pu-erh of the day. Sheng or Shou

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AllanK said

Today I delved into my free tea from White2Tea. I drank the Mystery Dayi. I don’t know which Dayi this is or what year this is. It must have some age on it because it has nearly cleared as far as fermentation flavor goes. It was pretty tasty in the first four of five steeps. There were some chocolate notes and some fruity notes in there. But around steep six I noticed a fall off in flavor. It didn’t exactly get bad, it was just not as good as it had been. I think that this tea is not quite up to White2Tea standards but I am not unhappy to have received it.

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Today was Crimson Lotus tea’s 2008 Bulang Shan Imperial Grade… notes to come…

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mrmopar said

Having the 2008 Kylin from the XiaGuan factory.
Finally bringing this out after some aging.
I got 11 grams to start this off with. I gave a rinse and let it sit about 30 minutes. I knew from the rinse that it had aged a bit.
First brews at 5 seconds each and into the mug.
This has a nice golden color emerging in the brew. This one is till pungent and bitter in the cup. I get smoke , wood and the bitter notes from this one. Still pretty strong and there is the hint of camphor in there. It is a fairly full bodied head on one, just still very young for and XG in the age department.

Flavors: Bitter, Camphor, Smoke, Wood.

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Cwyn said

2001 Bamboo stored heicha, sample from JC. Extremely well-aired, plushy leaves, full of golden flowers. Very little funk to this, just a hint of that mushroom taste. Not the heat-building gut bomb of my 1992 Tibetan brick, like maybe 1/4 of the intensity so very pleasant and mild cup. Had a burger and pasta for dinner so I needed this for digestion. Thanks, JC! I live to write another day.

Yang-chu said

Such a nice note.

JC said

Glad you liked it! I’m still on the fence about this one, I tried it the other day and it was really good to chill while watching some movies. On the first two steeps I was almost thinking it was a shou, but it cleans even more and it has that huigan that reminds me of Shengs. I need to find more information about Heichas!

Cwyn said

It is fermented tea, but the leaves have been oxidized before pile fermentation. So it can taste alternately like shou or black tea with a mushroom/wet wood taste. For me the flowers add a tangy-ness that black tea and shou by themselves lack. In another view, “border” tea is usually considered inferior by puerh enthusiasts.

I come from Eastern European farmers and tailors whose diet is heavy on meat, potatoes and dairy. I see teas like heicha as a balance to this type of diet as is the case for minorities in China territories. It suits my body type, and is warming in cold weather.

JC said

This is a good point, it does have notes that resemble a black tea for sure! I knew it had to be at least partially post fermented or oxidized somehow, but I wasn’t too sure. I like the sweetness that I get lingering and the camphor, I think that helps me with heavier food.

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boychik said

2012 Miles’ Birthday Blend Spring Raw by Tea Urchin
Having lots of new sheng since May i tend to overleaf them.
I wasnt thinking and put whole 7g of the sample in my tiny 75ml shibo.
Its a first time i recognized immediately my mistake.
This tea is very powerful. It hit me from the very first steep. I was tea drunk right away. Looked up on their website they recommend 6g/100ml.
Transferred to my 100ml yixing. Much better.
This tea is incredible. it is very thick, very sweet and smooth . Starts from yellow but on a 2nd steep it becomes pretty orange. And bitterness comes in. Not slight, pretty pronounced along with some astringency. Followed up with sweet aftertaste, but not like honey sweet, more floral syrupy.
I continued the next morning ,its pretty long lasting. Bitterness faded away. It was just smooth and pleasant. then i decided to increase the time to almost a minute and it was quite punchy and bitter again.

Yang-chu said

I’m very interested in this one.

I love this one so much! Glad you liked it Boychik :D

boychik said

@Yang-chu Definitely sample it. it is not just nice sheng, very interesting.
@Stephanie Thank you so much for sharing. im going to continue today to see if anything left ;)

MzPriss said

Now I want some. This thread is so hard on my wallet.

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AllanK said

Today I drank a 2008 Tae Tea Dayi V93 sold to my by Aliexpress King Tea. This was an excellent tea. It did have a fair amount of fermentation flavor to it. I noticed it past the fourth steep. There were some notes of chocolate or cocoa in there along with a fruity flavor in later steeps. This tea was the polar opposite of the 2008 7572 that I got from this seller.

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Grill said

Golden melon shou from White2tea. Drank 2 very fresh 2015 shengs last night so I decided to go with someone smooth and sweet. Thought about breaking it apart to make 2 sessions out of it but decided to be lazy. All 20 grams in a 160 ml gaiwan (how’s that for leaf to water ratio). After a 30 second rinse I stabbed it with my pick and broke it up into 4 smaller pieces. Another 15 rinse after that and I was again able to use my pick to break up the smaller pieces. Not only was I feeling lazy but also impatient. After I couple minutes I hit it with some just off boil water for the first steep.

Tea come out as an opaque deep dark reddish brown. Touch cloudy which I think means there is still some fermentation going on. Typical notes of dark chocolate, dark dried fruits and the wet Forrest floor but cranked up to eleven, probably since I used so much. The taste sticks to my tongue and roof of my mouth and stakes it’s claim. I asked nicely if it would kindly move on but this tea is having none of it. After a few steeps this tea shows no signs of giving in, each one just a rich and flavorful as the last. It’s a stubborn one is the best possible way. I can see me waving the white flag before this tea does. Liked this shou a bunch and now that I tried such a high leaf to water ratio with this I’m going to experiment with other shous. Before I know it I’ll be attempting to steep whole cakes at a time on a daily basis

Cwyn said

I brewed the whole thing myself and it steeped for three days. Fantastic! Also, I’d aired mine for about six months.

boychik said

Love this one. I also steep it whole in my 160ml yixing . lasts 3-4 days, i dont mind ;D

Grill said

@Cywn, Maybe I should take the last one and hide it somewhere around the house for a few months. I do this with money in a coat pocket and get all excited the first time I wear it in the winter lol. @boychik All the shous you’ve suggested have been great so far, thanks again. EDIT: I see people’s names in bold when replying sometimes, no clue how to do that so I just went instagram style

boychik said

@*Grill* asteriskwordasterisk for bold. you are welcome. glad you like them ;)

Grill said

Boychik thanks again!

Psyck said

Let us know when you get down to steeping a whole cake in a frying pan.

Grill said

Why do you give me ideas like that?!

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AllanK said

Today I drank the 2015 If Your Reading This It’s 2 Late by White2Tea. This sheng was insanely delicious. There was no bitterness to it. There were a lot of complex notes including apricots and stonefruits. I am still tasting this tea even though I finished my last cup five minutes ago. This tea has had something of an effect on me too. I rarely feel any effect from tea but I did here. This is without a doubt among the best sheng I have ever drank. I only wish I had more of it. I wonder how this tea will age.

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Rich select said

Looks like is is W2T day! I did the golden melon this morning. It was surely ok, but I didn’t care for it all that much. Per gram, this turns out to not be cheap compared to other good shu. $2 per 10g works out to a $70 cake, after all. There are really great shus for that price.

This afternoon, I did the Milk, Cream and Alcohol sheng. This is a great basic tea given the price. It was harsh on my stomach, though. Medium bodied, good simple flavor, and given the bitterness, probably a decent pick for aging.

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MzPriss said

I just enjoyed some of the 2012 Bulang Gushu “Ancient Tree” shou from Crimson Lotus. I still love it. Started a little leathery and progressed into a deep dark chocolate with a whiff of vanilla and a bit of a spice note – sort of peppery. It’s very sweet with nice relaxing warmth. Perfect Friday evening shou.

Yang-chu said

Sounds nice.

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