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1996 The Unknown Tuocha | ||
| Genre: Compressed Sheng/Green/Uncooked/Raw | ||
| Factory: Unknown | ||
| Vendor: Unknown | ||
| Reviewed by Unknown -oops! Tea Junkie on 03/23/2008 | ||
| Background | A 100gm plain tissue wrapped tuo with '1996' written on it. That is the sum total of my knowledge of this tea, and a caution to all that keeping a carefull record of all teas you are keeping is a must to avoid the dreaded mystery tea. | |
| Dry Leaf Appearence: | Dark brown leaf with deep tan colored tips. The loose tea from breaking down the tuo was a mixed bag of leaf and bud sets and broken material. Aroma was malty and leathery, but without any jerkiness or smoke. Looks good so far... | |
| Water to Leaf Ratio: | 15 gr of Leaf in 150 ml of water | |
| Brewing Method: | Rinsed once for 10 seconds, allowed to sit for five minutes then on with the brew. Gongfucha for one, with the excess collected into a large mug for the later sipping. I used filtered tap water because I used up all my springwater stash earlier this week and neglected to buy some last night. Still, the filtered tap water is sweet and unassuming, it could probably use a boil in a Yixing or a Silver kettle but it should suffice for such an informal session. | |
| Wet Leaf Appearence: | Green little pieces with some whole budsets mixed in here and there. The leaf is still leathery in aroma and I can get a touch of Qi just from smelling the guywan. | |
| 1st Steep | 45 seconds 195 degree water. True to my suspicions, the compression was firm enough to yield a slightly delicate cup. Predominate notes were honey, sassafrass, leather, and fresh cut maple planks, the astringency was a flitting little cottonwood leaf floating amidst the miscellany. Very pleasant and certainly aged more than five years. | |
| 2nd Steep | 30 seconds of steeping and the liquor was a light amber color with a pungent aroma of leather and malt. It actually reminded me of driving by a brewery when they are malting the grains, a pungent cloying aroma that is almost sickenning. But then again I am no fan of sweet. The Qi from this tea is abrupt, but not in the instant it hits your tongue manner like Taiwanese Oolongs, but rather in a sort of flash that comes as the malt and maple do-se-do about the back of your tounge during the finish. The leather is a bit too strong to call this a fine tea, it would have been better served with another ten years, but given the circumstances I just had to know what it was. | |
| 3rd Steep | 20 seconds and again a light amber liquor that splashes the mouth with the same malt and leather and wood notes throughout the experience. The difference between steeps 2 and 3 are almost indistinguishable except in the medicinal tinge and tart not in the final moments of the finish. Again good but not great, the notes are too assuming and imbalanced. To young to drink at 12 years. | |
| 4th Steep | 20 seconds steeping provided simply more of the same. Steeps 2, 3, and 4 are all the same brusque brew, though in 4 the astringency has finally made a serious showing making the almost intollerably long finish last even long and now closing out sweet rather than tart. | |
| Subsequent Steeps | Out to fifteen steeps since twenty seconds yielded good strong cups out to the eighth infusion and I probably burned out before the tea did since I had only made it to ninety seconds on steep fifteen. The flavor profile in the openning was always leather, malt and maple - all very pleasant and appealing but just too much leather still and in need of more years. The session overall was very enjoyable for the strong Qi that the tea carries, but the aesthetics of the cup were not quite clicking yet. This tuo is loose now, but I have a couple of jars that will suit it well for continued ageing in my storage room. If I am still posting in another 5 years I will return to the mystery tea and let folx know what I have found. | |
| Conclusion | This was an excersize in the dangers of being too informal in the storage and cataloging of your teas. I found this 100 gm tuo in the bottom of a box as I was rotating my stock, it was wrapped in a plain piece of tissue paper with '1996?' written on it. I cannot for the life of me remember where and when I acquired this piece, and it is nowhere to be found in my database or photographic record of my collection. This is truly mystery tea, it cannot be any less than two years old since the box it is in has never had the contents properly rotated and the various cakes and jincha in that box were all acquired in 2005. The handwriting is certainly mine on the wrapper but beyond that I have nothing to add about the pedigree of the tea. I have friends that I drink with and we regularly share gifts of little tuos or mini cakes when we get together, but none of them have owned up to being the supplier of the tuo. I suspect tea sprites are about my storage room, looting other people's supply and leaving their ill gotten goodies in my boxes. Evidence is circumstantial at best, but I will keep my eyes and ears piqued for anything out of the ordinary in my backyard. | |
| Sorry, no Photos | ||