2004 Nanqiao Wang Bulang
This is a Taiwan stored example of the 2004 Nanqiao wang, a cake from the (I believe) initial year of production at the Nanqiao factory in Menghai. The material is supposed to be Bulang, with possible Banzhang. Most of my collection is Eastern Xishuangbanna stuff, mostly Yiwu, Manzhuan, and surrounding areas, so I have been trying to taste as many Western XSB as I can. I enjoy the profile but we need more good affordable examples of this region.
Compression is quite strong. Wet leaf smells clean, slight smokiness. Wash is slightly smoky, clear, orange.
- Smoky, slightly sweet, woody, old fashioned processing. Immediately feel depth in the throat. Immediate energy, cooling frisson.
- Reminds me strongly of the Wistaria Qingteng. Clean, bitter, strong resinous perfume. Major frisson
- Astringency is strong now. Bitterness. Real face heat. Strong qi. Astringency melts very slowly but does melt.
- Superb energy. Empty cup aroma is not strong at all.
- Full body cooling frisson with internal heat. Profile is very dry (not sweet), wood bitters. Reminds me a lot of wistaria 03 and 04 production.
The smokiness is very subtle, not obtrusive. Oily and bittersweet profile, clean and dry. Very nice complement to the Yiwu profile. Strong energy, traveling throughout the body. Spicy oily bitter dry profile which reminds me very strongly of the early Wistaria teas, especially the Qingteng in terms of taste. I think this is a very good example of Bulang area early-2000s tea with good storage.