My Private Collection (The Puerh Journey)

After a busy month so far and ahead, I finally managed to find time to get through the samples for the tea tasting event courtesy of Scott at YS and organised by Hobbes at Half Dipper ( http://half-dipper.blogspot.com/2009/08/tea-tasting-event.html )

I only know that these 5 samples are from a series of pressing by YS and are materials of Yiwu, Wuliang, Bulang, Banzhang and Youle.
Note that as a person who prefer collecting young sheng for aging rather than drinking them young, my notes are based on collecting purposes.
Overall it was an enjoyable experience and if I have to pick my favourite, it would be the yiwu.

*Added 8th Oct* Official threads/review of the samples are out at the Half-dipper.
Yiwu (Alpha): http://half-dipper.blogspot.com/2009/09/2009-yunzhiyuanruicaoxiang-alpha.html

Beta (Youle): http://half-dipper.blogspot.com/2009/09/2009-yunzhiyuanruicaoxiang-beta.html

Delta (Wuliang): http://half-dipper.blogspot.com/2009/09/2009-yunzhiyuanruicaoxiang-wuliang.html

Epsilon (Banzhang): http://half-dipper.blogspot.com/2009/09/2009-yunzhiyuanruicaoxiang-banzhang.html

Gamma (Bulang): http://half-dipper.blogspot.com/2009/09/2009-yunzhiyuanruicaoxiang.html

My Review as Below:
Here are the samples with interesting nicks instead of the ABCs.

Setup of 5 gaiwans for each of the samples. Ratio of 10g to 100ml gaiwan is used.

Same gaiwan, same water, same person, different samples. The frog is the witness.

Let's start with a preview of the brewed leaves:

Top from Left: Alpha, Beta

Bottom from Left: Delta, Epsilon, Gamma

Broth of samples at the 3rd infusion (10 seconds)

Here We Go

Alpha

Loose compression with some loose leaves, very slightly moist and not entirely crispy leaves.

Floral aroma with a sweet aftertaste that lasted a while. Slight bitterness which was acceptable with no astrigency. Typical broth and character of the yiwu region.

Broth is not thick but its quite reasonable if compared to yiwu material of recent years which seems to be thinner than those from the pass decade.

Some medium sized whole leaves mixed with some bits of leaves. Enjoyable sheng.

My Pick: A distinct Yiwu character

Beta

Very loose leaves with a light floral aroma.

First impression was similar to yiwu, weaker huigan and much thinner broth. Low to medium level of bitterness which stayed without much transformation and without astrigency. Slight smokiness but still quite easy to drink.

A few overly roasted leaves could be found in the brewed leaves which could be the cause of smokiness (Centre Leave in the pic above). There's a bud with 4 leaves and some with 1 and 2. Overall, not as balanced and consistent as I would like for collecting.

My Pick: Youle

Delta

Medium to tight compression.

Another floral sheng aroma with a fresh, cooling aftertaste, medium to strong level of bitterness which just disappeared. Broth is thin.

Again, some slightly overly roasted leaves are observed, mostly small to medium sized leaves. Overall not much character and complexity in this one.

My Pick: Wuliang, to me it have a similar level of bitterness as the Epsilon/Gamma sample (Below). However it did have a clearer presence of sheng/floral aroma along with a fresh cooling aftertaste which was the only highlight in it bearing in mind wuliang mountain is of a higher altitude.

Epsilon

Tightly compressed chucks with few loose pieces.

Level of bitterness was not as strong as Delta or similar but it had a strong presence on the tongue. Not much aroma present.

Size of brewed leaves are medium to big.

My Pick: Although my pick is Banzhang, it did not stand out hands up as a banzhang. (Read on to Gamma)

Gamma

Medium compression with some loose leaves.

Mellow, medium broth which have a strong bitterness not just on the surface of the tongue but also on the roof of the mouth with slightly more aroma than Epsilon. The broth is much darker and this should be due to the use of aged maocha for pressing (Refer to pic of broth color above)

My Pick: Bulang. From my limited experience, I observed that this is the difference between Bulang and Banzhang. The degree of aroma, body, mellowness.

I believe this and Banzhang would have some cha qi in it but did not have the chance to experience that since I did not go through the entire session of the brew.

Celebration of the 60th Anniversary of the Founding of the People's Republic of China (HK)

The end of 20 minutes of Pyrotechnic display.

A session of the Japanese Green Tea Gyokuro
(Gyokuro - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gyokuro)

Kyoto Gyokuro Kinzuru

Fine needle like leaves looking shiny and also known as the 'jade dew'

The proper japanese wares have been stored somewhere far too long for my memory to relocate so forgive the use of the gaiwan.

I used a ratio of 4g to 90ml. Some people uses 3g to 30ml and others 8g to 180ml. Some fine tuning there but the water temp of 50-60C is ideal and vital to this brew.

First Brew on the Right after 2min of steeping, Second brew on the left with a subsequent 1minute steep.

A very vegetal taste without astrigency (due to it growing up in the shed); I feel an intense flavour of seaweed. Tiny sip by sip to enjoy its delicate broth. It is something different to our usual Chinese tea, not really my cup of tea but I appreciate how delicate it is. The aftertaste is very notable and lengthy. Quite comparable to those from the Fukuoka prefecture.