Chen Yuan Hao

5.5g, 90 mL ZZZ, filtered tap

wet leaf: wood, medicinal, retired smoke

overall: wood, smoke, medicinal, bitter, leaf sap, and something like tires. Without a label, I would’ve pegged this for a really nice Xiaguan but less obviously BBQ than XG can be. Again, a nice floral in aftertaste like other CYHs, but bitter lingers a bit too. Caffeinating, some focusing and not particularly uncomfortable compared to last week’s SZCQ but was still pretty hungry after.

This was acquired in a sample swap with a tea friend but I can’t find any mentions of an 05 Jiang Cheng pressing by CYH online. I saw listings for the 05 jing chang hao, and there’s apparently an 07 Jiang Cheng, but then again, CYH pressings aren’t well documented online, at least in english that I could find.

5.5g, ZZZ, water mix

KL wong calls this the big bang somewhere so safe to say I went in expecting a lot.

wet leaf: citrus, medicinal, vanilla

1. slight bitter, woody sour, medicinal, sweet floral on finish.

2. similar taste, deeper floral lingers in throat in finish that seems to be common across the CYHs i’ve tried.

3. tastes like earl grey, but with an exceptional floral finish. not sure if the chunk I pried off was just bud heavy or sth

4. similar earl grey. Had to stop here.

The tea could’ve kept going, but somatic effect wise, very much uncomfortable. I had a somewhat lighter lunch than usual so maybe my fault, but tried finishing a circuit workout a few hours later and almost collapsed. The leaves definitely look aged and fairly reddened, and taste is not especially young but the feeling needs a lot more time to settle.

I bought my cake from Jade leaf several months back for $570 or so I think, so not cheap. Not that this has ever been a particularly cheap cake, but generally westerners buying more expensive cakes seem to be looking for things hinging on ready to drink. The description mentions that “This tea has mellowed into a satisfying deep and dark woody profile.” and if it’s the same source, I would caution anyone thinking it’s a drink-now type of tea. I don’t know what TWL’s source now is like either, since I bought a QC a long time ago and now I can’t remember where I left it. Apparently they’ve offered several different ones as well, so sometimes just a roll of the dice.

Gat dang!

Pure vanilla bean aroma. Aged Yiwu lovelyaweseome vanilla sudsyheadsaponin mineralsaline leatherwood rootbeer slight warm spice. Alkaline marshmallow fluff. Woody drying but coating. Bitter-salt in salivary glands tingle. Huah! Moderate camphor in chest. Great clean storage somewhere along the line. This feels really good. Calming grounding not excessively so but jaw-and-chesty strong without palpitations.

Drinking it first-ish thing sitting on the rug in the morning sun after cleaning the cobwebs off the outside of the house.

mrmopar — thank you 5? years later for a sample of this mushroom gem!

5/90. bought a quarter cake from Puerh uk a while back after seeing mattcha’s review. we’ll see how future sessions are, but this one was incredibly disappointing for the price. I haven’t tried too many CYHs and def not often enough (so pricy!!) to draw definite conclusions though. started as a light bitter sour to a woody minty sweetness, with a dried cherry like and slight medicinal note. subsequent steeps had no development and remained a straightforward woody with some sweetness. mugged it after a few steeps, and it reached the leaf taste rather quickly. will try again in a few months, but RH shouldn’t be an issue since it’s been sitting with other samples and bovedas for months since it arrived. No feeling except for caffeine and the blood sugar drop

7.9g, 90g, boiling.

free sample from someone at some point… Hence the rather heavy ratio that I came to regret

Youle material.

woody and asian pear notes in first steep. second steep was same but lighter. in third steep, asian pear and floral aftertaste is pleasant and lasting, but doesn’t extend further down like the yiwu zhiwang. florals can have a sour hint, but not in a bad way. not too durable past that, and I mugged it pretty quickly. taste overall is like any somewhat aged puer, with the same woody medicinal taste, though not terrible for 80 bucks ish at teapals. some warming and focusing, and then the blood sugar drop and caffeine from the heavy ratio kicked in and didn’t feel too great.

CYH 2003 Manzhuan

I bought a QC of this from TWL from a while back, but I couldn’t access my teaware all summer, and have been busy since school started so am just getting to this today. Have already had caffeine today, but am especially sad after being rejected from a position I really wanted and did everything I could reasonably do to get, and so it’s a 5 PM tea kind of day. Alas.

5.5g, 90 mL gaiwan, Brita tap, boiling

After rinse, wet leaf smells especially bready. Slightly sweet and woody smoke, barest touch of dried fruit. I went in expecting fireworks, but it’s just a sort of expansive calming, like a hug. I don’t think I’ll bother to type up my notes on this. Did not seem to change much over the course of the session, and taste is not particularly notable, but very approachable. Mostly lightly woody, with very slight bitterness to first steep that disappeared in subsequent steeps unless really pushed in terms of steep duration. Some tongue numbing and green tea reminiscent edge to some steeps. The aftertaste is strongly peachy, and was really enjoyable. Good texture as well. Maybe I’ll regret saying this in a few years, but given the price, I have mixed feelings and am on the fence about caking.

Edit: Thermos is nice. Just woody, and a deeper floral that’s heavily reminiscent of jasmine tea.

A friend told me that a sample of a $800 to $2500.00 cake was coming my way… at first I thought it was a typo so I inquired about that because there’s nothing I have to trade that would be anywhere near that, but it turns out that’s the price that was meant and the tea community is just awesome because these experiences are something I cannot afford which makes me so thankful and continue funneling more into the amazing community I’m part of.
Anyways, tea! Sadly the link to the tea does not exist as this tea is the first pressing from Chen Yuanhao in 2003: 2003 Yesheng. Their 2014 Yesheng is $300’ish for 357 as seen here: https://teapals.com/collections/2014-chen-yuanhao-yesheng/products/2014-chen-yuanhao-yesheng-gushu-chawang-zhai-2014?variant=1199497621
This tea intimidates me. It’s one that is expensive and rare; hopefully high in quality. So how do I know when to drink it? Well, I had a reservation with a friend to go to Kihachi which is an authentic Japanese restaurant in Columbus only open from 6pm to 10pm. It’s a very high end place, but my friend convinced me that I afford the meal; after all, I haven’t been dating in a while so I’ve had money to myself :p. So the decision was easy, drink this tea and get smashed before going to eat.
I cleaned everything up to insure that I would get the best results out of this tea. With plans to go at 5 grams within 100ml of water at 95c, I am sure I’ll brew it correctly… so here we go!
Dry leaf: White and golden hairs throughout the multi colored leaf that shows aged on it.
See here: http://imgur.com/w6HZjBO
The above portion was written prior to going outside to have this session, therefore the below portion is after the session.
Going into steep one, I was waiting for my friend and my patience disappeared so I tried it alone. Light and very interesting of an aroma that reminded me of a perfume. For what’s its worth, this is a rare tasting not to have on something that has aged but looking at the liquid it is quite apparent that this is some of the cleanest storage of any tea yet. A hue of golden yellow which makes you think it is not as old as it in fact is, but the taste has depth in a way that… hard to put words to, more of an aroma that lingers within the mouth that is picked up throughout your senses.
My friend arrived for the second steep which really isn’t late. The brewing began and we sipped away at 50ml each at a time trying to figure this tea out. It’s not like any sheng because there is no high note that hits you with a wow factor. The liquid has some viscosity like a nectar would have and a floral note that is developed like a perfume. While it is unique, we both kept trying to figure out what would separate this from other teas and I think it comes down to its delicate aspects that is much like refined sake. Discussing sake went on for a bit as he knew Buddhist monks who drank on that one night they can do whatever, I completely forgot what it’s called… but it’s quite an interesting thing they have going on. So this tea is very light with hard to notice aspects making it something to drink alone as we did. The color and taste stay strong for ten steeps and then the floral notes die out and more of a dried aged sheng note pops out around the fourteenth steep.

This tea goes on and on, but there isn’t anything that I can say makes it just pop out as unique enough for me to go after. Maybe some humid storage could change that or maybe double the leaf, but at the cost… would anyone really want to 10g/100ml this? An enjoyable session worth pairing for the nights meal, however it is still hard to describe in the sense to convince someone about why it is what it is in the tea world; is it name brand, is it the first pressing, is it the subtle notes… what is it that makes this so special, though it is possible that with time it will appear as such with experience in drinking or eating other things.
The food: http://imgur.com/gallery/6tgKt