pu-erh of the day. Sheng or Shou
I think I’m a sucker for cool pu’er wrappers.
This 2012 White 2 Tea Pu’er wrapper is just hella video game nerd cool http://www.white2tea.com/tea-shop/2013-white-2-tea-new-amerykah/
me too, have you seen Tea Urchin’s gorgeous designs? sadly far out of my price range though.
oh wow, I haven’t. Checking them out now and wow really cool pu’er but many out of my price range, impressive when even a sample is out of my price range! Love their 2013 wrappers!
Just had something special from Garret at Mandala. It is a 2013 tea really good now! I don’t have a name given to it as of yet as they are still deciding. My choice would be “Marvel of the Mountain”. It is every bit as good as the “Phatty” cake they pressed and I think this one is a winner also.
It’s getting better all the time…just had the honor to taste a Meng Jing Hao 1930, what an adventure. Plus, next week we will have a Pu Erh festival in Brussels, and even an off festival. In total, 120 Pu Erh teas can be tasted, quite exceptional…better, better, better!
Both of these things sound wonderful. Let us know how the festival goes. I’d love to hear about the circumstances and your experience of the Meng Jing Hao.
Thanks for your reply, Javan, I’ll keep you posted. This must be the third ‘old’ tea I drink and it was always the Cha Qi, the spiritual boost, that stroke me the most; the taste is so complex, hard to analyse, but interesting; plus, the romantic idea of drinking something older than I am, the fact that it was stored so long, on purpose or not, for future generations. All this together, makes me very content.
How was it? If I am not mistaken, most puerhs in dry storage reach “optimal” state at about 50-60 years (Hence, 1950s-1960s would be optimal for us). Did you find it weak or stale? I only wish I could get my hands on such an antique to experience for myself.
Not at all weak or stale, rather mysterious, dark, with a smell of wood and camphor, but most important, strong chi. It silenced our tasting group down. I’am very graceful to have these opportunities.
Here’s more about the source of all these delicious teas. http://the-leaf.org/Issue3/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/seeking-tea-finding-dao-single-page-layout222.pdf
Interesting. Must have been quite the experience. The oldest material I’ve had was a 1958 and 1960s Guang Yun Gong. Personally, I found the 1960s Guang Yun Gong better as it seemed to have various layers of earthy tones opposed to the one-dimensional earthy tones found in ripes and/or some wet storage puerhs. I found the 1958 a little too light. However, there was a strong qi.
If you need a second opinion on any of these I volunteer to taste them for you. Just kidding! These teas sound wonderful and I am envious of you for having the chance to try them. One day I will get to this level.
Hey Mopar, what level of humidity do you maintain in your pumidor? My humidity has been dropping as we get closer and closer to the winter here in Canada. Currently at 70% =(
Sammerz314 I try to keep mine at no more than 70% humidity. I do on occasion knock it to 72% on the sheng part for a couple of days to emulate some seasonal change. The shou I just keep at 70% and try to rotate all the tea about once a month.
Interesting. My bings suffer in the winter. Humidity drops to about 50%! Might have to pick up a humidifier or something. The shous are seperate from the shengs, right?
Yeah I keep the sheng seperate from the shou. I use an old as the “pumidor”. The freezer part for sheng and the lower part for shou. I use this because most refrigerators have airtight seals. I have a cigar humidifier in each level. It took a while to stabilize because I think the tea absorbed a humidity for about 2 weeks. Now I just check it daily on the humidity meter and only have to add water about once a week. Just do not use the beads as they give off ammonia which will get in your tea. Here is what I am using http://www.ebay.com/itm/CIGAR-OASIS-XL-Plus-Humidifier-EXTRA-Cartridge-Free-Shipping-Authorized-Dealer/130914741511?rt=nc&trksid=p2047675.m1851&trkparms=aid%3D222002%26algo%3DSIC.FIT%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D18518%26meid%3D2582517649896674977%26pid%3D100005%26prg%3D8427%26rk%3D2%26rkt%3D4%26sd%3D161144183136%26. Just shop around and you may find one cheaper. Buy one bigger than you need so it will not work itself to death trying to keep up.
Drinking a 2003 Yiwu Ancient Tree from the puerhshop. This tea has aged very nicely. It has a very nice golden colour and smooth body. Very easy to drink.
It has been a while since I posted a tasting note and I hope you can forgive me for this. I am trying the 2012 Menghai “Bada” brick tonight. I am kind of fond of Bada tea.Trying this for the first time since I obtained it. I will probably never drink all of this in my lifetime since it is a 1000 gram brick meant to age. It is a very tightly compacted brick and pretty tough to break into. It has a “dryness” on the tongue and an almost apricot taste with a light coffee taste. difficult to accurately describe but pretty good overall. you all know I am kind of a “shou puerh” head. It is nice. Not one of the best but a good affordable tea per cup considering the size of the brick. Apricot, light roast coffee and a hint of woodiness. I will retry this on a second steep tomorrow and may adjust the notes a little.
For the last two days I’ve been drinking a very nice ripe puerh from Bana Tea Company, a 2006 Denong (detailed here: http://www.banateacompany.com/pages/puerh_teas-DenongBrick.html). I quite like it – it is quiet, not showy, with flavors of tobacco, earth, and citrus and a very mellow vibe (pardon me for slipping into hippie mode). Quite a pleasant tea, it was part of the Bana tea ripe puerh sampler. I will probably order a brick.
Anyone familiar with Longsheng tea factory? If so, what are your thoughts?
Sammers314 do you have any pictures of their tea? This is one I am not quite familiar with yet.
mrmopar, I found pictures and descriptions here: http://www.tuochatea.com/longsheng-song-pin-zhi-guang-p150/ and here http://www.tuochatea.com/longsheng-spring-tips-pu-erh-cake-p147/ and here http://www.tuochatea.com/longsheng-raw-pu-erh-tuocha-p68/. Sammerz314, I have no personal experience with their teas. I’d love to hear about them.
They all are listed as simao harvest. They usually have a natural sweetness to them. Sammerrz314 definitely let us know how they are if you try them.
I picked up two bings of the 2006 longsheng spring tips about a year back. I’ve had it once since then. My initial impression was that it had chemicals as the soup left the tip of the tongue slightly numb (usually an indication of chemicals). However, I had the tea today and it was wondeful. Perhaps I used too much leaf in my first steeping? I asked hoping someone had some sort of experience with the tea factory as it doesnt seem to be very popular.
Back from the Tea Garage, in an altered state. This was just amazing. On the menu, 30 pu erh teas, ranging from very good to top quality. On a cha qi level, the tea called True Love, a Meng Hai 1960’s loose teacake was a real uplifting experience. More subtle was a Yi Wu mountain teacake from 1950. Entre-temps, I tasted a Song Pin 2000, wondering how this one would be in 50 years, my worst guess, fantastic. That sums up a bit how I feel right now, fantastic. No wonder that this stuff costs more than your average class A drugs, it’s heaven without the hangover, haha. Last one for the road, a loose leaf sheng of Tong Qing 1940, this one makes you sing as in lalalala :)
As I sip an infusion of a 2011 Yunnan Sourcing “Mang Fei” aged mao cha mini raw puerh tea cake (it is growing on me), I note that Yunnan Sourcing sent me a notice about a ripe pu-erh tea sale on both of the websites (US and China). It said: “10% off all Ripe Pu-erh on COM and US sites! 1 week sale starts now! enter RIPE10 at checkout!” Enjoy.
Having the Menghai year of the dragon tonight. Drinking this for the first time. Leaf aroma is very gentle compared to some other shengs. It actually looks a little older than it is. It brews a nice golden color with a medium hit of astringency of a young sheng. It gives an almost hint of burnt caramel on the sides of the tongue. It fades into a slightly sweet brew. Hopefully this will age well as I think it is a bit young for now.
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