Yiwu Mountain Ecological Arbor part two dry vs Malaysian storage.

Malaysian storage Yiwu Mountain old tree arbor

I recently received this tea from Alan Woon from sampletea which is the same year as the Yiwu Mountain Ecological Arbor  2013. 

Here I have both cakes, which am not sure if they are the same cakes different wrapping?  But what I what to talk about is dry storage vs. Malaysian storage. I have a Yiwu Mountain Ecological Arbor cake since 2013 and dry storage in my tea cabinet and another Yiwu 2013 from Alan Woon, Malaysian storage from 2013. Not enough time for the Yiwu Mountain Ecological Arbor tea to age, you can say. But what if you were to change the storage conditions of a cake from the same year and same kind (Yiwu). Would it taste be the same? Would Malaysian storage really have any effect on taste and age?

Looking at both cakes they look the same, right? The pictures does not tell the whole story but the cake storaged in Malaysian is a bit darker but hardly noticeable. I also think both almost smell the same.  

Looking at the Yiwu tea makes my mouth water and I wonder if there is a difference in taste between dried and Malaysian storage.

Going to use one my pots from my friend Mr. Chen's tea/vegetable shop. Sorry Emmett for using your picture. But never got around to taking a picture of our friend from Chinatown! He's gotten rid of his tea table you know.

Looking at the color of the liquor it looks the same but I think the Malaysian storaged one is a bit darker but again not noticeable.

One can see the color better here. I think is a darker yellow color and on the first infusion too.

Now for the tasting notes. I have to say that this Yiwu (Malaysian storage) taste the same as I stated in Yiwu Mountain Ecological Arbor dry storage but a little bit heavier in taste in the mouth. Meaning the not same as an aged taste but well on it's way in tasting aged. 

In the first infusion the liquor is little darker yellow hue as stated before and also feels thicker than dry storage. This tea also fills the mouth with the same tastes of young Yiwu but more define. Still has nice Yiwu taste with a touch of sweetness but again richer in taste! Second infusion more of the same taste but with a little bit of sweetness echo in back of your tongue and throat. The rest of the infusions were the same but more consistent with the flavors not letting up like the dried storage, previously done before. I pushed this tea up to ten infusions like the dried storage! 

Okayti Silver Needle Darjeeling from Golden Tips 2014 second flush

Today, I had a chance to try Okayti Silver Needle Darjeeling from Golden Tips 2014 second flush  (sample) from my friend which he gave me to try.

When I opened up the package, I got smells of spiciness and fresh grass aroma. This tea reminds me of an aged white puerh. The smells from the leaves makes my mouth water.

At first glance the leaves have hues of light and dark green. Also the leaves have lots of hairs, like a good puerh.

 The leafs also smells like fresh grass and spice.

 The liquor is a nice light yellow color.

First infusion (1 Minute) 

On the first infusion the liquor tastes malty and sweet which lightly coats the mouth. The liquor  also gives off a nice spiciness smell!!!

Second Infusion has more of a heavier but light taste of the maltiness and sweet taste in the mouth. 

Third and fourth infusion has same taste of the maltiness and sweet taste. 

The leaves are a little choppy looking but whole for the most part. Also the leaves have very little stems attached to them but it does not interfere with the flavor of this tea.

The more I drink Okayti Silver Needle Darjeeling, it reminds me of an aged white puerh. When you try fresh white puerh, its has a strong taste of spiciness and maltiness. When brewing fresh white puerh, one has to be careful to put little leave when brewing it, or it'll be an overpowering taste of spice and maltiness. I also like aged white puerh because when aged it mellows out the strong flavors nicely. So, if you like white puerh you love Okayti Silver Needle Darjeeling because you don't have to wait to age it. I also notice that you can steep this tea longer and it does not seem to get bitter. I wish I could try more of these teas from Golden Tips but my friend drank them up fast and only saved this white tea for me because am a white tea connoisseur. My friend did leave me a little bit of Avaata Supreme Nilgiri which I'll review later. 

I leave you with some pictures of a tea house I visited in Seattle Washington and Mont Rainier National Park, which I review tea house later.

Yiwu Mountain Ecological Arbor

I too received this nice little tea in my mail box in middle of January, not as fast as Half-Dipper link or T link. But much appreciated Alan Woon from sampletea.

I will agree with whats has been posted that the cake was stone pressed and that it probably made for  gifts because its not for sale or if you look at the hole in the middle of the cake it's off centered. I was kinda excited to noticed the off centered hole, I told Emmet because it was specially made from a batch of his liking? Now to the tasting notes first rinse smells sweet can't put my finger on it?  Fist infusion the liquor is yellow hue, feels thick and fills the mouth with tastes of young Yiwu, fresh air? nice puerh taste with a touch of sweetness of? Second infusion more of the same taste but little bit of sweetness echo in back of your tongue. The rest of the infusions were the same but consistent with the flavor not letting up, I pushed this tea up to ten infusions! I also wonder how this tea will be in years to come (T), I wish I could get more! The Yiwus, I tried this year only gave me a good five infusions and kinda went flat, this one by far was pretty good!

The leaves after the many infusions were pretty sizable with stems and all.
hope everybody had a good Chinese NEW Year!

2001 Golden Melon Tribute Tea

Today I retried a 2001 Golden Melon Tribute Tea from Fine puer, which  received  before the holidays but like I said before, I got that crazy flu so I couldn't report on it until now. I could of sworn that somebody else commented on this tea just as it was on transit but I can't remember who. The reason I bring it up is because we had different tasting notes which comes to show you that everybody tastes are different (Emmit commented on this tea with more complexity then I did). Well back to the tasting notes: when I first opened the melon, I didn't get no smell to it until I did the first rinse, which was sweet sugar cane? I do got add this note when buying this tea the vender warned me that the melon was highly compressed (true!) but I told laughing not for my pick which you see! 
First infusion I get faint maple syrup flavor. The color is orange 

 Orange which is consistent to an age puerh of this age is good sign! With my camera its hard to see, the cup is the second infusion but the flash makes it look lighter.

 Second infusion you get smells of sweet sugar cane and maple syrup with a hint of camphor. The third and fourth infusion was smooth but with a more of camphor taste in the soup. By the fifth cup, I started feeling tea dunkness which was pretty good! The sixth infusion and on you have nice smooth taste with maple syrup echo in  back of you throat mmmmm. I push this beyond ten infusion and lost count. Over all, not bad for a 2001 tea and the price not bad either! compared to buying a new one for the same price but probably wouldn't last as many brews!

As for the leaves a lot of different sizes and chopped up leaves but it didn't effect the flavor at all in the end.



I leave with these pictures, I took in Chinatown in October of some murals of dragons which are my favorite.

2011 Yunnan Sourcing "Yi Dian Hong"

Like everybody else, I been out of because of the crazy Flu and sore throat to add. I should of been drinking ginger tea like Jakub for a sore throat. So just until recently, I been slowly getting back into my tea drinking routine. I just tried 2011 Yunnan Sourcing "Yi Dian Hong"












Leaves look small, it has no smell to it.  The interesting part of this cake is that"Fermentation level is medium" which if you look on website cause it loose it "fermentation "dui wei". Which when tasting it for the first time, I didn't taste that fermentation at all. 

First infusion tasted lite sweetness on the tongue. 

Second infuction thicker sweet taste and smooth. 

Third and forth a bit stronger lite on sweetness, until I got to the fifth and on the flaver got smoother and sweet. 

Over all the tea was smooth and I didn't tatse any earthy taste or fermentation. For the price $4.00 a hundred grams, its not bad for every day tea!

I leave you with a tree I worked on for a client,  which is a ficus with roots over rock.

What do you see?