2001 vs 2005 Xiaguan 8653 Iron
It is remarkable how close in taste these teas are; it really shows the ability of Xiaguan to maintain very consistent taste in their recipes. It’s difficult to convey smoke...
2021 Mattcha blind tasting: Alpha
For a bit of fun at the end of the dreary summer of 2021, Matt and I decided to exchange blind samplers and blog about them. Check out his posts,...
2005 Xiaguan 8653 FT Iron vs Non-Iron
A retaste of two samples of 2005 Xiaguan FT 8653: a cake with iron compression on the Right and one with normal compression on the Left. I got these samples...
2012 Xiaguan T8653
5.6g in a Novak pot. The damp leaves initially have a very rich smoke, more of a ringing smokiness than the 2003/2005 Changtai, which have a sweeter smoke. This is...
2003 Xiaguan Quality Inspection Mark
28 February 2018, 4.8g/85ml Yixing A tea from Xiaguan that I enjoy more every time I drink it. It is apparently a 8653 style cake from the “big five reproduced...
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,...
2013 Xiaguan FT Love Forever, Paper Tong
April 2, 2017 4.4g/80ml Novak Shibo. [8.0] In honour of the April 1 wedding of James & Laura, I finally tried the famous Xiaguan FT Love Forever cake, which is...
1999 Xiaguan Iron cake
16 Dec, 2016. I’m very grateful for this sample from Stefano. 5.5g/100ml gaiwan [4.8] The sample consisted of several fairly thin chunks of highly compressed cake, brown with lighter and...
2005 Xiaguan FT 8653 Non-Iron
Sept 30, 2016, 3.1g in new Yixing pot 56.5ml [7.1] Damp leaf: Flinty smoke, gunpowder. Wash: Clean, sweet, thick, nice texture. Some good smoke and salivation Wet leaf: Sweet dark...
Toby’s Curated Factory Box 01
Toby’s Curated Box 01 2004 Simao Fangcha High compression, I broke up into smaller layers and let it air for several days. The smell of the dry leaf started out...