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Today I am drinking some lovely tea labeled “mystery raw” that came in from the White2Tea sale. Before I even decided to drink this tea, I knew once again I was in for another tea lesson in attachment and suffering; If I end up loving this tea, no matter how much I love it I can never have anymore of it EVER after this small bit is gone. Now, if I were a more experienced pu drinker, I might be able to accurately guess what this is. I kind of think I might be in the ballpark. And because I have decided, a la Mary Catherine Gallagher, to express my feelings not with words (or a monologue or song), but rather through Memegenerator.net, here is what I’ve got so far:
http://i.imgur.com/rXTfndk.jpg
So I think it’s an older sheng? You know why I’m saying that? Because it’s darker than 2015 shengs I’ve seen. Which may just go to prove just what my current level of understanding is when it comes to pu’er:
http://i.imgur.com/vkAG2Cp.jpg
So, the flavor is sweet but also vaguely smokey, not bitter until the middle steeps, then it calms down again and there’s some camphor. It’s about 400 degrees in here but I think I can see my breath. My mouth is dryyyyyy. And yet, I’m also sweating. I think my whole head and my tongue is swollen. In a good way, like, a funky non-anaphalixis kind of way. But really, I can’t help but continue to ask…
My dad works at a tech company and when they have employees come in from Asian countries, they often bring gifts. One of the gifts was a tin on tea from this guy that has a small tea farm. From what my father said, it was a side hobby/project that the man had. My father isn’t a fan of tea, but graciously accepted the gift and passed it onto the biggest tea fanatic he knows. Lucky me! I can’t read any of the writing on the tin, so I don’t really know anything else about this tea.
It looks like a dragonwell, so I steeped it for two minutes at 175. It is very buttery, a little sweet and a very light grassy/hay taste. As the cup cools I get a little bit of a mineral like taste in the end of the sip, which could very well be my water source. This tea is so light and tasty!
BanZhang King Ripe (ha ha…) as the label reads from White2tea moving sale. As you all know by now laobanzhang or LBZ is the greatest of all puerh. All other puerh bows in its presence, which is how it got to be known as the king of puerh. First you might notice that this tea has no age, that’s cause LBZ trees are magical and can travel back and forth through time at will. No one knows exactly how old the tea is when being picked. This tea could be from a tree that doesn’t yet exist and has traveled back in time. Another possibility is that Paul, the owner of White2tea, a well known time lord and used his puerh powered tardis station to capture this mystical tea in some unknown dimension. Now that we all know a little more about LBZ its on to the tasting.
Before removing the wrapper one must make sure to put on welding goggles or very dark sunglasses to protect the eyes since the tea itself shines like the sun. Carefully removing the wrapper I pick up the cake and it fills me with powerful energy, it feels like electricity coursing through my veins. In fact I happened to be holding a light bulb in my other hand and it would light up whenever I was touching the LBZ. The tea seemed to know I was in the mood for a 10 gram session, a good sized chunk removed itself from the rest of the cake, floated in the air till it settled in my gaiwan and proceeded to separate itself into it’s individual leaves. LBZ doesn’t smell of anything in the traditional sense. Wisdom, enlightenment and intelligence are what my brain registers as I hover over my gaiwan and sniff.
I grab my kettle, pour some hot water over the tea, drain my gaiwan directly into my cup and stare into what looks like the infinite. Grabbing my cup I bring it slowly to my lips for the first sip of his majesty….Reality melts from around me, replaced by something that can not be described in any words I know. The effect is like loading the universe into a cannon, aiming at my brain and firing. Kubrick probably drank this right before writing the end of 2001. All sense of time and self are gone. I am a being of pure energy travelling the cosmos. Eventually I come to on the floor wearing nothing but my goggles, having a full grown beard and still holding my cup. The clock reads a minute later and the date is the same. Time for myself has obviously passed at a much different rate than the world around me….
Having now tried the King of all puerh I can see why it’s so sought after. It’s an experience like no other but not one to be taken lightly. I suggest all who wish to try it read this carefully and be prepared.
Preparation
No hyperbole here! ;-)
Paul from White2tea wrote haha…. On the label I’m guessing since no one would ever make a ripe out of Banzhang material so I decided to write a silly story about it
Sure, why not. It was very entertaining! Well done!
There is a difference between Ban Zhang and Lao Ban Zhang… this is almost certainly not LBZ, but sounds delicious none the less! http://www.thechineseteashop.com/blog/more-about-ban-zhang-pu-erh-teas/
i envy your excellent writing skills! very entertaining, agree with looseTman.
Boychik if my high school English teachers ever read that someone envied my writing skill I think that they would faint lol. Wilson I know it’s not lbz or probably even bz just makes for a more ridiculous story :)
Best. Review. Ever.
Having a 2014 Ma Hei mini tuo from I think the Tea Horse Family production.
I received this from a friend and I am still waiting on some more info on it.
I let this one open up overnight after rinsing it twice.
Impressions, I worked the tuo open and saw some decent leaf in there.
Brewing it, light yellow color. Brew itself, it starts a little soft like a Yiwu and then it kicks like a Lao Man E. Not bitter but the bit of mouth numbing effect to it.
Cooled it gives a touch more bitter but not enough to turn anyone off for such a young sheng.
Why let it sit all night?
Tuos can be hard to break open without destroying the tea. A rest period after the rinse lets the tea open up a bit before brewing. Usually gets a better brew early on after the rest period.
Because it releases the flavor by steeping with the moisture, just like shou, right? But what I’m wondering is, does it really take all night for this tea?
I never thought about letting a puerh “open up” for an extended time. I need to try this! I am humbled by your great knowledge and skill, mrmopar!
This is a a must for tightly compressed Puerh for sure. This helps you avoid over steeping the outer layer of the leaves by the time the piece of the cake/tuo opens and exposes the leaves inside.
Mrmopar have you ever tried steaming your tuos for loosening them up? sounds cool, but I feel like I’d damage my tea, or not let it dry enough for storing it again in loose form.
ashmanra, just a trick I learned.
JC, I have seen the videos but I haven’t tried it. I think my ability would fall short on that technique.
Visiting Japan and starting the day off with whatever the hotel gave us, so all I know is this is “roasted tea.” The opening note is a very typical genmaicha, perhaps with a hint of seaweed. It really stands out, however, with the end of the sip, which is an intense apricot. I’d rate it higher if I was a bigger fan of apricot. Not bad for free tea.
Flavors: Apricot, Rice, Roasted, Seaweed
Another sipdown of some of DAVIDs summer collection from last year. This time it was Hard Candy. I found last year this actually got a little bland for me so I decided to add a couple of teaspoons of Pink Passion-fruit. Now mixing teas can be a little hit or miss, but this pairing was awesome! My boyfriend and I chugged down almost the whole pitcher in a few hours, which is rare for us (him especially). If I’m lucky there might be a glass left for breakfast.
I decided to sipdown what I had left of Strawberry Colada but ended up mixing it with Mango Madness as I didn’t have much left and I’ve always found it a bit tart anyway. I guess I ended up using too much Mango Madness, as this is too sweet and orange-y for me. There’s still a fairly dominant strawberry taste, but I feel it was a bit of a waste. Ah well.
50-50 mix of Mango Diablo and Kiwi’s Big Adventure. Well okay, maybe a little heavier on the Kiwi’s big adventure; it’s a light tea and I didn’t want it to get drowned out with spice.
The Kiwi and Mango mixed together seems to make…melon… Not that I’m complaining—there’s nothing wrong with melon. It just wasn’t what I was expecting. Other fruit notes as well, as is to be expected. Considering how much I have of both these teas right now, I’ll probably go for this combo again, just to switch things up.
Today’s experiment was 50:50 Cool Cactus and Mango Diablo and boy, what a delicious tropical explosion! There’s so much going on here—lime, mango, pineapple, prickly pear, strawberry, spice, etc—that every mouthful is different. It’s like eating a bag of tropical skittles!
A bit of a more adventurous cold brew today; I decided to go for a 50:50 mix of Ruby Red and Ginger Beer. They’re actually really good together! Ginger up at the front with a refreshing citrus finish. i didn’t make much because I wasn’t sure how it’d go, but I’d brew this up again.
Mixed up a cold brew blend of Pink Passionfruit and Ruby Red and it’s actually really good! I was concerned for a moment when I realized I’d totally forgot about it (it steeped for about 60 hours vs. the 24 I was aiming for :/ ) but it didn’t turn syrupy and it’s just got a nice, not too tart, grapefruit flavour. If you’ve got these lying around (though I know Pink Passionfruit was discontinued, so it seems unlikely), give it a go.
Mixed together some of DAVID’s Kashmiri Chai and Chocolate Chili Chai this morning (50:50). Was a little hesitant as I was afraid of how the chili would mix, but it’s so good. Really brings out chocolate and marzipan (I still don’t understand why I get marzipan from the Kashmiri Chai, but I do every time) with subtle spice notes in the background. Would recommend.
Preparation
Decided to follow the advice of a fellow steepsterite and mixed up a 50-50 mix of Salted Caramel and Peanut Butter Cup, and it was a fantastic idea! The blend was very heavy on the salted caramel tastes (which I’m glad had a decent amount of salt; I feared it wouldn’t be noticeable) with a light peanut/chocolate taste in the background. The two teas mix nicely. I’ll certainly finish off the last tsp. of my sample of Peanut Butter Cup like this.
Preparation
Today was Happy Tea Mail Day !
I received a care package from Grill. Samples of 2 sheng. One is a mystery.
I love mystery teas.
Dry leaves are gorgeous, long, golden tips ,silvery and dark. Smelled a little like FF Darjeeling, somewhat floral and hay.
5g 75ml gaiwan 200F
rinse/ pause/ short steeps, almost flash
The brew is bright yellow with slight orange tint. Wet leaves smell a little smoky but it didnt translate into taste. its smooth, pleasantly bitter, and somewhat astringent (that didnt bother me at all)
By the 4th steep i was tea drunk and had a dumb smile on my face. I felt the energy concentrated on my eyes, i tried to open them wide haha . Also my face feels numb on a cheeks and around the mouth.
I have a feeling this tea has long legs and i will continue it tomorrow. For now, i need to make a dinner.
Thank you so much Grill for sharing this sheng with me. its excellent tea and quite an experience.
PS He promised me to tell what tea it is after i finish my sessions ;)
Preparation
2 grams of Sir Thomas Lipton Earl Grey from Lipton, plus
1 gram of Origins Darjeeling Tea from Twinings
I have these two big tins of teas which I don’t like. I don’t find them any good, neither black nor for builder’s brew. But I don’t want to forget about them and leave them to waste. So I thought, why not blend them together and see how it comes out?
Glad that I experimented. The result was surprisingly nice. Not that they tasted wonderful together, but at least I didn’t have the urge to make a “meh” face like I did with them individually.
The bergamot flavor from the Lipton EG was still there, it was light and quiet, in the background. The Ceylon from Lipton and Darjeeling from Twinings blended together they produced this interesting sweetness that was quite pleasant. And then their astringent taste… how should I explaine… It was like, when tasting these two teas individually separately, they broadcasted their loneliness by producing astringent taste. Now that I married them two, they broadcasted their happiness by producing a sweet taste.
Oh geez, sorry I sound like a 5 yr old… I will just shut up and go drink more tea now.
Preparation
LOL… that is an interesting way to phrase the blending. :) I have a canister of teas I’m not wild about (all unflavored blacks so nothing is going to overpower anything else) and I use the to cold steep overnight in the fridge for iced tea. Franken-tea. :)
So you put every unflavored black teas that you don’t like in the same tin? And then make cold brew tea from the blend?
I always worry the liquid while cold brewing will also absorb weird smell in the fridge.
Yes. I put it in a pitcher and cover it tightly. So no weird smells get in the tea.
It’s that time of year again for great tea value opportunities! …
TeaVivre’s 4th Anniversary Celebration!
http://teavivre.com/sale/anniversary-celebration.html
I’m actually drinking a green tea called blue butterfly, but it’s not getting its own entry yet because I’m not sure if it just tastes like a combination of gentle fruits with bubblegum and dish soap, or if my bottle absorbed some of the flavour of the Fairy Liquid when I gave it a really thorough soak last night. UGH. :(
Da hong pao bought on eBay.
Dry leaf: grapes, roasted, peaches.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BlgqIBiHdtI/?taken-by=kirkoneill1988
Wet leaf: grapes, wine, chocolate (?), roasted.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BlgqOKYn8Td/?taken-by=kirkoneill1988
Light steep: I smell/taste:
(Smell) light —→ wine, chocolate.
(Taste)light —→ grapes, metallic (iron). medium —→ grapes, wine, chocolate.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BlgqKQ_n4f-/?taken-by=kirkoneill1988
Medium steep: I smell/taste:
(Smell) light wine.
(Taste) slight metallic (iron). Light, rock/stones. Medium —→ roasted, chocolate.
Heavy steep: I smell/taste:
(Smell) light wine.
(Taste)slight rocks/stones. light —→ wine, chocolate.
All in all a yummy tea. I rate 75/100 only cause when brewed strong you get strong rock and chocolate tastes. I paid 10-15 usd for 250g. Cheap teas does not always mean bad. If I remembered who sold this I would have suggested the seller
Superb. Interpreting tea through meme could be a whole new genre of tasting note.
Love the memes!