2002 Aged Rou Gui Yancha

Otherwise known as Mystery Sample A, thanks to Sir Brent of TeaNerd.


So this is what they call an aged yancha. "Quite aged," even. If it were a pu-erh, then I would still consider it to be young. This 2002 Rou Gui, however, is reaching the end of it's life. This starts to show in the lifeless aroma of the dry leaf, then even from the rather light flavor of the tea.


The tea starts off by giving aromas of subdued dark chocolate, dry grass, and bread. The flavor is much lighter than I'm used to in yancha. I had to increase from my usual short steeps, to 10-20 seconds, to get a good grip of the flavors. After that, the tea comes out with very little roast, but a dry grass flavor that seems to have replaced it. The roast is light enough in flavor to resemble something like bark. If I look for it, I can taste a bit of sour.


After being pleasantly surprised by yesterday's 07 DHP, I found this tea disappointing. I expected something as bold and sharp as that DHP, but got something much lighter, and perhaps slightly stale. The flavor drops off sharply around the 6th infusion, but the tea continues to give significantly dark-colored steeps. Interesting to note is that the tea started out light in color, then grew darker and darker through the steeps. The picture is of steep 1, and steep 6 got about 3 times as dark (brown/red). Each consecutive steep was longer, which accounted, at least partially, for the darkening.

Mystery Yancha B

Thanks to Brent of TeaNerd for involving me in this mystery tasting.


At first I was curious as to why I decided to partake in a yancha tasting (I don't drink the stuff). The yancha I've had in the past has all been fairly cheap and not amazing, so I figured if this TeaNerd guy knows his stuff, then I'll get my paws on "good" yancha. As doubtful as I was about liking it, this tea surprised me.


The dry leaves were in good shape, smelling mostly of burnt wood and some dark chocolate. I threw the whole sample into my gaiwan, rinsed it once, and followed with a few flash infusions. The aroma from the cup was dark and new. My untrained sniffer drew in many long breaths until I came up with this: "dark (mysterious), chocolatey (not specifically dark chocolate anymore), pancakes (sweet dough with tart), all of this under charcoal."


The taste is less complicated, but I was shocked at first to discover how sweet it was! After my excitement dissipated, I tasted a sweet caramel, and a dark chocolate. The strong charcoal from the smell becomes a muted, yet complex taste.


Overall, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this tea. I have to thank Brent again for this excellent tea. This was my first yancha that was more than $20/100g, and surprised me at how good it really was. It turned out to be the 2007 Exquisite Da Hong Pao from TeaCuppa which goes for $20/.42oz (although I waited for this information before I tasted it muahaha).

2007 Guoyan Classics 88

This review is long overdue. I've had this cake for almost a year and it's time I make a record of how it is now.



When I first got this bing I wasn't enthused. It was harsh, smoky, and bitter. Back then I was using a big kitchen knife to break off leaf which probably accounted more than a little to my bad experience. Now, using my tuocha pick (my preferred tool for tightly compressed pu-erh), I can hunk off nice whole chunks.




I still used a lot of leaf for this tasting, enough to mostly fill the gaiwan when wet. The color of the liquor is a golden amber. The aroma is sharp with hay. The taste is clean, not sharp, starting with a smokiness followed as delicately floral with lots of hay. The infusion has a high tone of lightly sweet and is quite quenching.


Supposedly following the 7548 recipe, the tea is well-rounded and has served as my model for the "young sheng" taste. Although quenching at first, over the steeps the tea is somewhat drying. The same sequence happens in every steep, the taste starts with a kick of smoke, then follows with much hay and delicate floral. A bitterness lays in wait, pronouncing itself if the infusion is any longer than a flash, as well as when the tea cools off.


I feel that nothing has changed over the past 9 months with this one (good!). Jittery energy and a slight headache surfacing... I add some Teriyaki Oberto turkey jerky to the mix and am again revitalized. I implore everyone to try this jerky with their sheng. It is the most excellent tea and food combination I have had the pleasure of finding. It's especially good if you feel bad about imbibing large amounts of young sheng. Hmm... I wonder if TCM has anything to say about that.


I have high hopes for the future of (what's left of) this bing.