pu-erh of the day. Sheng or Shou

Pu-heads, Wymm Tea is having a sale and I’m thinking of ordering some samples. Can anyone help me choose which sample sets to get? :)
http://www.wymmtea.com/shop/?category=SAMPLE

2014 Ku Zhu Shan Yunnan Sourcing sample from generous tea friend.
i had a bitter sheng craving. this tea is fantastic. its thick mouthfeel, sweet, bitter and punchy. powerful qi. i need it in my life.

I’ve been AFS (away from Steepster) for way too long. Took on some jobs that had me traveling all over, although I have popped my head in from time to time to read this thread.

Yesterday I dug down to the bottom of the stash for the 2007 Boyou Grade 7 shou from PuerhShop since I have not had it in nearly 2 years. This has developed nicely in Florida’s natural pumidor (75F and 60% humidity indoors). Gone is the “dirt” taste in the early steeps. The flavor is now less intense, but more complex with a very clean feeling on the palate. It’s sweet with slight spice, figs, some cedar and citrus. This is now a favorite among my shou. Unfortunately it is no longer available, so I’ll enjoy the one brick I have.

Tonight I found a sample that Scott Wilson sent me back in 2013: the 2013 Yunnan Sourcing “Ai Lao Mountain” Wild Arbor raw. It was from the edge of the cake and had only moderate compression. I was able to tease 7 grams apart into individual leaves and used my 100 ml gaiwan. It brewed up a medium yellow liquor that had a distinct fruity aroma similar to lychee. The cups were medium bodied, sweet, fruity, slightly spicy, with a moderate tartness emerging as the cup cooled. Just the barest hint of astringency in the second steep. No smoke. I’m really enjoying this one as a young sheng that can be drank now, and am considering a cake or two while it’s still available.

Today I drank the 2012 Autumn Naka Bamboo Tea from Chawangshop. Thank you Marcus Reed for this sample. This tea was sweet with little bitterness at all. More than any other sheng I can remember it tasted of apricots. It was so sweet I added no sugar. I usually find myself adding a small amount of sugar to tea but this needed no added sweetening. I didn’t feel any major effect from this tea that Naka teas have become known for but I could feel a nice relaxing qi. This was good tea.

After nearly eleven hours of traveling I am finally home and relaxing with some Poundcake from White2Tea. Most days I try to drink something new, but some days I just need the comfort of a tea I know I love. This was one of those days!

2012 “Fu” as in some kinda fragrance not “lucky,” CNNP Kunming Tea Factory. It’s been a rough week fellow Steepstarians, been battling one helluvan organic illness, from which I slowly started to climb on Thurs. Still this lingering headache. I was well enough to host the Mid-Autumn party of about nine on Sat. It was a good time of conversation, Xi-gui sampling, and… mooncakes.

I’ll admit, I’m writing this a bit buzzed from the “Fu,” the fragrant type. I think I wrote a note on this when I first tried it, when it was just brash. A few mths of about 75% humidity and 25 temp, and it has mellowed a bit. It has that classic build in the mouth and heat mid chest to let you know it’s good stuff.
This time, I’m noticing much more smoke in the aroma of the leaves. It settles nicely in the broth, which got v. quick infusions. A light liquor in terms of color and viscosity. I’m still not thinking straight, my tongue still feels strange. No mediciney notes to this. Lots of cane juice or rock sugar to it. If you over steep, you’ll get the bitter and a brassier brew. It’s beyond the “ba-qi” stage now. It’s very good to drink. Everything seems just right. The headiness from the early two infusions trails off quickly. Over all, good for at least 12 infusions. That’s Fu, as in the fragrance not lucky. Be emphatic about it. You’ll have at least one Steeptarian who understands.

Today I drank a semi aged sheng that I picked up from Dragon Tea House, the 2007 Mu Ye Chun Mengku Green puerh tea cake. This tea had a dark amber color to it. It had a strong aged taste. I don’t know a better way to describe the aged taste so I shall just call it that. This flavor slowly changed into something sweet but not the apricoty sweetness of a young sheng. There was no wet storage taste to this tea. It was probably dry stored. Overall this was a good value. It only cost a little more than $40 for a cake. There is no doubt in my mind that the age of the cake is genuine.

Drank an inexpensive ripe mini cake from Chawangshop, the 2009 Lange TF Menghai “Shang Shan Ruo Shui” ripe cake. This 100g cake is cheap at only $6. It is a good puerh. It has a fair amount of fermentation flavor. It is sweet with little bitterness. It was quite tasty.

Enjoying some 2015 Hai Lang Hao “Gao Shan Chen Yun” Yi Wu Mountain Raw from the YS order that just came in the mail today. Very, very light. Not bitter, very smooth. Can’t remember how much an entire cake was (just got a sample) but it was inexpensive. So probably a good every day drinker.

Speaking of Langhe teas from Chawangshop, this morning I am dipping into their 2010 Langhe Yun Duan Ripe. This is another solid Langhe ripe from Chawangshop. It’s like a bread and butter Langhe, the telltale flavors one might expect. Very dark, fairly smooth, kind of sweet, chocolatey, and creamy. Tasty tea! You pretty much can’t go wrong with these Langhe ripes IMO, with a few exceptions.