2014 Huang Pian MEGA Brick

Grandpa Style!

This was the best shou that I’ve had in a long time. I drank it grandpa style over the coarse of multiple work days because it was taking forever to brew out and I was enjoying it so much that I just didn’t want to toss the leaves before they’d given up all their flavour.

It was incredibly robust and full bodied with very, very dense and heavy notes of forest undergrowth and wet, rain soaked earth. At the same time as it channeled these strong forest flavours and camphorous notes it was also quite savory and brothy. My manager caught a whiff of it at one point and said it smelled so incredibly mushroomy to him in the best sort of way. Mushroom is always a very tricky flavour for me to identify because I’m allergic to it, but with how much umami was packed into this cup and what I know of mushrooms I would say the comparison makes perfect sense.

Anyway, it was just a fucking brilliant tasting shou!

Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/CgP-NpROgXL/ (The fifth pic)

This was taken as it was finally beginning to totally brew out, so it’s not as thick and oily looking at it once was. Initially this was almost a pitch black looking brew.

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uzjb2IOSC4

I received this as a sample, and I was intrigued because the MEGA brick is a pretty good value. Glen, and Lamu, are always so generous with to include a little surprise in all most of my orders. It is always about the little things, right?

Dry leaf – Pretty standard shou stuff here, not pungent or anything smells clean, not real funk, or fishy-ness. Standard wet leaves and forest floor, woody earthyness.

I rinsed twice, and sampled the 2nd rinse, out of curiosity. It was still a little weaker than I expected, but it had a certain brightness to it that was surprising , just elevated enough to keep things interesting, and not all flavors heading down the the dark earthy abyss.

Wet leaf – There is a lot here actually, why I’m falling in love with these teas. Forestry, earthy scents, with leather, and what I can only describe as perfume, like a peppery men’s cologne, its a hard scent to describe. Melon rind, and black pepper? All dominated by the standard shou – ness.

2nd-3rd steep – Wow, the leaf really opened up on the 2nd steep! poured a dark , dark garnet brown. Think Chimay Grande Reserve, for you fellow beer nerds. The body was lighter than expected, and it still had just a little brightness, to keep the palate from being sunk. However, not a flavor you’d normally call bright, but it is all relative. It drinks, soft, smooth, and mellow. Earthy, woodys, moss, and wet wood. I get a cooked / burnt, barbecue sauce scent, and leather in the background. semi-sweet, and mineral finish. If you have ever licked a salt block, when you were younger(the red ones) like that but not salty.

4th-5th steeping – The flavor really mellowed out here…just smooth tea, and maybe sweeter, but not sure if the earthy notes had died off a little, and made some room for the sweetness to come through more. It did however, give up the ghost a little here. Your first 4 steepings are where it shines, the tea definitely gets more focused, and less nuanced from here on out.

In conclusion, Overall it was a good tea session. It was a good shou, but about what I expected, given its price point. However, it would make a great daily drinker, which I think is more for what it is intended for. A solid shou, a good entry shou I think, and daily drinker fo’ shou!

I am a fan of this muddy, woodsy flavor profile. It is possible I prefer shou made from the larger, coarser leaves.

Got a sample of this with my shou puerh sample package from Crimson Lotus. I rinsed twice and started my steeps.

The first steep I would describe as very clear in taste. It had a sweet mineral taste with some light muddiness and mushrooms in the back. The second steep brought out the earthy flavors. It’s incredibly smooth and almost creamy.
The earthy flavors disappeared around steep 4-5 and that left me with a very sweet mineral taste. If anyone is familiar with White2Tea’s Brown Sugar, it reminds me very much of this tea. While Brown Sugar is a bit more muddy, the MEGA Brick has the same notes but is very clean in comparison. It’s incredibly sweet and at around steep number 8 the soup got lighter and very clear as well.

The tea also gave me quite a sweat. It is summer, but it’s not particularly warm (18 C) but rather windy instead. Still, I needed to wipe the sweat off my forehead after drinking this. It’s very easy to drink, impossible to overbrew and incredibly smooth.

Would I buy the whole brick? If it’s winter and I get a bonus? Sure. It’s affordable and delicious.