pu-erh of the day. Sheng or Shou

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MzPriss said

2006 Bingdao Peacock from The Essence of Tea. Relaxing body qi, some thickness, a pleasing bitterness along with some astringency, a little fruit, some throatiness and very fleeting and low level of occasional sweetness.

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I brewed some of the 90’s tuo from EoT while watching the game today. Early steeps started thick, earthy & sweet, with some complexity. Later on this tea became smooth and pleasantly mellow.

Wow, it’s been a while since we stocked that tea. I haven’t drunk it in years!

I bought 3 of these back in early 2010 when you transitioned to EoT. I also have some 80’s bamboo-wrapped tuo and ’96 Menghai 8582 left, but I wish I had stocked up on more of the aged puerh you carried at the time!

I do too! Especially that 8582.

mrmopar said

You are lucky! I wish I had been into this tea earlier.

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DigniTea said

Yesterday I had a very enjoyable session with White2Tea’s 2014 Apple Scruffs (XiGui) sheng. Floral and sweet are the best taste descriptors for this tea. Lingering mouth- and throat-feel. More fruity with sugarcane sweetness after the 4th infusions. I must say this really was a refreshing break from the older shengs I’ve been drinking lately. Not terribly complex but a very nice tea (even if you do not care for the earthier puer so many of us drink regularly).

MzPriss said

I should get that out and see what how it’s changefd since I last tried it.

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JC said

I’m testing my table for leaks tonight so I went for a tea I’ve tried before. 2012 Ruiyuan NanNuo Old Arbor. This tea is really good I feel like Paul found a very good arbor here. When I first got it it was mostly a bitter to bittersweet front with tobacco/earthy notes that carried a good amount of astringency, the huigan felt like cane sugar with hints of fruit.

I feel like the bitter notes have changed a bit and somehow now resemble a medicinal-tobacco version of coffee grounds. It’s weird, but I like it. I feel it has more apparent bitter/earthy notes that swing from the coffee-like into the more familiar tobacco-peat. As you continue to steep it has a thickness to it, but the astringency is still the most noticeable trait in the body. The huigan is developing fine, some fruit notes with a refreshing finish.

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TeaRurnt said

Just the 2006 Xiaguan Dali Tuo today, my current daily drinker. Brewed a little lighter tonight, brought out much more smooth fruity sweetness. Probably won’t buy this one again for a while after it’s gone, but I might replace it with another Xiaguan tuo. Any suggestions?

mrmopar said

Any brand or house preferences? The XG Dream Of The Red Chamber is a decent one. Or the 2011 Gold Melon tribute.

TeaRurnt said

I’ll take a look at both, not a frequent buyer of xiaguan so far so I’m open to most things.

mrmopar said

What is your preference? Sheng or shou and do you have a factory preference or small producer?

TeaRurnt said

Been trying a lot of fresh sheng from YS lately, any ideas for cheaper semi-aged from there?

mrmopar said

2011 Chen Yun Yuan Cha is an excellent value ($29.00). Read the description on the site. Not humid like a lot of them are. The 2013 Qing Mei Shan($50.00). There is a 2015 HLH Gao Shan Chen Yun Yiwu ($25.00) good values in that shop.

TeaRurnt said

Added samples of those to my next order, thank you!

Rui A. said

Thank you very much for the pointers Mrmopar. They have been added to my wish list as well.

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’02 Hai Lang Hao Ai Lao Shan from YS today. This little cake is smooth, sweet and a little smokey.

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AllanK said

Today I drank an excellent ripe from White2Tea, the 2015 Pretty Girls Ripe Puer Tea. It had a lot of fermentation flavor to it, but not in an real unpleasant way. The fermentation taste lasted about four or five steeps. It was sweet from the beginning with little bitterness. This is an excellent tea that I think has a lot of potential given another two years of aging.

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shezza said

oh man, i tried part of my 2015 bosch sample earlier today, and I don’t have anything intelligent to say about it other than that I was doodling on a pad of paper while I drank, and looking back at those doodles now…that must have been some pretty good tea I was drinking…is it just me or is time moving very fast today?

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Sammerz314 said

Its been a while since I’ve had a shou. That being said, I decided to indulge in David Lee Hoffmans ~95 Vietnam shou Beencha. This is probably one of the better shous I’ve had.

The cake itself has a beautiful appearance. The leaves are rather large with a high abundance of twigs (I have a thing for twigs!). Upon inspection, I get the impression that although the cake is indeed fermented, its probably on the medium-lighter side. Physically, its simply a beautiful bing (The price was also beautiful!).

The wet leaves produce a subtle aroma that brings soft fruits and old leather to mind. Smelling this tea, I feel like I’m in an antiques shop on Queen Street in downtown Toronto! Pretty cool aroma – very vintage.

The liquor has a deep red colour to it (surprise, surprise) with a decent body. I’d say this tea can be a little thicker in the mouth, however, there’s a pleasant smoothness and long sweet dark chocolatey finish that more than make up for the body. The notes of dark chocolate linger in the mouth for some time while the drinker experience a pleasant cooling effect from the tea (albeit not as noticeable as with some shengs). I’d say this tea is well balanced with interesting notes and rather dynamic for a shou, nice stuff if you ask me. I’m glad I invested in a full bing a couple years back.

Parameters : 6g / 100 mL

JC said

Nice to see you around! I liked this Shou, hopefully I can get one after I settle my taxes. :P

Sammerz314 said

I just checked. He actually still has a few! How have you been JC? What are you drinking nowadays?

JC said

I’ve been well, just busy overall. I’ve been mostly drinking samples from either YS productions or W2T tea club. Though I did buy David’s Large Leaf From Old Trees again to revisit, so I’ll be dipping on those. How about you?

Sammerz314 said

Mostly the same. Cool, anything note worthy? I honestly haven’t been buying much tea lately… just drinking the same stuff. Nick at misty peaks did send me some maocha to try and it was nice. Have you tried his 2015 material? I recently revisited EoT’s bangwei 33 and few single trees and I find they evolved quite nicely. Oww, I like those ones! Did you get any of the Simao or Lincang sourced large leaf?

JC said

YS has a bunch that have been very note worthy, let me find a few notes and I’ll send you a list of a few. I have to revisit my EoT stuff, I’ve let it be chill for a while. Ive been going easy on tea in general but I’m getting back to it. And the LLfOT Lancang is amazing, its holding up very well and has a nice thick body to it that lingers with sweet fruit notes. The Simao is more woody/white pepper note with intense camphor and sweet finish. The Mengku is ‘meh’ has a ripe sweetness that I’m not sure if I dig it. I can send you some if you want.

mrmopar said

Hi Sammerz! Good to see you drop by!

Sammerz314 said

Ye, if I remember correctly, the Lincang was my favourite. I’ve never tried the mengku. Thanks for the offer but I think I still have some of them around…. too much tea! LOL. Keep me posted with those notes.

Mr Mopar!! Why thank you, how have you been, sir? How’s that Pumidor?! Are those bings aging nicely?!

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Spending the morning with a

2013 Wuliang Ye Sheng

(thanks to LiquidProust). Enjoying it for sure!
rambling steam of taste: hint of sour, hay, something familiar can’t place it, nice, mellow in a good way, but strong, does that make sense? earthy, mellow, mild tart of citrus like maybe some cherry or raisin in the aftertaste…

I’ve so far liked the shengs (even the young wild ones) much better than the shus. But granted I’m not even on my first steps of the puerh journey yet, not even crawling, more like on my back, feet in the air rocking back and forth. And I’ve only really tried the shu from a local Dobra. I had some CLT and Mandala ones just delivered this week, so I’m sure those will open my brain up a bit :)

whoaa…8 steeps in and just reading what I wrote I’m guessing that Wuliang Ye has gone to my head

Looking back I see I wrote “steam” instead of “stream”, but I’m gonna leave it for puns sake…

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