pu-erh of the day. Sheng or Shou
I’ve not had time to sit and enjoy tea for a while now, but I have been grandpa’ing a few old sheng samples in my Yixing flask while I have been on the go. It was the 2005 Tibetan Flame today. I like it this way but I’ll need to renew the leaf in the morning for tomorrow’s run though.
2002 Little Yellow Mark tonight. Continuing sample sip down. Bumping topic over the spammers.
“I’m just talking to myself, cuz there’s nothing left to do. I’m just talking to my-se-elf, I’m just talking here of you. And though I try to find someone to do my talkin’ to, there’s no one who understa-ands the way I feel for you.” A bit of rockabilly from Larry Lee Phillipson.
Had a date with a “Menghai Man” tonight.
2011 Organic Certificate Overlord Drunk Aged Tree puer Pu’er Puerh Cake Raw Tea. Found him on EBay. http://tinyurl.com/q5hhgm3
Seems like a Menghai wanna-be or…well who knows. Reminded me of my Menghai tuos a bit. Can’t bring myself to enter this one in the database. But my Rated R review and pics available on me blog.
I’m back and then out a little while today. I want to review 3 puerhs this week but I am going to let someone else pick them as has been a stressful week. First 3 posters will get an item they want reviewed. Maybe a fourth this week if time allows.
Hope everyone has had a good weekend and has been safe and blessed.
Me! Right off the top I got one, no cupboard check needed! 2009 Xiaguan Grey Crane. Been meaning to ask abt that one anyway.
Second Cwyn’s vote for the Grey Crane. Just picked up one last month and I’d love to hear your thoughts before I try to tackle it.
How about the Dayi Tea and Love? I just love the name of that one. I want to support both tea and love.
XiaGuan “Grey Crane” sheng.
Dayi “Tea And Love” shou
Haiwan “High Mountain” sheng.
Slated for review.
Have been drinking the white whale all day. Very good value tea! Ordered three bricks the other day =)
What is a good brewing time for puer? I don’t have a gaiwan though. Accidentally over-brewed (not sure how long) a tuocha shou, but it was good at a shorter steep. Is there an optimal amounts of minutes?
You’ll probably get replies from those way more experienced than me, but I start all my shengs at about 10 seconds. I don’t drink much shou, but when I do, I start those anywhere from 10-20. How are you brewing, since you mentioned you do not have a gaiwan?
A steeper basket in my mug. The package said ten minutes, so I almost brewed that long.
And I forgot, but as boychik stated, a good rinse works wonders, IMO. I usually do a 10 second rinse, then let the tea leaves sit in the pot, drained and uncovered for a few minutes. I personally get better results out of my first steepings this way, instead of rinsing and going right into the first steep.
I don’t do western
Two choices
Either 2 tuocha for 8oz
Or 1 tuo for 3-4oz. Use Pyrex cup to measure water;)
So I shall like puerh better in this gong fu method of which you speak?
An 10 oz mug and two mini tuochas with about 15 to 25 sec steeps should work fine. I have a 10 oz mug that I use with two mini tuochas all the time. I give it about a 25 sec steep at most.
Rinse for about 10 seconds and let it sit for about 5 minutes to open up. Give it a 10 second soak and pull the brew basket out. Increase 5 seconds at a time till the tea gives out. GongFu will allow you to tastes the progression of the tea. From strong till it fades away.
I want to recommend teadb.org video this week, which compares a tasting of a wet-stored puerh tea with a dry-stored one. James also wrote an article on storage too this past week which I found very informative and thought provoking, if you are stewing over storage, which I always am!
I’m drinking the Mandala Four Leaves Ripe puerh tonight. So far I have steeped it four times in my great gaiwan from Aliexpress. This thing is large, 220 ml and convenient. It is I think the perfect size. Small enough so you can steep the tea four times and large enough so you get to enjoy each steeping.
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Gaiwan-for-kung-fu-teaset-Handmade-relief-Generous-and-practical-230ml-Classic-Ceramics-Free-Shpping/1379921209.html
The Mandala Four Leaves was a sample sent to me by Garret two orders ago. It is smooth and sweet. I will definitely want to buy some with my next order. All the Mandala teas seem to be a cut above other Puerh.
I drank the first of my “mystery” teas, purchased when I bought a little teapot from an online shop in Slovakia. Xizihao Yiwu Ding Jia Zhai Xiao Lao Cha 2011 was really good! Now I worry that the other mystery tea will be a dud. But I hope not!
Those cakes you bought, was that the part of the teapot purchase , or you just bought them to try
I wanted the teapot, but I knew the shipping would be high, so I figured I’d grab some tea and make the whole transaction worthwhile. I took a gamble, but this one definitely paid off!
How were the shipping charges from that store? I checked it out in Google Chrome because it translates.
Very pricy but I recently paid $40 to ship one teapot from China through Taobao Focus. They charge more than they pay for shipping. Its part of the game and something like Taobao Focus is the only way to order from Taobao unless you read/write Chinese. I paid only $40 for the teapot though. It would have gone for at least $150 on EBay I’m sure.
Shipping to the US was 21 euros. I’m not too sad b/c I love the teapot, and the first of the two “mystery” teas was excellent. I’ll probably brew the other one tomorrow
Wow, Allan. That is alot, but yeah, if you consider the overall cost and the value, sounds like you still got a good deal!
They get a small fee for the purchase and an unknown fee for the shipping. They never tell you how much the actual shipping costs them, but I am guessing around $25. It was EMS, the most expensive and quickest. I could have gone with airmail and saved some money, but I have to take the risk if the teapot breaks. Its not guaranteed. I figure, shorter time in transit means less chances to break a teapot. Total weight was 2 kg.
I really hate to break it to you but it would have been much cheaper to custom commission a pot from Petr… He told me it costs about $60 USD for a customized pot. It’s a great pot regardless.
I ordered an assortment of sheng and shou from Ali Express.
It has-
Glutinous Rice Raw Tea;
Glutinous Rice Ripe Tea;
Lotus Leaf Raw Tea;
Lotus Leaf Ripe Tea;
Rose Ripe Tea;
Jasmines Raw Tea;
Dian Green Tea;
Dian Red Tea;
Origin Raw Tea;
Origin Ripe Tea
Guangzhou Latin Trading CO.,Ltd (The tea should be here in a few weeks.)
The amount of samples I got for the price made it sound like a good deal, but I’ve not ordered from this seller before.
You can scan my cupboard and I may be able to give you some pointers if you need them. Only a message away if needed.
Sticky rice is righteous, raw and ripe. Rose can be nice, depending. I have no idea what they’re calling Dian Green, sounds interesting. Dian Red, I’m assuming is Yunnan Gold in Ingrish.
Lotus leaf is a medicinal in Chinese medicine, used for febrile conditions and certain metabolic disorders that cause accumulation of water, very popular as part of a weight-loss formulation or for diabetes. It has absolutely zero flavour, zero. I don’t think the amount in a mini is sufficient to even get the lotus leaf benefits, but I could be mistaken. Much more commonly prescribed in the HK/Guangdong region than in the north.
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