TeaChat

Maxwell2079 wrote:Hi, no problem Tim.
Haven´t tried this one but I was curious about it, I think have seen it in YNNS website. But I don´t know if it´s the same one. It is shown as produced by Tai Lian Cha Ma Si.

Looks like the same one on YNNS site. Think its a good buy for that price, imho.

Will sample it then

But I am still waiting for some "Golden Needle White Lotus" cakes and a few samples to arrive from YNNS, I think the post office is delayed, it´s taking more than usual. I am getting anxious .

Yesterday I was drinking 2005 Douji Red Yisheng, bought from YS more than a year ago. I think probably this one, not quite sure as there might be more than one version of it:
http://half-dipper.blogspot.co.uk/2011/ ... aojie.html

Anyhow, I'm 1/4 way through the cake and it was the first time I enjoy drinking it. I always find it a bit feeble, taste only like sweet water and nothing else. Yesterday I gave it heavy weight treatment, almost 9 g of leaves in 100 ml gaiwan and finally, it did taste more like tea.

Last night I tried some of my spring 2004 Shen Nong Yi Sheng Cha Bing, which is from Ba Da old trees. I think this is such an awesome tea. It is finally past the stage of numbing my mouth like a shot of novacaine, but it is still incredibly strong. Minty and cool with juggernaut cha qi. I was rather stoned and sleepy after a few infusions.

I liked that tea alot, was it sour for you? When I had it a couple of years ago, it was very sour in that Yesheng way...

Shah, my Shen Nong Ba Da has less sourness than it did a few years ago and has developed a nice sweetness. I think it is a blend of quality Ba Da leaf, with only a fraction of Yi Sheng. It is really a very good tea IMHO, and the cha qi is not something to screw around with, but something to respect.

Started off tonights tea session with EoT 2012 Bangwei 33 and ended with 1996 CNNP Da Ye Sheng

2009 Douji Yiwu today. Even Hobbes didn't think much of it last Feb Half-Dipper:2009 Douji Yiwu, I think it's progressing really well. It may not be the greatest Yiwu, but at least it has all the hallmarks I'm looking for in a Yiwu.

On the whole I'm happy with this batch of 2009 single mountain Douji I bought three years ago. It was a group purchasing event and that was the first time I bought tea on TaoBao. After I got the cakes, I did ask myself was it right to spend £££ for this batch of Douji cakes? Now thinking back I would say that I'm glad that I did. I don't think I would buy these cakes with today price, what more, these cakes are a few out of many I collected in the last few years which showing signs they are going somewhere.

Deep amber clean and clear soup

I hope it will turn to orange, then red, then ruby soon. I'm dreaming ...
Nice coating in the mouth with good texture. Sugary taste with a hint of cooling effect.




Nice looking spent leaves.

It's tough for me to tell, but the spent leaves look as if they were slightly pre-oxidized.

bryan_drinks_tea wrote:It's tough for me to tell, but the spent leaves look as if they were slightly pre-oxidized.

It's a pretty that I didn't take any pictures in 2009, but from what I could remember both the leaves and soup were much paler in colour. IMHO, it is certainly not 'hong cha'. Only a few of my pu collections are hong cha, mainly Xiaguan productions around 2007 and 2008. However, I do have a number of cakes which are staying 'green', and I'm much much weary about 'green / oolong' pu than a bit of pre-oxidization, as long as it is not overwhelming.

2012 Dayi Silver (batch manufacture date: 30 May 2012)
I saw someone have this cake with the 2011 Dayi Gold on this forum, but no taste note, and this gives me opportunity to post 'misinformation'!

The wrapper said high mountain material; reappearance of classic ...


Typical style of modern Dayi wrapping method, when did they start wrapping like this? 2007? or before. Surely after 2003 or 2004.


I'm afraid to say, trust is a very rarer commodity when you buying stuffs on Taobao and a uv lamp is a necessity.


Front in day light


Back


Close up


Leaves close up, 7.4 g


Rinsed it twice, and this was 3rd and 4th steeps put together


I also used a lot of loose broken leaves inside the wrapper and this shows


more close up of spent leaves


I had a pretty rough ride on this and this may be due to a lot of broken leaves. I don't know, but I don't think I would like to touch it again within 6 months or even a year. By the colour of the soup, it seems to have some aged (a few years old) material and the texture seems to suggest it got some better leaves than just tea bushes. However, I cannot handle the astringency on this one and it's very different from the bitterness you would find in EoT 2009-2011 Bulang. The Dayi 2011 Silver bitter sends shiver down my spine. In fact I wasn't 'drinking' this stuff, I only sampling with a few sips here and there, I used most of it to clean my drain. Someone suggested it got some Lingcang material, I cannot tell as I don't have any Lingcang tea as a reference and I don't even know whether I would like Lingcang or not. It's very hard to describe the taste, I think it got a bit of citric and a rather unusual taste (emm, no JingMai, even thinking about JingMai makes me sick!) but almost to the point like artificial manufactured plastic. It also remained me a bit like the Fujin 2012 Special Qing which tastes much better than this.

I think the Dayi 2011 Gold is a much much better choice.
At the moment on Taobao both prices are:
2011 Dayi Gold 235 RMB
2012 Dayi Silver 139 RMB

Despite Dayi Silver's price is rising, I'm in no hurry to get any more cakes on this, one is quite enough at the moment.

After about 5 months of storage at home I tried the 1985/86 Xiaguan Tuo Cha from Hou De.

Good Aged flavours, good creamy feeling and flavour. The qi made me feel as if I was starting to levitate, and my mind became incredibly clear and effortless. I 'floated' back to my room after 15 cups and fell asleep, which was also pretty interesting due to the clarity of my dreams.

The dry storage became more apparent in later cups, as a dry/astringent feeling crept along the back of my tongue and throat. The dry storage was also seen in the leaves, as a few leaves were noticeably green looking.

As far as aged pu goes, it's okay. The feeling was the most enjoyable part.

Some traditionally stored Hong Kong pu from the next corner over--this is around the 7th gaiwan infusion I think. Cheroot from Rangoon, Myanmar (aka Burma).



http://mojoimage.com/free-image-hosting ... MG0392.JPG

I had 2009 EoT Plantation Nan Nuo with a colleague at work this morning. Don't know whether it is my imagination or what, it tasted like a shadow of 2007 XZH Huang Shan Lin which I only have a few gram of sample once. This is the very first time I notice that. My colleague enjoyed this more than I did, I still prefer the macho 2010 EoT Bulang which my colleague think that I was trying to kill her with the Bulang last week!

Trial run of the dragon behemoth this week, with Dad's random but definitely somewhat aged, Bay-Area-stored puerh....





The tea is definitely tasty, but it quite fills my large chawan with one infusion, and then it takes quite a while before it cools down enough to handle. I really need a crowd of pu-heads to baptize it properly.