pu-erh of the day. Sheng or Shou

2015 W2T Poundcake. This has very different flavor profiles the two diff times I brewed it. I heavily leafed it today (because too much came off the cake) and it was intense and smokey in a way I wasn’t expecting but very much enjoyed. There is a prominent vanilla note too… I know there is manzhuan in this. When I brewed it with less leaf, it was a lot lighter and delicate and just kinda sugary.

Working my way through puer.sk’s 2015 sample pack. Today I tried the 2015 ManNuo. Very nice tea. I did 8g for a session with my wife. The tea soup was thick and hearty. A good balance of sweetness and slight bitterness. Early steeps were quite buttery and delicate. Later steeps remained thick, but with more bitterness. Light sweetness continued throughout a good dozen steeps. Excellent quality tea.

Having Crimson Lotus’s Spring 2014 Baiying Mountain ‘Mengku’ Sheng.
Breaking this out of the pumi. I think it’s ready now.
I picked 8 grams off to brew in the Gaiwan. I gave a quick rinse and inhaled the aroma. Vegetal and sweet comes up from the Gaiwan.
I did 3 short steeps to start with. The tea is a pale yellow color when poured. It started a bit light and I increased the steep time to about 7 seconds and did three more for the big cup. The increased steep time amped it up. The tea has much more to it. It has a touch of bitter and then the sweetness arrives fast. I got notes of pineapple in this one. It does get a bit more of a bite as the brew cools a bit. It gives a little buzz on the tip of the tongue. It is a very subtle drink that seems to mellow me out a bit. The leaf hasn’t fully unrolled all the way after six steeps and I think there is more goodness to come.

Flavors: Bitter, Floral, Pineapple, Sweet

Today I tried the 2005 CNNP 1938 Anniversary Premium Ripe Pu-erh by Yunnan Sourcing
This tea is very different from your average ripe. It tastes strongly like bread dough. And I mean that in a good way. The fermentation is kind of on the light side, but the flavor is good, earthy and sweet, and packs a pretty good caffeine punch. A very interesting one to sample, though I’m not sure I’d want to drink it regularly myself.

2013 Jing Gu Old Arbor sheng from Yunnan Sourcing house label. Camellia taliensis varietal, silvery leaves which brew a peony flavored tea with mild bitterness. This is a good cake to try at least once to recognize this varietal since it is added to puerh cakes to give a silvery surface and add thickness. It is like a white tea but it is indeed puerh. The cake seems to be uniformly small leaves and buds and single origin. A good bargain at $59 for 400g.

This afternoon’s tea was the 2005 Yunnan Xiaguan 8663 Ripe Puer from Berylleb.
I ordered a sample of this tea because when Allan raves about a ripe and scores it at 100, I just have to try it. It is definitely a good tea. Typical Xiaguan profile, with prevalent smoky undertones. Quite clean tasting and smooth, with fruity tart-sweetness that holds out for a long while. Also offers a solid pick-me-up if you want a ripe pu with a kick. Xiaguan is not my favorite, so I will not be buying more, but I suspect Xiaguan lovers will enjoy this tea.

2013 Yunnan Sourcing Qing Mei Shan.
This one kind of fell out of the pumidor so I guess it’s up tonight.
I pulled about 11 grams off and went with the easy steeper as my other brewing implements are currently occupied. Love me some vacation tea drinking time. It rained about all day here so I am sipping away waiting for a busy outside work day tomorrow.
I remember trying this when I first got it. I don;t recall thinking a lot about it as I wanted to more or less age this one. I have bad habit of picking off some leaf from each new cake and leaving it in the wrapper to see how the aging will progress, much like storing loose maocha I suppose.
I gave a quick rinse and let it sit a while.
First brew yields a nice deep gold amber. This has become thick and buttery with a medium range of bitterness for me. The aroma is a bit musty and sweet. Hard to put a note on. The tea has good strength to it. My storage may have speeded up the changes but this one is getting better by far. It is complex and mouth filling . The sweetness creeps in as the bitter slowly fades away.
Probably shouldn’t be drinking this one as late a night but I am already 4 steeps fro 2 big cups into it already. Simple musings and I will drink away. The empty cup still has the lingering floral musty aroma of this making me want another cup.

Flavors: Bitter, Butter, Floral, Musty, Sweet, Thick

I’ve been ‘out of commission’ from Puerh for a bit since I’ve been visited by a bunch of friends and I haven’t found the time to sit down and relax + lots of Lebanese, Turkish, Indian and Pakistani food that although I love does not agree with Puerh tastings.

I’m easing myself back to Puerh with an old friend 2009 Feng Qing Tuo Ripe. It is straight forward with notes of caramel and persimmons and just starting to develop more of that woodier side of raisins notes. This one was cheap when I got it. I should have bought more then.

‘06 Tianhong Jingmai. I’m back at it with this one, as the ch-ch-changes it goes through would even put David Bowie to shame. This time, after one infusion, it tastes nothing short of basic sugar water, no bitter, no viscosity, just like a highly diluted cup of cane juice. BUT, the huigan creeps up with a very flowery effect which lasts a minute or two. The aroma gives nothing away either, with an innocuous smell of sweet malted something that escapes me, perhaps also hints of alfalfa. Second infusion more of the same with elements of camphor and some serene bitterness about the edges of the tongue. Thumbs up.

Today I drank Yunnan Guafengzhai Ripe Puer by royal tea bay.
This is an interesting little ripe cake I ordered from royal tea bay (their prices are better on Ali express than on eBay). It is quite smooth, but with mouth puckering astringency. Very much like a dry red wine. Moderately deep flavored. The 200g cake was tightly compressed, so it took a while to open up. Once it did, it was a respectable and interesting tea.