neděle 29. dubna 2012

2008 Hai Lang Hao Lao Ban Zhang & Lao Man'E

This tea is still available at Yunnan Sourcing: http://www.yunnansourcing.com/store/product.php?id_product=973
There is rather a lot of things written about this tea all around message boards, many people praising it quite highly. I have to say beforehand that I belong to these people thinking it is nice, but not spectacular (except the price tag).



Our orchid has new blossoms which reminds I have several Mi Lan Dan Congs to try...it's awful how puerh does drag one from other sorts of tea.

The last pieces of this Ban Zhang & Man'E cake...:

The leaves look good and smell allright, though not really making me crave it.


The liquor is not as clear as I would like, but it may be just that I used the last of my sample of this tea - with some dust.

The aroma is quite easy-going, resembling mostly the "light ground after spring rain".

The taste is actually mostly the light ground after spring rain too. It's like when you spray dwarven bamboo with water and then smell it. There is a bit of sweet granary, but not really much. The tea is sufficiently sweet and thick. The Man'E's characteristic bitterness is quite obvious and not overly pleasant. Hints of honey and fruitiness appear as brews progress. 

I remember how the tea was tobacco-ish a year ago, but that part of the taste is gone  now, for which I am grateful.

Except the bitterness, the tea rather closely resembles the great 2002 Pa Sha brick sold here by Longfeng. However, I thought the brick better and it was a bit cheaper as well (a positive thing about noname bricks).

The taste does stay in mouth but it is not really astonishingly pleasant. 

I enjoyed this tea as it brought back the memories of happy afternoons with the 2002 Pa Sha brick, but I can not say I'd think this tea worth the asked $92. I personally think that it is a fusion of the Banzhang bubble with HLH bubble, which produces...a bigger bubble.

Further reading: Half-Dipper

1 komentář:

  1. I came across tea with slight tobacco smell and taste several times already. If you travel around China, you'll soon see why. Small teashop owners often smoke inside their shops and warehouses and tea of course takes after. I hate that. Especially when they try to sell you this tobaccoish fragnance as a feature. Well aged my ass.

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