I decided to give the Essence of Tea club a try for a few months. I’ve always been a fan of Essence of Tea and want to explore more of their teas.
April 2019’s tea club is a 2007 WuZhou Liubao. I got around 100 grams of tea. For $35 including shipping, that isn’t a bad price.
Leaf and Steeping Method
Opening the package, the tea has a wet wood and chestnuts scent. It’s has a moderate humid funky scent.
I used 1 gram of leaf per 15ml of vessel size, gongfu style. I used boiling water and did two rinses. The hot wet leaf as strong wet earth and nutty aroma.
Tasting of 2019 April Essence of Tea Club 2007 WuZhou Liubao
First, Second, and Third Infusion: I like the clarity of this Liubao, no cloudy or dusty bits.
2007 WuZhou Liubao is squeaky glass in texture with strong mineral notes. The back of the throat hits wet driftwood and nutty flavour. There is a crystal sweetness that finishes the sip and lingers.
Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Infusion: The age is showing here as the 2007 WuZhou Liubao is developing a slick oily texture and a dark chestnut shell and dark wood depth. The dark woody note lingers in the mouth, eventually opening to a soft bruised stone fruit sweetness.
The energy in this tea is highly calming. I got The Smiths on repeat and I’m pretty relaxed compared to an hour ago I was a bit anxious about blog work piling up.
Ninth, Tenth, and Eleventh Infusion: The 2007 WuZhou Liubao is losing the oiliness and going back to squeaky. I accidentally oversteeped the tenth infusion while watching house plant videos, however, I discovered this Liubao is bombproof. 2007 WuZhou Liubao is still crystal sweet and woodsy. The longer steep has a pleasant dirt earth note.
Twelfth and Thirteenth Infusion: 2007 WuZhou Liubao is still going. It steeps up lighter and tastes of sugarcane and sweet earth. The final infusion was strongly sugar cane and sweet.
Comments
I experienced a strong start to the Essence of Tea Club. 2007 WuZhou Liubao is a friendly Liubao as the fermentation funk is out and the ageing notes are in. It has great contrasting textures of oily and glass, as with sweetness and earth. It comes as promised with calm productive energy.
I quite like 2007 WuZhou Liubao as it has a satisfying humid earth flavour without being funky. I would likely drink the rest of this bag without any trouble.
