ninepaths, remember that we aren't totally confident about where everything is from, exactly, when it comes to YQH, particularly early years. Dingjipin is a more Wangong-ish sort of tea than Chawangshu.



A few days ago, I decided to go for the '07 XZH Puzhen. It was a bit of a disappointment in that the flavor and aroma was thinner, but there was only the slightest of nods to age (this did much better in a pot last New Years). The qi was very strong. Viscosity was decent, but texture wasn't remarkable. Has that bit of bad throatfeel, which it always had had, later in the session. Always had just powered through it. I enjoyed it, and can imagine that upping the leaf ratio would make this more compelling. However, compared to the progress/nature of the other northern XZH teas, there isn't a true outstanding character to this. The Jinggu Nuercha is very thick soup and sweet, the Xishangmeishao is just more...crisp all around, and more sweet too, and has a defining acidity. The Huangshanlin has that superb lengthy aftertaste... What the Puzhen was when it was young was the outstandingly agreeable taste and aroma, and that has faded a bit with age... What's interesting is that when these teas first came out in late '07-'08, the Puzhen was the favorite of MarshalN, Hobbes, Tomas, etc... I don't know how they'd think of all four teas, today, but for me, it sort of illustrates a bit of difficulty in judging what is a good tea when young. At least back then, this was basically before Bingdao modes became the big thing, as you can see from Hobbes' perplexed reaction to the Shuangjiang Mengku '08 Bingdao.



Today, I had the 2002 7542 that's almost finished--about two more sessions left, I think. It was a little similar to the 2001 I had a few days ago, but it was more bitter, astringent, and the dark depth was not as...rich. The soup wasn't that thick, and there was only a slight softness you get from age. Doesn't really have qi, other than the slightest bit. One could easily think that the Dingxing that I don't like very much is better. It certainly has a richer taste and less bitter/astringent.



A few words for those of you buying samples of new teas, figuring out which teas are the sort of things they should buy:



1) The easiest measure of quality is a potent and active aftertaste deep in the throat. Of course, this means that very few available teas will have this quality. Also, if you don't have enough experience, you might not understand how strong a feeling is strong enough. A weaker feeling in the throat merely ages away. Also, some tea areas don't really feature a strong aftertaste, while being of high quality. Anyways, here's the thing. Virtually all teas with a strong, high quality throat aftertaste age into compelling tea later on. The stuff in the throat is best, but also things like pleasantly sharp bitterness that generates lingering aftertastes in the mouth, or drying astringency that leaves flavor or sweetness for you to salivate away, that will do fine, too, but you aren't necessarily going to get teas with "good enough" other qualities. Stuff can develop a sour note or other off notes like what I've gotten in worse sessions with the '09 YS Bulangs. When things like Huangshanlin lose a lot of positive taste notes, but stays good enough in the well rounded sense, while maintaining an outstanding quality.



2) Check the aroma. If a tea is from a place that doesn't really go boom, like many Yiwus, then if it booms and rises high, be on guard about processing. Lobular leaf tea does make a stronger effort at booming aromas, and so do some northern teas. The biggest check is that the aroma above the soup should last. If you go away for like thirty seconds to a minute after pouring into cup, when you come back, do you easily get interesting smells? Now, more generally, a good tea will generate an aroma that sort of "curls" in your nostrils. It should be active feeling, a feeling of depth, even when you're not smelling very much. Puerh has never *really* been about aroma in the way green tea or oolongs are. If you sort of thing of a gaoshan oolong as big cloudy-puffy aroma, then think of puerh as a sort of gauzy silk. It should shimmer and ripple.



3) Do not focus on viscosity. Most teas that are decently made will age and get thicker. It's also fairly easy, it seems, to produce a premium tea with good thickness, at least when young. What you should do is to focus on *texture*. I've more or less found that teas with good texture keeps some aspect of that quality more readily than teas with great thickness. So take a bit of soup in your mouth, sit it between the tongue and the roof of your mouth, and gently massage the liquor, squeeze the liquor out of the trapped area, and then swallow. You want to feel if this tea has some softness to it, like cotton (many Yiwus, especially with age, will have a delicate cotton softness), feel if the tea has juicy pectin (which is common), feel if the tea has some degree of oiliness (which is good), feel if the tea has some degree of silkiness (which is best, and some of these teas have thin soups when new. When they thicken up, though...). Some teas have high surface tension soups that are fun, in a snotball way.



4) Taste is pretty easy. Does it fill the mouth, with a solid sense of taste? Many not as good teas have much of their flavor around the bitterness. Factory teas tend to have a theme, with a narrow sense of taste. Which many people do like, because they hit the notes that they are supposed to, compared to much looser tasting gushu teas! You should be happy with what the flavor is, even if you know it will be pretty different later on. If it's ticking off that holistic puerh checklist, whatever it will be, when it's older, is also likely to be something at least minimally pleasing to you. Don't get teas you don't like the taste of.



5) It is hard to measure the true quality of qi in young teas, since much of that will be caffeine. What I will suggest though, is to take a break in the middle of the session, say, after eight brews or so. If you're getting a nice calming feel in a thin tasting soup later on, that might be stuff that will keep and get better. Typically though, qi doesn't improve in strength with age. Most teas will decline in strength of qi until maybe about eight to ten years old. Then you start having the qi becoming more full of a certain kind of character, rather than the usual straightforward ennervation, relaxation, so forth and on. Don't buy tea with qi patterns you don't like.



6) Look at leaves. Don't worry too much about red leaves. Worry a bit about leaves with red margins and midribs, as that might suggest a bit of artifice. Might still not be worrisome if there aren't too many of them. Do worry about really bright green leaves. Not neon green, but close enough.