’07 Beijing Olympics, Zhongcha 357g cake

After two days of concerted digging, our excavation team reached the stratum of 2007. A veritable forest of Zhongcha productions could be found, many commemoratives too boot.  Beneath a well preserved Year of the Pig, I uncovered a tattered Beijing Olympics.  It’s a chopped cake that has been dry-stored.  Quite unsightly, especially on the reverse side.

I threw 6g into a small yixing: wax, straw.  Sour stage?  No fragrance.  Orange juice.  Astringent.  Wax paper.  Tastes like what I imagine some of their younger Yiwu productions might age into.  There is no punch to this production and strikes me as lifeless.

Days two and three it is significantly tastier.  Same leaves.  The aged layers have melted away to reveal a little peach, with the fuzzy, mild astringency, remarkable qi emanating from the Iron Man point at the center of the chest.

Longhorn orange, opaque, pours up sudsy, with a liquor evocative of dishwater.  Very deceptive, for every bit as subtle its flavour, every bit as intense is its qi.

Two days later, I switch to a gaiwan, again using 6g.  Aroma is much more inviting, sweet mellow fruit and dry sweet straw.  The taste is evocative of the Korean yellow melon, with a distinctive sour finish, consistent with earlier in the week.  No bitterness.  The huigan is more pronounced and very pleasant.  Five infusions of varying degrees, higher temp is perhaps better.  Liquor is much clearer.  The next two days of about five infusions each are more of the same, with a light essence of bubble gum.  Remains consistently sweet, never bottoming out into bitterness.  The sour seems to disappear after about 7 infusions in.  Lasts and lasts.