2003 Chenyuan Hao Youle
5.2g/85ml gaiwan, Toronto filtered tap.
Yeasty aged aroma on dry leaf, fermented fruit aroma. Wet leaf has a rich sweet woody fruity aroma. There is a tippy or brassy aroma as well.
Dark orange colour, this tea has a more aged profile than BYH 04-06, WS Zipin and DTH 06 Yiwu.
- Very strong tea taste, brassy
- Rush of uplifting frisson. Strong tea, very strong tea taste.
- The tea taste is very strong, but it does not seem to be overoxidized or honged. Really moreish, juicy, plenty of tannins. Very strong, somewhat overwhelming.
- Strong astringency, juicy tea taste, strong alertness. Not very bitter.
- Enjoying it more now, strong sweet coating on the mouth surfaces. Astringency, low bitterness.
- Big and full mouthfeel, growing astringency, not rough but it is there.
- Toronto filtered tap is extracting a lot from this tea, making it rougher, more astringent, more bitter, than what I was getting from geneva water.
- Tea staining quite a bit higher than normal — perhaps this is a sign of oxidation.
I’ve had this tea a number of times with different water, and it has consistently had a strong recognizable tea taste. Normally I would conclude the tea is a bit honged or overoxidised, but this one seems to be far from that. It could be that the tea is quite tippy and strong, maybe it has a bit of China varietal in it. Or just the regional varietal might be closer to China varietal (Sinensis). Very interesting tea. 6.5