8582 to 8582

Promised a friend in Boston to do a 8582 finale today.
So I dug up my remaining 25g early this morning to let it breath for 10 hrs. (the first production of this blend was recorded within 1980 to 1985)

Here are the infus 1 to 11, using a 50ml pot for 4g tea.
3 ranges of boils, Poland Spring water:
fish eye water.*
shrimp eye water.**
shrimp eye with 1 shot of cold water.***

Dry leaves in heated pot:
Woody, dry bamboo, dry shitake, sweet aroma.

Instant Rinse sit 2 mins. water*
Complex Woody, camphor, linen, leather and full.

I am going to combine both aroma and flavor together. It's hard to break this down with this kind of tea....

1 INFUS. 10 sec. water** (left pic. top cup)
Liquor color: Burnt Amber / Clear / Gloss
Bitter sweet, woody and I am saying Lots of Wood, on flavor and nose! Camphor, dry mouth and thick, not so balanced.
Very active, but not astringency, strong palate, numbing lips and tongue. Cranky!

2 INFUS. 15 sec. water** (left pic. bottom cup)
Liquor color: Burnt Amber / Clearer / Gloss
Still bitter sweet, corky, little bite on the palate. Minerals / metallic / talc. Still very woody and camphor.
Aftertaste is too complex to break-down yet, sweet and hint of sour and mint.

I am using 15sec instead of instant or 5-10 sec steeping, because I am familiar with this tea.
This way, I get more complexity and multi-dimension to the first 5. I find this best to test the changing of it's character thru aging, this method burns me with a deeper memory.

3 INFUS. 15 sec. water**
Liquor same till the 5th.
Talc! Old time grandma's cosmetic foundation! Bitter sweet chocolate, still camphor with more bite. Clean and clear, hint of mint finish (maybe this is the reason of breaking down the camphor characteristic). Numbing persisted.
I am loving this brew. Complex and Nostalgic. Full (dense) and Alluring. Liquor has good legs / tears.

4 INFUS. 10 sec. water**
Powerful. Minerals / Talc, pronounced sweetness overall in mouth-feel and aftertaste. Bitterness gone. Very alluring because it's mellowing down.

5 INFUS. 30 sec. water**
Liquor color: Golden Amber / Clear / Oily
The tea is in the stage of recovery. My motion at slow, entering the stage of calm and peace. Numbing affected the mouth thru the throat. Sweetness lingers from the back to the front. Mucus forming from the back of throat. Breaking little sweat.

I called this "Calm before the storm." Good puerh tends to have a stage of retreat around 5-8 infus. Tranquil but alluring.
Drinking way too fast! Have to pace myself better! Resting for 10 mins before moving on.

6 INFUS. 45 sec. water***
Liquor color: Golden dark Amber
No more legs. Fresh, fruits, hint of dry plum, floral. Hint of talc turned perfume. Much more fragrance. Medium oolong bouquet and finish.

7 INFUS. 45 sec. water**
Liquor color: Golden Amber
Aftertaste overwhelmed with sweetness. Sign of a dying oolong with the oily finish. Peach....? Cooked peach! Clean talc cosmetic reappeared!! Dry and brut in the beginning, then moisturizing the throat, mucus forming. Still numbing.

8 INFUS. 60 sec. water***
Liquor color: Light Amber
Fruits to Veggie! Spinach, Fresh Songyi mushroom, White bamboo shoot, Lotus seeds, (Yes, I am crazy!!) Talc. Clean, light woody and minty finishes.

9 INFUS. 60 sec. water***
Liquor color: Light Amber
Lying down to enjoy... way to mellow, calm and breaking sweat. Motivation of reporting heavy... enjoying the moment....
Lotus seed, lotus leaf, cosmetic talc, minty light camphor, kept coming....

10 INFUS. 75sec. water** (Right pic. top cup)
Liquor color: Medium Light Amber
Talc and Explosive sweetness, coating both breath and throat. Mineral fragrance, short but powerful. Dry finish then moisturize the mouth.
I think this temp is a bit high. Should go back to water***, it created the oily taste, over cooked.... Still clean finish, but minty gone, camphor gone, woody gone.

Anyone getting sick of this yet!? I am going to cold brew this after the 11th. for a couple of hrs. At this stage drinking this cool is The Mandarin's way : )

11 INFUS. 90sec. water*** (Right pic. bottom cup)
Lotus is back! This are a handful of puerhs I'd encountered with lotus bouquet and flavor. I prefer this over the aged / pickled plum. Much more elegant and refined. Sweetness and numbing persisted. I am predicting the talc going to come back in a different way.

Overall, a challenging tea. Not elegant as introduction in the first 3 infusions. Lively and Cranky. Surely will show bite-marks if handle carelessly. Surprising personality. Very wholesome and pleasurable. It's a great paring with my Epicure No.2 1997, Hoyo de Monterrey.

The robust complexity of this 80's cake reminds me of my other 80's brick from same Factory #2. Will post the comparison in the future. http://themandarinstea.blogspot.com/2006/05/600g-80s-menghai-factory-brick.html

12 hrs later....

This is the 18th infus. After a couple more heated steepings last night and a cool brew sitting overnight. I transfered them to a larger gaiwan. Using a "traditional Yunnan high mountain brewing" in short, NO BS. Hot water** tea in bowl. More water to tea ratio now. Some leaves have not fully unfurled (thanks Lawrence : ), dark green, brown and blackish to the stems, large and medium size leaves.

Winter Melon, Talc, floral, hint of bamboo, soft on the palate but thick on the throat.

Finally I find the true talc flavor: This is a floral talc, perfumed powder cosmetic talc with peony bouquet! And where is my lotus?

I am going to end this, I believe everyone including me had enough....