2012 DTH Yiwu, and the art of tonging
6 grams/85ml with Florentine filtered tap Oily liquor, with a very faint hint of char/smoke and a noticeable bitter medicinal core underneath a quite mild sweet overall traditional tea taste....
Mattcha Yearly Blind Tasting
I like to keep traditions going, and one that has been forming quietly is my yearly sample exchange with Mattcha. This term has been extremely busy for me and so...
2016 W2T Last Thoughts
5g/85ml gaiwan, Toronto filtered tap. This was kept in a sample bag and put into heated storage at 32C *with* added humidity at 72% Boveda, and it developed quite a...
03 CYH Youle / 05 CYH Shanzong Chuanqi
3.5g/60ml identical gaiwans, Toronto filtered tap. 2003 CYH Youle vs 2005 CYH SZCQ. Medium grind for testing. Dry leaf is dark/black for the Youle and dark brown for the SZCQ....
CYH 2003 Yiwu / 2003 Manzhuan
3.5g/60ml gaiwan, Toronto filtered tap. Slightly clearer liquor on the Yiwu. Also a bit darker in appearance. Yiwu has dark leathery profile, sweet, oily. The taste is much more forward...
1701-7542 Storage Comparison: 4 years, 32C vs 23C
Another followup tasting, compare with the June 2020 tasting. The heated tea has a slight funk-ferment dry aroma and a sweet attractive wet aroma. Good but restrained aroma on liquor....
Storage comparison: 2004 YQH Dingji Yesheng
The 2004 Dingji Yesheng is one of the better (if not the best) YQH production and is described very well in James’ interview with Yang. I have had a cake...
2016 W2T Bosch, with 4 years of heated storage
This is another post in the series starting with the one-year test and the two-year test. I stored some of the W2T 2016 Bosch, a raw puerh, in two different...
Puerh Storage Anxiety
It is one of the ironies of the modern consumption of puerh tea, prized for its relaxing and euphoric effects, that lovers of the tea seem to be quite an...
2020 blind tasting: Mattcha’s reveal
While I’m uncomfortable with his generous and over-the-top praise, I can finally stop biting my nails in anticipation: Matt has finally revealed the teas in his blind sample set! He...