So anyway I figured I'd just post some quick impressions of some of the stuff I've been sampling lately. Some stuff that I don't think really deserves a full, long-winded post yet still deserves a mention.
I'll start the post with some of my general thoughts on the Peacock series as a whole, now that I've really had a chance to taste all of them. The only ones that really got me excited were the Peacock of Nannuo, and the Peacock of Bulang. I am really starting to think that the only reason I liked the Peacock of Bulang as much as I did is because I'm just a big fan of Bulang tea in general so my opinion is probably a little biased. Overall any one of them is a safe bet, really. They all are made of good quality leaf, they're all tasty, and overall they just exhibit some classic qualities of good Pu'er tea. The Peacock of Mengsong was the one I found myself most disappointed in, mostly because I expected better. It's still good tea, however so don't let my disappointment discourage your decision of whether or not to purchase. The more of them I tried to keep tasting notes of, I found myself constantly thinking, "this is classic [insert tea mountain here]. If you've had [any tea from this mountain before], you know what this tastes like. It's a perfect representation of [this mountain's tea]. How boring." The Peacock of Mengsong is the only one that really deviated from this formula, so anyone well versed in the Menghai mountains might know exactly what to expect. On to some specific mountain notes.
2008 Menghai Peacock of Bada 400g
Pretty straightforward tea. Being a single-estate big M release, this provides a fairly simple range of flavors. The smell of the wet leaves, however, is absolutely breathtaking. It's like an intensely sweet tobacco-melon. Otherwise, it tastes and looks like a plantation Menghai affair. That's not a bad thing, obviously, as I am a huge fan of Menghai. The thing about it though is that it provides some very familiar Menghai flavors, but in an almost boring fashion. I bet this tea will age into something special, but for my money, I'd rather have the Big Classic at this price range.
2008 Menghai Peacock of Bulang 400g
Classic representation of Bulang shan. It didn't change much from cup to cup, which is fine by me. Huigan took about three or four infusions to show up as pronounced, a slight sweetness with an intense drying of the mouth. A good bitterness taking over in later infusions almost into undrinkability. Brassy, young, assertive, and unapologetic. This is good tea.
This tea, however brings about an interesting dillema for myself personally. I wouldn't buy more than one cake of this, and even then I'd question my sanity when I could easily just pick up a few more cakes of the 2008 Hai Lang Hao "Star of Bulang" for five dollars more a cake. I will have notes up for the Star of Bulang within the next few days to give you a better idea of how to spend your hard-earned cash if you're looking for a good Bulang tea.
2008 Menghai "Springtime Water" 500g
Oily, vibrant, young, energetic. These are pretty good ways of describing the Springtime Water cake from Menghai. A fantastic bang for buck weighing at roughly a pound for a mere $13.70! Be mindful of it's age and tenacity, use slightly less leaf than you normally would and this tea shows you an evolving flavor over infusions, pushing it tends to provide excellent results that differ from the last infusion, while only gaining slightly in a good bitterness and astringency. This is quite simply a surprise tea, a sleeper hit Dayi release for 08. I've not heard anyone even mention this cake this year, and it's really quite a shame. If you're looking for that cake to round out your next order from YSSLC, think twice and take a gamble. I'm sure if you don't agree with me now you might in a few years. Good tea for the money.
Taken from http://teajournaling.blogspot.com/
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