- 2000 Menghai Yellow Mark
- IMG_20201009_021723.jpg (298.98 KiB) Viewed 4668 times
- 2000 Menghai Yellow Mark
- IMG_20201009_021732.jpg (292.9 KiB) Viewed 4668 times
This is the higlight of this week's teas so far. The cake has been open for 5 years and we were down to the central part of the disc, and notably the most heavily compressed part.
Stored naturally at home in Malaysia, the leaves still looked bright and were a total bitch to chip off. In the end, we followed Cloud's brewing advice and ended up with a 10% dust and shavings, 25% loosened leaves, 65% of cake chunks amounting to about 1/3 volume of the hard working tea pot's belly ...
Quick flashes were encouraging, with the loose leaf and broken up bits giving off steady honey like notes , with a soup colour to match.. dark honey... The tea's bite was still pronounced, a sprightly 20 year old tea, well dry stored, still very lively and it was past 0100 and I realised I was gonna see the sunrise..
Brew number four, and the worm must have turned and a deep amber liquid poured forth.. the Qi by now was all over the place and silly grins plastered on our faces... The tea had morphed as the chunks gave up a hefty quantity of stuff, and right here was where I noticed quite clearly that the tea did not have the body and smoothness I was craving ...
This tea was turning out to be a masterclass in nuance and storage effects and time...
We gave up about 2.5 hours or so later , totally buzzed and palates ablaze... It was Yellow Label 2 Humans 0...
It was a nice leisurely drive home with the windows down through a deserted city , the returning aroma nicely present , and a deep craving within for the taste of traditional storage... There was no way I was going to get to sleep in this state and a few drams of Lagavulin helped change gears finally when boots dry at home...
From last night, there are so many consequences , like suddenly remembering someone wanting to let go of some HKG stored early 2000s yellow marks at a good price and like right now, getting home after a zombie day to brew some traditionally stored Blue Mark!
if I remember correctly it brews quite similar to the hui run.
