pu-erh of the day. Sheng or Shou

I just drank the JalamTeas September offering, Ba Ka Ngoi. It was really good. A very powerful Shou, that tasted like cinnamon sugar in the later steepings. Yum! I’m very happy to have subscribed! Check out my recent tasting note for more notes on this tea. :)

I’m sipping on “Guevara” Shu, from Life in Teacup.This is a 20G sample that is offered for $1 on the Life in Teacup website, but can only be gotten if you place an order.
There is a pic of Guevara on the wrapper, which is kind of cool, & makes the tea appealing, at least to some of us.
http://www.lifeinteacup.com/dollar-sample

This is a very clean tasting tea. No off-tastes, no musty odors. The dry leaf smells of brown sugar & cream. The early steeps were sweet & creamy, then there were a few rounds that were ok, but not exciting or exceptional.
Then the minty-ness began.
A lot of puerh teas take on a camphor note, or maybe eucalyptus. This is straight out mint, at least to my taste. Minty fresh. And it feels really good, opening my head & lungs. I’m on maybe the 8th round? I tend to lose track pretty quickly, but the energy of it is nice, & I’m still drinking it, just to see if any unexpected surprises come up in the final steeps. Right now it’s kind of a sweet malty water with a hint of milk chocolate…

I’ve been brewing shou puerh in Jianshui clay teapots ever since my wife and I visited the tow of Jianshui early this year. However I had not used them for sheng puerh. I had heard conflicting reports over whether the clay was suited for sheng puerh.

We got a new shipment of Jianshui teapots in just in time for the NW Tea Festival in Seattle this weekend. There was one that caught my eye that I convinced my wife we should keep for ourself for sheng puerh testing. :-D I started with a wet stored 2005 Changtai sheng puerh that I am very familiar with brewing in a gaiwan. I was really surprised. The tea is already a sweet tea, but was just that much sweeter. It also seemed to take off what little edge was left to the tea.

I was pretty surprised actually. So I tried a much younger sheng puerh. A 2013 tuo cha for Xiaguan. Something with a little bite to it. Xiaguan has that smoky edge that some people find off putting. Brewed in this Jianshui teapot it was like candy. It was so smooth and the aroma still held the hint of bitterness, astringency, and smokiness, but the clay muted all those overtones.

Don’t get me wrong, sheng puerh is certainly about those overtones. I appreciate them, and some people drink sheng puerh just for that experience. It’s not for everyone though, and it turns some people off. For those people brewing sheng puerh in a Jianshui teapot might be a real solution. I was genuinely surprised.

For the younger sheng I have that has that rough edge I’ll probably be brewing them in Jianshui teapots. For the middle aged stuff I’ll probably stick with a gaiwan. They’re starting to get smooth on their own and can use what little edge is left as a contrast.

All in all some fun experimentation the last few days. :-)

having a 2005 Six Famous Tea mountains 2nd grade sheng.
I received this from a great tea friend to try. I have always been intrigued by this companies productions from the “heyday” of the good puerh production. I used 10 grams in the Gaiwan for this one. Gave a 5 second rinse to start things out. I did a 5 second brew 3 times and put it all in the cup ( my gaiwan is about 3 oz. ).
It brewed up a pretty nice aged color to it, a darker hue of yellow. Almost a light bronze to it. It has a bit of smoke in the brew. It gives some notes of bitter and sweet mixed.The leaf seems to be a mix of chopped with some whole in there if you dig around a bit. Aroma does have some touch of floral to it. later steeps have less smoke and color to them.

Flavors: Bitter, Floral, Smoke, Sweet

Sipping on some teasource 1995 sheng puerh this afternoon.
Used my trusty gaiwian.

I should start off by saying this is the oldest puerh I have had the chance to try.
Found It very interesting to say the least.

Didn’t get a chance to write many tasting notes but the first steeping after a quick rinse (loose leaf material) was absolutely fantastic in all aspects.

The dry leaves were very large. The dry leaves smelt leathery at first but as I keep going back for more whiffs I noticed a licorice, camphor note.

Firstly I noticed hints of a very interesting woody, smokey, fruit of some sort.
I then noticed a honey sweet after taste on the first 5-10 infusions.
It provided a nice a sedative yet uplifting qi.
I went pretty heavy on the leaves and had a golden amber colored infusion until about 20 infusions.
Latter infusions (10+) had a very woody smokey flavor was really smooth tho with no astringency.

It is the most complex layered sheng I’ve had.
Good thing I grabbed 4 ounces! (Heard supply of that was running low)
Cost 31 odd dollars.

Having a 2012 “Shen Gu You” from the Tea Urchin tonight.
Breaking this one out after the "Chairman"was a bit indecisive tonight. I received this courtesy of a tea friend to try. I read the vendors note and am fairly excited to try this one.
The sample I was sent had 7 grams so I brought out the Gaiwan on this one. I am trying to season a new Yixing and I was afraid it would soak up a lot of this teas character. The dry leaf has a pleasant fruity and flowery aroma to it. I gave it a quick rinse and then steeped it. a 5 second or so steep done 3 times and into a 10 oz. mug. This tea pits up a sharpness quality to it. A good mix of the bitter and sweet and a nice little tingle to it. To be a young sheng it really doesn’t carry the astringent quality of many young teas but it has a good strength to it. The sharpness from earlier in the note is how quick those notes arrive in the cup. Some teas take a while to “put it on you”, but this is a straight to the point one.
I am enjoying this pretty well but only one cup tonight as the day starts early tomorrow and I don’t want this to interfere with me counting sheep tonight.
Getting a little brown sugar and/or caramel notes as it cools a bit.

Flavors: Bitter, Floral, Fruity, Sweet, Caramel

This afternoon I sipped on a sample of 2005 Menghai Yellow Label ripe. I got a sample with my Tribute Tea order. Looking in the envelope, I found 2 dense chunks, each about 7.5 grams, looking like chunks of dark chocolate. I used one of them.
It’s one of those woodsy, aged forest floor kind of teas, kind of musty, with a taste of cedar, tobacco, peat, & leather, and a little smoke. It has a strong kind of savory & peppery quality, with a sweet after-taste, & it tickles my sinuses!

Recently I’ve been picking up single-origin sheng cakes from Cha Wang Shop – looking for those with a few years of age on them at lower prices (compared to the high prices for more popular factory productions with a little age). Today I broke into another one of these shengs – the 2003 Jinuoshan Youle. This is A fruity sheng made entirely from You Le Mountain tea leaves; an autumn picking; tightly compressed; many whole leaves and buds throughout. The material used yields a clear golden yellow tea soup with a spicy scent. The first infusions offer a fruity flavored sip which carries more of a tart sweetness. Later cups are more mellow and fruity – berries and peaches. The aftertaste is long and sweet. I found this to be a nice tea to enjoy and I have hopes to soon try one of the Jinuo Shan shengs made with You Le material gathered during the spring months.

2008 Xiaguan “NAN ZHAO YU”

Before this tea I thought I could only appreciate younger, more boldly flavored fruity or floral sheng, but man, this one was incredible!

I drank on the leaves all day, towards the end just leaving them in my cup to continue to steep as I drink…

The first few steeps were a bit woody, but not in a bad way at all. There was some gentle smokiness too. No bitterness or astringency that I could find. Wow, as this one began to open up as the steeps progressed and it sweetened, it was magical! I had a rough afternoon at work and the energy from this really helped me power through. Clarity in a cup!

I’m drinking a 2009 Feng Shan. No idea what company or factory made it, and I’ve given up on trying to figure it out!

It’s pretty darn good, and it definitely gives a good kick in the pants at the end of each sip!