Charles Thomas Draper

This one is wild….

The ritual has changed the rules are broken and I am loving it….

Now learn Qi Gong and drink your pu-erh just before attempting to enter the Grand Heavenly Circle ;-)

By the way, is this the one minute eternity or the genuinely exceptionally long steep?

I just brewed up the Yiwu this morning in my yixing pot devoted to sheng pu’er. I was wondering to myself why the Yiwu has received less attention than the Artisan Revival. I am glad that the Yiwu can be a trusty guide down the path of pu’er. It is an inexhaustible path, winding in all directions, and full of wonder.

For the first time this morning I notcied that warming effect. I usually think of this as a very cooling tea, with cedar notes and a cooling aftertaste and feeling. This morning, I felt the warmth in my chest. Very interesting. Perhaps the tea is growing.

By the way, perhaps you or Jim Marks can illuminate me in the trademark style of brewing. I love hearing new ways to brew the tea!
Best Wishes,
David

I’ll leave it to Charles to re-articulate which of my heresies he has embarked upon ;-)

I tend to associate pu-erh with a vigorous activation of the chi energy and a cleansing of the organs — a very warming event — but then I mostly drink shu rather than sheng pu-erh and perhaps there is a bit of a yin/yang thing going on where sheng tends to be more cooling. I know there are some Qi Gong movements, such as Wag the Tail & Raise the Head from the Eight Brocades, that actually cool the chest rather than warm.

My sample of Shu is coming Jim. Another path….

@ David, I will brew the Artisan again and I’m sure it will be totally different….

@Jim, genuine exceptional long steep.

Ah yes. @David ~ he means a 15-30 minute steep. I used to do this with large tea pots when I worked in a corporate office, make a huge batch of highly concentrated ph-erh and then add hot water to each cup as the day went to avoid having to get up and make tea every 20 minutes throughout the day.

Practical, but also produced a very unique, intense cup.

@Jim – I will have to try that! Luckily I work in an office that has an electric water heater but I feel like I am making tea constantly!

I would recommend doing this with a tea that is good enough to drink but not so fine that it will be in any sense wasted, as this is kind of the sledge hammer approach to steeping.

I used to get the “Celestial Tribute” pu-erh from Upton Teas which was, for many years, my “good enough” pu-erh of choice.