pu-erh of the day. Sheng or Shou
My wife is ill today, and I have been making tea for her all day – first some tieguanyin, an oolong, then some cream Earl Grey, and finally some rather nice shu pu-erh which I recently purchased on ebay from the Royal Tea Bay Company. It is called an aged Yunnan blended pu-erh, and the description on the website read as follows: This kind of tea is made of sun dried green tealeaves of Yunnan big leaves species treated by fermenting process of Menghai tea region. They are mixed 2006 year aged tea with 2009 year aged tea and stored in Clean Kunming dry warehouse.
It came in a 100 gr cake. It is quite a pleasant tea, full flavored but not heavy with some earthy notes as well as a bit of molasses flavor. An altogether nice experience which my wife and I both enjoyed through 8 steepings thus far. I used 6 grams of tea in a 185 ml yixing teapot gradually increasing steep times from 20 seconds to 35 seconds. I will do more with it tomorrow. I’ve enjoyed both teas I’ve had from this company (sheng and shu).
Tonight I am having a Menghai Dayi Yundin or as it is called “Impression” in the native language. This is a tea from 2010. This tea has opened up in the compression of the cake since being in the pumidor. Dark apricot slightly burnt sugar taste almost to the point of being a tad bitter. Dark brew in the cup, juicy mouth-feel. Nice and warming to the body. A very nice tea to re-visit.
Today’s cup is filled with a 2008 Menghai Dayi 8582. I purchased this from Toucha tea. I have enjoyed 9 steeps of this tea now. I use 3 steeps for the “me” size cup I normally drink. This tea has no astringency no harshness and no “bite” at all. This tea brew a light orange/golden color. It has a light citrus aroma. It taste like a very light green tea with the sweetness of honey to it. I found this to be one of the most enjoyable shengs that I have had. Definitely in the top three. I have the newer versions of this cake and hope they age as well. I was really surprised as this is a secondary code 807 of this tea. Very nice. I will probably buy another one of these.
For days I’ve been enjoying pieces off my 2000 CNNP Yellow Ripe Beeng. After only one steep, the puerh releases a smooth rich velvet coat stopping just short of ripe/tangy cedar with hints of vanilla-spice.
The weather was cool yesterday, so I began the morning with a good chunk of pu, some cocoa hulls, little cinnamon chips and dry ginger with a bit of laoshan black oolong ( just a teaspoon). One quick rinse (24oz pot and about 1.5 TB stuff) steeped for 2-3 minutes (I added cream and sweetened it).
Pure heaven! Resteeped 3 more pots during the day! This pu never gives up!
Sometimes you’re looking for a really good base pu for blending that’s smooth enough to drink on it’s own. This is the tea!
2013 Wan Gong followed by 2007 Yang Pin Hao limited edition followed by 2006 yiwu followed by 2001 Golden melon followed by 1970’s liao fu san cha. It was a tea marathon
Earlier this afternoon I sampled Mandala’s Wild Monk for a couple of hours. That was followed by their Four Leaves Ripe Loose.
I’ve been sipping Mandala’s Phatty Cake. So smooth, sort of smoky with a raisin sweetness. It’s one of my favorites but I am trying to burn through the older cake to get to The Sequel.
Sampling 2005 Xiaguan crane, which I got from the travelling tea box.
Very woody! A nice crisp woodsy pu’er that has some nice nuttyness to it. Also some surprise coffee notes in early steepings. A couple steepings in, a nice creamy texture showed up making me lips feel nice, haha!
I got 5 steepings in to discover a nice woody sap sweetness. Cold steeping the leaves as I ran out of time to drink more steepings today.
Photo: http://oolongowl.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/IMG_5028.jpg
I got it at a local tea shop for $29!
http://oolongowl.com/2013/07/05/yixing-teapot-3/
Sadly, their online store is kinda terrible and only shows their teaball teawares.
Working on a 2008 Dayi Hong from Mandala tea. This is still as impressive as it was the first time I had it. The brew is pretty dark and super smooth. I started on this one last night and am continuing on it now. It has an almost caramel chocolate finish to it. A really nice tea sourced by a great seller with a great flavor intuition.
I’m drinking Mandala Phatty Cake 2. I got a sample with my last order. I started this one last night, having a couple more steeps tonight. I only used half my sample, so will drink the rest another time. I’m reserving judgement on this one.
I don’t want to be negative – I love Mandala – but this isn’t as complex as some of their other blends. It seems thin in the mouth, and not as bold as I would prefer. I know nothing about aging, but maybe that would help. I’m going to drink the last of my sample and see if I can get more out of it.
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