2006 Taihe

2006 Wistaria Taihe Maocha
Purchased from LiquidProustTeas
6.0g, 100 mL gaiwan, boiling, mix of Brita/Poland Spring
The leaves are super long lol

these 6g of dry leaves were stored with my other samples so seems to have taken on the same fruity smell

17s rinse, cloudy

Wet leaf smells dark, smoky with a sweet tinge, and brothy (someone mentioned umami broth and I know exactly what they mean). Someone also mentioned burnt tires/rubber and I get that slightly as well. not sure what’s up with Wistaria storage on these, since I can’t imagine these being inherently present…

5s: dark, and slightly medicinal fruity, with good texture. Crisp, with a slightly charred edge, but leaves a pleasant cooling savory sweetness on tongue and around mouth.
Warming in upper back

10s: gaiwan lid definitely smells like leather and burnt rubber. But the leaves smell of dried fruits and the brothy umami. Good texture, but lacking in much taste except medicinal overall and slight bitterness in the ending. Only a fleeting aftertaste of savory fruitiness.

17s: a sweeter medicinal, something almost citrus like. Drying that turns into a sweet aftertaste.

20s: dark, bitter medicinal. Also very drying with light sugar and burnt rubber like aftertaste. Definitely one of the odder teas I’ve tried

15s: Just a light bitter-tinged medicinal water. Drying.

30s: medicinal citrus tinged slight bitterness. Drying still, with the weird rubber umami like slight aftertaste.

45s: slightly bitter. Astringent

1 min: similar, though with a fruity edge.

2 min.: odd rubbery taste still

3 min: similar, though more medicinal

5 min: wet leaves and gaiwan lid smell like furniture. A mushroom-like note

10 min: medicinal bitter w/ citrus -like tang. sweet edge, much less drying than before
thermos’d the rest.

Would’ve expected a qi heavy hitter for this one based on reviews, but this was pretty light on body effects (slight warming) for me. Not sure what’s up.