pu-erh of the day. Sheng or Shou

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alice said

I’m drinking a 2004 Menghai Fangcha today from www.finepuer.com

I’m very new to pu-erh so can’t really offer much of an opinion in way of quality but for me right now it is a pleasant enough, though not overly complex cup of tea.

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graceatblb said

I was drinking Mandala’s Phatty Cake Sequel. It’s delicious. Like the quieter hipster brother of the original Phatty Cake. More creamy and less smoky. I would be drinking more of it right now but I am a dipstick and put my hand in the path of steam and now I have some gnarly steam burns on my fingers. And I am a bit scared to go near anything hot. I’ll get over it though.

Sil select said

OW! Thanks for the initial thoughts on the sequel…may have to just say to hell with it and get some! Hope your hand feels better asap!

mrmopar said

EEWWW hate steam burns!! Hope you recover quick!

graceatblb said

Thanks guys. I kind of have a misshapen bandage claw right now but it’s getting better. Vitamin E oil is awesome. And so is the Phatty Cake Sequel. I have been sipping it all day and with some age, it will be great.

oooh man phatty cake II sounds good!

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I just finished a pot of Xiaguan Organic Old Tree Iron Puer Cake 2009 Raw from Dragon Tea House. It was very nice, different to other raw Pu Erhs that I have tried. :) In my review I said it was as if a raw and ripe Pu Erh had met in the middle to create a new type. Anyone know what I’m talking about?

mrmopar said

I have the 250 gram toucha of this. Agreed, very easy to drink for a young sheng.

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mrmopar said

Trying a 2007 Menghai 0712 tonight. This is the highest grade Menghai cake that I possess. The taste of it is kind of puzzling. The cake is loosely compressed and easy to break apart. I brewed this in the gaiwan to keep the flavor notes from being softened by the yixing pot. It has a buttered pea aroma to it. I washed it once for about 10 seconds and went on to steeping it 3 times and pouring it all in a 10 oz. cup. It sill has some astringency and the color is still pretty yellow for a 6 year old tea. It has notes of honey and flower in it. There is still some smoke to it and the drying on the side of the tongue. A light oiliness coats the inside of the mouth. Head to head against the 8582 from a year younger i would prefer it over this one. Needless to say I hope it will age well. It has given me a bit of sweat that the 8582 lacked. An OK sheng to drink nevertheless. i will try this in the yixing tomorrow.

JC said

Do you think the astringency had to do with the age itself or the source material? I’ve found that sometimes ‘higher grade’ material lets me down a lot more often than a humbler one.

mrmopar said

I am not sure. It may be how it was aged prior to my purchase of it. And I agree some of the things with lesser grade leaves are really good.

JC said

That makes sense. I once bought a 06 Dayi. It seem like a great deal. I opened the wrap it looked and smelled the way it should for something that age, maybe a bit faded. I made it and it had a good taste then astringency and eventually bitter… I wasn’t mad. But I wasn’t happy :P

It always surprises me how much difference storage makes with Puerh, in both ends(Good and Bad).

mrmopar said

Oh yeah, I got a plan! It’s in the pumidor now to age a little under good conditions. Menghai has an 0732 that I think I am going to add to the lineup. I think it will be interesting to compare them side by side.

JC said

Nice! Its always nice to get to experiment with storage and aging. I don’t have space for any big storage but my current apartment is usually ‘ok’ for Dry storage, but sometimes it can get in the ACTUALLY dry side. I bought Yunnan clay canisters to fit full tongs. I bought two tongs (cheap cakes of course).

One I left outside the other I exposed in more humid days and back to the canister (I rotated both every 2-3months). I started tasting them every 6 months but didn’t notice much so I decided to do it every 8 months to a full year. It wasn’t until the 4th year that I noticed how the exposed tong had gone too dry. But I learned from it.

I heard that if a cake goes too dry, you can still ‘save it’ but I haven’t tried it yet. I feel like I might just grow mold inside the thing.

mrmopar said

I have a refrigerator set up with shou in the bottom and sheng in the freezer. I have cigar humidifiers set up in each section and computer fans to circulate the air. It smells really good whenever you open the door. I hope this will keep the shou nice and age the sheng that I have.

JC said

I’m really looking forward on trying that myself. I think I saw some pictures of your refrigerator in a discussion previously. I also saw some interesting cabinets that someone made. It got me all pumped up but I don’t have working space here.

So far my canisters have been working fine but is so limited in control that if something went wrong, it will go very wrong lol.

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First time cracking into my 2012 “Qui Yun” Wild Arbor Raw cake from Yunnan sourcing
http://yunnansourcing.com/en/2012-yunnan-sourcing-teas/2295-2012-yunnan-sourcing-qiu-yun-wild-arbor-raw-pu-erh-tea-of-yi-wu-mountain-.html

I’m working on the blog tasting for it, and oh man, this pu’er is lovely! I am really surprised how it has no smokey notes, something I notice in all the 2012 raw pu’er I’ve tried.

tperez said

I really enjoy that one too!

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DigniTea said

I’ve been sipping on Master Han’s 2012 Sheng Pu’er sample from Verdant off and on for the past three days. Two quick rinses and then 10s, 20s, 30s, 40s, etc. in my gaiwan. The tea is smooth and mellow with a light green liquor. It has a bit of a fresh crisp taste with a dominant note of citrus but it is very smooth and mellow. I detected very little astringency (I mean hardly any at all). Amazing taste for such a young sheng. I’ll definitely be buying a brick of this in a few days.

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Javan said

I ordered some pu-er today from Verdant tea. They have their pu-er’s on sale for 25% off. I ordered three different pu-er’s sourced from Master Han by Verdant tea. You can read about them here: http://verdanttea.com/shop/tea-tour-sale/. I’m looking forward to trying them; I think Terri Harplady has mentioned them here, as well as DigniTea just above.

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mrmopar said

Had a 2007 Xiaguan “Golden Jade” sheng. Very nice sheng that has lost the astringency and bitterness. This brews up light on the first two infusions, darkens till the fifth and fades about the seventh. This must have some jingmai material in it as it has that touch of “citrus lemony” taste that jingmai seems to bring. I pushed this one a little far as the eighth infusion is very weak and a touch metallic. Pretty pleasant as most of the 2007’s I have had lately have been pretty smooth. Pretty decent for the $8.00 bucks I paid for it. I may later get one to age more as I think I may get into it again soon.

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graceatblb said

I am currently sipping on Verdant’s Xingyang Chrysanthemum Pu’er. I am not much for flavored pu’ers but this is lovely. Mildly spicy, a little bit floral and the pu’er has a lovely creaminess. Tastes kind of like a holiday cookie.

Sounds tasty! Though I am partial to blends and like chrysanthemum. I don’t see the tea on their website, was it off the reserve or an old one?

graceatblb said

It’s older. I don’t think they are planning on offering more which makes me kind of sad. But here’s the link to the page on Verdant’s site: http://verdanttea.com/teas/xingyang-chrysanthemum-puer/

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Javan said

Two years ago I purchased a “Lincang of Yunnan” sheng puerh beeng cha through Amazon.com. The original ad for it read: ”Tienxi “Lincang of Yunnan” Pu-Erh Tea Cake is a premium cake made entirely of first flush spring leaves from just one region of Lincang. The cake was produced one time only and the quantity is very limited." I have been sipping on steepings of this tea for two days, and it has some promising qualities like a strong camphor like aroma/taste, a strong astringency, and a lingering aftertaste. Color now is a deepening yellow/gold and while it is not a calming tea at this moment (it is sort of zingy as a young sheng), it will age well I think. I’m definitely awaiting some of my young shengs to reach a more mature stage (ah, impatience.)

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