2007 Yang Qing Hao "Huang Shan LingYa" Raw

2007 Yang Qing Hao Huangshan Lingya

6.1g, 80 mL shuiping, Poland spring bottled water

Dry leaf has classic sweet mushroomy smell of YQH

20s rinse

Wet leaf has sweet, almost incense-y smoky smell along with the sweet mushroomy note

8s: a mushroomy, slight medicinal sourness with a slight sweet aspect that fades almost immediately. Slight minty cooling on aftertaste that recedes back into a mushroomy note

9s: a lightly woody medicinal bitterness, similar sourness to before, but much less of the mushroom. Something citrus/tang like to it. Leaves tongue dry, but a shifting sour taste to slight sweet aftertaste slightly in throat. Definitely tastes like something my mom would make me drink when I was sick as a kid. Calming drowsiness, slight warmth

9s: crisp woody medicinal taste. Slight bitterness, much lightened from before. Sourness also lightened. Astringent again, leaves tongue and teeth feeling dry. Much lighter aftertaste.

10s: initially an oddly chalky candy like taste a la Smarties. Sweeter overall taste, but retaining general woodiness and slight sour medicinal taste from before. Still drying on the tongue, slight sweet aftertaste. Slight warming. Caffeine is kicking in.

12s: slight dark fruity aspect, generic slight medicinal clean aged sheng taste otherwise. Still astringent

15s: lightly fruity, sort of generic YQH taste. Can’t really pick any notes out. Slight drying

17s: similar. Not really an aftertaste other than slightly dry tongue, but aroma in back of mouth and upper throat

23s: same generic mushroomy, clean crisp YQH taste

37s: a slightly plum note amidst the rest of the slightly bitter YQH slight mushroomy background. Slightly bitter aftertaste

37s: darker taste, slightly drying. Slight sweetness/floral aspect to aftertaste. Can’t quite find the words for it, but I’m enjoying it

37s: similar

40s: gentle sweetened profile. A little drying

1 min: light Chinese herbal medicine taste. Still drying

1 min. 30s: lightly plummy aftertaste, but taste not too interesting, though comforting. Slight warming settling in again

2 min: a medicinal, slightly plummy taste, though light. Slightly drying

3 min.: a light, very slightly plum note

5min.: much lightened. Will move to thermos.

overall: light warming, relaxing qi. Made me want to nap, but caffeine kept me unable to actually fall asleep. I expected to like this better based on other reviews/tasting notes, but the drying aftertaste of many teas really kept me ambivalent to this one overall, so if this were still for sale from YQH, wouldn’t be one I’d cake

Full-bodied with an oily, heavy texture and the typical Yang storage character. In the beginning a lot of warm leather, wood and some tobacco (not smoky!) and if you tackle it a little harder also a good amount of bitterness. Compared to the 2007 Huangshan Qizhong a little more discreet in taste and character, but with more intense, relaxing Qi, although by far not as intense as the 2004 Tejipin.

So I started this tea about 6 hours ago which is pretty awesome!
Anyways, at this point I have tasted through quite a few different YQH productions and find that all of them have great storage, however that storage may not be to my liking all the time. Something that also stands out is the texture of these teas in general; a nice thick syrup like viscosity. There’s a clear connection with price per gram and enjoyment of the teas; a very subjective remark, but in this case I can back it up.

For a tea that is running $.41/gram, I find this to be a good deal as it will brew an entire day if you’d like for it to. It’s ready to drink now. Personally I think this is the kind of tea you drink over the course of years as it should only deepen which would be noticed by the owner as they get to know the tea. This one has more of the mineral rubbed fruit notes, very dark and dry, opposed to my favorite YQH cake the 2004 dingji yesheng.

A few notes of leather and old book hang around. Later into the brew this tea can take the three minute steeps and come out thick with the taste as if it is only in its 5th brew. Longevity and consistency.

2007 Yang Qing Hao “Huang Shan LingYa” – 5.35g in 200mL with a 10 second rinse

Wet leaves smell of tobacco and prunes with a note of fruit and a hint of menthol. Going to test this one with 5g first then try it again later with closer to 10g of leaf in the pot.

Steep/Time: Notes
1/10s: Sort of sweet and fruity with a nice cooling menthol effect. Deep complex flavor. Very tasty! Causes a numbing/tingling sensation on the tongue.
2/18s: Accidently steeped longer than planned, but it just increased the fruity sweetness and cha qi. :) Tiny bit of bitterness as it cools.
3/15s:
4/10s: What a strange and wonderful flavor profile. Sort of sweet, fruity with this notable menthol effect/flavor
5/15s:
6/15s:
7/??s: Sweet and creamy. Really nice cup of tea.

Lots of breaks in this session do to travel, being sick and a refusal to not drink the tea until I could do it without pauses.