pu-erh of the day. Sheng or Shou

This is the taste of fall: dried straw, lights smoke, dried fruits, raw shrooms. There’s also a bitter greens edge to it, which I rather enjoy.
I steeped 5G in my 125ml yixing, combining 2 steeps to a mug. The first round made me want to take a nap, with a powerful head energy, watery eyes, & lots of yawning. The 2nd round was fairly astringent. Round 3 was lightly sweet & woody, reminding me somehow of sassafras root, with a head clearing peaceful mellow vibe, & I’m on round 4, with is sort of a sassafras/licorice combo, with a nice sweet aftertaste.

Doing a little pre-tasting tonight for the talk/tasting I’m giving this weekend at the NW Tea Festival. I forget what they’re officially calling it. It’s something like “The Taste of Six Mountains”. We’ll be comparing and contrasting 6 of our teas from Spring this year. Jiangcheng, Jingmai, Bulang, Yiwu, Kunlu, and Bai Ying. Should keep us buzzing til late. :-D

Master Han’s 2013 Sheng Pu’er – really has started to change in color, from a bright clear yellow, to a darker, mango colored brew. It seems to be a slightly smaller leaf size, yet the taste is much more of a large leaf taste. Stewed spinach, switching to a slightly crisp apple and mineral blend. There is a certain satisfaction from this one and is great for many brews. I started with the gaiwan, then switched to putting the leaves in my clear cha hai – pouring in the hot water, then to the cup. Quite an enjoyable way to drink this tea.

This morning I’m trying the 2008 Menghai Dayi Hong Zhuang Ripe, also known as Adorned in Red. It has a pretty lady on the wrapper, something rarely seen on a Dayi cake!

I received this tea from a generous benefactor. It is very nice. Quite smooth and rich, a bit chocolatey, a hint of fishiness in early steepings which actually tastes just fine. It gives a lot. A solid Dayi ripe. It is available from Tuochatea at a good price.

For those of you wanting to try a ripe and raw cake at a reasonable price, I’d suggest this cake and the Menghai Dayi 8582 from Tuochatea. Both are excellent examples of basic raw and ripe pu erh factory teas and have enough age on them to give you a good sense as to what decent pu erh tastes like.

I just received notification of the third annual San Francisco International Tea Festival on November 16th. I’m going to check into attending (I live 300 miles away, but my sister lives in Oakland, and I’d love an excuse to visit her). Info on the festival is available here: http://www.sfinternationalteafestival.com/

Trying some “long life” shou puerh 2011 from tea source.
Firstly used 6 grams for 22 oz of near boiling water. Gave the leaves a quick rinse.
I tried a cup after 30-40 seconds of steeping and it was very light but had a molasses taste going on. I liked it but not strong enough for my liking.
Let it steep next for around 10 mins and really starting tasting how bold this tea was but smooth.
Now this last bit steeped somewhere in the realm of 20-30 mins.
Not too much fishy smell going on in this tea.
Smelling it brings forth a smokey wood and deep malt aroma.
The taste is very dark and smooth but with that smoke wood taste being predominant.

This evening I’ve been drinking 1998 CNNP 7542 Sheng, which I got as a sample from Life in Teacup. It’s a gentle tasty tea, which started off reminding me of a 50/50 dreamsickle ice cream bars.
Then it morphed into a fruity apricot & cream dessert, sweet & a little tangy, with a building tongue tingle & a good head vibe.
I’m still enjoying it. It’s still apricot cream, but maybe a little spring wood taste…
Not a real potent tea, but lovely & sweet.

Drinking the 2013 Ontario 1357 Shou Puerh from Whispering Pines this morning. I was too lazy to brew it gongfu style but its good all the same, sweet with not too much fermentation flavor to it. This is a keeper.

Tired some 2012 sheng last night. Bought a 200 gram brick for 8.99.
New brick not sure of any of the specifics about it.
All I know is using a puerh knife is mint I am getting way better taste since the leaves are generally more intact.

Used a small amount of leaves 4.5 grams to my 6 oz gaiwian, did a 10 second rinse followed by 30 seconds rest for the leaves.

First flavors noted were a Mellon like vegetal taste with a slight smokey aspect.
Very smooth for the first 5 infusions. Almost like water in a good way. Didn’t want too much buzz before bed sometimes tea gives me the most intense dreams if I over indulge before I fall asleep.
After around 7 infusions I noticed a minerally aspect to it with very little bitterness but some astringency found.

Not too much qi with this small amount of leaves but this morning I ramped it up to 8.5 grams of leaves to my 6 ounce gaiwian.
Same rinse and rest of the leaves but I found this is where I find this tea shines.
the taste was smooth just as last time but more flavor in each steeping.

The Muskmelon taste is back and more predominant.
I found a rather notable vegetal smokey flavor to take over the majority of the infusions.
I find the lingering taste to be more apparent but still no dryness to this puerh.
Took it to 20 steeping’s before I wanted to try something else.

Gonna experience this one a few more times before I age it.

2014 Ban Payasi Laos village cake by Chawangshop.com. Brewed up 9 grams in 110 ml water. This is only a few months old, really just green tea leaves and no fermentation yet. Classic Yiwu flavor, floral and really mild. Probably a drinker for now as opposed to a storage cake. Got some photos on my blog today if you want to look. This fits my gift tea category of $20 price point, so I have a tong of it, and one cake heading out the door very soon!