2011 Danzhen "Nannuo Guyun"

This is the second of two laoshu cakes from Xiao Yunqing, of Beijing Taochaju in Maliandao.

Like his other productions, this is both appealing to the eyes and the nose.  The fragrance is dense, sweet, and fruity.  It is impossible not to fall in love with this cake at the instant of first sight / sniff.

We drank this cake only in passing, while I was in Maliandao, after a long day drinking other cakes.  Thus, my tea-session at home with this cake was an opportunity to get to know it a little better.

In my diary, I wrote "this Nannuo is quite amazing: dense, sweet, floral, fruity.  Real pu'ercha."  It is definitely that.

Plentiful honey dwells in the finish.  Yunqing emphasised that this was laoshucha [old-tree tea], and, from the soup alone, I am inclined to believe him, even before his open, honest face and constant, gentle enthusiasm for all things pu'ercha wins you over.

Like most other good laoshu leaves (many of which have come via the generosity of teachums such as KC, Keng, and Nada), this Nannuo is entirely absent any brazen kuwei, but, instead, has a gripping finish that causes the mouth to water profusely.  That is not to say it is not bitter - it is, significantly - but it is a different, "cleaner" variety of bitterness that is shared only in those samples of laoshucha that I have tried before.

It lasts well, not diminishing through the infusions, but instead staying constant, potent, and strong - again, another sign of tea quality that cannot be approximated by plantation cakes.  Its endurance really is prodigious for a young tea, as it marches on for over twenty infusions, retaining strength, sweetness, and complexity.

Yunqing parted with a pair of cakes for just 200 RMB, which was a great price.  I would definitely like to revisit this cake on my next visit to Beijing; perhaps that will be next year, though, by which time he will have made a 2012.  That said, if our university exchange programme continues, perhaps Lei and I will have to go back to Qinghua to conduct interviews... and drink tea.