2016 W2T Tuhao AF, 5 years heated storage
Following up on this storage experiment, this tea has been in 65% RH 32C storage for more than five years now. On the left we have the heated tea, and on the right is the same tea stored at 23C. Both sealed in mylar. The dry leaves of the heated tea are noticeably darker, and have a very slight fermenty or mushroomy aroma, compared to the still green pungency of the unheated tea.
The aged oolong notes that I found on the heated tea two years ago are now gone. The heated tea is darker, sweeter, and rounder, more of an oily tibetan incense profile, and still has a yeasty grainy profile which I interpret as a kind of slow fermentation process.
The unheated tea is still quite green, young sheng bitterness up front. Sweeter empty cup aroma. The green harsh notes are quite pronounced and get stronger in the mid steeps.
The heated tea is now taking on more astringency and bitterness than the unheated tea. There is some juiciness in the arrival which I don’t remember being as prominent. But it is quite high astringency bitterness and roughness.
Both teas are kind of unpleasantly astringent and somewhat rough, with the left being a darker mushroomy grainy roughness and the right being a grassier grape skin roughness.
Caffeine must be quite high, or maybe the balance of caffeine and theanine is more towards caffeine, hard to say… but it’s jittery.
I’m interested to see if the heated tea turns a corner in the next couple of years — as it is, while I prefer the heated version, I can’t say I enjoy either of them much at all. There is a sign of something good in the heated tea – the juicy oily notes in the arrival – hopefully these will continue to grow over time.
