The year 2013 seems to generally mark the final year in Zhongcha’s strict adherence to traditional processing methods. Thus, the Bulang Shengtai is embarking upon a much slower journey toward unabashed sweetness than productions just a year younger. One can pick up a hint of greenness in the aroma, which seems normal enough. There is no hint of green in the taste. The absence of piercing floral bitterness along with an emergent vanilla character indicates a selection of material picked fairly late in the season, corroborated by a time-stamp of early June.
Bulang Shengtai consists of material from elevations of 1400-1600m. At 11 years of age as of ’24, it possess sufficient sweetness to be drunk now. The vanilla forward expression makes for a very friendly everyday drinking experience. Legendary Bulang bitterness forms a thready backbone adding character to the early infusions. That said, gripping astringency makes its presence known by the fourth flash of infusions with waning sweetness reflecting still a very youthful production that will require an additional four years of maturation, if Zhongcha’s processing history holds true to form. In those infusions the vanilla orchid aroma opens considerably making for a promising future. Qi is strong and warming, inducing a hint of “tea sweats.”
First batch. Dry-stored, zero humidity. In LA since Mar ’16, with no storage push on this end.
19¢
| Size | 30g, 357g |
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