Playing again with a small sample of a less-typical yancha cultivar - a 2012 ZhuangYuanHong (having finished a pack of a 2023 version of the same cultivar, but different tea, a few days ago).
There's not much that I can say usefully in terms of comparing the same cultivar across a decade of ageing, especially from different locations and different producers, but it still feels like a learning experience... at the very least, this 2012 version was quite nice to drink. The aged 'perfumed' notes (as I like to call them) were present, but the more primary, 'vegetal' notes came through as well (in a good way).
I've fallen back into the habit of having mostly the same teas every few days, subject to the weather: hongcha on dry, windy, cool days (which have been an atypical outlier this Summer down here), baozhong on hot days to cut through any oppressive humidity (which has felt very oppressive this Summer), and old puer or liubao whenever I wanted that different experience. And yancha for breakfast whenever the mornings have been cool or dry enough for that.
@i_viter: good to see that you're enjoying the aged teas from TheTea. I've had some which I've enjoyed quite a bit, and your post might encourage me to get some of their latest ones, although I'm now in the odd position of having too much aged tea (or tea for ageing), and far less 'fresh' tea... I'll put some of their 1999 baozhong into a bigger pot later today.
Andrew
What Oolong Are You Drinking
And now, finishing that same sample of the 2012 HuiYuanKeng ZhuangYuanHong, and finishing a sample of a 2018 HongJiGuan from GuiYan, which I believe is outside the core area.
I found it interesting how the older tea had both aged notes (similar to, say, the plummy notes you get from a 90s puer that wasn't stored very humidly) and an underlying vegetal character that persisted across the brews (in a pleasant way - like walking through a greengrocer's vegetable section). The younger tea had some of those aged notes as well, but was more nutty, spicy, fruity and cake-y, and not as 'mineral'.
Andrew
I found it interesting how the older tea had both aged notes (similar to, say, the plummy notes you get from a 90s puer that wasn't stored very humidly) and an underlying vegetal character that persisted across the brews (in a pleasant way - like walking through a greengrocer's vegetable section). The younger tea had some of those aged notes as well, but was more nutty, spicy, fruity and cake-y, and not as 'mineral'.
Andrew
I recently revisited a couple Dancongs I bought from Wuyi Origin in 2023 that I found to be way too roasted when I initially tried them in early 2024. These teas are still very roasted, but they seem to have more fruity and floral flavours peeking through and to be less abrasive. The Ling Tou Baiye had a lovely peach note and good longevity, and the Dong Fang Hong I drank today had some pronounced oakwood notes plus honeydew, orange, and other citrus fruits. These are actually more enjoyable teas than I thought they were a year ago. Not sure if my palate has changed or age has done these teas a favour.
I've also been enjoying a roasted Alishan oolong from Ethan. The roast complements the floral, buttery Alishan instead of drowning it in sourness/charcoal. This tea is a great value for $20 for 50 g. His Perfect Oolong is perfect, as always, though I was less happy with his Si Ji Chun, which I found to be less floral than I hoped and to lack longevity.
I've also been enjoying a roasted Alishan oolong from Ethan. The roast complements the floral, buttery Alishan instead of drowning it in sourness/charcoal. This tea is a great value for $20 for 50 g. His Perfect Oolong is perfect, as always, though I was less happy with his Si Ji Chun, which I found to be less floral than I hoped and to lack longevity.
Last edited by GaoShan on Tue Feb 25, 2025 3:08 am, edited 1 time in total.
I've been finishing a few yancha samples, getting towards the end of a packet of some very nice ShuiXian from what I understand to be a higher part of HuiYuanKeng - FengShuKe (枫树窠) , and enjoying some heavily-roasted 2002 TieGuanYin from LiShan.
I've also been finishing some of Ethan's teas when the temperature or humidity has gotten too high - although a part of me wants to keep a packet for the next few decades to see what happens to the last of his tea...
Andrew
I've also been finishing some of Ethan's teas when the temperature or humidity has gotten too high - although a part of me wants to keep a packet for the next few decades to see what happens to the last of his tea...
Andrew
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Enjoying some Tieluohan from Purple Cloud brewed western style. I've been enjoying western style oolong in this pot - I've found the tea to end up a decent bit sweeter than porcelain or glass. High roast goes especially well. These pots were used to brew Wuyi originally (well, this one is for coffee), and I can certainly see why.
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Gujing and Fengshuke are considered the top 2 micro-terroir within Huiyuankeng, which is the largest (alongside Wuyuanjian) of the sankeng liangjian. Within the zhengyan core, there's also alot of areas with strong sunlight (matouyan of wuyuanjian, or just about any stuff that comes from a -yan like foguoyan, bishiyan, etc), and areas with higher altitude (sanyanfeng, lianhuafeng or a -feng). I tend to avoid them as the emphasis is on high layers of aroma-forward teas. Generally, though with exceptions, yancha connoisseurs go for tea that is grown in lower elevation, buttressed by high rocks, shaded from sunlight for most of the day, and in areas with alot of moisture.Andrew S wrote: ↑Tue Feb 25, 2025 1:34 amI've been finishing a few yancha samples, getting towards the end of a packet of some very nice ShuiXian from what I understand to be a higher part of HuiYuanKeng - FengShuKe (枫树窠) , and enjoying some heavily-roasted 2002 TieGuanYin from LiShan.
I've also been finishing some of Ethan's teas when the temperature or humidity has gotten too high - although a part of me wants to keep a packet for the next few decades to see what happens to the last of his tea...
Andrew
A Shuixian from Anmo to settle down tonight. Interesting tea, some fresh green notes coming through an otherwise roasted tea. Quite delicate and balanced, very clean.
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Dancong time down here - getting back to trying some samples to learn more about this tea that I've neglected for many years.
The first one was a 2023 YouHuaXiang from DaAn - nicely bright and refreshing character, with a cool aftertaste.
The second was a 2016 HuangZhiXiang - this one was quite interesting, because it started with a very mild flavour (and very little aroma), but it had a nice, pure, 'watery' mouthfeel that encouraged me to keep going, and then from the fourth brew onwards it suddenly seemed to wake up and develop a lovely line of juicy red berry fruits that ran through from the start into the very long aftertaste. I can still taste it quite a while later...
Andrew
The first one was a 2023 YouHuaXiang from DaAn - nicely bright and refreshing character, with a cool aftertaste.
The second was a 2016 HuangZhiXiang - this one was quite interesting, because it started with a very mild flavour (and very little aroma), but it had a nice, pure, 'watery' mouthfeel that encouraged me to keep going, and then from the fourth brew onwards it suddenly seemed to wake up and develop a lovely line of juicy red berry fruits that ran through from the start into the very long aftertaste. I can still taste it quite a while later...
Andrew
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As much as I would like to avoid trashing famous big brands and focus on the good stuff, I feel the need to warn those relatively new to the deep rabbit-hole of yancha who are made aware of a particular XiGua brand which is based in Huiyuankeng, perhaps equally famous as RuiQuan based in Shuiliandong, that owns some of a very prized terroir within HYK called Guidong, which has different cultivars like rougui and shuixian but is most famous for its Tieluohan... Now, XiGua sells a $3.5/g "Mother Bush Ghost Cave TLH" which teadb also made a rather favorable review of. So out of curiousity I did buy 2 packets to try for myself. To my dismay, the TLH is processed in a very "green" and fragrance-forward style which annoys me because it seems to be the fashionable thing to do, the type of yancha where it won't age and will fan-qing (return to green) in a few years time and MUST be drunk now. Mouthfeel wise it is not clean, considerably astringent, and sharp in taste. This may lead people into thinking that the taste of Tieluohan from guidong is supposed to be this way. I also compared it with another 1/g LCSX from XiGua and found that this is their house style, meaning to say the same light-medium fermentation. My same complaint remains - it is not shou/ripe enough! Usually, I am sceptical of such style because the base material is poor therefore it cannot be made riper, hence also it cannot be roasted high enough. The roast can only be as much as the degree of fermentation in theory. In practice, we have teas like the infamous HK deathroast yancha where green style can only be made (because the leaf quality n content is low in minerality) but high roast is nevertheless applied. This is a tragic thing that is happening as it is confusing tea drinkers about what traditional yancha taste is like.
Now what I'm going to say next is conjecture, but this got me thinking why XiGua who once was famous for its guidong tlh, is now making such shitty yancha. Wouldn't such a prime terroir be taken proper care of, and not messed with, so that they can still sell teas there at high prices as they were in the past? This tea that i drank, is nowhere deserving to command this high of a prize. So my suspicion is that the soil where these TLH bushes are from has become depleted in nutrients over the years, and therefore they are bringing in soil from other areas outside the region into it as a band-aid solution. This is an open trade secret that those who speak to or work closely with the farmers know, that in many regions of zhengyan the soil is constantly replenished. Recent pictures of guidong TLH is a dead-giveaway. There is no red soil native to zhengyan region, but why is there red soil in guidong?
Now what I'm going to say next is conjecture, but this got me thinking why XiGua who once was famous for its guidong tlh, is now making such shitty yancha. Wouldn't such a prime terroir be taken proper care of, and not messed with, so that they can still sell teas there at high prices as they were in the past? This tea that i drank, is nowhere deserving to command this high of a prize. So my suspicion is that the soil where these TLH bushes are from has become depleted in nutrients over the years, and therefore they are bringing in soil from other areas outside the region into it as a band-aid solution. This is an open trade secret that those who speak to or work closely with the farmers know, that in many regions of zhengyan the soil is constantly replenished. Recent pictures of guidong TLH is a dead-giveaway. There is no red soil native to zhengyan region, but why is there red soil in guidong?