What HeiCha are you drinking

Puerh and other heicha
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wave_code
Posts: 575
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Thu Oct 21, 2021 11:44 am

I've been drinking a LOT of samples recently which, while I intended to initially, I decided probably don't even warrant writing up - while a couple were half decent most of them have been not good, a few downright disgusting, and almost none of them I think I'll ever buy again or maybe even finish what I have. it reached a point quite quickly of 'why am I doing this to myself when there are GOOD teas waiting...' and so, after deciding enough was enough I dipped in to the 'good' samples to reward myself and/or reset and adjust the palette after a few weeks of subjecting it to tasteless, bland, or downright bad tea.

two highlights of switching back to drinking things I know will actually be good has been finally getting around to trying some of @tjkdubya/Dàxué Jiádào's liu bao. I still have the 60s waiting for me, but the two 80s teas were a total pleasure.

80s Muxiang was nice and rich but still silky smooth - almost a sort of light soy milk thickness and sweetness to it. aged rare wood, dark honey, 'red tea' character, slightest hints of pine smoke... basically an incredibly nice and easy drinking tea. a gorgeous color that shows gold and deep crimson and brown all at once- very clean. to me this tea is kind of like capturing a bit of everything that liu bao can offer from different leaf grades and processing styles that come out in other teas, just that all of it is smoothed out and with any negative aspects removed while still having something cohesive to it. very warming with lasting sweetness.

88 Wild- Something sort of like clean dry hay like notes and some other things I can't put my finger on- but even the dry leaf smell is rich in a more 'food' rather than 'drink' way if that makes any sense. on the whole this tea was more of the 'savory' of the two. thicker and richer mouthfeel that still has some sort of 'bite' to it and a stronger post-fermentation character without being too rough. not so much a damp forest floor character, but more like fall when its crisp and the leaves are dry on the ground. more on basket flavor and aged fermentation side with the richer liquor mouth feel, but it fades after a few rounds in to more aged wood character. Nice big twisted leaves that aren't overly dry and brittle, nice rich color.

Both are their own thing, both I think are great. especially in light of other recent drinking these two teas are not only ones you want to keep on drinking endlessly but they also show a lot benchmark wise: how some tea is just old rather than well stored and deliberately aged like these, how a good liquor isn't just dark or a single color that fades out but how a good tea shows complex coloration in how it brews like rich watercolor, how better material and initial processing sets up a tea for aging. both I found were quite resilient and lasted plenty of rounds particularly for liu bao and that I didn't go particularly high on the leaf ratio. pleasant warming and relaxing feelings from both that I also consider good examples of what I would look for in the body feel of a tea- noticeable but also very gentle rather than overpowering. both were made in green label zini, and I think with what is left of each I'll see how they also do for slow big pot brewing. even if these teas only fit in one's budget as a 'special treat' to try or savor on special occasions, I recommend giving yourself that treat.
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Balthazar
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Fri Nov 19, 2021 2:02 pm

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I've been feeling under the weather lately and my auto-instinct as far as tea is concerned is to reach for my lighter fermented heizhuans and huajuans. My body's response usually confirms that the instinct is to be trusted.

Today it's the 2018 Yimuyiyang (aka. Chen Yangwen) qianliangcha. Muyangjie material (as are all his teas), which are reportedly likely to reach Gaomaerxi prices soon, if the groups I frequent have their intel right and the "terroirification" of Anhua heicha continues (no signs of that slowing down anytime soon...). The tea has a prominent, yet gentle, "Qixing stove taste". Much more forward than in, for example, the Yunshang Yezhen QLC mentioned earlier. I don't know how to put that taste into words, it is so much more than the parts (bamboo and pinewood fire) that comprise it, and it comes nicely together with the medicinal and mineral notes that are also present here.

Chen Yangwen has less than a decade's experience, it's the typical (and no doubt often exaggerated) story of the the prodigal son returning to the mountains of to take over the his father's (and before that, grandfather's) tea production. But the two teas of his I've had have both been very good, though this QLC is perhaps not quite up there with the stuff Wang Junan produces (which is in many ways a similar profile, although he is strictly Gaomaerxi).

Finished it up alongside a thermos brew of yesterday's 2018 BSX Furong Guoli, which remains the most huajuany heizhuan I've ever had.
(YMYY leaves on left, BSX leaves on the right)
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On the topic of Anhua Heichas, a package I've been waiting on for almost a year to have shipped (covid and all that) finally made it here, after an incredibly odd "express" journey. (Let's just say I recommend avoiding TNT the company as much or more so than avoiding playing with TNT the chemical compound.)

A curiosity that I've never experienced before was that Norwegian customs not only opened one of the heizhuans (ripped open the cardboard box and paper cover), but actually chipped off a piece of this virtually indestructible brick, as if to verify that the content was only tea. All other bricks were left untouched though.
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Balthazar
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Location: Oslo, Norway

Thu Nov 25, 2021 12:05 pm

2021 Gaomaerxi "Liang Bai Dan" Fuzhuan. A tianjian leaf fuzhuan on the rawer side of the fermentation scale, this shows promise. Unsurprisingly, it has some rough edges, but I have a hunch it will turn out really nice after a few year's rest. Got nine rich brews out of it, which is very decent for this type of tea.
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Balthazar
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Sun Nov 28, 2021 11:42 am

Had to wait a year for the bricks to arrive, but finally got to try the 2019 version of Yunshang's "Yunyin" heizhuan. The 2017 version is one of my favorite teas, there was no 2018 production (allegedly not enough material) and as far as I know there hasn't been another one since 2019.

Starts out with cloudy brews (see pic at bottom, second steep) as their high-compression teas always do. Sugarcane, mineral notes, very good huigan. Promising, but needs more resting time.

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Balthazar
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Wed Dec 01, 2021 12:57 pm

COFCO 2012/15 "Chun Rui" liubao, for the second day in a row.

When it's COFCO and liubao, I expect heavy fermentation. To my surprise, that doesn't seem to be the case for this one. Woody and nutty, but with a bite and some gentle astringency, I wish I had more than this free sample. Probably the best COFCO liubao I've had.

I didn't take one myself, but here's a picture of the spent leaves from TB:

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wave_code
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Sat Dec 04, 2021 10:42 am

Had the same one myself today @Balthazar. Was quite nice - also very different from any other CNNP I've had - the couple lighter fermentation ones I had were still more woody than this. Dry leaf had a strong hay character, dark golden color, good and long lasting, very sweet like wild honey. Very sheng like to me, but I guess more like a middle aged sheng since it was relaxing and not really fussy about brewing time and easy on the stomach. Maybe not exactly what I want went it is snowing on and off outside, but in spring time this would be a great tea I think. I imagine it might wake up more and have a bit more character at warmer temps too.
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Balthazar
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Sat Dec 04, 2021 1:08 pm

wave_code wrote:
Sat Dec 04, 2021 10:42 am
Very sheng like to me
I felt the same way, more of a sheng-pu resemblance than than other liubaos I've had.
Chris
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Location: US

Sat Dec 25, 2021 3:37 pm

Currently drinking a smoked tianjian that starts off almost barbequey, but thought to make it in a semi-recently acquired 70s hongni pot.

It seems like a weird combination but my idea was it could perhaps tame the smoke a bit while letting more of the later fruitiness though, compared to the zini/duanni/DCQ I'd usually use for this tea.

So far, it seems to be working!

I also bought a couple liubaos and ripe puerhs (kinda wrong thread, sorry...) during Yee On's Black Friday sale. Everything so far has been enjoyable (even usually not liking shou) and great this time of year.

Happy holidays, heicha fans! I don't post as often as I should but this thread got me into what have become some of my favorite teas.
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teatray
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Location: Sofia, Bulgaria

Thu Dec 30, 2021 2:11 pm

2018 Cha Yu Lin "Liu Bu Xi Village" Tian Jian Basket Tea from Yunnan Sourcing

This is, I think, my first non-pu'er heicha. I'm also pretty much a complete newb to pu'ers, just starting to explore them for real, with an order full of samples from YS.

I love smoky tea and this one is satisfyingly smoky. It also has a surprising herbal, almost eucalyptic, aroma, which is pretty dominant on the nose, but gets overpowered by the smoke in taste, at least for the first few infusions. When the herbal part kicks in, the overall bouquet reminds me of Laphroaig whisky. No stale-papery aromas, as present in most (but not all) pu'ers I've tried (all shu so far), which I'm not a huge fan of. Felt the need to push hard after 3-4 infusions (#1 was 10 seconds), and by #6 it felt pretty flat. I left it for 6-7 mins for #7, which was much more herbal and kinda nice but also had a bit of spent, earthy leaf taste with less-than-pleasant sweetness to it.

I have the impression that smokiness, even heavy, is a thing I really like in heicha/pu'er, while people are generally trying to minimize it via aging and teapots of specific clays. The papery thing, on the other hand, seems to increase with age, and I'm not into it, at least as of now. I've yet to try sheng pu'er, but if for some reason I happen to prefer younger cakes, that would be quite good for my tea budget. But obviously I have many more teas to try before really understanding anything. It's exciting!
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LeoFox
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Fri Dec 31, 2021 6:39 pm

Recently was gifted this. Has anyone tried something like this before? Also how do you break into this? Seems solid as a slab of rock
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debunix
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Fri Dec 31, 2021 7:55 pm

When in doubt, I use my chocolate breaker plus the rubber mallet to get into really dense brick teas:

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Balthazar
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Location: Oslo, Norway

Sat Jan 01, 2022 12:55 am

LeoFox wrote:
Fri Dec 31, 2021 6:39 pm
Recently was gifted this. Has anyone tried something like this before? Also how do you break into this? Seems solid as a slab of rock
Gifting someone 1.7 kgs of tea, what nerve :mrgreen:

(I think I've only had one qingzhuan sample myself and that was ages ago, have been interested in exploring the genre more. I believe your brick is from the biggest of the Hubei producers ("the Baishaxi of Hubei" so to speak), so it's probably a good representation and a useful reference.)

There was a discussion about the best method for breaking up such bricks in a WeChat group recently, and two people facetiously (or so I thought, buy maybe not!) suggested a screwdriver and hammer combo.

... I have had the same question for some time now. I've been using the same awl I use for puer, but for those extremely compressed teas (that make breaking into "iron cakes" seem like child's play) it's been a very frustrating and sweaty experience. Finally got one of those big "tea scissors" a week ago (didn't want to pick up another utensil on a whim, but as it seems the brick teas won't be disappearing from my life anytime soon I added one to my latest order from China).

It works even better than I had hoped.
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Last edited by Balthazar on Sat Mar 09, 2024 11:02 am, edited 2 times in total.
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LeoFox
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Sat Jan 01, 2022 8:48 am

Thank you @Balthazar!

Those scissors look quite serious! May have to get one or just use the saw 😅😅
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debunix
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Sat Jan 01, 2022 10:49 am

Like tin snips but with racheting gears, fascinating device.

Where did you get them?
slipshod
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Sat Jan 01, 2022 11:36 am

My most recent discovery is using screw wine opener to break up bricks. Prior to that it was cheese knife with sabre tooth edge. The barbarian way to change humidity is to leave a chunk in the oven for few minutes for it to soften, dont ask me if this has anything to do with afghan cargo tips.
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