pu-erh of the day. Sheng or Shou

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Roughage said

Today, I’ve been drinking the 2007 Meng Ba Na after a long break from it. These days I find myself less enamoured of shupu but this is a solid drink that I got at a decent price. It is round in flavour and full-bodied in texture. The dominant notes are wood and peach, giving it an earthy taste that is quite filling. I am quite pleased that I bought several bricks of it when I had the chance, because it seems to be developing nicely in storage, despite my lack of careful curation.

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Roughage said

I’ve spent the day drinking this and really enjoying it. Upon opening the packet I was hit by a waft of hay and spice. The dry leaf looked to be in large pieces if not whole leaves. Upon steeping the leaves turned green and it became clear that my initial impression was correct. The liquor was a light amber colour and gave off a floral aroma, like orchids. The taste was light and yet full, being peppery with fruity rum and raisin notes. I got little in the way of astringency, except when the cats distracted me by demanding attention and I steeped it for a tad too long. Even that was pleasant and left a peppery aftertaste on the tongue. It has lasted me all day, amounting to about twelve steeps, so the tea has pretty good legs. Overall, this is a good tea that I would be happy to drink more of. Good job I have a second sample pack, eh? I might try the next packet at a higher temperature and with a longer steeping time to see how that fares, given that Teavivre recommends 100 degrees C and a steep time of 5 to 10 minutes. Yes, 5 to 10 minutes! That seems like an awfully long time when I am in the habit of brewing shengs for 10-15 seconds at a time.

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mrmopar said

Having Yunnan Sourcing’s 2013 Mang Fei Autumn cake.
Breaking into this one a day after getting it? Yes indeed. I usually let these sit a few weeks in the pumidor to open up a bit. The dry aroma on this said “drink me now”. so I will. I rinsed this last night to prepare for this evening. The leaves are an olive color and look really nice in the Yixing. When hit with the hot water the aromatics of hay and flowers come to mind. I did 3 short steeps into one 10 oz. cup.There is a nice golden amber color to this one in the cup.
First sips say mang Fei for sure. Strong kick on this one. Very strong for an Autumn tea. It hits full on. Very thick active mouthfeel on this one. Fantastic tingle on the tongue with a bit of drying after sipping. The bitterness of this progresses from a sharp bite to a bit of drying a few seconds after to a semi-sweet floral grassy note. In terms of strength steep this one very quick. It is a very potent Autumn tea and has that kick butt attitude when you drink it. Very nice . They say the strongest teas age well, I think I am going to be really interested in this one in a few years. A truly wonderful Autumn tea.

Flavors: Bitter, Drying, Flowers, Hay, Thick

DigniTea said

YS has done a nice job with a few of their autumn teas processed with very fine leaf. I am particularly fond of a few from 2011 so I bet this one will be even more enjoyable in just two years with exciting possibilities for even more aging.

mrmopar said

Agreed with you. They have changed my mind on Autumn tea. Scott has done a great effort with these items. I may have to go check for that 2011 now….

jschergen said

I agree with @DigniTea . Just had the 2011 Xi Bang a few days back and was impressed.

Hard to say how any of these teas will do in the extreme long-term, but that can be said of alot of pu’erh!

DigniTea said

In addition to 2011 Xi Bang these 2011s – Mang Fei, GFZ, GSZ, Xi Kong, Pasha are also decent with a little maturation.

jschergen said

Cool. Thanks for the recs!

JC said

Agreed! YS has changed my mind about Autumn teas as well as about blends. Scott has been aiming for quality and hitting the mark. The 2013 Autumn Bing Dao is very pleasant.

mrmopar said

I have the Pasha on the wishlist/cart on their site. I have read about the Bing Dao it may be in there as well.

jschergen said

I’ve had both the Bing Dao and this 2013 Mang Fei recently and was surprised by their potency.

The Mang Fei wasn’t really to my taste but it definitely wasn’t lacking in strength!

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DigniTea said

I spent yesterday afternoon with this tea – 2003 Banzhang Mountain Farmer’s Cooperative Wild Arbor.
Verdant brought back a limited supply of this one during the last Cyber Monday sale and I had to pick it up. Very glad I did for I know that it is real Ban Zhang which is quite difficult to obtain these days. This is a powerful tea with a definite bite to it.

Begins with a lovely clear and bright golden tea soup with a thick and sweet leather-like aroma. Progressing through several steepings, the color begins to turn more orange. Body is low and strong. At the front of each sip there is definite smoke and bitterness but it becomes sweeter at the back of the throat. Note, this is a heavy, dense sweetness with smoke and pepper in the early steepings. The texture here is thick, smooth, and very satisfying. After each cup, I am left with mouth watering and a fuzzy warm feeling in my body – interesting that I feel both mellow and alert at the same time. After each of the many steepings it remains pungent and potent with a bit of sweetness coming through. Each cup is full-flavored with long-lasting aftertaste. Overall, quite a tea with a balanced mix of bitter and sweet that infuses first the nose, then lips, tongue, mouth and throat. This is strong and potent stuff.

I should add that there is an interesting backstory to this tea. As reported by David Duckler at Verdant:
“This pu’er is a unique example of a brick pressed by a small farmer’s cooperative. Their family has a plot of land on Banzhang mountain, which is considered to be the absolute top in terms of pu’er. They eventually got sick of selling the pu’er leaves they picked with care to the big factories for pressing because they felt that the pu’er was treated like too much of a commodity by the bigger companies. They took a huge risk and started their own pressing of bricks.”

That is a really cool back story!

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Hey hey hey hey hey

Pu’er of the day is Misty Peak Teas newest harvest!

Picked and processed by One Family from One Farm, freshest Pu’er you have had, and absolutely an incredible harvest to drink today or store for years.

Sorry to use this as a way of communicating it, you guys are just the only reason we offer this tea. The true tea drinkers who love a great Pu’er.

This tea will make you feel amazing

New tea and packaging available 1/28/2015 at 10:30 AM, get it now with your code:

“enjoypuernow” for 20% off until Jan 31 at www.MistyPeakTeas.com

woo that is tempting

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AllanK said

Today I am drinking Misty Peak Teas 2013 Yiwu Mountain Raw Puer, the Autumn harvest. This was incredible tea, end of statement. I had stored this one in my Pumidor for about 8 months. As I had not drank it before I couldn’t say if it had aged more but it was good. It was sweet from the beginning with almost no noticeable bitterness. I steeped it eight times and it was still strong in the eighth infusion. This was the best raw puerh I have drank in a long time being more of a ripe puerh drinker.

Hey Allan!

Thank you for the kind words, so happy to hear you enjoyed it.

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DigniTea said

1999 Longyuanhao Shu brick from Verdant.
This is a very fine easy drinking shou. Quite an interesting find – Yiwu Mountain material used in this brick. Large wild-tree leaves plus stems mixed to enhance the sweet wood flavor. Traditional stone pressing.

I don’t believe I’ve ever tried a ripe using Yiwu material. The very dark wet leaves give off a sweet baked foods scent which becomes richer with spice overtones as you move through several steepings. Beautiful dark tea soup is syrupy and very soon the flavor matches with a deep dark sweetness. Nice complexity for a ripe puerh. Smooth and soothing in the throat with a long lasting aftertaste. There is nothing offensive or off-putting about this fermented tea. This is a great wintertime shou to warm up those cold days. Very aromatic; dark and smooth; deep woodiness; upfront sweet richness which continues throughout the session. I definitely like this tea and look forward to enjoying it many more times.

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JC said

Today I’m having Cha Wang Shop’s 1999 Private Production Raw Brick. The liquor is sweet up front, quickly changing to a woody-tobacco bitter-sweetness with some thickness and a hay-like finish(some astringency).

Later steeps become smoother with more apparent sweetness up front and holding the same notes in the middle of wood-tobacco and thicker body; later developing a very pleasant floral sweetness that lingers even more.

A great drink if you like the ‘drier’ range of dry storage, but not desiccated tea. However, If you like aged/richer notes, this may be off putting. I’d recommend a try for the price either way.

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Drinking mandalas nan jian organic ripe brick 2010.

I really enjoy this tea. It’s even better outta my shu pot.
Short steeps keep this one interesting since it has a varied flavor for me.
This morning I had it with some panama extra dark 80% cacao.
Excellent pairing in my opinion.

at 10 dollars per 100 grams i might as well grab a couple.
gift some, age some, drink the difference. :-)

I also might try the 125 gram Nan Jian Golden Buds of Joy – 2010.
Has anyone tried the golden buds before?

Sil select said

picked some up to try thanks to you! haha

OMGsrsly said

This is the other one I was looking at, Sil! Couldn’t find the note. :D

Sil select said

well um i bought some…so remind me whenever my order gets here lol

Dexter said

I think I’m ordering both the Nan Jian and the Nan Jian Golden buds…. Such hard decisions…

Dexter said

Having a hard time with the 2012 Ku Zhu Mountain – I’ve decided than I’m more of a ripe kind of gal – but I keep seeing this statement and think I should get some..“Brewed cooler, at 195°F, the bitter edge is replaced by the flavor of plum”

I may purchase the golden bud as well.
I am not fimiliar with the 2012 ku zhu mountain where did you source that one from?

mrmopar said

Yeah Dex where is this from? I may be searching the data base wrong.

Dexter said

It’s on the Mandala site – I’m trying to put an order together and it’s HARDLOL
https://shopmandalatea.com/raw-pu-er-tea/2012-ku-zhu-mountain.html

boychik said

Dex, see me on Insta ;)

mrmopar said

Dexter I am an enabler so I will stay out of this.

Dexter said

mrmopar – I’m going to get it. I have the two cakes mentioned above, 7 one oz samples, and smart soak (can’t live without it) in my cart right now…. I think I’m just going to say screw it and buy all of it….

Dexter said

I just saw your comment boychik – that doesn’t sound like fun, but somehow I don’t think I’m going to be happy until I try it for myself…. I’ve wasted 7.00 on worse things :))

mrmopar said

Dexter I think you will like them all.

Dexter said

Thanks mrmopar – I normally like Mandala, but I usually buy their label – some of this is outside my comfort zone. Oh well, they are mostly just samples. :)

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Sampling Xiaguan T8653 2014 sheng from crimson lotus tea.
I’ve drank a bucha ripe mini touchas today at work and I think it’s the perfect time to experience this young sheng.

I’ve actually been itching to since I got the package almost 2 weeks ago, but one can only sample so many new teas a day. ;)

This is my first iron cake experience.
I’ve had a couple Xiaguan samples but nothing this young.

5.6 grams outta my ~130ml gaiwan
Used Boiling spring water
Rinsed twice with cooler water.
Steeped for very short times since I didn’t know what to expect.

First impression, is a wonderful smokey aroma. From the aroma itself I thought the taste was gonna be a cup of smoke.

I found there was a balanced lightness in the mouth that was followed by a pleasant, but astringent, smokey/spiced wood taste.
Hints of tobacco and sweetness were noted later in the session.

It infused to a pretty orange hue for around 12 infusions.
After around 6 infusions I had a great ChaQi going. Energetic and very warming. I think it is exactly what I was looking for!

mrmopar said

Nice Marcus welcome and thanks for sharing.

Thank you

I am a big fan of Xiaguan :)

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