THE TREACHERY OF STORYTELLING PT.2

Seeing how this is my first review on this site, I’m not going to wax rhapsodic in the same vein as the others here, but suffice it to say that this tea is phenomenal. As others have noted, the flavor isn’t why you drink this, necessarily, but I actually quite like it; then again, I’m a big fan of Menghai-ish teas. It starts off fairly light in the first couple of steeps, bright and citric with a not insignificant, though not overpowering bitterness. Over the next several steeps, the liquor and the taste proceed to darken, with the flavors developing a bolder low note, while retaining a high, almost lime-like citrusiness. Lurking on the sides of all of this is a distinctly milky character, almost like a milk oolong at times, something I’ve never encountered in a puerh—or any unflavored tea—before. This character settles in and doesn’t really fade over a number of steeps—I didn’t really count, but it showed more durability than most teas I drink. Towards, the end, though, the bitterness starts to fade and the milk comes forward a bit more and transforms into light sweetness, until it all gradually fades. There’s a tiny bit of astringency on the late steeps, but nothing like the astringency bomb that, say, 72 Hours can become if you’re not careful.

The really remarkable character of the tea, though, is outside the flavor, as I mentioned earlier. The mouthfeel is some of the most viscous I’ve experienced in a tea, thicker than most beer, even. Its finish was strong enough that, at times, I got almost the same flavor as the tea itself, albeit without that viscosity. Finally, the qi was intense, beyond just caffeine. Definitely face-numbing, but more than once throughout the session, I also found myself capable of doing very little except staring at a wall for several minutes.

I almost never drink tea in isolation, even gong-fu; I’m usually, at the very least, reading something. This tea joins those rare few that has held my attention over a whole session. Paul outdid himself with this one; if you can try it, do so.

(Thanks to my wife, who got me this tea for Christmas)

It took me two sessions and some time to put my notes in order. I desperately wanted to understand this tea. I heard a boom of commotion when this tea was released. Inquisitive label. Zero info. Insane price. Buzz-word vendor. Least to say, my interest was piqued. I managed to get my hands on a fair amount, and I made sure to let it settle for a bit before trying it. I planned out the session with my fancy teaware, spring water (personally harvested from the aquifer in hills), an empty schedule, the whole nine yards. I wasn’t gonna miss out on anything. I took my time, I breathed in the tea, I sipped long and slow, I gave it the attention it deserved. Now, if you want the notes on what it tastes like, skip to the bottom. If you want to hear me ramble on my thoughts and feeeelings, then you should read on. I look back of the lessons that tea has taught me, so that I can mold what my feelings are towards this leaf. I’ve experienced that when tea has a big hype, it can largely influence my thoughts. I try my best to disregard that “hype”. In doing so, I remember that high price=high material is not always true. Sometimes, it is largely due to the difficulty in acquiring the material. For instance, if I walk 10 miles for a penny, that doesn’t mean that the penny turns into gold; its still a penny. However, this tea is in no way, shape, or form comparable to the value of a penny. On that thought then, what makes this tea so high priced? I can imagine the fantastic trees of some unknown location that makes this tea magical. Logically, my mind instantly shoots to aged puerh. A semi-aged factory cake is around this price, and it is larger, so I see it as more valuable than this tea. However, the common response to this is that the material used now is far greater than before. The fact that we can drink fresh tea, and it still can carry the full texture sensation on the tongue provides that. Therefore, this tea will age immensely better than how factory tea has over the years. On the contrary, I have no way of knowing this. Honestly, I can run myself into circles with the “ageing potential” question of new boutique tea, so I digress. The next lesson I point to is to ignore marketing. This tea is marketing. The wrapper stands upright as a middle finger directed towards the “label effect”, in which this acts as a marketing tactic inclining us to want it. However, the answer to this argument is fairly simple: Stop bitching and let the tea speak for itself. After I ran myself into a maze, I decided to do just that.

I drank twice. I drank once in October and again in December. The steeping in December really solidified my thoughts towards this tea. Here is a quick synopsis:
Dry: Sweet. Mineral. Fig.
Warm: Odd. Herbaceous. Light cream? Never smelled something like. reminded of 54-46.
Steeped: Fresh greens. Milk?. Green tea chai.
Taste/Liquor: Subtle. Pale jade. Astringently sweet. Cream finish. Thick (fuck all thick).

Now, right of the bat, you do not spend this kind of money for tastes. For a poor example, I wouldn’t buy cocaine for its numbing effects when I can drink $8.95 Pharmacy Benzocaine. With that being said, this tea gives a sensation that is unusual. I wouldn’t call it the strongest, drowsing, or energizing. I have had better in those categories. Instead, I would call this the cleanest. I define clean as something that runs so in line with how my body is already functioning that I don’t feel intoxicated; rather, I would describe it as being complimented. The taste was poor (little aggressive of a word); I read a review that said “artichoke water”. I agree with that term; it does have a runny characteristic. However, the feeling was a compliment to me. I drank steep after steep, and I couldn’t really notice much. I had my pen in hand, jotting down every thought and sensation, and I couldn’t say much on qi. I would sit back and fold my arms behind my head pondering on this brew; I took in the steady vibes of my music playing in the background. Then, my friend came in and began to strike up a conversation with me. That’s when it happened; I stood up from tea table and all the time I spent sitting caught up with me. I was aligned. I forgot my friend was even there; I was in my own little world. I excused myself, and I walked outside. The frigid east coast December air felt nice on my skin. I then realized I had been sweating quite a bit. The setting sunlight seemed brighter, the breeze felt softer, the trees seemed prettier. This is the best way I can describe being complimented by tea. This is why I can understand the high price tag. To continue, I ended wandering back inside and getting back into my session. The tea lasted all day with good vibes and pleasant enough taste. I enjoyed my time with this brew. Now, to get to the bottom line. I want more info. I don’t like the idea of mystery tea that costs a pretty penny; I have trust issues. Also, to go off my trust issues, I don’t know how this will age. A factory recipe that is aged well enough can hit the $800 mark prior to reaching 15 years old. This tea is not even a year old, and it is not only smaller, but it is already halfway to that mark. I need evidence that it ages. Personally, I couldn’t spend that on a fresh tea. I may be kicking myself when this ages beautifully, and it is worth 2k in 5 years. That’s my shit, so I’ll deal. I don’t have an issue frivolously spending on a drinking hobby, but I can’t do it for this. To those that own this, enjoy the compliment; its a beautiful experience.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BLqwrY6AxOh/?taken-by=haveteawilltravel

https://www.instagram.com/p/BNm3MhgAOIG/?taken-by=haveteawilltravel

Buddhas in the Hourglass

When I shut my eyes the world folded me up like a paper airplane and shot me out into space. Upon my arrival in that void, I was cradled in a massive endless blackness, floating. Out of the blackness I saw a enormous heaving swarm – at first it looked like sands falling through an hourglass, but as I drifted closer, I noticed that each grain of sand was actually a person. Billions and billions of people swirling and falling through an hourglass. It was as if Michelangelo’s Last Judgment had come alive inside this kaleidoscopic, planet-sized hourglass. Most of the people were struggling, fighting, tangled and twisted with one other. But some of the people were Buddhas, in the literal sense – seated full lotus, serenely gliding on a gentle unseen current, slightly above the sea of humanity, unperturbed by the chaos and completely at peace. And then the absurdity of it all hit me, and I laughed and couldn’t stop laughing. My field of vision grew wider, and I was together with the giant laughing corpulent Buddha holding the hourglass; we just laughed and laughed as we watched people struggling and twisting and falling. I was Buddha and Buddha was me; I held the hourglass, I was in the hourglass. When I woke I opened my eyes to sunlight and the taste of wildflowers on my tongue.

EDIT to add:

TL;DR: drank Treachery and it reminded me a lot of the time I took Salvia Divinorum and met up with the Buddha about 100 million light years from Earth.

tasting notes: Watermelon, vegetal, angel farts, the tears of happiness.

They call this the story telling tea, but what does that mean? I suppose I should just follow the rules of storytelling and thankfully I am ready to do just that.
Really grateful to have obtained 13g of this tea as it is rather pricey, more so than Last Thoughts which is funny because I was given 10g of that.
The way I have decided to approach this tea was to figure out how it made me feel and the longevity of the tea itself rather than the taste and beauty since it’s what it does that’s most important when you shell out that ‘drug’ money.
So it’s been 14 months since I graduated college and my newer job that I really like is going strong at only what 4 months? I was looking to either do one of two things: save money for a down deposit and get a house in 2017 or find a roommate this year. My friend needed someone to live with so I went with the second option which means I am unable to save money currently, but it is a good situation for many reasons; like finally buying furniture and getting out of my parents place a bit earlier.
Finding the space I liked and what not wasn’t so hard; just had to have my own bathroom, not sharing that! So we got a pretty good deal and all, pretty excited to have my own place :)
Did all that furniture shopping and stuff which went by quick, but like most things… the issues arouse at the worst time.
First issue came when I was called on the 18th, only 2 days before we were to move, to be told that our unit was flooded and won’t be ready until August 15th. Yeah, that wasn’t going to happen so I ended up taking the offer to move into the only unit they had; which thankfully they had one.
On the day of moving UHaul didn’t have a larger truck so we lucked out there and had to make multiple trips, but sadly… the lady working at our place said we could drop stuff off in the garage and come back at our move in time of 4pm, but then the manager said that wasn’t going to be at all possible so at 2pm we were stuck at the office with a full truck trying to figure out what to do. Eventually we just waited and I apologized to my family who came at 2pm to unload the truck and vans because we were told incorrectly we could put stuff in the garage for 2 hours. I really hate inconveniencing my family.
Well, 4pm rolled around as it always will and it was time to move in. It was a long day so I just wanted to drop everything into the house. Unfortunately that would be a bad move because the carpet people will in there at 4pm and didn’t leave to 4:10pm… Wasn’t really feeling the idea of putting stuff on top of wet carpet. Awesome, it’ll be another day of moving stuff… so we stuffed the garage and checked the place out.
Fridge was broke. Got one on Friday which was nice.
Washer and dryer that we were told we would have was not there; still no word on it. Was told that the old unit had them and this one did not so the contracts are different… yeah, that wasn’t going to work so she said she will get them here for us.
I still have no blinds so at least 6 people have seen me in my briefs; no shame.
A bunch more stuff and whatnots… but on Wednesday night our neighbor came over and knocked on the door to introduce herself. Apparently we have two really gorgeous sisters living next door which is really good because it keeps me on edge about my appearance and health. This is the part of me that’s somewhat sad… it takes real motivation to cause me to do something like go running. Like many people, I dislike looking in the mirror because I don’t like what I see so when others acknowledge it, I am hurt. Many of you may say “but Andrew look at you” yadda yadda, but it’s an internal struggle as many have experienced. So there’s a positive, our neighbors do not have kids to come run in our yard and stuff nor are they going to be annoying because they are young and seem pretty laid back because they have a grill we can use and I am going to put a table in the shared yard.
So even with all the negatives that happened, I am able to notice that most of the bad stuff is temporary because change is always an option if you work towards it. I look forward to having a place where I can host tea meetups and maybe one day host a selective Star Trek viewing group.
All of that to say that this tea is an after work all afternoon type of tea. There’s something quite calming about this tea from the very second steep. The feeling that comes to mind, like your head, comes and goes within minutes but the calm sensation sticks around making you feel as if the weight you’ve been carrying is no longer there. With nothing to note about the appearance of the leaf or taste, this is one to drink alone for Netflix and chill alone edition. Things that don’t need be said, but they clearly are, is that Tuhao gives more of a kick in the butt and this is more like ‘pass me that bag yo, cause I’m a sloth right now’. Another thing that doesn’t need to be said, but will be, is that the first few steeps have this salted butter likeness to it that fades. This had to only be me that got this because it was so awkward and unusual that I am unsure what it was… anyways, it was a nice session that isn’t done. This is one that I would say is meant to be drank over a long period of time with something else as it is just a relaxing type of drink for me rather than one to drink for pleasure; unless turning into Snorlax is your cup of tea’.

I STILL DO NOT HAVE INTERNET. Imagine how writing this up was for me :/

I have already written about this tea on my blog. My note there says everything about this tea but does so in themes using a local folklore style and a true story from my life. Perhaps that note is best read after spending some time with this tea, because the details about the tea are less important than the experience and the reason why you might choose to drink it. This is a very high quality experience, you have to gut yourself in every way in life to get to a place where you need something more. But details matter for purchase decisions, they don’t matter to me on my blog but make more sense on Steepster. I also don’t want more people asking me about it, so here are more details for people who really need them, or for the merely curious person who won’t be buying.

I drank approximately 6g per 100 ml with boiling or just a few degrees under. I brewed the tea in a Lin’s ceramic teapot, and eventually transeferred the tea to a very thick porcelain teapot. Both pots hold very high temperatures.

This is a very high tier of puerh evidenced by the thickness of the stems, the durability of the leaves and a myriad of physical effects that you must drink a lot of tuition tea to recognize. The tea is motor oil thick, even with the cake still very wet and with the lighter amount of leaf I used. Flavor explodes in the front of the mouth. The liquid then goes into the throat like a ball of Nyquil and remains there. Finally, it settles into the stomach and stays alive there.

Top notes are both apricot and the grape, early steeps are bitter with honey sweetness creeping in much later. Peppery and medicine in the throat but without the medicine taste, just the burn. Right now the tea is very green and wet and has a lot of settling down to do. Some steeps were yellow or greenish yellow, suggesting that the tea is still green tea. Processing of course is top notch. Some older leaves in the mix of buds and leaf/bud combination stems.

Mega steeper and I’m still trying to steep the tea out after four days. Lost count now past 15 steeps. However, because the tea is wet I’m getting some degradation of the leaf due to high brewing temps that will not be the case in 6 months to a year. That wet vegetal needs to dry out a lot more. I’m amazed the tea holds up so well in the wet state, for example last year’s Poundcake, a lower tier tea, broke down after 8 steeps while this wet. This tea is definitely much more durable. Qi is energy in the middle of my back. I’m not noticing any psychedelics yet, might be too early and too wet. I did, however, get heartburn from the tea which is due to the greenness. I never have got a heartburn from a tea before. But this is powerful stuff, and I expect the greenness to turn and it won’t happen again. I didn’t get any bowel effects as I would from cheap tea though.

I plan to let the tea sit now for at least six months and then I will drink it up. I don’t have time to wait in my life to age this, though I expect that lower notes and many more interesting aspects of the tea are yet to come as it changes. There is strength and bitterness to age but I’m too old to wait. I think if a person is older than 35, just plan to drink it. I don’t want anyone else to drink this but me.

If you want to complain about the price, the size of the cake, the lack of details and marketing issues, then go buy cheap tea and drink that. I’m not trying to make too many more notes here than what I’ve written on my blog except to give a bit more for people who want to buy this now, because it won’t be around for long. This is conversation tea in its very early days, and I hope more people decide to go for it and we can all talk about it for the next year while we enjoy it together.