What HeiCha are you drinking

Puerh and other heicha
Chris
Posts: 59
Joined: Sun Aug 12, 2018 1:11 pm
Location: US

Sun Mar 07, 2021 5:04 pm

Drinking my last tiny bit of GJS Jin Zhu Jin Fu. I bought a sample from YS mostly because I liked the colorful English translation of the name of the tea, "Golden Prosperity Pig Cometh."

This was my least favorite of the fuzhuan samples I ordered a few months ago, but drinking it now, brewed in Green Label zini, it's still really good. Very smooth, very sweet, very thick. Despite tasting great, I find the flavor hard to describe: a mellow maltiness that somehow reminds me both of hay and marshmallows. I love the warm, calm, pleasantly buzzy feeling that accompanies all fuzhuan I've tried, this one included.

This is the very last bit of fuzhuan in the house, so I hope my next YS order comes soon!
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Stephen
Posts: 227
Joined: Thu Oct 12, 2017 9:26 pm
Location: Bay Area, California

Thu Mar 11, 2021 12:24 pm

Just finished the last of 1993 Sichuan Ya'an tea factory Jin Jian Tibetan brick tea I had laying around. This one looked like someone raked up some leaves and twigs from their yard and packed it up. Pretty old though, so it had that going for it. The grunge years and all. "With the lights out it's less dangerous" - probably applies here too.
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belewfripp
Posts: 70
Joined: Tue Feb 16, 2021 8:10 am
Location: Pennsylvania

Tue Mar 16, 2021 10:27 am

Not really heicha in the Chinese sense, but it's post-fermented so i'm putting it here :D I wanted something refreshing this AM, so I went with some goishicha from Nagao Kitamura (according to Yunomi). I find the normal brewing instructions provided (up to 3g in up to a liter of boiling water) to produce a fairly weak tea, so I'm doing 2 grams and some change in a 110-ish ml gaiwan and playing with the steep times. This and the awa bancha (Michiko's Handpicked) I also got from Yunomi are probably my favorite Japanese teas so far (though I have tried very few, so limited sample size applies). This one is more lemony/sour fruit than the awa bancha, which is more like a nicely brined Greek or Spanish olive.
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wave_code
Posts: 575
Joined: Wed Nov 21, 2018 2:10 pm
Location: Germany

Fri Mar 19, 2021 10:38 am

got a few samples from theTea of some of their recent hei cha as part of an order...

the dark medicine liu an is super nice and I'm glad I got a bit more of it. clean storage and a fitting name. I liked the way it brewed better in nixing than zini, gave it a bit more body and it went longer, but also my zini is small and cools down to quickly for this kind of tea to really be ideal. starts of dark and strong, pretty astringent and medicinal, coats the whole mouth, but after a couple rounds settles down and starts getting sweeter and sweeter as it lightens up. very bready tasting- molasses, dark bread, cereal/grain, a bit spicy to start, always with a bit of a medicinal lozenge flavor lingering around. also nice and soothing - not a knock you over the head cha qi but you do feel the shoulders relax and drop down pretty quickly so its nice and mellow.

2015 Malaysian storage liu bao I can see being good for people who want a bit of humidity but don't really like strong storage character. the humid notes are in the dry and wet leaf but vanish in the cup. lots of big pieces of stem, so I probably should have gone a bit higher on the leaf. still quite sweet, bit lighter in color for liu bao, and also seems to get a little astringent as it cools. for my taste if I want humid storage I'd rather go all in, but for those who want it on the light side its a good choice. though maybe if I had more of it I'd need to just figure out how it wants to be brewed and this isn't such a fair shot.

2017 Malaysian storage would be my pick of the two. super sweet without being syrupy- light honey, medjool dates, cane sugar, some light herby astringency balances it out a bit. its super smooth so its a very moreish.
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Balthazar
Posts: 706
Joined: Mon Apr 02, 2018 7:04 am
Location: Oslo, Norway

Thu Apr 01, 2021 2:12 pm

With a heizhuan brick that arrived a few weeks ago came some new samples. I really appreciate it when Taobao heicha vendors throw in samples, for they are otherwise all to difficult to aquire. “A cake is a sample” for puer may be hard to swallow, but it’s nothing compared to “a kilo brick is a sample” that seems to hold true in the dark world of “dark tea”. Luckily heichas are far cheaper. But still, if the brick turns out to be something you don’t like you’re left with the options of throwing it out (= feeling guilty) or committing yourself to a hundred plus sessions of tea you don’t like.

The owner of this store must work with patients in his day job, for his handwriting is awful. But deciphering is part of the fun. The tea I’ve had yesterday and today turned out to be the 2012 Xiangyi longfu chennian fuzhuan. A year of the dragon tea! As a dragon myself, I am enthusiastic about this. As someone who knows that these Chinese zodiac teas are usually at least twice as expensive as the base material warrants, I am less enthusiastic. But the dry leaves smell really nice, and I’ve not had a single Xiangyi tea yet.

With about 18 grams of tea in total, I went through 10 grams yesterday (5 in a zini pot, 5 in a DCQ pot) and 8 grams today (nixing pot).

Taste wise, this tea is heavy on stone fruit, raisins and malt. No pine-smoke taste. Quite similar to COFCOs “Dark tea garden” production. It’s a very balanced and appealing taste, definitely something I would consider offering people who are new to tea (which I don’t mean as a negative thing at all, there’s a time and place for these uncomplicated teas). Or to thermos-brew at the office if there’s ever a return to the office… Body is pretty good, energy nothing crazy.

At $183 a brick it will seem expensive for a heicha, until one remembers that it weighs in at a kilo and a half. Still not something I’m going to buy, but definitely has me interested in checking out some of Xiangyi’s other teas, such as a 一品茯茶 with a bit of age (these have the benefit of being only 400 grams per brick). They also have some dirt-cheap options that I’ve read outperforms similarly priced options from BSX. But with heicha, you really want to avoid the lowest tier...

As for the clay types, the zini came out on top with the DQC not far behind. Nixing didn’t really work well for this at all.

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Andrew S
Posts: 704
Joined: Sat Jan 30, 2021 8:53 pm
Location: Sydney, Australia

Sat Apr 03, 2021 1:33 am

Some 70s (or thereabouts) liu an (not the 'zhong cha' one, but the other, 'imitation sun yi shun', one). I wish I had gotten more of this back when it was cheaper...

About to go into a certain 50mL zhu ni pot unless @Bok can stop me.

@OCTO: I tried brewing up the bottom of the bag of some 70s loose leaf pu er in the 60s hong ni pot, but will have to conduct further experiments on liu an depending on how successful this experiment is. At the moment, that pot still seems to be destined for yan cha, but I'll keep playing.

Now, if this zhu ni experiment is successful, my cost of drinking old liu an will decrease by more than half relative to my bigger teapots...

Andrew
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Balthazar
Posts: 706
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Location: Oslo, Norway

Sat Apr 10, 2021 6:39 am

First session with a new brick of the 2018 Bai Sha Xi Furong Guoli heizhuan. I've sampled this tea from a Malaysian vendor previously, but he is no longer able to acquire more of it locally. So off to Taobao it was. Always a bit anxious to see if the storage difference shows up, even for something that's not even three years old, but luckily this tastes just as good as the Malaysian samples I had.

First time brewing it in my DCQ pot, seems to be an excellent match. Emphasizes all the right notes, with most of its youthful edginess masked. A slightly lower tea-to-water ratio also helps in this regard. Even heavier emphasis on minerality than I recall, but it could be due to brewing it in a different clay.

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Balthazar
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Sat Apr 17, 2021 10:16 am

Balthazar wrote:
Mon Mar 01, 2021 1:56 pm
The store still exists, with very reasonably priced teas. I think I will buy a new bunch of samples next time I make a TB order, and not wait six years before I try any this time around.
And so I did. As luck would have it, they currently offer a sample pack without about seven grams of six different teas for $3.25. I bought two sample packs, and the store owner threw in a couple of extras.

One thing I like about this store is that they have some negative reviews too! A rare sight on the Taobao stores I order from. Second guy here brought a flame-thrower. First guy sounds like myself, a puer head transitioning into the world of Anhua heichas...

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... but onto the tea.

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(Left: 2018 Furong shan gongjian jinhua fuzhuan; Right: 2019 Gaoma yijuan huazhuan)

Tried two of the samples today.

2018 Furong gongjian is rather remarkable imo. I'm going to avoid the temptation of listing a bunch of flavors that probably only resonates with myself, but it's fragrant stuff with a really nice huigan. (Side note: I am convinced the great majority of tea drinkers that have yet to venture into Anhua heichas would not be able to guess that this is a heicha if blind sampling it.)

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2019 Gaoma Yijuan huazhuan: It is "stronger" than the Furong in a good and a bad way. The "bad" is some slightly unpleasant (to my palate) smoke notes that will mostly have disappeared a couple of steeps into the session. The "good" is the longevity, this is one of those teas that can endure a good 15+ steeps.

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Looking forward to try out the rest of the bunch.


@Chris: Did you get the chance to try the "2018 Mojun Yi Hao" yet? I ended up getting a brick of it, and my first impression was a bit disappointing... Should try it a couple more times before I conclude though.
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Balthazar
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Location: Oslo, Norway

Sun Apr 18, 2021 12:23 pm

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2019 Gaoma Laoshu Heizhuan: Good energy and a radiating warmth that spreads out to all the right places (which for me is more or less the whole body, sans the face). A sweetness that lingers in the back of the mouth and throat for hours. Good viscosity (the Achilles heel of many heizhuans imo). Only problem is a sour (slightly fishy) note that doesn’t really go away until the steep count is getting close to double digits. A dealbreaker for me, as sourness is something I expect will improve with age. Kind of a shame, because it’s the only significant fault I can find with this tea.
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Balthazar
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Location: Oslo, Norway

Mon Apr 19, 2021 1:28 pm

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2019 Muyang Huazhuan

So, what’s a huazhuan anyways? It’s got nothing to do with jinhua, as I used to assume. Instead, huazhuang got its name from the decorative design on the surface of the bricks. Turns out (in terms of leaf quality, processing and compression) they’re pretty much the same thing as qianliang, only in a different shape (plus the decorative design). Quite similar to heizhuans too then, although typically more compressed and rarely with as intense a pinesmoke flavor as some heizhuans can carry in their youth.

In any case, this one has a very clean and pleasant taste with heavy emphasis on floral notes and Chinese herbs. Or "prepared rehmannia", as Taiwanese tea scholar Zeng Zhixian perhaps would say, putting all of us "can't name a single interesting TCM ingredient so I throw them all into the same general profile" plebs to shame.

Nice tawny color (which doesn't come through on the photo) and decent body too. Not too much in the aftertaste department, though.

After six or seven steeps it's given most of what it has to offer. I catch myself thinking that this is maybe something I should get for my mother. That's not the insult to the tea it might seem, for while I can't imagine this is a tea that would offend anybody it is definitely not boring either. Just a tad to low of an oomph factor for me to consider getting more for my own consumption.
polezaivsani
Posts: 191
Joined: Sun Oct 06, 2019 4:43 pm
Location: Kaliningrad, RU

Wed Apr 21, 2021 2:27 pm

I finally received a little bit of "Dark medicine" liu an from
thetea.pl, though the bulk of it is still in some postal aether.

Comparing it to the 2002 Sun Yi Shun from the same folks, i would say
this is a much better bahaving specimen. A reliable, solid, and
delicious drink. Tasty tickling bitterness along with mild sweetness
is a joy to sip. Earthy, medium-thick body. Guess it lives up to it's
second name.

Though i'm still longing for the slightly unredictable, wild, yet
rewarding sparkling delicacy of the reference wet LA ca. 2002.

Suppose you don't this extra shock and jolt when soothing one's soul
with medicine :).
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LeoFox
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Location: Washington DC

Thu Apr 22, 2021 9:49 pm

First time posting in this thread!

Early 2000s Farmer Style Raw Liu Bao' from three bears tea (https://www.threebearstea.com/collectio ... 8776443018)
aged naturally in wood board warehouse storage in Wuzhou until 2019, when it arrived in Seattle, Washington. Wuzhou has a humid subtropical climate with an average relative humidity of 60-80%
Brewed 5g/ 100 mL
Rinse/20s/flash×3/30s/60s/2min/5min

Dry leaf has almost no smell whatsoever
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Early infusions are nutty and a touch astringent. Starting with the 3rd infusion, there is a gentle sweetness that takes root and grows into the aftertaste. The soup is thick, expansive and a bit cooling (petrichor). Very calming and smooth tea! Reminds me of 20 year+ stored shou
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Andrew S
Posts: 704
Joined: Sat Jan 30, 2021 8:53 pm
Location: Sydney, Australia

Fri Apr 23, 2021 9:57 am

@LeoFox: welcome to the other side. There's more action on this forum these days than the pu er one.

My experience of liu bao so far is that the older ones are very good to drink whenever you might normally feel like drinking an old cooked pu er. To me, they feel simple, but calming, grounding, and very good if I've been unkind to myself with non-tea beverages the day before. They don't last as long as old raw pu er, so I often push them harder in the earlier infusions to get a rich thick brew, then steep them for minutes afterwards and enjoy them more casually as a pleasant sweet and lighter-bodied brew as it cools down.

I played with a sample of a 70s liu an a few days ago. Very nice energy to it and a thick and rich flavour, but I think it's been stored quite differently to my favourite 70s liu an that I posted a photo of above. The dry leaves look more brown with less white mould, though the wet leaves look like they've had a wetter life than the other one, which I believe spent a lot of its life in humid but not wet storage in Taiwan.

@polezaivsani and @Balthazar: I enjoy reading comments like yours on different vintages of hei cha. So far, I've stuck to the older ones, for the same reason that I don't touch young dry pu er (poisonous...), but perhaps I'll experiment a bit more in the future.

Andrew
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cerbu
Posts: 30
Joined: Wed May 27, 2020 12:45 am
Location: Romania

Thu Apr 29, 2021 11:14 pm

please write the general brewing parameters for fu brick , i can't read the pack https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4001347 ... hweb201603_
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Balthazar
Posts: 706
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Location: Oslo, Norway

Fri Apr 30, 2021 1:23 pm

@cerbu: That's a pretty rough brick you've picked up there :).

I'll typically use around 6-8 grams per 100 ml (whereas I'd typially use 8-10 grams if I were brewing puer). I'd err on the side of caution and use slightly less leaf for very coarse stuff. Most fuzhuans are rather loosely pressed, so a quick flash steep should be enough. From there I typically start with a 20-30 second steeping, and then 1-3 10 second steeps before gradually increasing the steep duration. You'll quickly discover if you need to increase/decrease steep duration.

For coarser BSX bricks I'd expect 4-5 decent steeps, but the sweet water it returns after that ain't bad either. A slightly muting clay may be advantageous. You could also try boiling a very small amount for a short duration (or even the spent leaves after the first 4-5 steeps).
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