Bada 2008 -EN

As I promised, I will continue blogging in English as well :-)
It was a very beautiful sunny evening in Bratislava. So finally I was able to take some photos, I was satisfied with. But I hope I will be able to make tea outside soon! Today I decided to brew Bada 2008 from selection of Peter Stanik.

As every tea lover I have some teas and fragrances and tastes in them I prefer. That's why we argue so much sometimes (particularly here in Slovak an Czech republic). But I think it's a good thing! Thanks to different preferences of different tea vendors we are able to choose from lot of interesting teas (lot of tea vendors wouldn't agree :D )!  Here is my advice! If you really want to learn something about tea, try to step outside your "taste comfort zone"! You can discover a whole new worlds of beautiful teas and tastes!

Soft and warm sunlight was shining throug my window but it was still very cold day so I decided to use some warmer colours for this tea session. Zhu Ni teapot and cups, tea tray of similar colour, simple teamat and saucers made of sandalwood. I hope I will be able to find some nice Cha Bu soon!

And what about tea itself? As the name tells you leaves come from Bada 巴达 region, which lies in the northern part of Menghai 勐海.  Tea was pressed into 200g cakes (Xiao Beeng Cha) and the pressing is rather light so I asume it was made by hand (stone press). From what Peter told me the tea was pressed for JingHong association of tea lovers (or something like that) and it has been stored in JingHong for last 5 years. Leaves come from old trees. I wouldn´t be afraid to call it Gushu.

Dry leaves have very intense aroma. Sweet and heavy! You can find walnuts and dark molasses. After rinsing you could find even sweeter more fruity aroma, but also some smells from wetter storage (JingHong, Xishuangbanna ) But I think it isn't unpleasant and these smells will disappear after some time in my dry storage. 

I tried different teapots (zhu ni, duan ni, zi ni) and also porcelain. There was differences, but I liked it from every teapot I tried. You should choose what suits you and your tea session most.

Bada 2008 is very smooth for its relatively young age. I like shengs that go nicely "down the throat".  You could taste intense sweetnes, fruits, molasses and what I liked most: camphor. Aftertaste is nice and smooth, not that dryness that is typical for young Taidi Shengs. 

Cha Qi is very strong, but very pleasant and relaxing. Different from very young Gushu teas, that makes you (sometimes uncomfortably) tea drunk after one cup :-D Thanks to this tea and this session I was in realy good mood.  I used about 6-7 grams. And the tea gave me a lot of infusions! I used abot liter and something of hot water.

I bought two cakes of this tea. It has lot of fragrances I like (molasses. ripe fruits, camphor) in nearly every tea and it is reasonably priced. I think that Peters Bangpen 2008 is objectively better (check what Hobbes wrote) but personaly I like Bada more :-) Btw if you have any suggestions on teas with taste profile I described please contact me. 
So have a nice day and see you soon!