Looking back over your previous notes before proceeding to revisit a tea allows you to make a more comprehensive comparison. It is an approach that I personally find has helped me advance my education on the development and journey of puerh tea as it evolves. Coincidentally the last time I enjoyed a session with the 2009 Essence of Tea (EOT) Bulang also happened to be at a time I posted my experience on Teachat. Below is an entry I dug up from Teachat at the beginning of the year for a repost. I share my notes here as a prelude to the next entry on “A Comparative Pictorial of Multi-Year Essence of Tea Bulang”.
Repost from Teachat (January 2015)
Drinking the EOT 2009 Bulang brings back memories.
Looking at some highlights of 2009 - Barack Obama becomes US President - Abhisit Vejjajiva is Thailand Prime Minister - Sri Lankan Civil War ends after 26 years of fighting - Michael Jackson passes away - H1N1 swine flu causes international concern - the puerh market continues to recover from the bursting of the 2007 bubble - and of course the highlight, the EOT 2009 Bulang was released to puerh enthusiasts worldwide.
The tea itself is still full on. The dark floral like aromas are intense followed by a background of sweetness. The taste has slightly darken and mellow with time but is still powerful and potent. The brew is nicely textured and feels filling in the mouth. It is my impression that Bulang teas don’t quite have the complexity of Banzhang but I can see this aging really well. My problem is I have 1 ½ teacakes remaining, so when it finally matures into a classic age tea in maybe a few decades in the future I may have only 10g left for a final pot.
A toast to 2009 and a big thank you to EOT!
VP