Moychay - 2006 Golden Buds Shou Puer

Hello hello!

This week has started to calm down since the car accident earlier this month. Between the insurances and my neck injury, I’ve been having trouble keeping my tea drinking on its regular schedule. However, now that things are calming down, I decided to relax by drinking a shou puer. I don't typically drink shou but I was looking in my tea storage and wanted to try something different, and since it rained all week I thought Moychay’s 2006 Golden Buds Shou Puer would be the perfect choice. Last month I reviewed a tea from Moychay and was pleasantly surprised by it, so will this beeng be as memorable as the last one I tried? Lets find out!

Opening

One thing that jumped out at me about this wrapper is the beautiful design. Something else that caught my eye is that this wrapper is an optical illusion. When you turn this wrapper on its side you’ll be met with a face looking back at you! Anyways, when I opened the wrapper I was met with a beautiful golden-brown beeng that was easy to pry apart. The tea leafs jumped out of this beeng, and resembled the falling rain that was happening right outside my window. It appeared to be clean and well preserved, something that I praise this tea on considering it’s ten years old.

Steeps 1-4

My first session with this tea started out with a quick rinse. I used 6.6 grams of tea for my 100ml vessel. On my first infusion, and before I took my first sip of 2006 Golden Buds, I noticed that this tea’s liquor appeared to be clean. When I took my first sip, I noticed was a very full-bodied taste of olive-wood that quickly filled the mouth. It was light and had a faint linger of tree bark which lasted until the fourth infusion.

Steeps 5-8

Surprisingly, it was the fifth infusion of this tea when a light sweetness made itself known. As my infusion times became longer and longer, the tea became bolder and bolder. However, it still retained that heavy olive-wood flavor but started to become noticeably smoother with a velvet-like finish, which made this tea even more pleasant.

Steps 9-14

Around the ninth infusion, this tea transformed into a thicker version of itself. Just when I thought this tea couldn't get more full bodied, it kept filling the room with intense notes of olive wood and tree bark. The tea’s sweetness also grew stronger as well, and started to leave a oil-like texture that continued to dance with your tastebuds long after you had taken the last sip of this tea. Unfortunately though, on this teas eleventh infusion, the cops were called to break the party and every aspect of this tea left in a hurry. Of course, one of the party goers got shot in the back as the cop felt threatened. If the cops were called for a sheng party, we all know things would go down very differently… (#shoulivesmatter ) I was able to stretch out this tea until the 14th steep, but it was clear that it was well past its prime.

Conclusion

I would like to first compliment this tea on the fact that it wasn’t bitter and didn't fail to evolve throughout out my session with it. On a different note, this tea only retained the same tasting notes through out its session and didn’t hold a strong palate of flavors. However, although this tea held a one dimensional tasting note, its changing texture and body kept 2006 Golden Buds from being dull. Overall, I think that this is a great way to introduce a new tea drinker into a shou that has some age on it. Although this tea isn't revolutionary, it is refreshing to come home to a delicious daily drinker that will never disappoint.

Rating

7.6

disclamer - This tea was sent to me by Moychay