2012 Mooncake, Yangpin Hao
This is the first Yangpin Hao of the ripe nature that I’ve sampled. It’s the only so far as well. I’d put this in the dark-roast category of ripes. But, I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s discuss the brick itself…
Pressed into a compact yet easily decompressed square brick of 200g, the Mooncake is just as its name suggests. Mooncakes are confections, filled cookies of sorts, made of a baked crust on the outside and filled with sweet stuff, egg yolk, and meat with different permutations thereof. The bread-like outer crust is formed from a mold that has characters that say auspicious things in addition to informing what’s inside. They’re called “Mooncakes” because they’re eaten during the full moon of the Mid-Autumn festival, also called the Moon Festival.
The Mooncake has been pressed in a mold with the Yangpin Hao logo. It breaks apart easily without crumbling, flaking off easily with my porcelain-handled tea-needle blade. It is not overly compressed, so the taste of the brew releases quickly. After the first 15s infusion, following flash brews were more than sufficient for the next four rounds before adding 30s to the next two before cashing out. About 6 infusions.
Besides the deep roast taste, Mooncake possesses a taste reminiscent of Johnson’s baby powder smell. This signature can be detected in some of their raw productions as well. Consistent with baby powder, this note is quite soft but prevailing. Other tastes include dried-fruit sweetness and active “zinganoids,” which play on the tongue for a pleasing spell after drinking. The tannins suggest that even though it’s plenty fine for drinking now, there’s more to expect with age. There is no wodui in the taste but there is distinctive hand in the fermentation style.
