ZhiMingDu Bulang 2011

I have a cold today, so I’m going to revisit a “small” tea today: the 2011 ZhiMingDu “whisky” Bulang. I call it “whisky” because, even when young, it displayed those whisky notes found in some expensive aged Dayi teas I sampled at Houde a long time ago. It might be a turbo pu like the Xiaguan Jin Se ‘11; let’s see how it turns out.

It’s a classic Bulang from the start: the bitterness is pronounced but fairly comfortable, and part of it transforms into sweetness. It’s woody, very robust, with some tobacco notes. The aftertaste lingers on the top of the tongue and has good length. Astringency is quite low at the beginning.

The soup is orange, but I think it was already like that in 2011 :) As for the qi, I can’t really tell because of my condition today, but it definitely improves my mood.

After about 6-7 brews, it becomes slightly earthy and mushroomy, with the astringency building up on the tip of the tongue as well. It doesn’t last so long, though. The mouth feels some freshness too.

Later brews are about vegetal bitterness with hints of wood & tobacco, I don’t think i’m going to push it much, it’s clearly durable, but it tightens my jaw a bit.

I was a bit hesitant before starting, but despite being somewhat straightforward, there’s no much disappointment and it’s not harsh. A decent 250g brick for 8 dollars back in 2011, and a rather good medicine for a cold! Perhaps it wasn’t a good enough reason to get two, though!