pu-erh of the day. Sheng or Shou

7959 Replies
SarsyPie said

I am well into my White2Tea and Tea Urchin samples. The 2007 White2 Repave is amazing. I really love it!

Has anyone ever seen teas from this maker before? I figured that if anyone would know, it would be the experts on this thread! Any info would be great. :)

http://instagram.com/p/rXy0W8S-3T/

Cwyn said

It is a Kombucha and tea bar in Vancouver? Website only shows a shou for sale and incredibly pricey other teas. Looks hip tho. Lol.

SarsyPie said

That’s where I found the pic, but these teas aren’t on their site. I asked the question, but got no reply from them. I thought someone else might know something about these teas.

awilsondc said

Could be Summit Tea Company… I’ve got a shang pin bulang shou with similar markings on the wrapper. Check it out here…
http://www.jas-etea.com/summit-2010-shang-pin-bu-lang-old-tree-ripe-pu-erh-tea-200g-cake/

SarsyPie said

Thanks, awilsondc! I think that’s it. Jas-etea has several offerings and the markings seem to match up. How was the cake you tried?

awilsondc said

Excellent! One of the better shou’s I’ve tried. I’ve got that cake in storage through and it will be years before I break into it. :)

SarsyPie said

Super news! I hope to try their offerings soon. Thank you again for your help!

Cwyn said

That shou is…expensive.

Login or sign up to post a message.

Cwyn said

Giant Steps 2012 by White2Tea. Had this planned for weeks for today, then the day arrives and I’m not feeling up to par so I just did tasting cup size sips rather than going for the full tea drunk experience. Followed up this p.m. with my trusty CNNP 7572 ripe which is smelling far better now. Last week I broke up the cake into two clay containers. Right now am drinking the fannings from the small tea caddy, could smell something nice and earthy when I removed the lid. So proud of myself for 5 years of storage on that 7572, and coming up with a nice cake now that isn’t fishy or off.

MzPriss said

I got a sample of this too and am looking forward to it. Maybe this weekend.

Cwyn said

I’ve heard the cake is nearly sold out? Not sure.

Login or sign up to post a message.

DigniTea said

1999 CNNP Green Beencha (Lu Bian Cha)
This tea offers a smooth texture with a simple cedar wood flavor. Earthy with an interesting mouthfeel – spicy, sweet, nutty and leathery. Medium compression. Mostly whole leaf with a reasonable amount of stems. Initial scent of dry and wet leaves is reminiscent of walking through a damp forest. Not as much depth and complexity as I prefer but all in all a rather enjoyable tea session.

Login or sign up to post a message.

mrmopar said

Having a Menghai 2011 “Snow Rhyme”.
I am cheating tonight and taking an easy way out in the cup. Long days take the toll on time. I pulled this out to try again. I didn’t put anything other than a mental note on it last time. It breaks off in about 8 gram chunks from the square brick. I gave it a good 20 second rinse and let it set about 20 minutes.
First steep of about 20 seconds, I actually do 3 steeps for my cup. It takes a while to even color the water well. It is a bit cloudy in the cup. More sweet than astringent as the last time. Pale yellow/gold color. It has aged a bit in the pumidor a tad bit darker in the brew and the brick.
Not terribly punchy or strong but more like a green tea. Small lea so definitely a plantation bush. I did see a couple of whole leafs in there although small and most were chopped to make pressing easier. A decent tea yes , not as good as the others I have drank lately but acceptable. I guess the convenience factor in the little squares you break off can make it worth it sometimes.
A little bit of fruit almost like a slight ripe banana and a semi-sweet finish.
Nice convenience factor.
.

Flavors: Sweet
Hopefully this will age well.

Cwyn said

By “cheating” you mean Chairman Meow didn’t do the choosing?

mrmopar said

Yeah I chose and something I wouldn’t have to get the pick out for. The Chairman was out after a day of curtain climbing. Sleeping away so I snuck it in.

Cwyn said

That’s funny. My cats occasionally sniff my stash but they aren’t interested. Hoping the Chairman will pick out the 2009 Xiaguan Grey Crane sometime. Am curious about that cake, getting harder to find but it has 5 years on it now so should be starting to develop into something.

Login or sign up to post a message.

DigniTea said

Enjoyed the 2007 Menghai Dayi Hong Zhuang (Adorned in Red) Ripe throughout the day. A decent representation of the Dayi factory productions – solid, reliable performer. Flavor profile offers a mix of cedar, oak, honey sweetness.

Login or sign up to post a message.

My pu-erh of the day… Phatty Cake II from Mandala.

Login or sign up to post a message.

Sammerz314 said

My tea of the day is white2teas 2001 Changtai Hao Red. Nice aged tea on the more humid side of things. Seems to provide infinite many steepings.

Login or sign up to post a message.

Cwyn said

White2Tea here too for the 2001 Menghai Red Mark (pasted brand). Traditional storage but not overwhelming. Glad I bought a small pouch of this, the amount in the bag will last me awhile. Transferred to a clay pot now.

Login or sign up to post a message.

Yang-chu said

2012 Da Bai Hao, Baihao Yinzhen brick from Jing-gu. When I first got this one, I steeped at 175, perfumey, tasty. These are v. select leaves, small, white, and downy, i.e., baihao. About a month later I broke off some from the 250g. brick. It’s been sitting out. I gave it 195 degrees. The first two steeps, about 5 sec or so yielded a smell and taste of melon. Brew is light yellow. Subsequent infusions are back to perfumey, a mellow perfume. Gotten about 8 infusions so far. Thumbs up.

Login or sign up to post a message.

janchi said

Canton Tea Company Cooked Mini Beeng, 2012. I got this a week ago, and it’s new-leather smell is very, very intense, so I keep trying to steep it in different temperatures and with different amounts of the cake, because although I think it’s a nice tea (or will be when I can get the hang of steeping it just right), its leather smell is too overpowering for me. I’m drinking it this afternoon using just a couple of grams in 150ml boiling-point water for 10-20-second steeps, and that seems to work quite well, though I prefer deeper, more subdued woody, smoky shous.

Yang-chu said

Let it sit for a month or so and come back to it. See how that works.

janchi said

Thanks Yang-chu, I’ll try that – just read your own post to this thread and saw you broke a bit off and left it out – do you just leave it completely open to the air? (I’m wondering if I leave it completely open, it’ll absorb cooking smells or too much air moisture)

Cwyn said

Yeah I have to air out puerh samples also, most of the time. I happen to have a number of clay bowls and little pots around the house. I keep mini beeng cha cakes in a Mason jar. My low tech airing method is to rubber band a paper towel or napkin over the open top to let air reach the tea but keep dust etc. out. I store in my living room or if the weather is warm and muggy I will move the pots out to the 3 season porch.

janchi said

Thanks, Cwyn, much appreciated.

Cwyn said

Someone else probably has a better method and will come along and hopefully share.:)

Yang-chu said

I usually will do the airing of raw stuff that’s too astringent. The silver needle I mentioned yesterday has just been sitting out as display. Stuff I may be in working rotation that’s not too fancy will just sit out. Most of the ripe cakes I just let sit in storage. If it’s really smelly, I just let the whole cake sit in the living room, away from the other stuff. I normally quick age my cakes in zi-sha caddies. I found that the cardboard tea canister ages more quickly. The Bana that I had was just blah until just recently. Mostly just raw. I have a few Moonlights in canisters, but otherwise it’s mostly the raw stuff. I have one spectacularly rich Ya-pu ripe brick, which I also have some stored in a canister, but no other ripes. For them, it’s just a waiting game. Naturally, nothing is stored near spices.

janchi said

Thanks very much, Cwyn and Yeng-chu for the pointers; I’ve got a few clay bowls I could use, so I’ll start there with some tissue paper over the top. I love the idea of airing-out my smelliest shou cake in the living room, but I know my coffee-drinking housemate wouldn’t give me a minute’s peace if I did :)

Cwyn said

I suppose it would seem odd to a non tea drinker as to why anyone would want to keep, much less drink, a stinky batch of tea.

janchi said

Fine tea makes us wise beyond the aesthetics and social mores of stinkiness.
//Nods wisely and unfathomably//

Cwyn said

That confirms my opinion on how rarely I really must bathe.

Login or sign up to post a message.

Login or sign up to leave a comment.