pu-erh of the day. Sheng or Shou

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mrmopar said

Having a 2007 Changtai “lingbao” sheng from the Puerh shop tonight.
Starting this one out with 10 grams picked off the cake and into the yixing. I hit it with hot water for about 5 seconds and let it rest another 30 seconds to open up. The aroma of the wet leaves was almost like a damp forest floor. Like you would find in the woods after hiking through it after a rain shower. The first brew was about 10 seconds as I forgot to set the timer. It brews a nice dark golden color in the glass mug. It has a slight semblance of ’smokiness" to it but only briefly. This quickly turns into a pine and honey flavor. A touch of fleeting bitter and it is back to the honey. this is one of those teas that will make the tip of your tongue slightly numb and excite and tingle the middle part of it. it give the cooling effect after drinking it.
This is a nice enjoyable sheng to those who would like the slight smokiness similar to an aged Xiaguan tea. Very solid for the first cup and afford-ably priced for a whole cake.
Second steep smoke has subsided a bit . A little more bitter turning slightly sweet and the numbing punch is still there..

Sounds good :)

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Javan said

I recently purchased a my first “melon shaped” sheng pu-erh, a 2011 Yubang Silver melon. It has a high concentration of unopened silver buds. It is quite lovely with a white and greenish tone to the eight sided melon which is wrapped with a ribbon. Right now it brews a light orange color, and the taste is of oat straw with a particular sweetness that is pleasant in the mouth. It is light and sweet, but hints at a depth of flavor which should reward aging. My wife likes it quite a bit, as we discussed the idea of putting it away for three years or so, and she objected because she likes it now. It is a treat, and the 500 gram melon is $29 (US) at http://www.tuochatea.com/silver-melon-raw-pu-erh-p240/. If you order from the US or Canada, I recommend EMS shipping. When I ordered this tea I originally used air delivery, but it got lost somewhere, and after a month, tuocha tea resent the package EMS and it arrived in 5 days. They have good customer service. I do have another silver pu-erh from Yunnan Sourcing which I haven’t tried yet, but hope to do so soon.

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DigniTea said

Qianjiazhai Old Growth 2012 Sheng from Verdant
I am still in the early stages of my developing relationship with shengs. Today I enjoyed a nice encounter with this sheng from Verdant. I’ve only worked through the first two steepings but the flavors have moved from lemon and greens to pepper with a bit of astringency (although an astringency that seems quite pleasant). Anxious to see what the leaf reveals in the many steeping I intend to put it through.

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mrmopar said

Having Yunnan Sourcings 2013 YUNNAN SOURCING “WU LIANG YE SHENG”.
I agree with the vendor description on this. It is the most “delicate” purple bud tea I have tried. they are mostly very bitter and harsh to drink even with aging.
This tea brews nicely aromatic with a buttery asparagus and slightly wet hay aroma. It is floral and fruity with just the slightest hint of smoke( I actually had a hard time finding this flavor). It has a touch of sweet on the back end and is a very drinkable young tea.
I went through two separate days trying this to be able to give a decent review of it.
It is nice , sweet and fruity florally tasting and a very nice with the butter hints coming in after the second steep. very nice warm and relaxing to drink.
brewing parameters were 12 grams loose tea into a 8 oz. yixing. Short steeps to bring the flavor out nicely.
I actually pushed this one hard with an extended steep to see if it became bitter. It ended up being only slightly bitter on extended steeps.
Nice tea simply said.

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mrmopar said

Having a 2013 Menghai “Dan Quing” also tonight. This one is called "Red and Green " if you translate the name of this one properly. I started out with 11 grams in a yixing devoted to dayi shou. As I am a big Dayi shou head as most of you know. I hit it with just below boiling water for a rinse of 10 seconds.
I steeped the cup for about the same time. It does not taste like a full shou. It has some of the “metallic” of a young sheng in the background with a semi-bitter punch to it. It has a touch of wood with some drying bite of astringency on the tongue. I has a taste almost like a bite of tree bark to it.
I opened the pot up and found some whole green looking leaves that were apparently mixed in with this during the pressing. It is really a hard one to describe with my simple taste buds. Not bitter or smooth , in between on this. Some sharpness to the profile without being totally bitter. I think this is lightly fermented and meant for aging. I think in 5 years or so I will see how it develops.
Not a bad tea but an interesting profile from a mainstream Dayi product.

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MzPriss said

This morning I have a great big western style cup of Special Dark which makes me very very happy.

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Sammerz314 said

For anyone who enjoy fruity shengs, this is definitely one. The cake itself is 200 grams. This small bing has a rather tight compression. Upon a wash, one can immediately see that this tea is comprised primarily of chopped up material. Despite its poor appearance, the wet leaves do produces a heavenly fruity aroma… a “smoother” fruitiness than found in, say, a Jingmai. Very nice aroma. The liquor is smooth (to a unique degree) with a suble sweetness… notes of berry and citrus intertwined, again, something I find unique to this tea. The soup is thick with a fair share of astringency in the mouth. The hui gan is there but a little light. Overall, I do enjoy this tea despite the leaf appearance and cloudiness. An 80/100 is a fair assessment.

Javan said

Which tea was this Sammerz314?

mrmopar said

American Hao I believe. 2008 .

Sammerz314 said

Oh, forgive me. Yes American Hao 2008 :)

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MzPriss said

This is a loose shu morning for me. Started with two western style cups of Special Dark, which as always induced a nice low hum. Decided I needed more tea before work – but really, I have 100 teas – I needed to branch out a little so opened up Imperial Dark Bulang Gong Ting – 2009 from Mandala. I like this tea. It is very sweet and mellow, deep and earthy. Very grounding, much like Special Dark. And while I like it a lot Special Dark is still my shu boyfriend.

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Sammerz314 said

Today is a 2012 Yunnan Sourcing Jia Bu. After reading the description, I’m definitely excited about sampling this tea. I begin by breaking apart 5 grams from the sample chunk. I immediately note the number of white silvery buds – very nice. The wet leaves are of a green/yellow colour with some tints of red. There is a smoky, fruity aroma emanating from the beautiful leaves. The resulting soup is of a golden amber colour which turns out to be very clean. I find the prominent feature of this tea is its mouthfeel. It leaves a pleasant dry mouthfeel in the mouth with a subtle sweet hui gan rising up from the throat. For those who enjoy some astringency, this te ais definitely drinkable. However, some may find this tea requires some aging – which, of course, the tea will definitely benefit from. 81/100

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Rich select said

Lang He 2010 Yu Pin.
This is my first tea from Tea Urchin. I was very excited to try some teas from them, the company has a nice feel to it. Their wrappers are really fun (I know, don’t judge a book by its cover or a pu by its wrapper. Isn’t that how the saying goes?) Their teas are a bit on the more expensive side, so I was hoping for high quality in return. This particular tea is not one of their own, but rather is from the Langhe factory. This ripe pu erh didn’t disappoint. I’m going to have a hard time going back to Menghai ripes after this one. It is a exceedingly smooth tea. Rich, medium bodied, and not a hint of bitterness or any off flavors. It is just a fine tea! Creamy, very slightly woodsy, and clean. I have several other Tea Urchin samples I will review in the weeks ahead. But this is surely a good start.

mrmopar said

+1 on the nice touch. I got my first order from them in yesterday. Super nice packaging and they even supplied boxes for the cakes I got. I am glad we get to share the good people in our community as we have some good sellers out there.

Rich select said

Do tell – what cakes did you buy?

MzPriss said

Oh wow that tea sounds so nice Rich

mrmopar said

I got a Dayi “Peacock of Bulang” and a 2010 Chen Sheng Yi Hao.

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