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After the rinse the wet leaves aroma is pure and layered with florals, dried fruits, berries, vegetables. No smoke. The berry aspect is very strong and acidic, almost like cough syrup.

Through the infusions the fruity aroma from the leaves makes space to malt, toasted nuts and cacao. The liquor feels brothy, smooth, with the right balance of bitter and sweet. I’m actually tasting most of the aromas. The aftertaste lingers for minutes with good complexity and spice tingling in the throat.

Overall a really delicious, enjoyable tea.

Deep strong aromas from the wet leaves: vegetal, floral, hay, caramelized fruits. Some smoke. Similarities with puerh.
Tight compression

1
40 sec steeping.
Light silky, sweet and savoury, vegetables stock.

2
40 sec. Steeping.
Still very light and smooth, with more honey and dark fruits notes. Heavy and grounding feeling in my body and stronger heartbeat.

3
40 sec.
The compression is very tight and the flavours struggle to come out even with long infusions. So I try to lightly split the chunks in the gaiwan with my hands. The inner layers are still dry. After that the tea gets more peppery with tobacco flavours, still keeping a light body.

4
40 sec.
I finally get a more satisfying thick bodied liquor, with pleasant astringency, stronger mouthfeel and aftertaste. I like this savoury taste. The tea drunkness is very strong.

5
50 sec.
Slightly dry, fruity and spicy. I see the internal layers of the tea chunks are still dry.
If I’ll drink a similar tea again, I’ll make sure I separate the leaves more with a tea pick before I start the session. Even if that means getting more dust and tiny pieces. Because I’d rather have few strong infusions rather than dozens of light ones.

I’m generally not a big fan of white teas but I enjoyed the complexity and body feeling of this one.

Medium intensity aroma. Smells earthy with a boiled milk note. Some dark fruits in the background. An element of wet clothes forgotten in the washing machine for many hours. Some dampness and spice-tingling.

1
Dark, earthy and thick (but at the same time watery?) with a pleasant bitter-sweetness, nice feedback when swallowing and very light cacao aftertaste.
Sweet molasses from the empty cup.

2
The aroma gets brighter with something in between fruity and floral. The liquor is surprisingly light and smooth even with a very high leaf/water ratio. There’s a light lingering cacao aftertaste in the throat. Qi feels relaxing.

3
Getting more of that bright fruity element in the liquor. Boiled milk aroma. The leaves are big and beautiful with less broken bits than more mass produced Shu.

4
I had to push it with a minute steeping to get the right intensity. I think within a year it’ll tighten up.
The liquor now is more pleasantly textured with some spice-tingling aftertaste.
Qi still feels quite focusing and grounding.

5
Weaker but still enjoyable. Slightly cooling mouthfeel.

6
15 minutes Steeping.
Still some flavour and body left. Cacao, milk, herbal.

From the dry leaves it looks more like a black tea.
Dry leaves have a sweet tobacco aroma. After a rinse it gets interestingly herbal with dry flowers and wine cork.

1
Thick body and a noticeably sweetness with flavours of camphor, vanilla, baked pears, tobacco and honey. The aroma has a peculiar earthy note that I can’t pinpoint (maybe from the storage).

2
Very sweet and round with no sharp edges, mouth coating honey aftertaste. Strong aroma from the empty cup.

3
Cleaner liquor, with a light bitterness and a spice-tingling finish. Qi makes me feel heavy and slow. Huigan is long and clean with honey sweetness.

4 and 5
Less sweet, a bit sharper with more spice pungency. Caramel. More acidic cacao aroma from the leaves. Something’s going on inside my forehead.

5
more chicory/dark herbal flavour and aftertaste. Feeling sleepy but with some energy and heat in my chest. Citric aroma from the leaves.

6
Medicinal herbs with sharp bitterness/astringency. Weaker aroma.

Final thoughts: Nice experience. The most enjoyable part doesn’t seem to last many steeps, maybe because of the very small leaves. Strong Qi. I’m thinking maybe the flavour profile on this one is not so exciting for me (has actually something in common with a black tea).
The wrapper art of this producer is amazing.

First Impressions: Nutty, vegetal, savoury, promising. Peculiar aroma with nuances of something new to me.
The first time I tried this it was an intense experience. I loved the thickness and powerful Huigan. Very psychoactive.

1
velvet, soft, bitter. savoury. perfume. strong aftertaste

2
very thick, savoury with upfront wild bitterness that stays with a long mouth-coating aftertaste that reaches the throat. the poured liquor gets darker after a minute or so.

3
very thick with stronger bitterness. vegetal, cacao, chicory, hay, wet rocks, umami. Qi starts rising. Feeling warm. Intense huigan, like a ghost living inside your head.

4
still very thick and smooth with strong medicinal bitterness, good tea. I feel more relaxed and a bit high. I’m also a bit sick today so this notes are not very “objective”.

5
aroma changes, something oceanic comes out. Body a bit thinner, bitterness a bit sharper.

6
bit more metallic and sharp but still thick.

7
more floral aroma, bitterness calmed down. very easy to drink and sweeter now, with a still thick body.

8
more “powdery” flowers, very nice balanced liquor, with less intensity but satisfying.

9
taste good and balanced, but need to stop now

Finishing my 10g sample.
The dry leaves smell earthy and slightly fruity. After a quick rinse the aroma gets really strong and vibrant. Dried fruits are the main element. Apricot, raisin, a bit of wood, tobacco. The aroma is one of the most high-pitched and intense I’ve got from a raw puer.

1
Liquor: light camphor, wood, TCM, dried fruits. tobacco, medium body. Pungency. Slight bitterness. Almost exotic fruits.

2
Thicker body. bittersweet, juicy. Pungent.

3
Vanilla. More bite. There’s something in common with Post Truth. Warming feeling and brain massage.

4
Proceeding towards clarity. Bittersweet, thick. Strong body feeling. Not so intense Huigan.

5 and 6
Pungency, perfume, wild herbs. relaxing. slightly more drying.

I think this could be a good tea as an introduction to aged puer. Easy to like.

I had this tea at least 10 times and I still find it quite elusive. I had sessions where it was delicious, and others where it was very insipid, bland or plain bitter/astringent. This notes represent a satisfying session. I think this tea needs to be brewed with particular care and attention.

Dry leaves: sour plums, tobacco, light smoke. Beautiful.
Wet leaves: very fruity and layered fragrance, with a touch of smoke, wood, plums

1
the liquor feels medium-light, but at the same time carries a lot of flavours that spread in the mouth after swallowing, lingering with the help of a controlled astringency. It’s plump with smoke, hay, fruits and fermentation. Pleasant acidity. Beautiful aroma.

2
Some bitterness. The body is light but with good tannic presence. Light sweetness and forest floor aromas make the tea feel “alive”. As it cools down feels a bit like “melted ice”.

3
Austere with light umeboshi acidity. Italian painter Giorgio de Chirico comes to my mind.

4
Incense, very ripe fruits, dried flowers. Sense of “purity” and “cleanliness”. Light cooling sensation.

5
Qi is present but light and comfortable. Slightly relaxing, improves focus. Flavours of cured meat with herbal/root bitterness. Juicy mouthfeel. Aroma gets sharper.

6
Warming. Chalky mouthfeel. More incense and bitter herbs. light camphor.

Dry leaves: tobacco, ash, smoke, camphor
Wet leaves: sweet baked pear/apple, camphor, cork, old wood.

1
The leaves this time are quite chopped up. First infusion is rich, sweet, on the verge of being bitter/astringent but somehow everything feels under control. Body is medium, interesting texture, light smoky huigan. A pleasure to drink.

2
A good balance of various elements, medicinal, warming, satisfying. Light huigan.

3
Around this point it gets rougher. Herbal, dry, with a beginning of cooling feeling. More intense, bittersweet aftertaste, reminiscent of roots like ginseng or liquorice.

4 & 5
Spicy. Strong. Traditional Chinese medicine. Rich chicken soup. Feels good. Interesting wine-cork element is still present. It doesn’t seem to have much Qi.
I feel slightly more relaxed, in a gentle way.

My first aged oolong. 5g in a 90ml Hongni.
Dry leaves: interesting nuts/acidic/chocolate/peanuts skins.
Wet leaves: roasted peanuts, something nutty and chocolate/fruity/floral deep and difficult to pinpoint. Yeast, “sparkling fermentation”.

1.
Light and fruity/floral, with an old furniture feeling similar to some aged Heicha brick. Juicy and thin mouthfeel, extremely smooth, faint aftertaste. Warming.

2.
a more solid character, but still very light and smooth even with a 30sec steeping time with less water. Feels really elegant with a mulled wine spiciness. Cloves. However I need more protein, so I’ll make a 75 sec steep for the 3rd one. The leaves look delicate and I feel like they may overcook. But I need a stronger brew.

3.
Now we’re talking. Richer and satisfying liquor, with a spicy cinnamon/clove/mulled wine quality and a base of orchid/old furniture. Very light and elegant tannins, zero bitterness. Qi is mellowing. The leaves preserve a stimulating fruity sourness.

4. – two minutes.
Similar to 3, but less body and a sense that is already dying a bit. At this point is very similar to an heicha brick I tried from Yunnan Sourcing. I’m going to do a 6 minutes infusion. Maybe I should have used the whole 10g sample in my 90ml teapot, because even if the tea is delicious I’m craving more intensity.

5.
With the 6 minutes brew the tea is kicking back, now with a slight beginning of bitterness and a mildly drying astringency. The spices are the main characters now, lingering nicely on the roof of the mouth. I feel slighly sedated, the Qi is probably the strongest I had from an Oolong.

6. – 12 min.
Much thinner with a faint sweetness and spiciness.

7. 30 min.
Light with more floral aftertaste.

Final thoughts:
This tea was at the same time surprising and familiar. I enjoyed it but I don’t think it offers enough (for me) to justify the price. I also want to improve my brewing skills.

I was very curious to try this one, but my experience was only partially positive.

I think this really needs to settle and age a bit, because at the moment the smoke is covering almost everything else.
I like pine smoke, and during the infusions I got different shades of it, but I just kept wondering what’s beneath.
The liquor was thick and chalky, with a good astringency and low bitterness. Heavy but somehow smooth. Felt like drinking a thick-vegetal-fruity-smoky juice. Huigan was good, and the Qi made me feel dizzy and stoned for a while, and a bit jittery afterwards.

I’ll try to push it with some more steepings and I’ll update if I find something new.