Bulang brotherly competition

When I am drinking tea I am usually far from referee's state of mind. I do not drink tea to find the best one but rather try to cultivate myself through the leaf. In this spirit, side by side testing here is not about looking for the winner in intransigent fight. I like how it force my senses to be focused. It is like sitting in dark forest, listening to all sounds around, trying to softly emphatize to all those stories out there. But here it is not about hearing. Taste, smell, feelings in our mouth, throat and our body are things which count.

Three samples from Bulang villages were gifted by friend Peter of Pu-erh.sk. I did not remember with what storie were those leaves given to me. And I think this is for best.

Three bags with nice chunk of cake in each. Ji Liang, Man Nui and Man Xin Long are names of villages as I read them out. All with 2013 label. I thought that it would be interesting to take pictures of each, wet leaves, first brew, second brew...till left over leaves. But during the session I have realized how pointless it would be. Leaves are very similar, brews with slight variations, even if I have them in front of me live I can not tell which one is which and why. Differences are there but impossible to take a snap of.

Leaves are grey green, in all three cases with hairy silver leaves mixed with dark green ones. Leaves are rather big, with maybe just one piece of stem for 10g of tea. All three samples looks clean and smell as fresh sheng from south west of Xishuanbanna. Heavier tones of citrus fruits, flowers and even chocolate.

After rinse, I spent quite a while with smelling, nose deep in my small shiboridashes. Man Xin Long was the strongest, heaviest in this point. Even after this "smell chapter" I knew: Three times 3,5g of such leaves will be quite an experience, especially for my morning empty stomach. But there is no way back now!

After first two brews I made some notes and all further cups just confirm those findings. All three teas share basic characteristic of good forest Bulang. Pungent smells, strength, bitterness. It starts shortly in second brew and keep going much longer then one morning driker can take. Brews of of Man Xin Long was darker whole time, strongest guy. Ji Liang shows what I appreciate most: purity and sparkle like feeling in mouth. Just Man Nui was a little bit watery. Maybe without side by side comparison I would not notice. But with the same amount of leaves, brewing method and time, brew look a bit cloudy and taste was a bit watery (when bitter and strong). I would be curious to hear what makes that difference. Less sun during withering, bad weather?

After maybe six infusion (3*6=18 cups of strong bulang leaves, don't do it on empty stomach!) I give it a brake, return to my tea table in late afternoon. One warm up/wake up brew and teas give another four, five rounds. It was still good! I decided to visit Pue-hr.sk eshop to check prices, availability or any other informations. But unfortunately, any of those teas are there. Writing directly to Peter, I got quick answer. And pretty interesting. All those teas come from last year spring trip to Bulang, where Peter met with TwoDog of White2Tea (If the Bulang material in that "New Amerykah" cake is as good as those samples, I have to try it!) and Eugene of TeaUrchin. They pick some moacha which they like and TwoDog had let press some cakes, just for themselves. Reading this answer I have recalled one very interesting Eugene's blog post from last spring. Enjoy the reading, down the article you can find more of the story. And stealing Eugene's picture, here they are: Three Tea Musketeers.

Tea connects people, that is (among others) what I love about that plant.
At the end, lets play some music...When I was about to be slowly defeated by power of those teas, my thoughts were: It is killing me, but It is killing me softly.

Thank you for reading!

Two teas from late 90'- Red Mark and Fuhai

 There is so many teas I would be happy to share with you. Not only to write here about my experiences, but rather to prepare water and steep leaves for you. Light charcoal, clean cups, pick up some leaves from my new cabinet. Sit down please, and have a cup of tea.

If you can listen to music when you read this, you can try put on this version of Sting's Shape of my heart.  I like it.

▶ ReMuse: Shape of my heart - YouTube

Yesterday, my morning was about sheng puehr cha from 1997, today then from 1998. I am not drinking them in line to make a competion. I just celebrate and enjoy days after our last firing of this year. When it comes to celebration, then aged tea is more then welcome here.

Two cakes were made under big factories some sixteen years ago...

First sample, the 1997 Big Red Mark, I have bought at Chawangshop, second then, The 1998 Fuhai, from TeaUrchin. 

Both teas have several similarities, like faces of two guys from far away country. They can look the same at first. Not just that they are both almost of the same age and similar in pricing (in both cases is close to 170$). They were also stored in humid areas, both in warehouses. Leaves of both cakes will be probably mixtures from different places and qualities. And I can tell, it was joy to drink both of them.

Big Red Mark 97

Fuhai 98

Big Red Mark is the calmer brother here. It starts with lighter smell of dry leaves and ends with more settled qi performance at the end. Even when I was not drinking those tea side by side, slight but, clear differences were obvious. The Red mark is more "done". Forest aroma of wet leaves, resin and woody aftertaste with some nice bitterness from second to fourth infusion. Many brews, patient leaves. Meditative and medicinal tea. For those who look for colorful fragrances it might be letdown. Not for me.

I dont know were the purchasing officers from newly seperated Fuhai factory spent their 1998 spring. But I would guess: leaves for this cake grown in Yiwu. This tea is stronger, more distinct. Forest honey and heavier colored flowers go though my nose, my mouth, my throat and become part of me. Energy is vibrant, and the tea shows live and still a bit of rush. There is still some spece to grow, to age.

When I can not advice to buy any of those cakes blindly, I would recomment to sample them when you get a chance. Those are good examples of wet stored, aged teas, without moldy/muddy look, smell or taste. When 170$ can sound like expensive, it is (unfortunatelly) not over the roof these days. One way or another, if one like age puehr, it is easier to seek for teas with some age and quality then to dream about aging fresh cakes on our own. It is fun too, I still put aside some fresh leaves every year, but we have to admit...there is too much but and maybes.

spent leaves from 1997

spent leaves from 1998

Thank you for reading!

Testing Mao Cha

I am glad that I don't live on selling tea or sell tea at all. When I choose tea just for myself I feel free. There are no worries. Usually when I got samples it is wider selection of different teas, different origins, years, prices. It is fun to get to know them and quite easy to choose what to buy and what to pass. Recently I got three Mao cha to try. All from spring, last year harvest, Yiwu villages. Thanks to Eugene and Belle of TeaUrchin, I got a chance to try to taste leaves before pressing to cakes. Just three, already well selected, teas and how difficult is to choose the one. How it will change the pressing? And how few years of storage? Thanks to all those sincere and capable tea merchants for doing this job for us.

I have leaves for from Man Zhuan, Luo Shui Dong and Gao Shan Zhai. Reading several articels, and especially talking to friends, who have visited the area, I know how complicated is to buy good maocha in such famous villages. Stories about rich people buying whatever with label LuoShuiDong on it are not just myths. Prices are growing much faster then skills of farmers, sometime faster then leaves themselves. Cakes from Tea Urchin are not cheap either but I believe that they have ways how to find the real stuff.

Each bag have enough leaves for several tea sessions. I started with side by side testing. It is good way for comparing smell and look of leaves, both dry and wet. It also help to compare tastes and aromas how it goes through brews. It is very hard to draw a comparison of aftertastes this way and I am even not talking about Qi.

All leaves are wonderful. Hairy, green-gray, long and tight.Man Zuan looks to have a bit smaller leaves but it can be just the batch. Smell of dry leaves is also pleasant. Smell of LuoShuiDong (LSD) is strongest but of similar origins. Same apply to wet leaves, just in ManZhuan I find light smoky notes. GanShanZhai (GSZ) stays clear and light.

All soups are naturally yellow-light green. I used 3g of tea to each of my 70ml shiboridashi and all brews are quite strong. In color, fragrances as well as taste the LSD is the strongest one. And it stays like this for all brews I make. The Man Zhuan is sharper, but the smokiness is getting stronger (still rather light). I am wondering if it is good thing for cakes and storage or if it even matter.

To see some bitterness of live I make the third brew stronger. And here it is! Fresh leaves from old threes. LSD is, again, the most bitter and the strongest one. The GSZ stays still and clear, and I am starting to fall in love with it.

When I take a look at spend leaves all looks nicely green. In every of them I find some partly oxidized leaves, two or three of them. I did not find any sing of "reddening" in taste. Some people say it is fault of Puer some that it is quite natural and it is petty to pay attention to it. I don't know.

If you are asking, which of those three MaoCha is winner then, for now, it will be Gao Shan Zhai. But I will try them also separately to enjoy aftertaste and energy, the nature of each of them. Look forward to it.

Thank you for reading!

Tea Urchin's LaoManE - PavarotTEA

The reason way I enclose the Pavarotti to my testing notes here become quite obvious, when you take a look down, at the wrapper of the tea. This cake of summer leaves from famous LaoManE has reached me thanks to Eugene aka TeaUrchin before Xmas. I have enjoyed it during several occasions since than and now I have finally decided to take few pictures and share my notes with you. Incase reading of my tea-thoughts become boring then please enjoy Pavarotti's interpretation of Nessum Dorma

Cake's jacket makes me pleased every time I am about to open it. But the cake is not only nicely packed. Leaves are attracttive in their colors- Elfish gray and green, with flosses of silver and gold hairs.

Here are some Eugene's notes and answers about this cake:

Hi Petr,

I forgot to mention something important, the wrapper & neifei on the
summer Lao Man E incorrectly label this tea as "dan ke shu" or single
tree
This bing is actually composed of material from 4 separate trees, as 1
tree did not yield enough material to make the factory's minimum order
for pressing
Each tree is from a different part of the mountain, so this bing
should be more correctly called "four peaks" summer LME hehe
The 4 trees selected produce sweeter tea, hence this bing does not
have the strong bitterness of Spring LME, which I described in my blog
article
http://teaurchin.blogspot.com/2011/10/from-lao-man-e-with-love.html

So I also like this tea as it is "LME light" and very drinkable even
when mug steeping ("grandpa style" as marshaln is fond of saying)

All in all, quite surprising for a Lao Man E

Eugene

 You even do not have to be too close to it to smell its strong, green puehr aroma. When I have tried it for a first time, there was strong pine resin, a little bit smoky odor. I liked this type of character, as it was more wooden pine then smokiness. But yes, it was probably from processing or storage in some fresh wooden box and not from leaves themselves. After few months of acclimation in my tea cabinet the pine disappeared. But never mind, the strong fresh-sheng aroma is still there - let' peel of a small chunk of it.

Here, brewing for my friend, I could get pictures without concern about camera...

With my small shibo it is quite easy to use higher then reasonable amount of leaves. And here we have leaves from Lao Man E so it can be dangerous! Fortunately this summer tea is not as full of the famous bitterness as its spring version. First infusion is light yellow in color but green, strong in taste. Eugene call it "light LME" but it is not Yiwu sugar at all! I smell there dandelions with their bitter and at ones heavy sweet aromas (our spring meadous are always full of them, so maybe I am just smelling our spring coming...)

Brews develop without surprises, which is usually a good sign. Mouth full of bitter-sweetness of live. Long lasting aftertaste Energy which makes my mind sharper. Focued on brewing the tea - the tea helps me to be focused.

Left over leaves are firm, juicy and nice looking. Seeing as this cake ruthlessly disappears, drain away, I know that I will never know how it taste like when aged. People say that clean, strong, full, bitter-sweet tastes, which this cake is full, are good base for aging... I am happy to like good young shengs as well as adolescent ones. And I love aged ones, of course. It helps to rid of fears about how my small collection of cakes will age. Remains curiosity and excitement.

Thank you for reading...