Name: „2004 Nan Jian Phoenix Aroma Aged“
Vendor: Yunnan Sourcing
Producer: Nan Jian Tea Factory
Origin: Wu Liang Shan (in the county of Jingdong in Simao aka. Pu`er) & Yun Xian county (Lincang)
Link: Tea at YS
For this session i used 6,5 g in a 100 ml gaiwan with boiling water.
If you want to read some thoughts about my way of tea tasting: beginners mind
Smell of the rinse: a bright airy sweet brown sugar, or pyramid cake aroma wich reminds me of the nice smell of freshly falen, yellow leaves in the garden
Drinking it:
1: conifer resin, old books… a little bit of smoke
2: still a bit smoke… not very intense. A fine sort of smoke, like from well prepared smoked meat.
dried red berries
3: Now more sweet, and a bit of brown sugar (or even dates?), pyramid cake?! … astringency and a bit of bitterness that comes along with some tastes of: juniper berries
4: even much sweeter without loosing the other complex aromas… good. Very good balance of sweetness and bitterness (something i always want to say if you like some tea).
Taste of very expensive cigars (likemy uncle use to smoke). Mouthfeel is good, but nothings special.
5: even a bit fungal, but only slightly…
6: suddenly a bit unexpected more fruity note came up… lychee maybe describes it best
Conclusion:
This tea is quite complex, and it is changing quite interesting from round to round. I like the aftertaste as well pretty much.
Where i live the autumn season begins at the moment, and the color and the taste is fitting very well. I even taste some withered leaves or foliage in it, but that might be a psychological thing… with all those beautiful leaves in our garden.
It took me some time to catch this distinct taste of this tea, a „aroma region“ wich maybe is quite typical for semi-aged teas? Or maybe it is something coming from a specific kind of (dry) storage? First i called it: resin, fir … and smoke… but later i guess this dominating taste is just that what is called „tobacco“ very often. I’m wondering about myself, that on one day i could describe something as resin (yes, the glue-like stuff in trees) or pine… with smoke… and on the other day just as having a clear tabacco-like profile.
At this point i would love to learn much more about tea and realizing that on my journey i`m very much at the beginning.
I guess for some people it could be “neither fish nor fowl” … it is far away from young sheng and at the same time it has some certain taste wich is (i guess) a sign of a not “fully” (or „more“) aged tea.
Sidenote: i know people differ on the question what a “fully aged” tea is very much, some say 30 years, some say 14 or 20+ … etc., so i use this term with all that caution.
tastes: pyramid cake, raisin, dates, brown sugar, dried red berries, lychee, juniper berries, … pine resin, tabacco, smoke
5 Star Conclusion
Mutability from brew to brew:
Bitterness:
Astringency:
Mouthfeel:
Stamina:
Smokeyness:
Dryness:
Frutyness:
Sweetness:
Complexity:
How i personally like the tea: 79%
Steepster-Link: my steepster review