pu-erh of the day. Sheng or Shou
Morning brew today is Crimson Lotus’s Kunlu shu. Wonderful stuff. I just raised my rating to above 90.
Today I drank the mega Dayi 750g tea from Aliexpress King Tea, 2008 Tae Tea Dayi Happiness Beeng Ripe. It was overall a good tea and all the signs were that it was a genuine Dayi product. There was a fair amount of fermentation flavor left to this tea but it dissipated after some four steeps. There was initially a little bitterness but this did not last. What was left was a sweet flavor that I think was reminiscent of dates. This is a flavor that good ripe puerh is said to develop and that is as good an interpretation of the sweet flavor of this puerh as any I think. I liked this tea and at 750g I think it may be the biggest Dayi production made, not sure.
This is quiet! I barely come in but I do read the emails lol. I found a ‘mystery’ Shou tuo in one of my Yunnan clay pots, I know It is from around 2003-2006, but I bought so long ago I can even remember what it is. I tossed the wrapper because it was in a rough condition. The liquor is burgundy and clean. The scent of the wet leaves is of burnt sugar/caramel, dates and molasses with and nice rich bittersweet note. The taste is more savory and leathery than I would expect from the scent but it does have a nice sweetness in the back. It has traces of fading smoke but it only hints it. Longevity is not a problem, but is not a strong suit either. An everyday drinker.
Hail to the shroom! The 2015 Teaclub Green Shroom by White2Tea.
I tried the shroom today. It was very interesting. After my first sipping, I thought it was very light and not very complex. I was sure I was going to be disappointed. But I really wanted another sip. And then another. I found it strangely addicting. It really grew on me. I think the addictive quality is a testament to the quality of the tea. The flavor got deeper and thicker, and it lasted a long while. It was bright and citrusy, with a perfect amount of bitterness. I enjoyed it very much.
I tried the 2005 rocket yiwu from the July white2tea club yesterday. The first one or two steeps came out pretty light for me, but after that it ended up brewing a really pretty bright orange color, with a similar bright and really fruity taste to go with it. I was really impressed with how many steeps I was able to get out of it and I’d definitely consider buying a cake depending on what the price ends up being.
In a couple hours I should get home for work and I’ll try a bit of the shroom that came with it. The paper that it came with also suggested to try cold brewing it, and given how hot it’s going to be here in Florida I’m really liking that idea.
Thank you! Now that I’ve been home long enough to try it, the 2015 green shroom is really nice as well. I personally liked the yiwu a bit more, but the shroom seems like it’s way higher quality than what you should be getting from the $30 club fee so I’m really happy with it. I’ll see how cold brewing it turns out in the morning. It’s pretty scary to break apart though because of the shape and how tightly compressed it is o.o
Having the Cha Wang shop Hekai GuShu cake tonight.
I guess I’m the first review on this one. I had a friend mention it in a blog and another had it in their cupboard and another post on how good this shop was. I agree.
I got 10 grams out and gave a quick rinse. I did 3 steepings and put them in a big western mug. I read the sellers description and started sipping.
The brew is light golden in the cup. First sip gave a touch of bitterness that faded quickly a wisp of smoke and the closest note I can find is cotton candy on the taste buds. It gives a bit of tingle on the tongue as well. The 3-6 steeps were as far as I got today but the bitterness is increasing in the later steeps.
This is a very interesting tea for sure.
Flavors: Bitter, Cotton Candy, Smoke
Hard to believe the tiny $36 price on this when it tastes like expensive tea. I need to drink this up while it is fresh, I don’t want these sweet buds to dry out. A drink-now for me!
Yesterday and today I’ve been drinking a mystery tea I got at an apothecary in Toronto. I really have no idea what it is except it may be Sheng or some other kind of heicha. The Tea is composed of a series of compressed cylinders encased in a bamboo frame. It looks like a rocket a little and it was wrapped in an old inside out Dayi wrapper. The dry leaf smells a little bit like raisins and dried fruit and a little musty. It is moderately compressed and seperaytes easily.
Yesterday I overleafed it a little and steeped it for too long the first few steeps and it was a combination of tart fruit notes, and herbaceous spicy bitter veg which sweetened and developed cocoa notes in later steeps. There is that slightly menthol camphor note present. The Tea does have a good energy to it and leaves me feeling nicely buzzzed.
Today I used a little less leaf and shorter steeps and the fruit notes are crisp and bright with muscatel, and crisp apple in the early steeps. This tea is fairly astringent and a little thinner than Sheng I have had so far but it had great resiliency yesterday and I have taken it through 7 flash steeps so far today.
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I was blown away by this tea. I don’t say that lightly, and I’ve already purchased 2 cakes just in case they get snapped up! This is the kind of tea I have been looking for, for a long time. First, I will say that to me this seems like the real deal, i.e. not a fake. I only purchased a sample, though, so I haven’t seen the wrapper. It is nearly 20 years old. I have wanted to try a non-humid stored aged tea that wasn’t hundreds of dollars, and this one fit the bill at $75 for a cake ($20 for a sample).
The tea looked like a shu, which of course it should being that old. The first steep poured a dark brown cola color. I thought, yay! This is going to be good, it is really aged. And wow, the flavor was amazing. It had the deepness of a shu, but was quite fruity, as you might expect in a Yiwu. There were no off flavors, so I suspect the storage was excellent. The first several steeps were very complex, with an amazing huigan. My wife kept saying she felt like there was an explosion in her mouth. It had that astringency and cooling methol type effect. It had flavors of fruit, a little earthy-ness, a very slight mushroomy-ness, and others I just don’t know how to characterize. I feel like this is why people go so hard for a good aged pu erh. Now I get it more fully. The tea lasted so long, I lost count of the infusions. My belly was making sounds like ocean waves, so I definitely had quite a bit. I had to stop, though the tea hadn’t given up all of its flavor. The fruitiness and huigan came more to the fore in the later steeps.
All I can say is, if you want to know what a good dry-stored aged pu erh tastes like, GET SOME OF THIS TEA. Now that I have raved about it, I hope it doesn’t disappoint. You know how that can happen. I looked so long to find a tea that was aged well and not super expensive. I would highly recommend this tea as an example of where your pu erh may be headed in the decades to come… if we live long enough to see the day!
I have this cake but have yet to try it. Will have to put it on the top of my list to try.
Thank you for this post. this is exactly the type of information that i scour the net for.
Given that there were only 9 out of over 100 pieces left when I checked, I skipped the sample step and bought a full piece. This is the fastest I have ever gone from reading a review to buying tea!
By the way, I recommend essence of tea for aged sheng. most of their offerings are out of my price range, though the 92 da ye loose leaf is an exception. not a spectacular flavor (mostly woody), yet its a clean, mellow, soothing, over 20 year old sheng.
Also, If you are looking for bargain deals, you may find something good at finepuer.com.
FBG— Fake But Good. As the saying goes, there are fakes that are real and reals that are fake. The year on that puppy is ‘06. It might be real, but I’d bet money that it is not ‘97. It’s just not possible at that price. Think about it. Also, the puercn.com site doesn’t turn anything up. Sounds like very good storage conditions. Enjoy!
So why do you think it’s from the specific year 2006? It may certainly be fake, but it is really good. Alan, can you post a pic of your cake?
Also, this cake may border on ‘too good to be true’, but there are similar precedents. Puershop sells a 1998 7542 for $88. So I guess this didn’t seem too crazy to me. We may need a good detective to help us figure this out! But as you say, it’s more about the tea, not the wrapper. I found the tea to be outstanding.
I’ll trust your exquisite tastes. FBG is something I made up, but the ‘G’ mustn’t be understated. Just a guess on the year based on what I “turnipped”, the wrapper listed, and the colour of the liquor.
Good find.
I love wrappers! Let’s not be to rash. ;-) Tea Urchin me stat.
99% likely that 1998 7542 isn’t exactly what he says it is either. It already has a fair amount of controversy. http://teacloset.blogspot.com/2012/06/final-update-to-fake-1998-7542.html
I also think Yang-chu is speaking some words of wisdom here. The odds of finding dry-stored Yiwu from the 1990s selling for less than extortionist prices is pretty slim. Doesn’t mean the tea isn’t good or worthwhile!
I don’t know about the 2006 claim. Personally I have no clue what year. Maybe Yang-chu matched the wrapper to a production?
Rich. I will probably drink this tomorrow. When I do I will post pics. I don’t know why someone would assume this was a 2006 tea. At first I thought people were referring to my 2006 Mt Elephant Cake.
Thanks, Alan. I’ll look forward to your thoughts on this. I guess I really just don’t know much at all about fakes, so I could easily be duped. But the tea tasted old and mature, and in line with the only other 1990s tea I’ve tried from White2tea. Plus again, from my limited experience, it was an outstanding tea.
Did you follow jschergen’s link? Even experts at the Getty get fooled by good counterfeits. But you cannot pay that price for an Yiwu from that maker at that price. White2tea sells “tiepai” because, in fact, the artists who make fakes can be very talented at what they do.
Seems like you scored and I’m sure we’ll will benefit from your missive, especially if we’re looking for an item that meets those specs.
Today I drank the 2006 Menghai Dayi Mt Elephant ripe cake. I bought this from Aliexpress seller King Tea. It was a very tasty ripe with only a little fermentation flavor. It developed notes of chocolate and berries. It was very tasty. By all accounts, both according to the wrapper and quality, it is the real deal Dayi.
Excitement. Got my 2015 CNNP “Gan” order today. Wreaks. I was sold on the material being aged for five years before being pressed into cakes. The waiting game begins. Another reviewer notes the stinkiness, a muted sweetness and a largely dry sensation particularly in the throat. Reviewer doesn’t note any off taste in the brew itself, but seems like it needs to sit to sweeten up.
How long do you usually air your new Pu? I usually go by the time it took for it to get to me. My tea storage area is usually from 58-67% humidity and always upper 70s C. I have to leave them around 4-5 days and I note the difference, weeks if it is something as tight as a Xiaguan.
Wow! Upper 70s? That’s really cookin’! My stuff never gets above 25c, as low as 13, stays anywhere between 55-75%.
If I can smell the shu through the wrapper and it has “that smell” I’ll wait as long as it takes up to six mths. If not, then I’ll drink immediately, two weeks later, a month later and so on. I do the same with raw. On whatever whim, I’ll apportion some sheng for a zisha or porcelain container and then test from that, leaving the main chunk alone. I’ll probably probably test Gan in Sept.
LOL! typo upper 60s! I think it did go up there once when my A/C broke down last summer. And during winter it usually stays in upper 50s though it did have some 48 and 49s once or twice last winter.
Nice! I have mine mostly on Yunnan Clay containers to protect them from the dry winter here and the overly humid in summer. I air them ever 3-6 months depending on the humidity conditions inside the barrels and the condition outside.
Yes! upper 60s F. Lol 60c would kill me too!. Its a spot at my apt. I have a Upper 60s F temperature with a max of 75 F in hotter days(except when my A/C broke). Humidity I try to maintain around 55-65% but the reality in Summers is from mid-60s some days reaching mid-70s (even when outside it may be in the 90%+ humidity. In the Winter it hasn’t ever dropped below 45% but it is really hard to keep it in the 55% humidity. My temperature is pretty constant with only lower 60s in winter.
It actually rained here on Sat. Last summer was very hot and humid, but usually humidity won’t top 75%. Presently the temp is about 76% with 73% humidity. Chinese complain that Kunming is dry. If you come from the Shanghai, Wuhan area that’s true, but nothing compared to the dryness of Beijing. KM’s weather is fairly similar to here in LA, though we sometimes have heat extremes. Last summer was quite anomalous with many days in the upper 90s and humid. We usually get the big heat during the fire season of late Oct and early Nov, the infamous Santa Anas and then it’s quite dry. I live half-way between downtown and the coast. Closer to the coast is cooler and downtown is hotter. In all it seems like perfect conditions. Stuff I have seems to transform much quicker than in KM. I don’t have to worry about dryness like those further inland or the humidity of places like DC. During the winter, there were a few days where the humidity dropped to the upper-mid 30s but that probably didn’t total more than 10 days, with maybe another 10 in the 40s. The low end is usually around 55%. No AC here. There are confounded mill moths however!
If I had the choice of constant natural breeze I would not mind 60-70s humitidy. But apparently you should only do higher humidity with a good constant airflow. Also, in the middle of the city I’d just get a bunch of that nasty exhaust dust on my tea. lol.
60%-70% RH at around 70°F is actually still in the relatively dry spectrum of puerh storage, bordering on too dry if you want your tea to age. And much drier and I’d worry about my tea going stale after a few years. Kunming ranges from 60-80%RH with temperature range from mid 60’sF to mid 80’sF (average of course), and Kunming is considered very dry storage, where tea won’t age very much in a decade.
A lot of dry stored puerh from SE Asia could more accurately be called natural storage, as opposed to traditional storage with RH ~90% and temperature to match
Isn’t dry-stored in SE Asia a bit of an oxymoron? I’ve read sellers from KM whose range is much lower than what you’ve stated. Interesting points. I’d like to hear more on how they were formed.
Yes I do agree “dry storage” can be misleading! I imagine it was originally used with the ‘88 Qing beengs because it was, simply put, dryer than how tea was stored before. I see a lot of people starting to use the term “natural storage” in it’s place, though calling something dry stored could still be applicable at times if the storage facility is air conditioned and the humidity is intentionally kept below a certain point.
A few old marshaln blog posts from a few years ago first got me to really think about what storage is like in asia, and since then I’ve talked to a few others who live or spend time in southern china and Malaysia. The numbers I posted are notes that I took straight from marshaln’s blog some time ago. If I find it I’ll share.
(My original point was that there’s very little if any need to worry about mold with RH between 60 and 70% and that it’s still on the dryer side of the puerh storage spectrum if you assume temps around 70°F)
Boychick, I have a pumidor with a humidity control device made for cigar humidors. Before that I just kept my cakes in gallon size freezer bags during the winter and that worked perfectly well for maintaining my cakes. I don’t think pumidors are completely necessary unless you really want to geek out =)
@bw85 Kunming is much drier than that from my experience. I take a hygrometer with me when I’m there and I’m used to seeing things below 50%RH for temps in the 60-80 F range. It’ll even get down to 20%RH.
Just checked some weather sites. Spring is the time of lowest humidity for Kunming. Found verification that it can definitely get below 50%. However the rest of the year is much higher, today is 87%RH. Average throughout the year seems to fall in the 70% range.
Disclaimer: I don’t have first hand experience with weather in china, only google!
@bw85 I’m with Yang-Chu and Crimson Lotus Tea. Kunming is drier than 80s for sure, but as in may other places you’ll get outlier days that can be way dried or wetter than the norm.
But the main reason I’m a 50s and 60s humidity % guy is my type of storage, I mostly use clay pots with a lid, if I go beyond 60s within the clay pot I may just start a fungi collection instead of a Puerh Collection, but if I was in a place with a bit more constant humidity (DC can be REALLY humid in the summer, BUT REALLY dry in the winter) so to me the clay pots are a means to keep things at a constant 50s-60s the best I can. I do expose them to some higher humidity on higher humidity some days and let me absorb it and once it goes down I leave them out again for a day or two so I can maintain the 50-60s IN the pots, even if out side is drier or humid.
http://www.kunming.climatemps.com/humidity.php just one of many sources. Kunming is relatively dry compared to further south, but not that dry.
I’m not critiquing your storage. Everyone fine tunes what works best for them. I keep my sheng around 75%rh and around 75-80°f* in a pumidor. I have a fan within the pumidor though and open the door regularly. I can take your word that clay jars would require different parameters, I have no experience with them myself.
*this time of the year, half the year I try to keep it 10°f cooler
Meh, the key subject here is as you mentioned the fan you have in your pumidor, the ‘air flow’. The material can be important, but clay pots have very limited airflow and no airflow + humidity is not good. Besides the average is 71.3 and I said I keep it in the upper 60s (50s is ok with me because winter here can get bone dry), so saying either one is wrong is like saying you got ripped off because you paid $70 for something when I paid $69.95. :P
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