pu-erh of the day. Sheng or Shou

Today I drank a raw from my Yunnan Sourcing order, the 2003 Feng Qing Jia Ji Er Deng Aged Raw. There was nothing particularly great about this cake. there was nothing particularly terrible about this cake. It had no unpleasant wet storage taste. It had little in the way of tobacco and leather notes, just a little in the first couple of steeps. It was bitter in the first four or five steeps. And it was quite astringent, in most of the steeps. It never developed what I would call a sweet flavor but instead developed what I would call a not bitter flavor. It was average for an aged tea I think.

Today I drank a shou from my pu-erh.sk order, the 2002 7581. This was an excellent tea. When I originally tried a sample of this they were out of stock. They have since restocked. There seems to be some difference between the two batches. Originally I reported it had totally cleared, this time I noticed a little bit of fermentation flavor. Originally I noticed wet storage taste, this time none. Now as to the brick. It was dark and rich in the early infusions. It was bittersweet in nature. The fermentation and the bitterness cleared up after about three steeps or so. What was left was a nice sweet ripe. There were some notes of chocolate in there and I think I would say it developed a fruity taste in later steeps. It was quite good. As to the price, I remember it being somewhat expensive but not unreasonable as far as price goes. The bad thing about the price was having to pay in Euros not Dollars.

Drank a raw today as well, the 2015 Zenpuer 1502 Ten Commandments Green Puerh Tea Cake from Puerhshop. This was a nice enough cake but nothing spectacular. It was fairly bitter but did not have an abiding bitterness. A sweet note emerged but I would not call it apricoty. There was some qi but not much. It was a nice tea for the price that I hope has some aging potential. I enjoyed drinking it. It was pretty cheap, only $18 if my memory serves me.

There’s been a lot of puerh since I’ve last posted in this thread, but today’s was really worth writing home about! 2014 Yunnan Sourcing Qing Mei Shan Old Arbor Pu-erh tea cake – One of the only cakes I’ve ever bought without trying it first, and it turned out to be exactly what I wanted. And so very much in line with Scott’s (and other reviewers on YS) description. Thick and clean, fruity, sugarcane, never ending huigan, and strong cha qi. I really like young sheng like this. Anyone have other suggestions for sheng, young or aged, with strong the fruit/sugar/qi trifecta? Yum!

This morning I couldn’t sleep so I figured I would have some tea. I drank a tea I bought a sample of with one of my orders from Yunnan Sourcing, the 2000 Yi Wu Shan Aged Raw Puerh Tea Brick. This was a relatively nice tea for someone who likes aged flavors. It had minimal wet storage taste. I noticed it primarily in the first steep but also in the fourth. It had a sweet note that I want to describe as honey but I know that is not quite right as the note was nowhere that sweet. There were also some mild notes of leather and tobacco. As to qi, I’m not feeling much so I can’t speculate. Overall I liked the tea. This is probably a good choice for someone who likes the flavors in aged sheng.

Today I drank a 2009 Menghai Ripe sent to me by Aleen, a woman on Instagram doing research on the American tea market. She sent tea to a number of us. This tea was tasty. It was rich and creamy with a nice sweetness to it and virtually no bitterness. It had a moderate amount of fermentation flavor but not too much and the fermentation taste was not too unpleasant. This was as nice as most ripe teas from 2009 in all truth. It was very good.

Today I drank a tea from Yunnan Sourcing, the 2007 Hua Teng “Wu Liang Ripe Tuo”. This was a nice tea. There was a small amount of wet storage flavor. There was a moderate amount of fermentation flavor. It was sweet with little bitterness. I did not notice notes of chocolate in this one. I drank this in a solid silver teapot. I really don’t know how this effected the taste. It is a beautiful teapot though.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BFMdiajzDVKcNooDsjoxYv-p17fbNi1wTveYlI0/?taken-by=allanckeanepuerhtea

After someone here reviewed the Laos border tea from the 2016 olympics I realised mine were sitting in my samples drawer.

So I broke them out and tried all three. I preferred the black, blue, payasi. They were all nice but the payasi had a few more bitter & weird moments but had a fruitier taste. The black seemed a bit more complex & bolder than the blue but both of these were very nice, my sort of tea. I love the rounded flavour of teas from this region.

I liked the Payasi most of all, I think! :)

Sipping a very aromatic and apricot like flavour 2015 Autumn Jingmai gushu raw pu’er from Bannacha.