Pure Ancient Trees – Tier 5

able persistence, both on the palate and in the body.
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t like LBZ, could easily be sold as a fake LBZ. The Qi was exactly the kind i enjoy the most, clear and pure. Thanks for the sample - now i have to figure out how to finance it, price being the only drawback.
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ou know there’s a lot of shou in the mix from how the leaves look and feel after a session, which reminded me as I was emptying out the pot what it was. Now let me say that I’ve never been a shou fan but this is something else. This is simply wonderful: ‘joyful’ as Paolo says, which totally sums it up. It’s extremely comfortable, calming and completely delicious. Perhaps it’s a poor man’s 1950s sheng cake, after all shou was meant to accelerate the aging process to mimic vintage teas. This is the first shou that I can imagine has achieved such a goal; perhaps thanks to the Sheng blend, the quality of leaves, impeccable storage. Whatever the reasons, forty years on, the alchemy is complete. I for one cracked after falling in love with an 8g sample and bought a large bag.
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observable here, a kinda merged taste of Ginseng. Aside from the fact that you have to push the tea - due to the age - it keeps it's promises!
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aves pressed to perfection. Easy to like...a lot. A feel-good tea. Definitely one of those reasons to be cheerful.
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successive cups, the effect of the tea's Qi built up. It was very centering and grounding. I had cups before meditating and before Qigong sessions and loved the synergy. If asked I wouldn't have said there was sweetness in the taste. But after 4-5 cups, I noticed a smoothness taking over from the initial powerful taste. It left my mouth feeling refreshed. Also the first thing I found I wanted to do after finishing a cup was...make another brew 😉
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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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mas out of the bowl with a touch of camphor and moss resolving to peachy/ pandan sweetness and a vein of freshness that adds a mouthwatering kick. As the session progresses an underlying firmness from the polyphenols builds up, offset with a nice thickness to the soup. I imagine there’s room for this to develop further over the next few years, and accordingly I’m going to tuck it away for some time. Lovely semi-mature tea, seemingly from natural storage, that feels like there’ll be a few more layers to reveal in time, and that’s already aromatically very expressive. Good value.
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et going; the early running being a bit underwhelming and showing a fair bit of processing in the pot and on the back palate. After a handful of steeps and with a long brew cycle, the tea steps up with much more intensity, more complexity, more piquant spiced notes and durable sweetness. I’d suggest a really good wash with this tea ahead of getting started with a session.
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