pu-erh of the day. Sheng or Shou

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Xi Yu said

Monday! 2008 menghai golden needle white lotus for no real discernible reason other than it’s a great early day tea for me…and I am a creature of routines. Bought the tong in 2010 for only 140 RMB per cake, started breaking off little chunks here and there to keep at home and work around 2010, and now just full on drinking it weekly at least once or twice. I have the impression that the sweetness of this tea has traveled from immediately apparent to delayed in the back of the throat. Which suits me just fine as I don’t typically like sweet teas. Something about it reminds me of slow roasted garlic..without any hint of actual garlic aroma…maybe the bitter notes garlic can take on after a gentle, meandering roast. The tea has strong body, smooth mouth feel, persistent finish. So good!

mrmopar said

Yum!

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Cheri select said

I started with the Choco Mini Shou from W2T, but I found I was getting sleepy, which is not good for a Monday at work. I’ve now switched to W2T 2001 7542 PO, hoping to find more energy.

Cwyn said

Shou and aged sheng contain less caffeine than fresh tea. I often fall asleep after drinking them, I need black tea nowadays to stay awake. I guess my tolerance is pretty high.

mrmopar said

I normally wind down for the night with shou.

I can’t drink puerh in the evenings if I want to sleep and that makes me so sad. I wonder if it would help if I just threw out the first few steeps?

Cheri select said

I understand it has less caffeine, but usually it doesn’t flat out make me sleepy. Caffeine doesn’t really impact me all that much. I used to drink coffee and then go to sleep. I find that a good tea will help energize me with its flavors and whatnot. The chocoshou usually gets me going, because I really like it, but yesterday not so much.

Cwyn said

Lol I think most of us seem to have higher tolerance and we are looking for that little bit of a lift most of the time.

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Yang-chu said

2006 “Ji Xiang” Long Yuan Hao, ripe 250g brick. Thick, lasts long, no funk. Tasty. The first round 120ml yixing had it release some vanilla marshmallow notes, which I don’t believe I’ve noticed that in a show. This is my first crack at Long Yuan and it didn’t disappoint. I used about 6g. I noticed that it gave “it” up quickly, such that the second, third, and fourth infusions were much darker and thicker than I’m accustomed to. I’d probably use less, perhaps four grams next time or brew in about 160ml. Later infusions reveal that dry fruit character common among older ripes. Thumbs up.

Rich select said

Where’d you buy this one?

Yang-chu said

I do most of my own buying from Chinese sites, but you can find some of the same brand on Ebay, of course. Just PM if you want to trade.

Ubacat said

There’s a place nearby my doctor that’s a TCM place and they have Pu-erh cakes in there. I went in once a couple years ago but was too intimidated at the time with all the Chinese writing on the wrappers. I still have no idea what to look for because the websites I buy from always have translations.

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Yang-chu said

This morning, I woke to some groaning acoustic patriotic song that’s received 25 million hits on YT. I decided that this was as good a time as any to try White2Tea’s Amerykah, while David Bowie’s tribute version played in my mind. This offering is much more Bowie than it is groany-acousticky: sweet, bright, floral, full body. I had about four rounds and came back to it this evening. Steeped it a little too long and bitterness prevailed, though the huigan is worthy of note, sweet, high, strong. Very satisfying. In hot weather would be perfect served over an ice cube and acoustic shamisen. Zatoichi would concur. I’m sure.

TwoDog2 said

Glad it was enjoyable!

“In hot weather would be perfect served over an ice cube and acoustic shamisen”

Now you’re talking…

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Cwyn said

2004 Jingmai by white2tea. This tea is sold out now so I decided not to do a Steepster review. I got a generous sample last year with an order. I’ve been avoiding it because it is a dry storage cake and very green. Brewed up 8 of the 10 grams because I got a larger chunk that is fairly compressed and then a couple grams of loose tea. The leaf in this tea is very good for aging, full mouth feel that hits with bitter but instantly curls over to sweetness. My sample had an awful lot of char making the cup smoky. Eventually this will integrate into the tea, but at its current rate of aging this will be ten years from now. The tea is starting to change, and the cloudy amber soup shows that it is in flux to a new stage.

2004 is a good year to look at for reasonably priced cakes for people my age. But I like a touch of humid storage, such as in my favorite 2005 Naka which is further along than this Jingmai because of that little bit of wet storage. I’m finding with my storage set ups I can do well with a 10-15 year old tea that has a bit of humid storage early on that I can then enhance. This gives me a tea which is completely drinkable now but will be even better in a shorter time frame.

Yang-chu said

That Jingmai sounds interesting.

Cwyn said

It is sold out now. My preferences with white2tea’s offerings tend to be the next price tier up from where this tea was. What I mean is that this is okay-good but the next price up usually means amazing-good. At my age I need to go for amazing, but if I were ten years younger I’d have bought some of this.

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Xi Yu said

2006, Si Pu Tea Co, Ancient Tree Ripe Puer. Brewed it with good spring water, because things can get hairy if this guy gets messed up. Brewed it a maybe even a touch under 200F?, because things can get hairy if this guy gets messed up. Counted the seconds, weighed the materials…BECAUSE THINGS CAN GET…you get the idea.

But alas, disaster averted. Bitter immediately. Intense unrelenting onslaught of bitterness. Like makes the back of your mouth twitch. Grind-the-root-of-your-tongue-against-the-roof-of-your-mouth bitter. Then it’s gone as quick as it came, mouthwatering bitterness, proceed with reckless abandon.

The first time I tasted this tea by Si Pu (思普), I had overbrewed it. I’m not a nazi about ripe brewing technique…I definitely do not care about pu’er storage to any real extent. When it comes to ripe, I generally like to drink tea the color of Pearl River Superior Dark Soy Sauce..this is the exception. Brew this until it’s blackish, and you will have a bad time. Brew it until it’s Kikkoman Japanese Soy Sauce, and it’s still an acquired taste. But once acquired, a great experience worth repeating.

yssah said

an addicting bitterness huh?

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AllanK said

Today I drank the 2014 Tie Guo Li “Lun Dao” Ripe Puerh Tea of Menghai from Yunnan Sourcing. This is a tasty tea but still thick with fermentation flavor. I only put it through eight steeps because I had frankly had enough. It was sweet under the fermentation flavor and there was little bitterness. There was some fermentation flavor even in the eighth steep. It was a strong tea. I think it would have gone fifteen steeps at least.

Cwyn said

Sounds like this will be a winner given a couple years of rest.

Rich select said

Thanks for trying this, Alan! I’ll put this on my list for an order. I really like the wrapper.

AllanK said

This one was good but needs some aging. The fermentation flavor was powerful. And, yes its got a cool wrapper. I have, on occasion bought a tea only for the wrapper.

Rich select said

Your review indicates that this has two qualities I love in shu – deep and dark, and a cool wrapper! I’m in! And it’s only $20, so not much risk involved. I’ll let it sit for a while before trying it.

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Cwyn said

Continued on with my Jingmai. It outgrew my gaiwan so I transferred the leaves to an Yixing with more room. Bitterness is about gone now, the char less pronounced which was rather acrid in early steeps. I’m past 10 steeps. One aspect in brewing a larger chunk is the longer sessions, I’m still flash brewing. The sample was fairly compressed and I had one chunk still holding together. It has now loosened up, but the leaves haven’t fully expanded.

Day 2 also on white wrapper tuo. My evening sessions lately are like 4-6 cups sheng, 2-3 cups black tea, and a couple cups of shou to close out the evening. Sheng is before the nap, black tea when I wake up, and shou before sleeping again.

Ah, I absolutely agree!

Last week I just crammed my little duanni pot full of leaf from a tea, coincidentally a Jingmai, that I quite like but which normally just doesn’t last a long while.

I was able to keep it brewing throughout the evening this way!
I have to admit the flavour really did suffer, but it turned out pretty thick and the aftertaste greatly intensified.

All in all I’d say it has both pros and cons to brew this way.

yssah said

interesting way to brew!

will shou not keep you awake if you drink it at bedtime Cwyn?

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JC said

2013 Yunnan Sourcing “Feng Chun” Blended Raw. I used to be an advocate against blended Puerh, but I feel like lately (past few years) I’ve been sampling great blends from TU, YS, W2T and other vendors who are using high quality material.

This is not exception the leaves offer floral, stone fruits, apricot, honey with other subtle complexities. The Liquor holds a gold to deep gold color and the aroma is sweet, fruity with some balancing bitter. The taste is smooth and balanced between the sweet and the bitter with some occasions where the sweet fruity takes over. The bitter notes appear as you continue to steep and the leaves open up.

Rich select said

I like this one a lot. I’m a fan of blended cakes, I think you can get more character that way.

JC said

I think only recently (+-6 years) blended Puerh has been getting better, but the nature of blending was just being able to use even the low grade material(bits and pieces) and sell it blended with other maocha. Now you get some very good quality options. IMO anyway :P

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Rich select said

This morning I’m having one of my favorites, the 2006 Gold Award Ripen Pu-erh Tea Cake Chunhai Tea Factory by PuerhShop.com. Just a hint of smoke in the first steeping or two, followed by smooth dark broth. Really smooth. A great every day drinker, and a real bargain. One of few that I own more than one cake of.

Cwyn said

How is your stomach doing, Rich?

Rich select said

That’s sweet of you to ask! I think I’m pretty much back to normal, sheng and shu are back on the menu!

Cwyn said

Yay!

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