
2003 CNNP Yellow Label
March 11, 2017
5.5g/100ml gaiwan, filtered tap water [8.0]
Dry: Sweet spice, clean, no geosmin or funk.
Damp: Gentle sweet grains and floral perfume
Wet: Sweet but not pungent honey, light floral sweetness.
Wash: Clear orange, no funk at all. Light, active in the mouth, soft texture and a slight perfume note on the liquor. After the wash I immediately feel a mild but noticeable energy flow behind the ears and down the neck.
1. Attractive bark-cinnamon-licorice on wet leaf. Quite unique perfume note on liquor, something like roses but not quite. Very familiar, perhaps the blossom of a fruit tree, but I can’t put my finger on it. Waves of energy from the back of mouth down torso to the legs. Medium thickness and salivation. Upper back and neck are energized and uplift begins.
2. Baking spices, carrot cake, walnuts. Penetrating oily sensation on tongue, frisson behind the ears and throughout neck and shoulder area. The rose aroma is similar to an incense, it has a woody component, but perhaps something like sandalwood which has more sweet high notes rather than woody lower notes. Fantastic frisson sensation and major uplift on inhalation. No funk or geosmin of any kind.
3. The perfume reaches its height, and continues to emerge from the mouth with the huigan, waves circulating in the torso, and the face slightly numbed. soft liquor texture, very slight astringency giving a grippiness on the sides of the tongue. Dominant flavour is a perfumed sweetness with salivation activity, very low bitterness and a fine astringency on contact between tongue and upper mouth.
4. Superb empty cup aroma with sweet tobacco and more resinous profile combined with the floral scent from earlier. Full body frisson with goosebumps on arms
5 and 6. Slightly longer 20s steep. Much more grippy on sides, bigger huigan, and a frisson wave. Overall, I feel great and uplifted, feeling calm but with an internal excitement. Long lasting aftertaste of sweet perfume with grippy slight juiciness.
6. Deep red brew when extended to 1 minute. Juicy ripe fruits come out, with a much more throat-coating huigan, and no problem with astringency or bitterness, still well within the comfortable range. In future I might be tempted to brew it harder. Wonderful increase of an already full flavour and energy experience.
My first favourite aspect of this tea is the unique and beautiful perfume scent which is present on the liquor, the empty cup, as well as within the mouth and nose upon swallowing. I’d like to try to identify this floral scent, it is so familiar but I can’t put my finger on it. Second, I enjoyed the energy experience which is noticeable from the start and gives an uplifting full body frisson which persists quite long after each steep, and at least 30-40 minutes after the session (probably longer if paying more attention). I also really enjoyed the fact that there was no funk or geosmin of any kind in the tea, not even at the start. I am really grateful to Mike Pong for this sample, and I look forward to his other samples. It was worth the 5 month wait (the package got lost en route).