2006 Yiwu Zhuancha

This is an inexpensive brick of tea (£10/250g) from TeaCuppa. Lisa provided this as a "thank you" following the tasting event from several weeks ago - an appreciated gesture, but entirely unnecessary. The following notes are, as usual, taken directly from my journal.

The wrapper discloses little, short of "Yiwu zhengshan" [proper mountain] and "laoshu" [old tree] - no factory name is given, unfortunately.

Caledonian Springs @ 100C in 12cl pot for young shengpu; ~5-6g leaf; 1 rinse

Dry leaves:
Dark on the outside, where they have been ground by the compressor, but very green on the interior. A blend, from stems to tips. The aroma is fresh and similarly green.

3s, 5s, 9s, 15s:
A strong, orange soup, though fairly murky. No aroma at all. The body of the soup is thick and heavy in the mouth. There is strong ku, but not an immense flavour - what there is remains low, and lightly interesting. The aftertaste is slow in coming, and is eventually sweet - something akin to my understanding of Yiwu, but not too clear.

The third infusion sees a diminishing level of ku, but the character of the tea becomes slightly rough. The final, fourth infusion is rough in the throat.

Wet leaves:

Messy. "Leftovers?" Very green, almost like young lucha. Lots of stems.

Overall:
A daily shengpu. I can't imagine that the somewhat understated flavours could carry it very far in aging, but it does have a ton of bitterness. Not too thrilling in quality, but not "bad".