2000 Old Warrior

Quite a nice shou! I got this tea from my recent CLT order, and it’s definitely an all-rounder. Beautiful aroma in the wet leaf and empty cup paired with a vibrant and thick liquor, topped with a juicy texture and a decent flavour that emphasised more on the spices and woody notes. This tea had a very nice, creeping cha-qi that was quite unique and the best part of this tea is that it lasts for LONG. I stopped at like 15 steeps but I was certain it could’ve gone to 20+. The flaws of this tea is mostly in character, finish and aftertaste, which I find are the areas this tea lacks in, and the flavour in my opinion could’ve been richer and more nuanced. Overall, a bold, nice tea that is unapologetic in showing its strengths. It feels like a ripe fruit ready to savour.

Gongfu!

Snuck in this early afternoon session yesterday before I’d completely lost all natural lighting in the apartment. I feel very unmotivated to Gongfu when there’s no natural lighting, so I quickly powered through the tea before it was totally black. Eight or nine steeps in about half an hour; I got wicked tea drunk and very drowsy/sleepy afterwards from how relaxed I was feeling. Ended up having a two hour “nap” shortly afterwards…

This shou is deeply earthy and camphorous, with notes of petrichor, molasses, wet wood, potting soil, and dried Medjool dates. Very, very clean and smooth though; with a great coating sensation down the throat. Exactly the kind of profile that I love most in a shou.

Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/CJYoSU8gI0g/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERA4lD-Wlfg&ab_channel=Jakey-Topic

Dry leaf – Smells like a wet forest floor. Mushroom, but a refined earthiness like shiitake mushroom. This 1st steep is very clean, rounded, soft, and mellow.

1st Steep – Wet leaves smell like a very light shou puerh, but there’s something dusty about it something that reminds me antique store or an old book.

Second/ 3rd steeping – Pours a very brown liquor. There’s a sweetness almost a tobacco sweetness, something I associate with cigars but without the smokiness. A vegetable, almost carrot like sweetness. The taste is very rounded and soft and elegant. A flash of some medicinal flavors in the palate. Hint of salt. A clean finish, even in the body. Balanced, elegant, and delicate.

4th steeping – lighter in color, just barely. Everything, taken down a notch. A longer finish, some aloe, black peppercorn, and menthol vapors. The finish is medicinal but in the most non-aggressive way. I’ll steep for a little longer next time. Lighter body as well. Liquor is clear.

The 5th steeping -lighter in color again even with a 5 second longer steeping. I’ll steep for 30 seconds next to see. The tea is definitely mellowed out a lot as far as the earthiness goes. It’s drinking like nice black tea. a bit of malty sweetness.

In conclusion, the subsequent infusion went much like the 5th. It drank smooth and light, even with the longer steep time, it did not get aggressive.
This was a great session. It drank like wisdom. A very calming and centering experience. I did not get a ton of energy, as much as an overall boost in well-being. A warming and comforting tea. You can not go wrong with this one.

A very rich amber brew with a heady earthen aroma and a surprisingly sweet and clean taste filled with a sharp mineral tang and foresty palette (wet earth/leaves, mulch, tree bark). The best way I can think to describe the taste of this tea is like having the ability to drink petrichor.

Highly recommend and need to get more!

Slightly bitter, nutty-earthy and slightly bitter after old books, no “where dui wei” any more present, quite persistent though somewhat mixed leaf quality.
Images and more at https://puerh.blog/teanotes/2000-old-warrior-clt

Had my first taste of the Old Warrior 2000 this afternoon. Clean, fresh earth, mulch, minerals and tree bark. Smooth as silk and a very dark amber brew. This is outstanding and highly recommended.

Dry leaf is dense, but not tightly compressed. Leaf is typical shu -black, to dark brown. Dry leaf aroma is nonexistent. This tea seems to have been dry stored. Steamed aroma is sweet earth. Ditto for brewed aroma. Brews up a semi-transparent dull copper. Sort of surprising. Most shu is pitch black. I’m going to assume the brew color is due to the age of this shu.

First brew is slightly boring. It tastes like a typical, aged, mid quality shu. Which, in and of itself would be good. However, it tastes a bit too rounded for me. I think the ageing process took off any harshness, but it also took off the high notes. Flavors are as follows: A soft, slightly musty sweet earth. A hint of peach, maybe. Texturally, it’s very soft. The finish sees an increase in must. Cha qi is negligible. Second brew presents with a much darker liquor. It looks more like typical shu. Murky, dark brass. Beyond that, there’s very little development in this brew. Third brew is even darker. Murky black, with just a hint of brass. Taste remains one dimensional. The must is growing stronger, but it’s not enough to give this tea any real character.

The fourth brew does an about face. Liquor is much lighter. It’s still murky, but, color wise, it’s closer to the second brew. Taste is noticeably sweeter. The musty element is still present, but not as prevalent. There’s now a peach sweetness, that transitions into a more sweet earth profile on the finish. Fifth and sixth brew continue this trend. Seventh brew tastes stepped on. Far too watery. On the eighth brew, I added 20 seconds to the steep time. Even with that increased steep time, the strength of the tea did not improve. It’s officially steeped out. At least, with this method of brewing. I’m sure you could do some really long infusions to maybe get another few brews out of it.

One side note. This tea has a fair amount of body caffeine in it. I noticed my hands twitching a bit while typing out these notes. I’m hesitant to attribute this effect to cha qi. It doesn’t have the mental stimulation that I usually get from cha qi.

Overall not so enjoyable. I wanted to like it, but in the third steep (after two initial rinses), I found myself not even wanting to continue drinking it. What happened?

Admittedly, this was only the fourth shu I have ever tasted (so what follows is my amateur tasting). My first one was a $10 cake from a Chinatown grocery store: marine and musty. My third was a 2007 “Huang Zhi” (from Crimson Lotus) and especially the intense mushroomy aroma and oily texture blew me away (I wish they had more in stock). The present shu, however, although it had some mushroomy aroma that I liked (and wood aroma that I didn’t like so much) actually turned me off by the third steep due to an overpowering earth taste. Not the interesting earthy taste I can appreciate, but rather just more like dirt, if that makes any sense. Long wet earth/dirt aftertaste in second steep. Then, the third steep suddenly bottomed out with an odd tatse, much weaker body. In the 4th steep, the earth taste was gone already, but there was nothing notable I could discern, and it became a casual drinking cup rather than something to study and inspire. By the 7th and 8th steeps it had mellowed and smoothed out, the earthiness receded and was replaced by mustiness and wet cavern. Did not get to 10 steeps.

There are positive traits: that mushroomy aroma at first, some mineral taste, a noticeable thickness, fullness, and somewhat creamy. And especially, it had a grounding effect and left me in contemplation and calm, steady focussed work. That was great.

17g 200ml

Rather easy to brew to be honest. Nice undertone of wood and fleeting moments of old fermentation. No unique notes to set it apart, but the aspect that this brews out cleanly for multiple infusions without changing drastically makes it a worthy shou if one drinks shou frequently.

Got a sample of this as a gift from a tea friend, thank you!

The dry leaf smells of woody oak and pine. It’s very sweet smelling, like a cigar. There’s even a tiny bit of smoke, as though someone is BBQing ribs over a pine fire miles away.

The brew is mostly like the smell. It’s a clean, woody pine forest with a little smoke. The mouthfeel is smooth like velvet. It seems long lasting for a shou.

I think one of my favorite shous so far.