I,m sure some of you are familiar with this tea tasting. Orchestrated by Hobbes (Half Dipper) with tea samples provided by Scott of (Yunnan Sourcing) This tea tasting was comprised of five 2009 spring flush puerhs. The five teas are exclusive to Yunnan Sourcing. All five single origin, varietal teas. Stone pressed and about as handmade as you can get. All of them visual works of art. A testament to what skilled people who care about quality and tradition can do. Thanks to Scott and Hobbes for making this tasting possible. Very generous samples were supplied, enough for several sessions with each tea. The teas are as follows, You Le, Bu Lang, Wu Liang, Ban Zhang and Yiwu. These teas were sent "incognito" we have no idea what tea is what. It,s up to our wits and tastes to figure it out.
The "incognito " names given to the teas are, Alpha, Beta, Delta, Gamma and Epsilon.
Having sampled all of the teas, some of them a couple of times Ive realized that this isn't easy. Although I never thought it would be. It forces you to question yourself, do I really know what a You Le tastes like? As if there are no variations in You Le teas. For me this tasting is not so much a game of "name that tea" more of an opportunity to learn how much I don't know. I,m not going to go into detailed tasting notes here, they will be posted on Half Dippers blog. But for me there was only one tea that stood head and shoulders above the rest, Epsilon. Superlative in every aspect. The only sheng Ive ever had that made me want to have back to back sessions. The above photos are the Epsilon.
Again, Thanks to Hobbes and Scott for providing great tea and an even greater experience.
I'm very glad to read that you've found it interesting. I look forward to reading your impressions!
ReplyDeleteToodlepip,
Hobbes
It,s been fun. A couple of the teas were real winners in my opinion. Some of these teas I really would only be guessing at which ones they are. More of a process of elimination than anything else.
ReplyDelete