pu-erh of the day. Sheng or Shou
2014 Colourful Yunnan Silver Peacock. Have had some in a tin since Oct of last year, I believe. When I first tasted it, it still hadn’t gotten to a stage where any appreciable flavor could be noticed beyond the brash young tea taste, but now I’m reporting that it’s good. Thick, very sweet, and fruity. Temp is good at about 180 or so after it opens up. I’m thinking of brewing it for perhaps 15s and then pouring it over some ice cubes. Actually, just tried that and it was horrible. It was too astringent and I couldn’t detect all the sweetness and roundness. Short quick infusions are definitely called for. The finish otherwise is very grassy and vegetal. There might be a hint of smoke in there. At the right temp this production is super delicious. The cha-qi is great it’s perfect for this cooler weather.
Just finished a brew of Big Leaf Sheng Pu’er 2006 Yang Ji Tian Yuan from Verdant Tea. It’s been a while since I brewed it but it has mellowed quite a bit in the years since I tried it last. It’s camphor mixed with apples, pears and honey. Very complex. Yet straightforward. I am planning on brewing up Noble Mark from Mandala yet.
This morning I’m drinking the 2012 Mengku “Mu Shu Cha” Organic from Yunnan Sourcing. This is a nice tea but it is still a young sheng. It has not begun to age yet. There were some bitter notes and some sweet notes in the initial steepings. At first I tasted a definite fruity character to the tea, perhaps apricots, perhaps stonefruits, perhaps something else. The bitterness din not last except as a secondary note behind the sweet notes. There was a little bit of it there. Overall this was quite a good young sheng. I find that Mengku shengs are frequently good and this one is no exception. Overall I liked this tea.
Drinking loose cha tou I bought in Kunming. I overpaid for this a little (by Kunming standards) but this stuff tastes so clean that I’m not too bothered. Milk chocolate with no off flavors at all and light bitterness. Really a pleasure to drink. I bought 300g worth and filled a porcelain ginger jar up with it. Looking forward to dipping into the jar over the years and watching the tea change over time.
Followed up that raw with a ripe a 2007 Dayi 8592 blend from King Tea on Aliexpress. This was a nice ripe with a moderate amount of fermentation flavor. It had clearly been properly fermented by Dayi as there was no fishy or unpleasant taste. The fermentation lasted four or five steeps and then was gone. I was left with a nice sweet ripe. There was little bitterness to this tea either. It was very good. Can’t wait to see how this one ages. Will try it in another year or so.
Been drinking my ’09 Gong Ting seven son ripe from Spring Cloud tea factory via Abbey Tea UK. Wild Arbor Bulang Gushu (60-100 years old) trees apparently, and after drinking it for a couple of months its turned into my favourite shou if I want something rich. The flavour really holds up against all my other ripes with a sweet doughy cake taste that compliments the coffee/chocolate/earthy so well it just tastes right.
Today I drank a raw tea from Puerhshop, purchased a couple of weeks ago, the 2016 MGH Gedeng Green Puerh Tea Cake. This cake had mostly good points and one or two negative points. The initial note of the tea was a sweet note, apricots, stonefruits, or something else but fruity. Around steep three I noticed a very subdued sour note to the tea. It only lasted a couple of steeps. There was no initial bitterness to the tea but after the leaves opened up around steep three there was a minor bitter note. It didn’t last long and was not very strong. Overall this was a good tea whose good notes outweighed the negative notes. I gave this tea twelve steeps and I could have gotten more out of the leaves but I had had enough caffeine for today.
That subdued sourness and bitterness wouldn’t turn me off—I’d actually be turned off if a sheng didn’t have any bitterness as I’d worry about its long term prospects!
“Yechang Tai Hing Ming Chen Hongchang” from the recent split by LiquidProust.
Mine has no mold, and hardly even a humid aroma. Maybe it is a bit dry though.
First few steeps are quite sweet, with a taste almost like hongcha.
‘08 Ultimate by Haiwan/Lao Tongzhi— Had this ripe early while the grey was still having over the LA sky. 10g in 150ml yixing teapot. It’s a strong puppy with noticeably bitter and tannic notes. Quite durable, has a coffee character. There’s some type of old fruit taste at the front end. Sometimes I pick up the taste rancid grapes is shou. It’s not bad, just part of its character profile. This was a sample offered by a generous Steepstarian. It a good shou and will definitely age well.
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