It is categorised as top blend and the description tells that old arbour tree leaves were used from Ban Zhang, Yiwu, and Jing Mai. All of these areas usually provide good shengs (though the place of origin is not necessarily a guarantee) so I am curious how they perform together.
Like usually, 5-6 g of leaves goes to the preheated gaiwan. After the first rinse the room is filled with sweet and strong shengpu smell.
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The first infusion already delivers a delicious soup. The sweetness is complex and rich and after the swallowing the aroma is lingering in the back of the mouth up to the nose. The prominent cooling effect may be attributed to the old tree origin and I usually take it as a sign of good quality. The subsequent infusions were more intense with nice kuwei which turns to a sweet-orange long lasting aftertaste.
cooling the mouth warming the soul
The liquor is thick, one could chew it. There is just enough nice bitterness turning to huigan already in the first infusion and builds up with each steep. The durability is good and the tea remains rich in the later infusions without becoming thin or rough. I did even a couple of very long steeps after the session resulting in sweet soups.
The qi starts as calming like with the most of the shengpu and stays calm during the whole session and long after it: doesn't become too energetic or overwhelming.
My impression is very good, though it may seem a bit expensive with 57USD at china cha dao, but there are not too much cakes with similar quality in this price range. Fortunately, this tea is available also as a 75g brick for 10 USD and most probably I will take 2 of them, one for ageing and the other will be tested once upon the time in order to follow how does it change.
a family picture
Hi Norber-T,
ReplyDeleteI should start by complementing you on your blog, thanks for writing!
I also enjoyed this tea, so much that I bought a whole tong from Jerry when he first listed it (a bit cheaper then, though I'd say $57 is still decent).
What I really wanted to say was that I found the brick version a bit different than the cake (both of them from 2010). I don't really remember all the details, only that the cake felt somewhat better and also that the leaves looked smaller in the brick than in the cake.
I've given away this particular brick since then so I can't do a retry at this moment and could, quite possibly, be wrong about all of this... However, I thought it right to at least warn you before you go ahead an buy more than one brick.
Take care
Johan
Hi Johan
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment.
I noticed that the Douji bricks are chepare than the cakes if one calculate it for weight. This is suprising and maybe you are right about the quality difference othewise it would not make to much sense. In any case i will keep it in mind. I already ordere two bricks so once they arrive I can compare then with the sample and see if there is any difference.
Have a nice day
N