2016 W2T Treachery
I tasted the top tea in W2T’s 2016 line, “The Treachery of Storytelling”, in a 3-day tasting which included the 2016 W2T Last Thoughts and the 2016 W2T Untitled 02.
First: 2016 Last Thoughts, 3.6g/60ml gaiwan
Fruity and savoury dry/damp leaf. Pungent florals from the leaf itself. Steeps begin at a high thickness and a fruity aroma. Salivating begins right away, with a slightly effervescent experience on the tip of the tongue. Very early on I can feel a thread of heat in the middle of chest starting to form.
By the third (very thick) steep, which is quite umami, I start getting sweet coatings on the throat and tongue as well as a feeling of energy moving downwards. I feel my left side getting heavy and some tannins show up a bit.
The fourth steep brings major heat to the chest and arms, and to the back of the head. Body relaxing, heavy breathing, paralysis feeling.
After the paralysis takes hold, steeps 5+6 bring big floral aromas generated in the mouth and nasal cavity. Body feels very slow.
The major body impact comes in Steep 7 with very clear waves of frisson. Radiating heat with cool skin. This dissipates for a few steeps which are kind of boring.
15 minutes after stopping at steep 10, I get a renewed shivering goosebumps and inspiring uplifting sensation, very active after-experience, but not too crazy, less than say what I got with some of the Wistaria teas.
Final comments on LT2016: Low tannins, no feeling of oily penetrating strength in the mouth surfaces, and nice but brief and relatively mild huigans. Best part is the body effect which has a nice muscle relaxing heating phase followed by an uplifting frisson phase.
Second: W2T Untitled 02, 3.3g/60ml gaiwan
Similar dry leaf aroma but in comparison to LT the initial taste sensation is much bigger, really great taste, and a big floral aroma. Wonderful wet leaf aroma of complex sweet bitters, young sheng but with an aged component.
In the initial steeps I feel the distinctive oily gasoline strength effect penetrating the mouth surfaces. There is some oolong notes but pleasant. Start to feel some numbness in the face, and active aftertaste, but nothing jumping out in the initial steeps.
In the fourth steep I get major huigans and in the fifth a full mouth coating flavour, nice bitter–>sweet–> juicy sensation with a big aftertaste
Steep 6 brings a lot of numbness and relaxation, sweet fruity aftertastes. By steep 7 I am extremely sleepy, extremely bright sweetness, kiwi or pineapple kind of tart high-note sweetness. Steep 8 and I am just out, need to lie down because I am so drowsy. Very little astringency and very low bitterness. The liquor is not sweet but there is a lot of sweetness in the aftertaste.
Final comments on Untitled 02: I consistently get couching qi from this tea, no uplifting frisson, no cooling. In comparison to LT it has a better taste and huigan and more impressive, but it lacks that frisson aspect which I like. you can’t do work after this tea. forget it.
Third: 2016 W2T Treachery 4.7g/85ml glazed pot [7.1]
The dry leaf smelled like some kind of hand lotion but after airing it out a while the smell became more precise: it smells exactly like a del Monte fruit salad with the pineapple, pear, peach and cherry drowned in sugar.
The wet leaf smells very fruity, those big globe grapes, but also exotic flowers and perfume/soap. It is more fragrant and unusual than the previous two teas.
The wash is extremely light in colour, lighter than previous teas, but cloudy. First 5 steeps are actually quite cloudy while the previous two teas are not at all cloudy. Taste is very light, similar to chrisanthemum tea. The wet leaf has a floral note but also peat moss and some funk.
First steep is unusually light in colour still. Bigger aroma now, pungent floral perfume. Medium viscosity. Can feel it going down, producing heat. Green tea taste, slight savoury. Can already feel a slow down effect and heaviness and tingling of limbs. After drinking I feel tannins on the tongue. Waiting a few minutes, Limbs are super heavy, and face is prickling. Big floral aroma on wet leaf. Wildflowers.
Second steep: aroma on liquor now matches the pungent leaf aroma. More green-yellow colour. Tannins on front of mouth. Arrival is thin and medicinal, coats the mouth and then later a sweet huigan. Alertness and “eye qi”. Lacking in fullness of flavour, lots of tannins now, but generating large huigans. Heavy limb paralysis effect. My hands feel like they are getting plumper, somehow. Aftertaste has a vegetal residue. So far it is somewhat similar in taste and mouthfeel to the EoT CWS Autumn 2015.
Third steep: Nice huigan and aroma, very salivating, neither sweet nor savoury. Slowing me down. Take a break.
Fourth steep brings much fuller taste and notable pungent aroma, as well as a lot of tannins.
Fifth: Strength and heat continues
Sixth steep: This is where the body effect hits. Major frisson waves, from the abdomen up along front of body and inside out to the arms and legs. Major body effect continues till 9th steep with long breaks in between. Strong effect leads to an open feeling, sugestive/receptive/perceptive.
During steeps 6-9 I was in somewhat of a daze, not sleepy but a kind of thoughtful observant mode. Very drying, with long salivating aftertastes.
After the 9th steep the astringency became more prominent and produced a lot of aftertastes, but the body effect was pretty much over.
Final comments on Treachery: Flavour, aroma, thickness is somewhat lacking, somewhat medicinal, and there is much more astringency than in the other two teas. Huigans are as good as the other two, all three teas have very nice sweet mouthcoating aftertaste. But the body/mind effect is quite unique and goes a step beyond the Last Thoughts in that it is not so much inspiring and uplifting as it is mildly dissociative and contemplative.
