Wednesday, February 10, 2010

1999 Menghai 7542


I believe this tea winds its way into my gaiwan through the winds of Sampan.

Once a cake, this comes to me loose-leaf- albeit strong, and intact. Looking closely, there are a decent amount of buds and many of the leaves look hairy.

My notes are reproduced below:

10s -Woodsy, sweet, medium huigan, dark clear broth
10s- Woodsy, sweet, still high notes left
15s- Complex, sweet(er) faint hay
20s- Yum (more high notes, hay) still very fragrant, lips taste sweet
100s- Sweet-empty
4min
10min-Done

Tea, Bokonism, and the Stamford Roundtable















"Creativity is merely a plus name for regular activity. Any activity becomes creative when the doer cares about doing it right, or better.
"

John Updike

Saturday, October 31, 2009

I should probably go back here.
Fall leaves...
Pu go down the hole!
This is a piece of some '99 Traditional Characters Discus Cake.

Friday, March 27, 2009

1996 Menghai 8582

Here is another classic worth mentioning, the Menghai 8582. I have tasted an 80's example before which was sweeter and really wet-stored, and absolutely yummy, and had a balanced qi. Today I'll be sharing my experiences with a 1996 8582.

As you can see the broth is clearly aged with nice clarity, and a ring on the cup that is still slightly green. (In fact, I had ordered enough to really play around with this one and purposefully overbrewed in subsequent sessions, and easily pulled a really harsh and bitter soup as a result, indicating the cake has a lot more transforming to go. This is an interesting tea to play with, it has a surprisingly restless nature for me.)

My infusions were rather quick, close to 10s, 8s, 10s, 15s, 22s, 45s, 90s, 3 min, 3min, 15 min. There is a a strong mouth-coat after only a few sips. The taste is 'Menghai', with a very strong sweetness on the swallow, and an almost industrial scent, maybe of rubber. The later drawn out infusions hosted a malty sweet soup, still with a decent aroma.

As you can see, it looks like pretty standard stuff, not too compressed, appropriate texture for its age, pretty uniform leafs, with a few of much lighter color than the rest.

{Insert wisdom about 8582}

One brewed one gone.