Toucha from Mulan (7 XI 24): Leaves and empty cup: old temple wood, apricot marmelade. Kombu. Nose a bit muddy. Slightly smoked ham. Wood fire. Cup slightly metallic.

2006 Laochatuo puer from www.yxhxtea.net (IV 19): old puer smell, most probably shu, but pleasant. old wood, old leather, Waldboden. Cup: Taste a bit thin, a bit metallic. Not too bad, but also not great. (“Lao Cha Tou” is known as the old tea nugget, which is formed during the Pu’er piling fermentation process. During the piling fermentation, the temperature increases gradually, and they ferment via their interior enzyme and slowly becomes ripe Pu’er. During the whole process, the workers need to stir and turn over the teas about 4-5 times, so that the heat will not burn the tea leaves. During the fermentation and stirring, the tea leaves excrete pectins and soluble sugar, as such some tea leaves cling together.)

tea fossils from www.yxhxtea.net (IV 19) (called Cha Tou): dusty filter coffee nose, dead animal, a bit musky, too. smells basisch / alcaline. Cup quite similar, filter coffee and some animalic funk in the back. Borderline disgusting, borderline cool. Still this alcaline quality, some dried, dusty dates aroma.

white2tea's Lumber Slut 2018 (4 V 19): classic shou nose, old cellar, leather, filter coffee, some berries? Quite pleasant. Cup medium thick, medium complex. Website says: favor the dense flavors of petrichor, this style of ripe Puer is focused on unfolding as a woody experience with notes of camphor and lower umber toned tastes. I get the forest floor, not so much the rest, I find it quite sweet and approachable. But for a $19 cake, it's pretty great.

1 V 23 (Western Tasting): quite deep leather color, very slighty haze. Nose m. intense, aroma of wet stone, wet leaves, ivy, blackcurrant leaf, leather, wet cedar, earth. M. body, m. sweetness, no astringency at all. Again leather, wet stones. M+ finish. Easy drinking, clarity, no complexity, very good.

whtie2tea's Waffle (17 V 19): reddish hues, easy peasy drinking, slighty sweet; a bit of filter coffee, hints of rotten leather. Easy drinking, nothing to write home about.

white2tea's Nameless One (2020) (23 XII 21): A blend of what they say is high-end material from different regions, pile-fermented and blended. Quite powerful, not too much fish-sauce. A bit of a ricola-candy note.

w2t Bringer (2021) (23 XII 21): Again, blend of different fermentation levels. Much more shou-like than Nameless One, albeit quite round.