What HeiCha are you drinking

[mrmopu]

I couldn't be happy only drinking one type of tea, so I'm glad to go from this morning's sencha to this afternoon's SeaDyke TKY to this evening's Red Alishan....and now you've made me want some Hei Cha but I have none with me at the moment. When I'm next reunited with it I'll have some as a break from some of the more strongly flavored teas, to give my palate a rest.

Early spring I order pre rains Dragon Well which my wife and I drink until mid summer. Than my wife moves to her white and oolong teas while I move to raw pu'er. During winter my wife drinks the more roasted oolongs and she also shares with me ripe pu'er.

In the past I have bought some SeaDyke heavily roasted TKY which we enjoyed as well.

I found the heicha tea very mild and lightly sweet specially when I compare to young raw pu'er.

Danged traitor!

[Rui]

Danged traitor!

I had to justify getting more tea. It has become quite embarrassing to acquire more pu'er...

[Ludovitche]

I'm drinking Bitterleaf "Gold Dust", my first fu brick experience.
I really enjoyed the first 4 steeps, honey filled, balanced with an almost immediate cha qi... Nice.
I also enjoyed the next steeps, although I was a bit less impressed - maybe I don't brew it properly.

I don't have any reference and my favourite seller seems out of stock, so any seller recommandation for me to try more ?
I read previous comments and tea8hk seems out, Chawang Shop too, only YS carries some.
I stumbled upon Exquisite Leaves who has 1 young brick that looks really yellow , anyone tried ?

[wave_code]

... and today's lesson : they can't all be winners. I buy 90% of my liu bao from probably 3 or 4 vendors who I really trust. that said I'm still always on the look out for new or interesting things to try that they might not have just to learn and try more teas. and I suppose part of that is that you can't tell a good tea without having had a bad example of it. I had seen the Heng Xian liu bao baskets come up here and there occasionally but even if they were cheap didn't want to go for a whole basket without trying a sample first, which I recently found from a vendor who I have to say was marking it up quite considerably. but I took a chance since it wouldn't be a big expense if it didn't work out.

I gotta say this tea is TRASH. I will give it one or two more tries at a later date just to confirm it wasn't my palette at the given moment, but this was truly gross tea. I feel bad for anyone who tries this as their first liu bao and thinks that is what it is supposed to taste like. super watery with an unpleasant mouthfeel, it felt like just drinking hot water that had cardboard soaking in it for hours. woody in a pulpy unpleasant way and not much more to it than that. I couldn't get through more than a cup of it.

but I suppose there is something that can still be learned... the dry leaves didn't smell great like when you open a bag of Three Cranes, but there wasn't any sort of really off fermentation smell. leaf size was a bit on the larger side for liu bao, first rinse was cloudy but not abnormally dirty, second quick rinse looked fine. so while the storage on this might not have been amazing, or if it was bad at any point that has all gone away, which makes me wonder what is it that makes the tea so bad? was it junk material to start with, or the fermentation process that was no good?

[lUKAV28]

After a night run I decided to treat myself with 1990 wuzhou first grade aged liu bao that was part of essence of tea’s January tea club. I really started to enjoy liu bao very much. It was quite a treat to warm my freezing body with it. I love that clean earthiness flavor in the winter. This tea is quite potent though. Instead of sleeping I am now hanging on tea forum past midnight and counting .

[leth]

I've started a new project of drinking up stuff that has been a bit forgotten and that there is little left of. I can sometimes avoid drinking something that I'm about to run out of for reasons that are unlogical and that I really can't agree with on a higher intellectual level. And I guess that "higher intellect" decided to overrule that "completely irrational lower intellect" and start a project of drinking up some of that tea so that I can clear up some space and get rid of teas that should just be drunk up. So anyway in the midst of this project I reached back behind some other tea caddies and found one I haven't touched in a while. It was a lovely Liu An that I used to almost drink as a daily drinker (maybe) 2-3 years ago. It's a great tea, I just haven't had it in a while. It's young but very nice. This very lovely but subtle bitterness to it. (Not much, I'm not a big fan of too much bitterness and some people would call me sensitive to it, but I like dark chocolate at 72% for reference) It was smooth and nice. The mouthfeel is just nice, not extraordinarily super good. But just very nice, you know. And the chaqi was just lovely, comforting and relaxing, a bit like an old dear friend. Very nice to sit down with and just enjoy a cozy Saturday evening with.

As soon as I realised what tea I had gotten out from behind the other teas, I smiled a bit from the memory of it. But even with that in mind I was pleasantly surprised how good this tea was. I think I forgot it because I always chose others teas because I regarded this tea not for daily drinking any more because of how good it was. How silly! I think I will have to invite someone over for this tea now.

[Chadrinkincat]

After a night run I decided to treat myself with 1990 wuzhou first grade aged liu bao that was part of essence of tea’s January tea club. I really started to enjoy liu bao very much. It was quite a treat to warm my freezing body with it. I love that clean earthiness flavor in the winter. This tea is quite potent though. Instead of sleeping I am now hanging on tea forum past midnight and counting .

I’ve been enjoying my sampling of this LB too. I think I prefer this one over the last 90’s LB from EOT club.

[wave_code]

How is the EoT club? Does it wind up being a lot of liu bao? On the one hand I like the idea of tea clubs and getting interesting surprises like this I wouldn't normally get, but I have very little interest in most oolongs, greens, and even sheng, so I haven't found one yet that seems worth it to me. Given how much of their offering is liu bao maybe its one I should finally try?

After a night run I decided to treat myself with 1990 wuzhou first grade aged liu bao that was part of essence of tea’s January tea club. I really started to enjoy liu bao very much. It was quite a treat to warm my freezing body with it. I love that clean earthiness flavor in the winter. This tea is quite potent though. Instead of sleeping I am now hanging on tea forum past midnight and counting .

I’ve been enjoying my sampling of this LB too. I think I prefer this one over the last 90’s LB from EOT club.

[lUKAV28]

How is the EoT club? Does it wind up being a lot of liu bao? On the one hand I like the idea of tea clubs and getting interesting surprises like this I wouldn't normally get, but I have very little interest in most oolongs, greens, and even sheng, so I haven't found one yet that seems worth it to me. Given how much of their offering is liu bao maybe its one I should finally try

Well there was not as much Liu bao as one could think. This one came in a 20g pack with Huang Pian cake. They did offer four gold coins that you can also get in their normal offering and really really great golden needle white lotus shu Pu erh that is so clean and earthy that I really thought I was drinking Liu bao. It is in their store too. Otherwise a lot of young sheng (maocha). But all in all I enjoy the club. I like the fact that they send out fair amount of tea and you can spend some time with it. Samples are really not their modus operandi. There were months that felt rushed like sending out tea that will be ready to drink in a few years but they do put great thought in what tea to bring to the club and after some time you kind of notice the distinctive tea profile they are after. This and thetea.pl club are two clubs I enjoy the most.

[wave_code]

thanks for the tip. I have tried TheTea's club, had some very nice and tasty things in it but yeah, not relevant enough to my interests. Seems I'm probably better off just ordering samples of things I know I actually want.

trying the Three Cranes Zhi Zhu Chang Le today. first couple times I tried this I really wasn't so into it, but I'm coming around... I don't know if it just needed a good while to acclimate after I got it or if I was brewing it strangely but its coming out quite different and darker today whereas before it tasted very green. Very earthy and high iron type flavors, but also something very starchy and root vegetable about it in both taste and mouthfeel. Almost like mashed potatoes, some stewed greens flavors coming in the further I go. This would go great with a heavy winter meal. This apparently has some jin hua in it, though I can't see any in my bag, and I'm not sure if that is where the starchy notes come from? First time I've actually had a tea with jin hua in it I believe.

[Teas We Like]

Having some of our 1988 Wild Liubao today. Often I prefer to brew Liubao in Yixing teapots, but this one does very well in the gaiwan too.

1988_wild_liubao-2-1024x1024.jpg (58.1 KiB) Viewed 19410 times

[Victoria]

Having some of our 1988 Wild Liubao today. Often I prefer to brew Liubao in Yixing teapots, but this one does very well in the gaiwan too.

I may have had the same ‘88 wild Liu bao that your picture so beautifully captures, it was very good. @tjkdubya shared it during a tasting here. As it turns out I just checked my Puerh tea trunk and I have a ‘90s, ‘08, and ‘13 Liu bao gifted from Essence of Tea. Should I steep using +-8g/90ml/212f/5,8,10,12 sec.... , similar to yancha? Recommendations.

[Teas We Like]

Having some of our 1988 Wild Liubao today. Often I prefer to brew Liubao in Yixing teapots, but this one does very well in the gaiwan too.

I may have had the same ‘88 wild Liu bao that your picture so beautifully captures, it was very good. tjkdubya shared it during a tasting here. As it turns out I just checked my Puerh tea trunk and I have a ‘90s, ‘08, and ‘13 Liu bao gifted from Essence of Tea. Should I steep using +-8g/90ml/212f/5,8,10,12 sec.... , similar to yancha? Recommendations.

I am glad you enjoyed it! I would steep the liubao more like puer (lower leaf/water ratio). The '08 and '13 are quite young, if you have them in quantity I would wait and age them longer. If they are samples, you can have them now: it can be a fun way to see how the aging process unfolds.

[Chadrinkincat]

How is the EoT club? Does it wind up being a lot of liu bao? On the one hand I like the idea of tea clubs and getting interesting surprises like this I wouldn't normally get, but I have very little interest in most oolongs, greens, and even sheng, so I haven't found one yet that seems worth it to me. Given how much of their offering is liu bao maybe its one I should finally try?

After a night run I decided to treat myself with 1990 wuzhou first grade aged liu bao that was part of essence of tea’s January tea club. I really started to enjoy liu bao very much. It was quite a treat to warm my freezing body with it. I love that clean earthiness flavor in the winter. This tea is quite potent though. Instead of sleeping I am now hanging on tea forum past midnight and counting .

I’ve been enjoying my sampling of this LB too. I think I prefer this one over the last 90’s LB from EOT club.

I like EOT’s club because it offers some teas I don’t normally buy. Young sheng, red tea, LB, dancong. It’s probably not worth joining if you don’t enjoy these teas as that is their main focus along with the occasional yancha.

[gregcss]

I've never had Hei Cha before, at least not to my knowledge (maybe one in blind tea club month). It sounds interesting though and if i read correctly it's fully oxidized like black tea before it's fermented. I added these to an order recently and hope to receive them in a couple weeks. Have any of you tried these?

2015 Gao Jia Shan "Cha Duo Tang" Wild Harvested Hunan Fu Brick Tea
2013 Three Cranes 0307 Liu Bao Mini Cake
2014 Yun Tai Mountain "Basket Tian Jian"