pu-erh of the day. Sheng or Shou
Having a 2011 Yunnan Nonpareil Nannuo shan.
Backlogging on this a bit.
This one jumped out at me and said open me up.
I got the usual 10 grams out and decided to put this one in the Yixing.
I gave a quick rinse and actually this one sat a few hours till I got to it.
I did 3 quick steeps to fill up my big old mug. The aroma of the steeped leaf was a bit floral. The brew is still a light gold as I haven’t stored this one as long. The taste was pretty nice. A little bitter some light peach notes and a pretty quick to give the sweetness up. Not too bold or strong but one that should age into a good drinker in time. It does have some pretty nice leaf in there and isn’t a rock hard compressed bing.
Flavors: Bitter, Peach, Sweet
Most of this week I’ve been drinking 2008 Yezhuang Shangli TF Zhong Pin from Cha Wang Shop. The cake is fairly straight forward when dry and when the leaves are wet.
The liquor is very thick and sweet with developing bitter to bittersweet notes and as the thickness dissipates, the bittersweet notes shine through. Very pleasant and satisfying to drink. My only beef with it is that it has very inconsistent longevity, the description says it will last up 25 infusions…. I don’t know about that. Still pretty good and very fair for the price too.
Having fun today with Yunnan Sourcing’s 2009 Lao Ban Zhang Premium sheng.
This is a very interesting selection from Yunnan Sourcing recommended by a few whose opinions I value. Reportedly a special production by the Mengku Tea Factory. According to YS, the tea is 100% Ban Zhang Wild Ancient Arbor. The leaves of the cake appear to be clean, thick and stout. Bright and clear tea liquor. Floral-fruity scent on top of a smooth woody base which is long lasting and powerful. The sip is full and complex yet strongly sweet. There is a pleasant bitterness but this quickly dissipates then a full, delicious, sweet taste dominates and remains in the mouth for quite some time. Nice mouth feel – the tongue and mouth tingle after just a few small sips. Good chaqi which begins to come forward after just one cup and builds over several infusions. Nice tea!
White2Tea White tuo ripe. This tuo has benefitted from a 6 month rest in Old Cwyn’s room resting in a little ceramic pot I made in high school, decades ago. Aged puerh in the aged pot. Big chunk in the gaiwan. I’m sure I’m topping well over 10 grams with this chunk.
Lately I’m really developing a preference for going jumbo on the grammage with shou because it takes 4 days to steep out, 4 days of having tea ready to go, no putzing around wondering what to drink, no time wasted rinsing, no inspection. I got my shou going and I just add water and pour out as needed. My chunk here is now at around 9 steeps on day two. Not even 50% of the chunk broken apart. Storage flavor all gone, again part of the convenience for me of starting out big, I’ve done all the initial prep and I have at least four days to enjoy anytime.
Getting the camphor off of this after the rest, very relaxing evening with this tea.
Making a slow, dreary Saturday at work more bearable with some FT7572 from White2Tea.
Shupu I can rely on. =)
Holey Moley! I’m loving this 2006 XiGui Gushu Sheng Puer from Crimson Lotus that I acquired on a group buy from C. Sinensis. Yay for me! Yo Cwyn – I think this your kind of thing. Very yummy. Juicy, juicy, juicy with a righteous tea drunk. On my blog with the song: https://atasteofmzpriss.wordpress.com/2015/04/26/2006-xigui-gushu-sheng-puer-crimson-lotus-tea/
Ooo sounds like I should try it indeed! I might have to wait til Crimson Lotus gets their shipment, they are almost out of what they brought back.
They appear to have some still http://crimsonlotustea.com/collections/sheng-raw-puerh/products/2006-xigui-sheng-raw-full-bing-cake-357g
Sadly not cheap and also I might have been really naughty lately and have been placed on haitus. But is is a really excellent tea drunk.
Glad you liked it! <3 Two cakes left til our shipment comes in. Once that does I’ll start setting up samples. Or maybe I’ll break up one cake for samples this week and start selling those early. I’ll talk to Lamu about it.
2014 Planet Jingmai from Crimson Lotus. This is an 8-10 gram single session ball of tea, and like a preview of spring tea since it is only a year old. The tea ball is highly compressed and takes a long time to open up. I started with 80 ml of water in a Lin’s teapot and later transferred the tea to a gaiwan when the tea unfurled. This tea has a lighter grape flavor, very pleasant with a touch of bitterness and light sweet huigan. Color is a light yellow. Doesn’t have the thick body I’m looking for in a sheng, and that I really want in a cake, but this is single session tea. I’m on day 2 now, so the tea ball is a good way to sample a sheng in an extended fashion that might normally be a one day session if the leaves were loose.
Dunno about you guys, but I’m really craving fresh sheng and local green vegetables. We had a super harsh and long winter. My body feels completely drained of fresh nutrients. Vitamins and sauerkraut get me through the winter but I’m ready for some Mother Earth love.
I really love the grapey green ones. Wild Mountain Green from Mandala is one of my favorites. I’m with you – feeling the need for lightness and brightness even though we didn’t have a particularly harsh winter here – it’s just time for all things green.
When I’m using Planet Jingmai in a gaiwan I do a very slow pour direct on the tea ball. Then when it’s submerged give it a nice 10s wash with lots of swirling. Then I do another direct and slow pour right onto the tea ball and a longer wash. Then I wait a while. I do a long first steep. Maybe 20s or so. After that the leaves are nearly completely open and ready. Grape is an interesting note to catch. I get primarily thick creamy honey flavors.
I’m with you on the grape notes. Had it today and it was sweet and delicious. It stayed pretty constant throughout though, which was a little boring.
That’s interesting. I’ve never gotten grape notes out of it myself. Maybe I eat different grapes. :-)
I spent the afternoon with a MengSOng ripe from Streetshop88, the 2012 Yunnan Golden Buds MengSong BanZhang Top Fog Puerh Ripe. This was a tasty tea that was quite earthy, not for the feint of heart. It started off bittersweet and gradually lost its bitter aspect. It took longer to lose its earthy aspect. It had what I would describe as a very thick mouthfeel. I was hoping I would taste the MengSong character in the tea but I really couldn’t make out the character of the mountain underneath the fermentation. I have two raw MengSong teas that I recently purchased from Berylleb that I will soon try. Hopefully I will get the MengSong character from those. In any case this was a good tea at a value price, it just needs a couple of years of aging.
I had the 2009 Dayi Zi Yun this morning. Love this tea, it’s got a smooth juicy ripe flavor. Excellent quality. The only seller right now is JK Tea, and they want $29 for a 100g cake, which is ludicrous. I did notice that they are also selling it on Ali Express for $19 including shipping, which still seems steep, and weird that they don’t sell it for that price on their website. Angela’s Teas sells a 2008 version for just $9, so I bought one and will see if it stacks up. If it’s also good, more will be ordered!
Had a nice relaxing session this afternoon with The Tea Fairy and the Hobbit. The Fairy and I drank 2012 Year of the Dragon shou from Mandala. It was tasty. Some dried fruit, bit of sweetness and a nice little bit of relaxing without being too heavy. Really easy to drink and accessible – would be a great gateway shou for those who are hesitant. Probably a post with a song on my blog about it.
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