pu-erh of the day. Sheng or Shou
1990’s Yea Sheng Lao Cha Shu Tea Cake
right 1990s specific year unknown, i liked it.
If i were a giant and i used railroad ties as toothpicks i think they would taste like this tea, earthy and woody with champhor notes. Great tea high tho :)
I’m re-drinking my Mandala Temple Stairs with my new shou method. Yum. I’m hoping that this is the start of a new love affair with shous!!! <3
Seems like it. Definitely not a love at first sight, but I’m glad I finally got there. I’m not exactly patient, you know :p
If there is a shou puerh out there that has even the remotest possibility of changing a shou-hater it would be our 2012 Bulang Gushu. :-) If you can’t find anything in that to like then shou puerh really isn’t your cup of tea. Which is fine. There is plenty of sheng to love.
I do two 10-second rinses. Then I steep 10-15-20 and dump them all. Then I start steeping 20-25-30 and drink those, just adding 5-10 each steep.
After all those rinses and dumps, the tea stops tasting like dirt! WOOOOOOOO!
Wow, that is a lot to get rid of. :-D My wife likes the shou puerh when it gets to that stage. I like it dark and earthier. Here’s how I do it. I do two 3s washes. Then I brew 6, 10, 15. Those each get drunk. Then I just mix it up from there depending on what the tea is telling me. After 5 steeps or so my wife jumps in to start drinking. :-) Unless we’re drinking our Qiao Jun Huang Zhi. That brews up sweet and nice straight from the beginning. She loves that one. Sounds like you and her have a similar palate.
LOL. I want to drink shou with your wife! Sounds like we like to steep the same way. :)
I only do one sheng rinse. But shou just needs more so I can taste more than earthiness.
You may want to try the shous that are less fermented. Lang-he, Hai Lang-he, Cheng-shan, and Gu Yi Fang are companities that you might like to explore.
What kind of crazy person buys a 1 kilo brick of shou? (Raises hand.) Drank 2013 Dr. Puerhtea 1 kilo ripe, bought it off Taobao for $21 and change. Good stuff. Posted pics of my insanity on my blog today.
I have some 2kg bricks sitting around. The largest I have personally seen was a 1 metric ton “column” of shou puerh tea. It had just come out of the mold at a factory in Menghai. It was going to a collector to display in his living room. It was 3ft in diameter and probably 7 or 8 foot tall.
i can imagine pu-heads sneaking in and picking off a piece to taste. or a rebel smashing the cake like they smashed his vase
I imagined his grandkids working off bits with a tea knife hoping he won’t notice.
2014 Spring Xigui – same tea, two days, two sessions. Very different outcomes.
First session had sharp astringency in the first three steeps, then mellowed into a sweet and soft soup from there on out.
Second session didn’t have any of the astringency of the first session past the first steep. Much thicker in the body, sweet, and more enduring than day one.
Looking forward to a third session. Here is a pic, for the curious. Seasoning a new cup:
White Whale
Damn thats good sheng for $15. Purchasing probably 5 bricks.
I want to stock up, but I just spent a boatload on textbooks so I don’t think that’s happening. :-(
I drank a 2012 Bulang Early Spring Mini Green Pu-erh Tea Cake. It wasn’t amazing, but it was solid and I enjoyed it. I was happy with the tea and also the price!
Ali Express will be sending me some various sheng and shou mini tuocha this afternoon. Some flavours- Glutinous Rice, Lotus Leaf, Dian Green Tea, Dian Red Tea.
Having Crimson Lotus’s 2006 Kunlu Mountain Tribute Tea. I ordered a cake after trying a sample, and it tastes even better this time around. Very smooth, an excellent tea with very nice flavor. Unfortunately, it is now sold out! Too bad, I almost want to buy another…
That’s what I was drinking today too! :-D I had a new tea drinker over who has never had more than bag of jasmine something in a microwaved cup of water. He was blown away. It steeped so long and was really smooth.
I didn’t realize the store got down to 0. I keep a few set aside. I’ll update the quantity. I have 2 left here in Seattle. I may have a couple cakes in storage back in Yunnan. I’ll have to check. That one will probably last you a while. :-)
Having a Haiwan 2004 “Old tree remote mountain”.
Going back into this sample I got from Dragon Teahouse.
To be “Fair” the sample I got was from the middle round divet of the cake, so it was really compressed. I got 10 grams from it and found a surprise when separating the tea.
It still has the smoke aroma of the wet leaf. Color has darkened a bit.
1st steep. 10 seconds, very light in flavor , aroma and color.
2nd steep a bit more “golden” as an aged sheng would indicate. Flavor still a bit off.
3rd steep it opens up a bit. Some smoke a little sweet and a slight astringency to it.
I’ve been drinking a rice mini shou tuocha from the Pu’erh Shop all day. Even put some in my soup. (It tasted like steamed rice.)
That one from Puerhshop is good. I will send you some to try. My new fav is fr Tao Tea Leaf.
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