My TWL shipment arrived very quickly from Taiwan. I was eager to taste what I ordered, so these haven't been given much time to acclimate (they made it into my pumidor last night and had ~30-40gs removed a couple of hours later).
2003 Hong Kong Henry Co Conscientious Prescription - Now I understand that name, the leaflet included with each cake uses this phrase - it's an interesting read. This stuff is DELICIOUS, I should have ordered a few. Aged taste is front and centre even though it's only ~15 years old. Second and third infusions had deliciously strong puer earthy taste, a bit medicinal. I did notice a (relatively, for puer) quick drop off of aroma and flavor after 5 infusions (not to say the tea was spent, just a sharp drop off). I'm terrible at tasting notes, but I really recommend this tea. Nice relaxing cha qi.
2015 Biyun Hao Lishan Gongcha - Yum. I've read this tea was produced/formulated with quality after aging being the primary objective. If that's the case this thing will be a rockstar in 10 or 15 years, because it's tasty now. There's definitely a solid bitterness on the tongue for ~5 seconds after a sip but it transitions to the sweet hui gan in the throat to the same degree as the bitterness. The cha qi on this one seems a little more in your face and speedy than the HKH I had earlier (or perhaps I've just had a solid amount of tea today, who knows). I purchased these to age, but it'll be hard to leave them alone.
2008 8582 801 - TBD if this BYH runs out of steam while it's still tea drinking hours I'll sample today
Based on this experience (my first) I'm quite disappointed most of the other offerings from TWL are sold out
Many thanks to the curators over there - a great first experience.
Side note: One of the teas I tore into last night (leaning towards the 8582, can't remember) recommends 1:50 tea to water ratio, and 3-5 mins infusion time on the insert. This sounds like western or grandpa style. What's up with them recommending that over a gong fu-esque method (1:15 for seconds not minutes) ?
