Essence of Tea 2012 Banwei, Essence of Tea 2014 Du Quan, Best Tea House 2005 High Mountain Tea Brick

Hello again, and many thanks to the ones who have asked me to make this blog public again. I’d resisted until now. Why the change of heart? I guess it was time, and maybe also a little something to do with shocking craziness of the times. Fear is a funny thing. It makes people do crazy shit and believe crazy things. There are a lot of fearful people in the US right now. 

thé la résistance!

I have a confession. I got away from tea the past few years. Hardly drank it at all. Life got busy and complicated and there were other things that needed attending to. Also, I’ve never been the kind of person to drink tea all day, or who needs to have a cup of tea or coffee every morning (as shocking as this may be to some!). The only way I enjoy tea is by approaching it as a practice -- ‘listening’, essentially, to the act of making and drinking tea, noticing everything about it, appreciating it’s every nuance. There’s a reason it’s called “the way of tea.”

So it’s back to tea blogging for me. It’ll be interesting to see how this unfolds. 

Today I pulled three cakes (technically, two cakes and one brick) from the cabinet. No fancy photos for this post. My excuse? I’m rusty. :)  

First up, the 2012 Bangwei from Essence of Tea. No previous tasting notes on this one, and I don’t keep track of when I first seal up a tea, but this one has likely been sealed for many years. Maybe even from when I first got it. The aroma of the wet leaves after the first rinse shows a somewhat fruit-forward meadow. It’s not sugar-sweet but more of that astringent, almost citris-like sweetness. Aroma from the second rinse gives way to a deeper, rounder, plummier sweetness. I tend to think the first-rinse aroma is more about airing off the top-note volatiles while the second rinse gives better hints at what may develop with age, generally. 

The tea liquor in the cup smells wonderful with a solid sweetness to it. The mouthfeel is creamy thick, a characteristic I find (and appreciate) in so many Essence of Tea teas.  As I drink this one a warming energy grows deep in the chest and down the throat, accompanied by an almost-menthol coolness in the throat. As the session lengthens the warmth reaches all the way down to my toes. This is one of those teas you drink with your whole body. 

The aromas of this tea stay solidly strong throughout the session, and by the 4th steep it’s pulling plenty of salivation in the mouth. There isn’t much in the way of mind-affecting qi, just a subtle note there. This tea seems to be much more about the deep, strong energy in the body. 

Next up is the 2014 Du Quan from Essence of Tea, which I see was also in the line-up in my last post here, back in 2017. It’s got a few more years on it now, sitting at close to 7 years which can sometimes be an awkward age for a puerh. But it showed so strongly before, I’m curious to see how it’s doing now. Right out of the gate, the aroma after the first rinse is a ‘wow’. So complex and sweet. Lots of sweet fruit with an almost floral note to it. Strong, deep and complex. This is what I call a perfume. The dry-down in the cup echoes the aroma from the wet leaves. I’d wear this scent on my wrist if I could capture it somehow. 

The aroma from the second rinse brings out the base notes, a meaty sweet mushroom scent bringing a grounding to the sweet fruit of the first rinse. Deep red fruit notes are present as the leaves dry down. For a seven year old cake it seems to have leap-frogged that awkward adolescent stage. The mouthfeel is very silky, lighter when hot and thickening up as the liquor cools, filling the mouth all around. The taste is smooth and agreeable. Clean. 

The second steep brings a bit of bitterness to the forefront lending some grip in the mouth. This could be due to my using too much leaf in the gaiwan, but it’s not a bad bitterness. More a testament to the underlying structure of the tea, I think. As the session wears on a slow-growing but wonderfully relaxing qi takes hold. There’s plenty of huigan to enjoy, as well (returning sweetness). Overall a beautiful and well-rounded tea that I expect will get better and better with age. This one is a keeper for the long haul. 

Last in the line-up this morning is the 2005 High Mountain Tea Brick, purchased on the recommendation of the proprietor of Best Tea House in Richmond, BC. I can’t find my prior tasting notes on this one but I know it well. I’ve learned to be careful with it. It packs a punch on several levels. In the past I always found it to have a whopper of a mind-buzzing qi effect along with a stomach-eating effect on my digestion. Curious to see what it’s up to now.

I notice this one has a broken seal from a tasting years ago, meaning it’s been unsealed for some time. The aroma from the first rinse is initially all rough hay but then gives way almost immediately to a candy sweetness which quickly weakens and fades. I suspect, from experience, this quick-to-weaken character is owing to the fact of it’s having been unsealed for some time. That’s one of the things I love best about sealing my teas, it does a great job of concentrating aroma, in particular. This is also why I started to seal my teas in the first place, because they seemed to be weakening quickly (especially aroma) from storage in the pumidor despite the fact that my pumidor is stuffed to the gills with barely any room for more. I love what sealing the teas does for them. 

The dry down aroma from the bottom of the cup after the first rinse has some interesting malty notes coming up, along with that yummy candy sweetness. With a second rinse the aroma of the wet leaves takes on a brioche-like sweet baked goods scent. Interesting and nice. As usual, this tea packs a powerful mind-blurring qi punch right from the first sips. The mouthfeel is on the thin side. I love EoT’s careful curating of mouthfeel and find myself missing it when it’s not present in a tea. 

The third steeping has the aroma turning decidedly savory with spicy top notes. Again, the aroma weakens quickly. This afternoon I plan to set this tea brick in the pumidor with the humidity cranked up a tiny bit for a week or so, then I’ll seal it back up to store again. Taste-wise, this tea has definitely lost the stomach-eating roughness it once had (thank god), though I’m always careful to brew this one conservatively given my experience with it.