Pure Ancient Trees – Tier 5

the bowl, whereas powerful aromas from the pot in the spectrum of passion fruit. Not a hint of structural components (polyphenols) at this early stage of the session: a sweet silkiness that’s still refreshing. Very balanced tea. By the fourth steep I pushed brew times up to around 40 seconds and took the temperature down to around 80C from 90C. That gave the tea shape with a strong point of intensity, a twist of liquorice root (that wonderful balance of acidulous and sweet), and mouth-coating thickness. At this point the tea transformed into impressions, a numbing effect back of palate and throat, and extraordinary persistence lasting an hour. Qi builds on the bridge of the nose, behind the eyes and back of neck. Breathing is clear like mountain air. It’s characteristically very stable once leaves are hydrated and the long steeps keep delivering. The only drawback is that there is a cumulative effect that made it difficult to finish the session - in effect there’s a latent power underpinning this tea that creeps up on you (especially on an empty stomach) and makes you realise it’s something of an iceberg. Most suitable steep times for me I think will be 20-30 seconds for steeps 4-8 to enable a whole session to be completed comfortably. Less in the early steeps for the aromatics, longer for double digit brews. This is the greatest young tea I’ve experienced. That from someone who loves mid aged and mature shengs. Thanks a lot to Paolo for opening my eyes to what elite young tea can offer. A must have experience.
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ial steeps complex and extremely well balanced with a nice clean semi aged classic Yiwu flavor. Around steep 7 it started to get sweet and continued to do so, with more intensity up to about steep 12. 15 steeps in and it’s still sweet and has more to give up.
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ut the younger tea notes. Thereafter focused and spiced depth, some grip and tertiary notes, sweetening and cooling the whole mouth and throat. I like how this tea evolves, sweetening, turning milky from around 8th steep, accompanied with some mild polyphenol stoniness, and then a sweet aftertaste carries on in the throat. A few twists and turns makes a this a feel good and interesting tea session. A cake to drink slowly over the next few years as it becomes more expansive with the resolving compounds.
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with a reminiscence of cocoa powder like ovomaltine. The qi is present with a calming and warming effect, from the second infusion. I surely spend too much on teas but this one tells me it's worth it!
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ind.
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200 gm cake that I'll try to keep for a few years. A retirement tea!
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