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Needed something to counter the overly green oolong yesterday…

6g, 100ml duanni. Usually 2 rinses, and then goes for 4-5 steeps after. I got this from a TSH group buy a couple years back. The material is obviously quite rough huangpian, but tastes generally inoffensive and milky sweet in the middle. For 12c/g, it’s okay and unpretentious. There’s a cabinet-y taste at the start, but I’ve also gotten that from other HP so not sure if that’s storage or innate.

I’m unlikely to buy more of it after I finish this brick.

3g/70 ml. Fares ok with short steeps, but a little bit uncomfortably heady. Not sure if it’s the greenness causing. Sweet, slight yam adjacent florals. Fairly run of the mill. A tiny bit vegetal and mineral, so overall taste is okay. It’s not the worst oolong I’ve ever had, but in no world is this worth 82c/g and I suspect Kangiiten’s markup is far higher than what they’re publicly indicating. I am upset about these every time I drink them.

4.3g, 90 mL ZZZ

replaced my water filter yesterday which brought out more fruity mineral profile today. feeling is same as usual, present and relaxing but still able to work and do other things in the background.

Lately, I’ve realized that I really like this type of feeling that is present but still allows me to do work or whatever either during or later. I didn’t identify it earlier on, but I’ve realized speed test winning teas for me all fit this profile of being reasonably strong, but comfortable to drink. So even when I was complaining about it not being quite worth the price before, I was compelled to drink it when I have plenty of other teas around. I do wish this were cheaper, but none of the cheaper teas I own that taste fine, or even good, feel quite as nice.

4.1g, 90 mL ZZZ

wet: light smoke, berry jam

1. smoke, light bitter, plummy sweet. Some salivating. Gentle feeling

2. light incense, plum, floral, tart. A bit blanketing and downward

3. woody, pear in finish

Didn’t take notes after, but nice today. It’s relaxing and decently strong without being overwhelming. If I had to choose, I really still think the MZ is stronger/more impactful, but this is different and interesting as well. If you only have the money for one though, my pick would be the MZ.

4.1 g, 90 ml gaiwan

wet: dull sweet, incense

1. aroma and taste both strongly plummy. slight bitter. Some plum sweetness to finish but thin

2. incense, medicinal and sour bitters

3. mild woody

4. mild

Quite pleasant tasting, though the 8582 has a nicer profile to me. This session was with a lighter ratio and whole leaves from my cake. No discomfort this time. I think the first time with broken bits and a higher ratio was really overkill, and I have to retract my ‘not beginner friendly’ assessment. Experiences like this are probably why people say you want more than a single session to properly assess a tea.

Needed to finish some work late tonight and wanted a caffeine boost. Some abomination blend of 7542 and dust bits from my 2001 xg yellow mark commission cake (roughly 1:2, ~4g total in 90 mL gaiwan). Surprisingly decent, flits in between medicinal and plummy. Both have been rested more now, so maybe they’re showing nicer despite the colder weather. I will make a note to revisit this Dayi soon, since this made me wonder if last time was a one-off or the ratio was just too heavy.

A little under the weather recently and usually drink darker things in this case, but have been wanting to check in on this so this was second tea of the day. Can’t comment too much on feeling in this case, but I’m happy with the direction this seems to be heading in.

3.5g, 70 ml TWL gaiwan, having learned from the initial experience. Stuck with mostly flash steeps.

Some light bitterness that fades quickly, and pleasant sticky sweet florals in the aftertaste. Very lovely. Apricot notes are gone, while some of the youthful minty notes are still present as steeps progress. Longevity is good, but I had to end it early again as the feeling in the stomach is still green. I look forward to revisiting down the line.

4.3g, ZZZ.

One day I need to pull this tea out when I’m not feeling unrested or under the weather… but this is very comfortable to drink so I keep reaching for it on these types of days.

wet: darker floral, woody sweet, wet storage

Starts bland, straw-like, some bright sweetness in finish and in throat, some herbal medicinal hinting at bitter but doesn’t quite get to bitter. Seems sleepy today taste wise, or maybe should’ve leafed a tad heavier, but some happy feeling. By steep 6, was core leafy taste, so I was curious about pushing it and moved it to my 135ml zini. I did 4 more long steeps in the zini, and those were mostly extended root, herbal tastes, and some base sweetness.

The pushed steeps didn’t yield anything particular of note. I did this mainly because I drank with some tea friends recently, and they pushed particular older teas into late steeps which were still interesting. It made me think about whether I’m only drinking the storage and not necessarily the entirety of the tea, but I don’t think that’s true in most cases. Those were rare teas that are not often encountered or even available for purchase. But at any rate, I think the distinction is that both base material and storage has to be truly excellent to warrant the pushing, else the backbone is not going to show anything illustrative. So, it’ll still be business as usual for me going forward, since most of my teas are not quite that level.

While this note likely seems unenthusiastic, I do actually like this tea and would like to buy another cake once shipping opens back up. The storage and general profile are both very nice, though if I were to hazard a guess, I would say something like the DTH 04 actually has nicer material since the feeling is stronger and goes deeper there.

4.4g, 90 ml ZZZ

wet: incense, floral, smoky sweet, fruity

1. medicinal/incense bitter. minty floral aroma in mouth. something like powdered sugar in taste. soothing in head before flowing downwards and dispersing. settling

2. maybe I’m tripping, but something about this reminds me of YQH house taste except this is more complex and incense and not just mushroom. Soup not super thick today. Strangely happy for a bit, maybe the caffeine is hitting. Strong, comforting just pausing and sitting in place for a bit

3. honeyed medicinal

4-6. taste is too close to YQH. but feeling is nice. good warmth. some floral backend

7. resin, bitter. Had to take a break to eat something

8. lightened. will push a bit next steep

9. some leafy taste, but could still go further. Warm still, but feeling harsh in the stomach now, so will stop.

Quite lovely today. Maybe I will bring this out for guests next time.

a blast from the past. 3.9g, 70ml gaiwan.

wet leaf: super peachy in nectarine vein, less green/mint toned than standard young sheng

1. super fruity. Uncomfortable in the stomach

2. minty peachy, almost perfume like. NSV like brightness to the taste

3. bitter

I stopped there, since this hit the stomach really hard. Some hours later, was still chaotic feeling with heat and cold chills. The post-session leaves are strangely paper thin and after drying on a plate, are translucent and some have a weird shiny plastic sheen across parts of the leaf, almost like a thin layer of tape or glue was applied. I think there’s some buds that could be NSV mixed in. I’m inclined to think there’s something terribly wrong with this tea; perhaps it was scented or something. The peachiness is unnaturally potent and distinctive relative to young sheng, and the dried leaves were really weird. I’m horrified looking back on my notes from years ago and recounting that I thought it was a good idea to thermos this. This was $1/g which is very yikes in retrospect. Who knows what the hell is in here…