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“I’ve been enjoying this one today, and am glad to finally be going through the Life in Teacup samples I got a year or 2 ago (has it really been that long?) So…usual parameters…, yishi, short time,...” Read full tasting note
“OK, you smoke lovers, here is one for you. Got a sample of this from Life in Teacup. They don’t try to say it is a real ban zhang. I pulled this out at random from a box, and Lo and behold, it was...” Read full tasting note
We add quote-and-quote to “Ban Zhang” because when a large factory (or any factory) claims a tea is Ban Zhang, our suggestion is: ignore the claim and just see how the tea is. The tea is a favorite of the manager’s, however, there are too many claimed-to-be Ban Zhang products today, including teas blended with small amount of Lao Ban Zhang and tea produced from “Greater Ban Zhang region”. There is no way for us to tell which category this tea falls into. But we thought this tea may serve as a pleasant experience for drinkers, and may facilitate drinkers to understand that any tea less pleasant than this one would probably be even farther away from Ban Zhang standard.
This tea was in completely dry storage in Guangzhou between 2006 and 2013. It’s one of our few products with Guangzhou storage. The storage was completely professional equipped with modern dehumidifying device during rain seasons. The tea ages somewhat faster than many of our other Kunming storage teas. However, it has typical dry storage taste, without any damp taste or unpleasant storage taste.
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Changtai Tea GroupI’ve been enjoying this one today, and am glad to finally be going through the Life in Teacup samples I got a year or 2 ago (has it really been that long?)
So…usual parameters…, yishi, short time, etc, combining 2 rounds at a time in one mug, so that I could carry it around with me and sip while I was teaching this morning.
This is a savory broth of wood and maybe a little smoke, with an underlying bitter base note that I found satisfying overall. It has a very clean mouthfeel & taste. This is one of those teas that is probably more about effect than taste, and very quickly there was an electric current flowing from my tongue to my brain, awakening all of my tastebuds and neuro-synapses up and down my spine, spreading to all my extremities and leaving me with a mixed sensation of heightened awareness and relaxed acceptance. Perfect for gardening, so I’m headed out the back door right now!
I’ll come back for more steeps this afternoon, as I’m sure there is a lot left to these leaves
OK, you smoke lovers, here is one for you. Got a sample of this from Life in Teacup. They don’t try to say it is a real ban zhang. I pulled this out at random from a box, and Lo and behold, it was another smokey tea like yesterday’s White Whale. It is very much in the same vein as that tea, maybe with a bit less smoke and a bit more wood and mushroom. Very sturdy and held up to a lot of infusions. I didn’t like it, but you smokies probably will!
I was going to say that I never got smoke from this one but well, we all taste and describe tastes different! lol I did get a lot of ‘Tobacco’ (not yet lit up leaves) scent and taste. The same with the white whale, although the white whale did have some smoke in the background for me.
Yeah, I also wonder if more smoke comes through in some cakes relative to others. Hard to imagine you wouldn’t taste a lot of smoke! But like you say, people taste things differently.
Twodog told me at the tea tasting that the heavy smoke comes from the wok.
Rich, it is true. We can taste and describe things differently so, in theory there are two levels of detachment when reading other people’s notes. And as you very well said, it can change from cake to cake. I’ve had samples of teas that make me buy a bing and then when I receive the bing I feel like it lacks something or has something extra to it. To me this one has a lot of tobacco and medicinal wood notes with minor smoke on the back. Not one of my favorites though. I can appreciate it, but not my go-to Sheng.
I appreciate the smoke alert. In my experience vendors often do not allways warn you of obviously smokey sheng, And boy there are some ash-tray shengs out there!
lol