2003 Xiaguan Mini Tuo
Thank you to Kegon for conducting the marathon session and for leaving me this sample, which has dry Taiwan and Singapore storage.
Nov 6, 2017
5.6g/100ml gaiwan [7.3]
Dry: Leather, very light tobacco, some mustiness. Clear mushrooms, dry and fresh.
Wet: Sweet with twinge of vinegar, herbs, a smidge of HK storage type aroma, no smoke.
Wash: Aroma of slight wet storage, no smoke, slight geosmin Clear liquor.
Bright orange colour. Mineral arrival. Herbal, not sweet. Development has some chalkiness of mid tongue. Finish brings sweetness, quite nice sweetness in the late aftertaste. ECA is good, sweet brown sugar.- Much denser dark orange now. Stronger mineral and savoury arrival and intense sweetness. Very enjoyable. Strong uplift in ribcage, legs. Frisson up the spine. Very intense. Late aftertaste has a slight off-taste, chemical-like.
- Liquor is quite thick now in texture. Bitterness starts showing in the development. Less astringency/chalkiness.
- Now the arrival has a strong note of herbal, darker leather, some tea taste. Texture is rougher, chalk, minerals. Very thick. Frisson throughout chest. Fun intensity. Also very stabilizing in terms of balance and weight. Aggressive energy but not jittery. Amazing new aspect is a very perfumed tea taste. Major Frisson.
- More woody now, like going into my parents’ tiny firewood storage closet. Not smoke, but dry firewood. Head frisson. Herbal and Chinese medicine shop. Ginseng. Perfume is even more intense now. ECA is mild.
- Overly strong, should have waited a longer period, slightly nauseous, burping. headache.
- Very flavourful and dark, increasing storage note.
- The storage note is present with minerals and an increasing perfume floral incense which is very similar to some of the teas I’ve had from early 2000s with SG storage.
Very convincing example of the greatness of XG tuos. Doesn’t have any of the smokiness of some XG I’ve had before. Very dynamic session, with new flavour and aroma notes with almost every steep. Very energetic, so much so that care must be taken with it. Highlights include the dry firewood aroma, the mushrooms, the minerality, the aggressive uplifting energy, and the bitter-briny floral incense perfume that emerges in the later steeps. Excellent experience.
