pu-erh of the day. Sheng or Shou
I sometimes feel like a hard rocker amidst teenyboppers, when reading about blended teas on this site. Freaky!
I know that feeling. I am merely a neophyte taster of puerh with pretensions to becoming a connoisseur, but my taste for the hard stuff as opposed to blended and flavoured teas makes me feel like a relic! :)
Roughage I think you are ahead of me in this aspect! Not in a “Relic” way but you are no neophyte taster.
Thank you, mrmopar. I still feel like a total beginner, although I suspect that this is also because each time I learn one new thing about tea, it expands my horizons enough for me to realise ten new things that I do not know. If nothing else, my studies have taught me all about the depths of my own ignorance! :)
I try to learn something everyday about tea each day. I try to be a sponge and absorb all I can. Expanding the horizons is a perfect quote to describe it. I would not call it ignorance but instead as we are working to acquire knowledge. Some of the notes on sheng are what got me to try some aged stuff.
Ignorance is excusable, as long as a person works to rid themselves of it. Recognising that you don’t know everything is the start. Unfortunately, I am of the character type that recognises their ignorance more than their knowledge. But yes, we are working on acquiring knowledge, and all this tea is a very tasty way to do so. Now, typing that has made me thirsty. Which tea shall I have next?
How about that 2005 "Tibetan Flame " in your cupboard? I have wondered about this tea. It has been described as very “smoky”. I have a 2008 version that has a lot of “punch” to it.
The 2005 “Tibetan Flame” is my go-to tea for most occasions. I have nearly 2kg or about 4lbs of it in my stash. That’s two whole tongs but I have drunk or given away a couple of bricks of it. Once I realised that I really liked it, I bought it in bulk.
I’ve been drinking the 2008 Feng Qing “Feng Shan Yi Hao” sheng today, umm, actually yesterday now. It’s 0120 here and I still have more editing to do. Where the heck did the time go? Anyway, I brewed it up grandpa style and it lasted well through the day. It was quite mild with a grassy side to it that was pleasant. I have also just realised that I have written no tasting notes on it yet, despite having drunk a fair bit of it. I shall remedy that after the weekend when I have had some sleep. But first I have work to do.
Having a 2004 Haiwan “High Mountain” tea tonight. It gives some warming when drinking it. This one still has a lot of the “smoke” in it without much of the “sweetness” to an aged sheng. It will give you a tingle on the tongue and a slight tea drunk feeling. It still has a bitter astringent “Bite” to it. Supposedly made from High Mountain leaves I shall see if a year or two in the pumidor will take the edge off.
Trying Yunnan Sourcing 2012 “Impression” cake, and it’s really great, clean, sweet, and surprisingly thick.
Some vinegar in the water boiler, to get rid of the chalk and ready. Enjoying a "Zi yo cha’, 2013 Wang Bing, a delicious sheng, with purple leaves, from the Xishuangbanna region.
Oh, I am paranoid about Scale buildup! I find myself cleaning my kettle with Vinegar at least every week. I find that even the slightest buildup affects the soup. How often do you find yourself cleaning yours?
Same here. Once a week, at least. I use the Brita filter, for my water and the first days of usage, I have a lot less scale, but after a while, it builds up again. I refuse to buy and use bottled water, for ecological reasons.
Okay, time for a brutal young sheng – not really brutal, but I’ve been drinking some pretty mellow teas, and the 2012 Verdant tea Master Han’s sheng pu-erh is strongly flavored, and quite intense in a chlorophylly greenish way at this point. I think it will age well, and have marked my package “open in 2017+”. We spread some rice straw on our garden beds yesterday, and the green aroma of the straw is mirrored in this tea, along with olive oil notes. I do think this will be quite good when it ages.
I’m on my fourth infusion of Teavivre’s 2012 Fengqing Ancient Tree Spring Chun Jian Raw Pu-erh. (I haven’t had sheng pu-erh in years!)
……. Well… I believe that I am tea drunk. Euphoric, light headed, sense of floating, carefree, slow moving…. things that rarely describe me and yet are currently enveloping me.
The sheng is nice, some lovely apricot and honey notes, but I am realizing that I’m definitely a shu person. Maybe I will try an older sheng and see if it is more palatable to me.
Older sheng fascinates me too. I started out with shu but have developed a real taste for sheng. I just wish I could afford to buy more of it.
I had a sample of the 2012 Fengquing Ancient Tree and found it to be a tea that I experienced with my whole body. It really was a fantastic experience that speaks to the quality of the tea.
Agreed! Aged sheng is $$$ but I am trying to buy new teas so I can age them for later. My thing is buy them and put them in the “Pumidor” and age about 6 years or so and give them a shot.
I don’t have a pumidor, but I am trying to buy a couple of beengs of some younger teas so that I have enough to drink a bit now and save the rest to try over the years as they (hopefully) age. I am also buying occasional samples of aged shengs to try them, so that I know what I am looking for in my own aged teas. It’s all a great adventure, and I love the exploration.
While mrmopar was suggesting Tibetan Flame, I went off and cracked open a 2008 Fragrant “Xiang Zhu” Raw Puerh from Canton Tea Co. It’s sheng stored in fragrant bamboo and I am not entirely sure what to make of it. It has an iron edge to it that could be unpleasant in the wrong circumstances, but seems ok. There is some grassiness to it but not much. There is also a note of camphor or pine, and the tea is very cooling. I can feel my face getting cooler with each sip. It’s quite a good feeling but possibly not what I need for focusing on my work.
In honor of China’s amazing technical feat of pulling off a “soft landing” on the moon today with its Chang’e lander (stories say it is named for the goddess of the moon), I’m having my go to shu pu-erh, the 2009 6 Famous Tea Mountain Yunnan Moon. Nice on a foggy day here on the north coast of California. I am admittedly a space junkie and am glad China is moving toward more exploration and glad that the older tradition of pu-erh survives and thrives.
Pretty cool! I hadn’t heard about the Chinese moon landing.
Now I’m imagining people in the future enjoying a cup of pu in orbit :)
I love the legends of Chang’e and her rabbit in Chinese mythology, I even drank the elixir of immortality, until now, it works great!
A news article I read states: "The probe carried a six-wheeled moon rover called “Yutu,” or “Jade Rabbit,” the goddess’ pet." It is about to go out and explore the environment around the lander. I hope the elixir continues its work, Peter.
Good day fellow Puerh lovers,
On this beautiful snowy day, I’ve built up the courage to go with an 8 gram to 140 mL (alot of leaf considering my usual parameters) steeping of a 2011 Gao Shan Yiwu Sheng. This is a sample that was sent to me from Scott at Yunnan Sourcing. The tea itself is wonderful with fruity notes and a long finish. It exhibits the sweetness that is ever so common among Yiwu puerhs. I am definitely considering picking up a cake or two.
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