What HeiCha are you drinking

[LeoFox]

So I tried yee on tea again




Previous post about the shou:
viewtopic.php?p=45075#p45075

[Mobok]

Drinking some 2001 Awazon Fine Aged Ripe Pu-erh Tea. So far i like this one, it's smooth, refreshing and has a pleasant aftertaste which i don't know how to describe. Doesn't have a too overpowering smokey/woody taste.
I know i'm the beginning of my tea journey, but every time i try a new shou my first thought is always "They all taste the same". At the same time i can feel some difference in taste, though i lack the vocabulary to describe that.

[polezaivsani]

@Mobok, that's close to be one of the reasons that I like liu bao for. There's a basic taste profile, that of a betel nut (the analogy is an inverse for me really) and yet most specimens exhibit enough distinctive qualities making them rather unique and make me wanting to explore this kind on and on. That can be said of almost every other kind of teas you steep a lot of I'd wager, and it's liu bao that's like that for me.

I've been checking up on a 2003 farmer style liu bao from EoT recently. I remember it having an interesting buckwheat-like bitterness to it and now, a year down the road, in a different brewing vessel it takes on a coke-like (i.e. the soft drink) sweetness at the end of the sip. The pot seem to love it too lighting up with a glow. True liu bao specimen and yet brilliantly unique.

[pepson]

Hello.

I opened 250 gr basket of Anhui Liu An Gong Jian 2014. Quite tasty, but still young tea.
Served in Nixing teaware of course

[Yu855]

Hello.

I opened 250 gr basket of Anhui Liu An Gong Jian 2014. Quite tasty, but still young tea.
Served in Nixing teaware of course

Nice! Is that the 2014 Liu An that Chawangshop is selling?

[pepson]

Nice! Is that the 2014 Liu An that Chawangshop is selling?

Hello.
Yes. I have got a lot of Hei Cha from Chawangshop, because they are focused on fermented teas. I think Nixing teaware and hei cha belong together

[wave_code]

Nice nixing @pepson - especially the left pot with the marble/striping look to it. Is your begonia pot one of the modern made ones from the 2000s?

[pepson]

Nice nixing pepson - especially the left pot with the marble/striping look to it. Is your begonia pot one of the modern made ones from the 2000s?

If you mean right one, it is new replica, because of dreadful pouring of original.
Here is description from vendor:
"Info : Hand made teapot. This shape was made during 1970-80s and this is newer replica. Old ones had poor made filter and usually pour water out bad. This pot work well and can be perfect for your liubao tea. (Same shape as this on the CNNP Yellow box super grade liubao)."

[pepson]

Roll Shaanxi Jingwei Fu Zhuan 2011. Nice Fu Cha I think

[slipshod]

Wan ling tea house have 6918 on offer. I had similar numbered edition from purple cloud but it tasted more shengy. This one reminds me of "flask" shaped golden jar edition, taste wise but way smoother. I am hooked to 8592 so my palate is skewed. Still, one of the cleanest oolongs i got was from this shop so their storage is impeccable and liubao was my "maiden" intros into heicha. Puerhs, i would say, too clean to my taste. But, they have liubao chenpi in their shanghai shop so hope is, that will be available to.punters if loose one takes off

[pepson]

Hello.
My favourite Fu Cha from YS:
2012 Gao Jian Shan "Qian Liang Cha" Hunan Hei Cha. I like it so much.
Teaware: thin walled Nixing Pear shape pot, Nixing cup.

[Balthazar]

Hello.
My favourite Fu Cha from YS:
2012 Gao Jian Shan "Qian Liang Cha" Hunan Hei Cha. I like it so much.

Just a side note: It's an "unintentional" fu cha . I find it pretty interesting (and frankly puzzling) that so many of the ~5-10 years old huajuan teas you find on the market these days have grown jinhua. Whether or not there is some sort of storage contamination going on, or if they're just very susceptible to jinhua growth. Even the Yunshang qianliangs I've tried have had some of it (though nothing close to the amounts of e.g. the 2012 GJS qianliang, which I've had from both YS and a Taobao vendor). It bears repeating that it's almost certainly not intentional/wanted from the producers of these teas (with the exception of qianliangs that are explicitly marketed as "jinhua qianliang"), and that their market value will usually be higher if they are assumed to be free from it.

By the way, YS not carries the 2009 GJS qianliang and a 2015 GJS bailiang, which I suspect you will like!

[pepson]

Just a side note: It's an "unintentional" fu cha . I find it pretty interesting (and frankly puzzling) that so many of the ~5-10 years old huajuan teas you find on the market these days have grown jinhua. Whether or not there is some sort of storage contamination going on, or if they're just very susceptible to jinhua growth. Even the Yunshang qianliangs I've tried have had some of it (though nothing close to the amounts of e.g. the 2012 GJS qianliang, which I've had from both YS and a Taobao vendor). It bears repeating that it's almost certainly not intentional/wanted from the producers of these teas (with the exception of qianliangs that are explicitly marketed as "jinhua qianliang"), and that their market value will usually be higher if they are assumed to be free from it.

By the way, YS not carries the 2009 GJS qianliang and a 2015 GJS bailiang, which I suspect you will like!

I did not know golden flower is not intentional in this case. Thanks for info.
As you can see on my pics golden flower is there and I like it

I watched video on YS about processing of this tea. Really funny video whete men were beating 30 kgs weighing bag of tea with heavy wood sticks )

[Balthazar]

Yep, the processing is incredibly labor intensive! Something to send some thoughts of appreciation and gratitude towards when enjoying a cup. Here's a clip from a Wang Junan production. Incidentally, his 2019 QLC is one of the few productions I've had with literally no jinhua (well, not the kilo or so I've been through at least). Though who knows what would have happened if it had stayed longer in the Hunan warehouse.

[Balthazar]

... and that's the tea I'm having today.

It's one of my favorites, has a sweet tartness that I really like. Like rhubarb and sugarcane with a touch of rubber. Long aftertaste, much stronger in the mouth than throat. Always brings a focused relaxation.



Been drinking QLCs from this ~250 ml porcelain pot four days straight now. Coming to the conclusion that largeish porcelain vessels work really great for these teas (especially the ones where you don't want any muting). Not a shocker perhaps but a useful reminder that the sometimes neglected and mundane porcelain wares definitely have their place.