2008 Xiaguan - XY "8853"

An Easter gift from my mother (pictured below). What better way to celebrate the resurrection of Our Lord than by eating boiled eggs from a lapine cranial cavity.

Friends speak highly of this tea, and at $22 per bing from Yunnan Sourcing, the potential for great bargainage is upon us. I am not fond of the word "redux", so let us merely say that this tea is based on the 8853 recipe from 2001. (Why 2001, and not 1988?) It feels that I have reached saturation with special Xiaguan cakes from 2008, and I have deliberately neglected my sample of this tea. Notes from friends nudged me out of my stupor, and I aim to give it a fair session.

A certain "Ye Binghua" of Guangzhou is behind the "XY" label, and you may remember the 2008 XY "Big Green Tree". 'Twas tasty, with a quality akin to that of the "FT" label, also from Xiaguan. The product description records that this was made using maocha from spring 2007 and 2008.

What do you think of the maocha in the above photograph? The leaves are quite small - much smaller than the "5" in "8853" would suggest. My first impression was that they were dark, and that the aroma was very solid indeed. It is pungently sweet and, in that modern Xiaguan manner, a little smoky. The sheer potency of the aroma is encouraging - perhaps there is some real content.

I'm not a big fan of yanking flowers out of the ground to cheer up my photographs, and instead rely on windfalls. Fortunately, the strong winds of the English springtime, combined with heavy blooms weighing down the branches of trees and bushes, do not leave us wanting.

It's at times like this that I really appreciate the feminine touch around the house brought by my dear wife, as I am entirely unconscious of such things until they crop up on our shelves and tables.

That strong aroma from the dry leaves lives on in the wenxiangbei [aroma cup] - sweet and tart. First impressions: thick. Sweet fruits to open, chunky sweetness to finish. This is solid and has plenty to get your teeth into. Wisps of the Xiaguan smokiness remain in the nose, afterwards.

This is a "big" pu'er, rather like the stereotype of Californian wine.

Later infusions bring development of the cereal-like Lincang character. As the leaf swells, potent the brew becomes. Much later, all aspects are outpaced by its goodly sweet nature. There is charm here, and out into the later infusions as is unexpected for factory tea. It is unavoidably Xiaguan, but I enjoy it, for all its familiarity.

Those little leaves, shown above, carry much withal.

A hit! A very palpable hit!

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Addendum
24 April, 2009

Subsequent sessions are quite different to that described above - the tea is pleasant, but does not swell to the "big" proportions noted above, no matter how I adjust the brewing parameters. During later sessions, it seems thinner, less complex, and less stuffed full of content. I downgrade my purchasing intentions!