2000 Green Peacock

After several years of anticipation, I’ve finally gotten this tea in my cup.

Initial wafting of the dry leaves met me with freshness (almost menthol) that was unexpected for a tea of this age. I’ve not tried any Essence of Tea puerh before so I am not accustomed to what the storage taste may be. Waited about 2 weeks to air this out and threw it in the Jian Shui (my semi-aged sheng pot).

Now, I went this entire session with a somewhat confused demeanor. Any previously sampled semi-aged sheng that I have had did not resembled this at all; this tea was different. What a friendly tea. I still do not really know what stands this one on it’s own… Lacking smokiness and almost all astringency, it makes for a very consistent brew similar to other semi-aged sheng in my experience.

Wasn’t taken back by the energy, but I usually drink a lot more leaf per session. All-in-all I had a great 15-20 steeps of this and it was still giving when pushed to 20-30 second steeps.

Earthy tones and subtle fruit led this to please me very much for about an hour.

This tea is chopped—chopped, and compressed hard enough that the last five gram portion of my sample fell out of the bag with an audible thunk. Breaking that apart took a bit of effort and was only really possible after the rinse. Fortunately, though, it did open up after a steep or two and I could get on with the session without too much difficulty.

The liquor itself brews up an orange-ish brown that’s relatively light for a tea of this age and is indicative of the relatively dry, humid storage this tea’s seen in Malaysia. The taste reflects that as well, with a tart cherry note predominating, along with a cooling finish and some tingling activity on the tongue. It’s got a decently thick mouthfeel and provides a qi that gradually sneaks up on you.

It’s not without its flaws, though. The durability’s merely tolerable—the chopped leaves give up the ghost pretty quickly—and there’s a bit of an unpleasant bitterness not unlike burnt coffee that clashes with the rest of the flavors. It’s not a dealbreaker—you have to look for that flavor and it’s pretty brief—but it does mar the experience a bit. Previous sessions with earlier parts of the sample have been intensely smoky, though this quality’s been absent this time around. My guess is that there’s some variability in the cake.

This was the second sample of this tea that I’ve ordered, as I found myself unable to remember what I thought of it the first time. I’m not sure I’d purchase it in the current market; it’s a pretty decent tea, but I think EoT has some comparable offerings that are better. That said, it’s pretty enjoyable and it’s not the sort of thing I’d complain about owning.

Spicy and slightly woody. Similar to the 2000 Kai Yuan Green Stamp, but much smooth rand more tame.
Images and more at https://puerh.blog/teanotes/2000-green-peacock-eot

From the PU TTB: I think this might be the oldest sheng I’ve ever had. It starts out, well, frankly unpleasant. Overwhelming storage/musty old basement. Once it gets going, there is a tarty fruity sweetness; somewhere in that old basement, underneath the leather books and ossified apples, there’s a pleasant sourness. But the overwhelming note is camphor, even after numerous steeps. It does get a tad bitter when pushed. Some 10 or 15 steeps later I am tea drunk as hell. Upshot: I didn’t love it enough to want to buy more, but I am still drinking it and it’s not just for the buzz. Approaching 20 steeps and this tea is showing little sign of weakening. And it’s growing on me a little.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BCY8U_DGgNW/?taken-by=curlygc

I’ve tried this for the third time today and I have about 5g left.
Initially and each time, I was disappointed with this tea as it takes off very slow. The first 3-4 steeps have you wondering how this could’ve ever passed EoT quality control, it’s thin and flat, yet bitterish, leathery and sour – like many of the forgettable low-quality productions from the times of the pu-erh craze (2006-2007). Gradually, however, things gets better and signs of maturity like notes of old books and woody sweetness (no red fruits though) start to come out. Around the eighth steep the flavour profile is fully developed and the tea is round enough to satisfy.

Unfortunately, although it never was really smooth to begin with, later steeps also produce more adstringency and the mouthfeels becomes somewhat gritty. Nevertheless, this one gave me a few decent cups.

To conclude, I think the price of 144USD is too high, considering that 149USD can get you something very “proper” in the matured pu-erh depatrment. Yes, I mean W2T’s HK Style.

Edit: After 10-12 steeps I wouldn’t speak of Qi, but I found its caffeine-level to be just right. I’m alert yet not agitated.

2000 Green Peacock – Essence of Tea

Price: £0.34 ($0.50) / g £98 ($144) / 357g cake

Summary: A very good aged tea which comprises a tart fruit note with softened smoke. It has a lot in common with the 2000 Kai Green Stamp and has greater longevity. However, it is let down by overpowering smoke and astringency that come after a few brews. It also has less depth of flavour.

84/100

8 grams in gaiwan.

Dry: Smoky cheese (Bavarian cheese) just like 2000 Green Stamp. Dark brown with light brown leaves. This is not as compressed as 2000 Green Stamp and not as dark.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BAAK59-oDlsWX3N40QXAHs6S2JqmfGhPFJdpCI0

Wet: Med wood smoke, some electric smoke, straw.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BAAWSCrIDqD9C8kTsUc2lROGbPkPgJdMUOUE_g0
https://www.instagram.com/p/BAAWVHzoDqNOV798lfebA7oFKukTf_bGtLK-xE0

Rinse: Very clear light gold.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BAALq2XoDn9ecu5x2dIY0Lg5wryFqXM9HkNue40

10s – Light/med gold. An aged fruity woody note with a gentle tangy edge. Smoke is barely noticeable. The sweet wood note stays long into the finish and long afterwards. It is currently very lightly flavoured. 84/100

15s – Light/med gold. Light soil in the background. The fruit note is mild and sweet, then it turns slightly sour and becomes very light furniture polish. There is a slight dryness to the fruit as if it has been cask aged. Mild aged flavours: very light furniture polish and old wood. Smoke is minimal. 85/100

20s – Light brown. Slightly later arrival for the brown-ness than the 2000 Kai Green Stamp, but here we are. Medium dark smoky base, but soft. The fruit note stretches out across the whole flavour profile, instead of being a small part of it like in the 2000 Kai Green Stamp. Nice tang in the fruit, slightly astringent finish. Yet, very smooth. 87/100

25s – Med orange/brown. A lot of smoke. So far the smoke was minimal and well integrated. This is not so well integrated. Medium astringency and strong dark Xiaguan-like smoke. However, the fruit it strong enough to be tasted, but its being overpowered by the smoke. There are some aged flavours: light furniture polish, but these are difficult to taste because of the smoke. 80/100

30s – Med orange/brown. Astringency is a minor problem here. The fruit note goes long into the finish. It is a smaller part of the flavour profile now and has a tart bitterness which causes the mouth to salivate, and then it becomes sweet. 82/100

35s – Med orange/brown. The fruit note is losing vibrancy. It showed a grey/clay side here. The smoke has lessened, but was thick in parts. Slightly astringency. Thinner. 80/100

45s – Med orange/brown. Smoke first, then fruit. Mild astringency. Fruit has slight furniture polish. Leaving the mouth quite dry. This is lasting longer that the 2000 Kai Green Stamp, which makes it better value for the number of brews alone.

1 min 15 – Med orange/brown. Some stewed black tea, light furniture polish for the fruit. Background smoke bites into the finish. Slight astringency.

1 min 30 – Med orange/brown. Smoke, light furniture polish. Slightly harsh, but drinkable. 78/100

Pu’erh TTB 2015 Tea #2
It was about one week before this TTB was announced to have a new round that I asked someone here about Berylleb’s Peacock teas because I have enjoyed the style quite bit. As I was about to buy four samples, a few weeks later, I noticed EOT provided two for the TTB :)
This tea is potent from the first steep which is nice right now because I need the strength. The tip of my tongue gets a slight sweetness during the taste of the liquid and as it goes down the sides of my tongue to my cheek experience a passing camphor taste which is quite enjoyable. I’m not sure which portion of the cake I had as it was broken off nor how it was stored for the last 2 months…. and I don’t care, if a tea taste good than it taste good. I’m looking forward to trying the purple peacock now!
Now I’m window shopping….
https://www.essenceoftea.com/tea/puerh-tea/2012-eot-qishenggu-400g-puerh-tea.html has my attention :)

Puerh Tea TTB. This is the first tea I am drinking from the box. The first couple of infusions were light yellow in color with the taste of a totally non bitter young sheng. At first I was unsure if I was really drinking an aged tea. After about the fourth steep the leaves had fully opened up and it took on the color of an aged sheng, a dark amber brown. I noticed that Grill mentioned storage taste in this tea. I did not find what is commonly called wet wood or wet storage taste. There was a spicy note however that was quite strong and prevalent throughout the first eight or ten steeps. It never completely went away even after fifteen steeps. It did however mellow out. There was a flavor in the middle steeps that I just call aged flavor. It crept in but I don’t know how to describe it. This tea was smooth despite the spicy taste. I think I would even say there was a taste of camphor in there. I am currently feeling the effects of this tea’s qi. I would not use the term tea drunk but it is quite relaxing. This is definitely a tea I will want to look into buying, don’t actually know how much it costs.

I steeped this tea 15 times in a 60ml gaiwan with 4.2g leaf and boiling water. I gave it a 10 second rinse and a 10 minute rest. Even so it took several steeps for this tea to open up. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, 30 sec, 45 sec, 1 min, 1.5 min, 2 min, 2.5 min, 3 min, and 3.5 min. The tea was pretty much played out at fifteen steeps but I probably could have gotten one or two more steeps out of it.

First tea I’m reviewing from the TTB – Round 3. 5 grams in my shibo, gave them a quick rinse and let sit for about 5 minutes before starting my first brew. This tea has definitely seen some humidity and would benefit from some airing out for sure. Early tastes were dusty books and basement with underling fruit, camphor and some vanilla. Overall really complex and enjoyable flavors and my favorite aspect of this tea. In general the body was light and the after taste wasn’t that strong. Some throatiness early in the session but it didn’t develop or last for more than a couple steeps. As the session progressed the storage tastes lightened but never went away completely, astringency on the tongue and cheeks on the later steeps until the very end. Had to push this tea fairly early which is usually a sign of trouble but it turned out to be fairly durable and got around 15 steeps.

Overall the tea was pretty enjoyable but nothing mind blowing. Some people may be turned off by the storage taste but it doest bother me. As I said earlier airing this out would do it wonders as the flavors were the highlight of the show here. Also I do like teas with thicker bodies and oily texture but I’ve come to not expect that all the time from older tea.

This was quite an experience. I let this cake air out for a little bit. I saw the 2000 year, and I knew I had to jump on it. I love the experience from aged sheng; especially, when it is properly stored. The cake consists of long twisted knots of muddled black and is intertwined with little bronze linings. I broke off two generous chunks and placed in my warmed jianshui pot and gave it a shake. I let the dry leaf warm up and sit for quite some time. I really wanted this brew to wake up from its 15 year slumber. I lifted the top and took a peek inside my clay pot. The scent was light but intense. It gave off the scent of age. It was like an old book store with the musty parchment. I also took in a dried fruit scent, perhaps it was grapes. I washed the leaves twice to get them to fully open. The liquor was tarnished gold. The old book scent followed this brew consistently. The flavor was largely complex. I am happy that I let this cake settle before brewing. The taste began as a deep raw wood. It was like the core of mahogany and mixed with cherry oak. This taste then moved into a dried fruit with a lasting huigan to follow. The liquor had a intense and brief kuwei that was soothed by a fermented fruit taste. This mixture frequently transits from a heavy wood and slight earth, to a more fruit and spiced tone. The brew lasts forever! I was able to pull countless steeps while still achieving a prominent orange liquor. The background flavor of camphor also follows the drinker the entire session. The qi is something special. The feeling is not overwhelmingly powerful, and it sneaks up on you. I did not notice it for most of the session. For me, it began at my temples and forehead with a warming sensation that grew into a fiery internal feeling. This wave of warmth rushed through my body and lifted me up. This session helped calm me down and help me focus for the work ahead. I enjoyed this brew thoroughly, and it is a good example of some aged sheng. I believe that if stored properly this could grow into something even more fruitful. Lastly, I am happy to be able to experience Malaysian storage. This country’s storage conditions was a new concept for me, and it was a wonderful experience.

https://instagram.com/p/8bGGeeTGZT/?taken-by=haveteawilltravel