guess at the time that someone gave him a hot tip… and you would hear some mummers by the Tea Illuminati that Bi Yun Hao has some pretty good mid-aged older boutique stuff… but nothing really appeared until Teas We Like decided to take it on.

I think it has been, since its earliest formation, one of the missions of Teas We Like to give us a deep and thorough introduction to Bi Yun Hao.  Biyun Hao is a Taiwanese boutique brand of puerh that has never had the attention nor the appreciation in the English speaking world that has afforded Yang Qing Hao (thanks to Emmett) and Zhi Zi Hao (Thanks to Houde).  I think the choice of which cakes to offer from the BiYun Hao catalogue was a very deliberate decision by TeasWeLike .  They have kindly given us a slow, easy and controlled intro to BiYun Hao.  First with some newer and better priced (less expensive) gushu stuff that is both stronger blended materials such as the Mahei blends they offer (such as this 2013 BiYun Hao Mahei) as well as the more elegant Yuwu Gushu stuff such as the Yibi Gushus (including this 2015 Yibi Gushu) and even the 2015 Lishan Gongcha and the brand new 2020 and 2021 BiYun Hao Longdui productions (here and here ).

However, the main attraction, as far as I could gather, has always been these older Biyun Hao productions…

They are finally letting these out of the gate with both quarter cakes and full cakes.  The slow release of the other productions over the years has put me, I think, in a greater position to appreciate them on a different and deeper level.  So I very much appreciate their care in releasing them.

I managed to get a few of these before they sold out and will post them here with a few other BiYun Hao that they will likely focus on in the coming years which they haven’t released (2008-2010).

Peace

2003 ChenYuan Hao Manzhuan: Fruit Bomb!

This 2003 Chen Yuan Hao Manzhuan came from my order of Chen Yuan Hao Quarter cakes at Teas We Like which goes for $155.00 for 90g or $1.72/g.  Teas We Like sold the full cake for a few years on their site before offering the Quarter cake option…

Dry leaves smell of a creamy woody odour that is maybe a bit sweet but piercing.

First infusion was left to cool and gives off a pungent vegetal creamy sweetness that is over an oily broth.  There is a long pungent coolness throughout.  It appears in the aftertaste as a very sweet layered creamy fruity taste appears.  This first infusion has lots of flavor and minutes later a creamy pungent fruity taste is left in the mouth.  There is a reassuring calmness to the first infusion.

The second infusion has a brassy vegetal almost but not really bitterness upfront that has a juicy fruity underlying sweetness to it which quickly follows.  Lots of layers of tastes and a nice complex aftertaste of juicy fruity layers breads, vegetal tastes, almost bitters, creamy sweentesses.  There is an overall layered sweetness that is nicely pushes out with an open throat feeling and a pungent coolness lingering in there with a slightly chalky slight oily mouthfeeling.  Nice calm and reassuring mind. 

Third infusion has a creamy flat vegetal not really bitterness then dives into a creamy fruity layered sweetness.  The mouthfeeling is a bit tight under a softer chalky and slightly oily texture.  There is some nice pungent coolness throughtout and an aftertaste of creamy tastes with fruity layers.   The taste is really nice.  There is an open throat feeling and some saliva producing there as well.  Nice calming mind.  Although single origin, it seems to complex and with such nice breadth would likely be produced from blending many sources in Manzhuan area.  So nice.

The fourth infusion has an oily thick fruity layering in a watery vegetal sort of taste.  The layers of oily fruit are reminiscent of Tuiti-fruity tastes.  Nice open throat feeling with a faint lingering pungent now.  Nice super relaxing vibe with a few face tingles.  Less complex this infusion.

The fifth infusion has a pungent cooling vegetal vibrant almost bitter onset with fruity sweet tastes pushed out of here.  The mouthfeel is a bit tight with an oily texture on top.  Nice faint cooling produces some creamy and bread sweetness but mostly a tuiti fruity tastes.  Even minutes later.  The fruity sweet taste is substantial.

The sixth infusion is left to cool and gives off a watery vegetal woody initial taste with lesser creamy sweet notes.  There is a fainter profile now with a watery woody and fruity notes with some cooling.  The texture of the liquor is much less oily now with more of a tight tongue feeling.  Nice calm feeling Qi with some mild face tingling.

The 7^th is also left to cool and gives off a woody vegetal bland initial taste with an underlying bitterness now.  There is faint under taste that comes out in the aftertaste such as wood, vegetal leaves, bland paper, fruit.  Nice mind calming.  Cooling breath and some sweetness appear minutes later.

8^th ooops left the hot water on the leaves for a good minute…  has a strong woody tongue gripping and puckering feel with some initial sweetness with a bread woody mid-profile and woody sour cherry pop that quickly comes and goes in the puckering mouthfeeling.  Stronger mind melting power- stronger than just relaxed now.  Face tingling and almost a sleepiness to the Qi here.

9^th 20 second steep… and left to cool… has a woody fruity taste with a bitter vegetal woody body there is some faint cooling then brief creamy sweetness.  Nice chalky mouthfeeling and a lingering creamy sweetness in the slightly tjight puckering underbelly.  Spacy and sleepy Qi now.

10^th has a nice fruity chalky woody vegetal bitterness to it.  There is still some sweetness but not as strong and a strong sleepy and spacy Qi. 

11^th is a 30 second infusion has a bit of fruity woody vegetal bitterness.

I push it hard into mug infusions now with lots of available complex depth available to explore with soapy floral tastes, woody bitters, darker woods, deeper fruity notes and sweet tastes, bland woody vegetal tastes.  Nice deep profile in this Manzhuan.

A few days later I push it with another long mug steeping…

It pushes out lots of clear candy sweetness with a long tropical candy fruity taste.  There is not really any bitterness or astringency or that much woody taste but the sweet candy taste is strong and long and satisfying.  It has that Rockets Candy like sweetness.  Yummy. The taste lingers with thick saliva gobs forming in the mouth and deep throat… this is by far the best example of ManZhuan I have tried…

Very sweet, very nice clear Manzhuan profile.  The layered sweet fruity tastes in the first handful of infusions are amazing and leave me wondering if a bunch of Manzhuan areas have been blended in here because it’s deep in its sweet fruitiness like the Tuiti-fruity flavor.  Open throat with oily texture that drops off after the first handful of infusions which is typical of my experience with Manzhuan.  Qi is at first relaxing then descends into a stronger sleepy and spacy feeling.  It really slowed me down today!  Very tasty.

Peace

2003 ChenYuan Hao Yiwu: Complex Yiwu Layers

This is from the drop of early 2000s ChenYuan Hao Quarter cakes that TeasWe Like sold and this one goes for $155.00 for 90g or $1.72/g.  I had a few sessions with this one but none were nearly as good as this first session which I really stuffed the pot…

Dry leaves smell of a woody smoky BBQ odour.

First infusion has a creamy sweet very classic Yiwu with a long returning creamy sweetness.  Tastes almost like Yang Qing Hao Yiwus sort of.  Nice smoke underlying but creamy and quite sweet with a bit of woody.  Nice classic balance of Yiwu flavours.  Nice mild oily mouthfeeling with deeper-mid throat simulation with some saliva.  Tastes immediately like a solid Yiwu… very satisfying and delicious to me.

The second is a woody creamy sweet with smoky taste with a faint fruity almost floral nuance in there as well.  There is nice subtle coolness with a juicy almost woody fruity sweet retuning taste.  The mouthfeel is a flat sandy gritty.  There are nuances of sweet fresh melon that appear minutes later in the saliva.  Nice uplifting feeling to the Qi with some Heart beats and chest opening feeling, some face tingling.

The third infusion has a woody fruity smoke oily presentation that tastes a lot like Yang Qing Hao to me.  There is a cooling and retuning saliva with a deep to mid deep throat sensation with saliva producing.  The long base taste is a subtle smoky woody taste.  There is a nice balance of old school smoke with woody fruity Yiwu.  There is some sourness throughout and overall a woody smoky sweet taste.  Some fresh melon faintly appears in the aftertaste along with a creamy almost sweet bread taste.  Nice Heart beats and nice warming Qi feeling. With brow moistening and heavy limbs.  Nice bodyfeeling here with a uplifting spirit.

The 4^th has a fruity-woody-smoke kind of oily single thick note of taste then there is some returning sweetness with sweet bread taste and even some faint glimpses of melon and fresh fruity tastes faintly in there as well.  The oily fruity-woody-smoke taste kind of hold from initial taste to aftertaste with another wave of coolness and returning sweetness underneath.  Very nice uplifting and now almost euphoric feeling.  Nice oily deep throat simulation with saliva producing.  The body has a numbing tingling feeling overall.  Especially in the face and jaw.  Nice creamy chalky sweet finish with bread sweetness in mouth.

5^th has a sour woody oily sort of fruity sweet initial taste with a retuning bready sweetness that has more creaminess to it.  There is this happy uplifting feeling with some heart beats and chest opening.  Nice feels.

6^th has a sour creamy sweet woody fruity sweet onset that is less smoky now.  There is a nice oily taste with a bit more sour and mild astringency in the throat.  Nice long bread sweetness with some creamy and even fresher melon tastes.  Uplifting feeling with chest open and Heart beats.

7^th is left to cool and has a fruity sweet melon taste nice and vibrant fresh fruity taste.  Very vibrantly fresh fruity, very tasty.  Nice silty soft mouthfeeling with deeper throat sensations and uplifting qi with heart beats.

8^th cooled down is a very creamy rich oily woody taste with fresh fruity notes in the finish with bread and creamy tastes as well.  A very nice straightforward and classic Yiwu with great sweet taste, some fresh fruitiness and deep throat with nice uplifting Qi and significant bodyfeeling.  Very nice.  Very Yiwu.

9^th has an oily sweet fresh fruity tastes with a bready creamy layer in the retuning sweetnes.   Nice slity mouthfeeling.  Nice uplifdting Qi with deeper open throat feeling with subtle faint cooling but lots of sweetness.

10^th is left to cool and has a woody papery taste initially with some lesser fruity woody sweetness.  Nice silty mouthfeeling with a fresh fruity melon tastes.  Less thickness and depth now but still nice long sweet fruity and creamy sweet retuning sweetness.

11^th has a woody papery onset with some creamy barely fruity sweetness underneath.

12^th has a creamy sweet woody onset with a silty a bit dry mouth feeling and less of a deeper throatfeeling now.  Makes me feel a touch euphoric but mainly a nice uplifting vibe.  There is a bit of cooling and nice clear icing sugar sweetness.

13^th & 14^th have a woody not as sweet taste with a dry mouthfeeling. There is still some creamy sweetness in the aftertaste even some fresher melon tastes as well over a nice chalky mouthfeeling and mid-deep throaty depth.  Relaxing feeling.

I mug steep out the spent leaves a few days later…

Strong vibrant plum fruit flavours with a bitter underbelly.  There is a deep long coolness and pops of tart fresher fruity tastes in the aftertaste.  Thick, rich, fruity, and delicious.  The taste is really oily and delicious with lots of layers of sweet tastes stuck in there.  Lots of saliva producing and long substaitive aftertaste with fruity sweet and even bitter tastes.  Nice thick satisfying Yiwu gushu!  Thick chalky mouthfeeling.  I devour the mug steeping and steep again!

I have had this puerh a few more times some are more flat, or grassy or less vibrant but still quite satisfying.  Every session seems to be a bit different suggesting a blend of the area, I believe.

 Vs Yang Qing Hao- this 2003 ChenYuan Hao reminds me lots of some of the Yiwu productions from Yang Qing Hao.  Even its natural storage is close to Yang’s storage being a natural Taiwanese type storage.  The storage/production? on these cakes is a bit better than Yang’s storage though because they still retain some fresh fruitier nuances and complexities that are washed over in Yangs storage even among the 2006 productions.

Peace