pu-erh of the day. Sheng or Shou
The weather is starting to get warm here, unmercifully so. Against my better judgement I thought I’d visit my 2009 Six Great Tea Mountains “Niu” (ox), part of their Chinese zodiac series. The one I got has been wet stored, producing an amber liquor and a malted earthy sweetness that seems to work better for me in a shade cooler weather. Over two days did about four rounds, more as a duty than out of genuine appeal. I usually leave my tea sitting about and now it’s gone sour, so I do know how long it lasts. It’s my goal to try at least one a complete set from one company or another. Seems like it might be a fairly representative example of what you get with wet storage.
Today I drank a tasty shou from Streetshop88, the 1000g 2005 Organic CNNP Zhong Cha Ancient Tree Puerh Tea Ripe Brick. Streetshop88 teas are usually good and have long names. I can’t comment on whether this one is actually ancient tree. It was good, very tasty but not what I would call a spectacular tea. I experimented using more leaves on this one since Boychik had commented that she didn’t think I used enough leaves on another one. It worked out to strong tea that lasted well through ten steeps and I am sure I could have gotten another five out of it. It did not seem like an especially complex tea but it has been an off day for me in general. I suspect I missed more flavor notes than I caught. In the end it was good.
I’m drinking a 2007 Menghai 7542 today. It’s smooth and rounded. I expected a kick in the seat of the pants from it because of what I have read about it, but did not get one. I’ve not written any tasting notes for it because I have really not done it justice in the making. I could do with a tong or two of this though, because it seems to be the baseline for comparing with other shengs. Time to start saving my pennies.
I’m feeling like a happy pig in my own brew these days. Still steeping out my 2006 Little Gold Melon from white2tea. This shou opens ever so slowly, I’m on day 3 now past 15 steeps and just starting to swirl the teapot a little after adding water. In other words, just barely past flash brews. Brewing this in 180 ml Zhuni pot, but only using 100 ml of water so my cups are super thick. Yum!
Also this week brewed up my new Chawangshop heicha, 1994 Ya’an Kang Zhuan Sichuan. This is Tibetan tea sewn up into untanned yak hide. Put that one my blog.
Just drank a 2008 Meng Song Arbor Tree Sheng by Life In Teacup.
I think some of you sheng heads might really enjoy this tea from Life in Teacup. It is a nicely aged 2008, and brews up a dark orange thick soup. It’s got a little smoke, some fruit, and slight mushroom tones. A little astringency rounds out the flavor nicely. Definitely worth a sample, it’s $70 a cake at present, which seems like a very fair price given the quality.
This afternoon I drank the Spring 2015 Misty Peaks Tea sheng puerh. It was quite good and strong. It was bitter in the early steeps. It also had a very, very slight sour note in the early steeps too. This went away as well. It developed into a nice sweet mellow tea. It started out kind of punchy and in your face sort of tea. It is an expensive cake so I am glad I got it as %25 off the price. He still has this tea available in the 100g bing if anyone wants one. I’m sure he will sell out of this soon too. I don’t know why his Spring tea always sells out but his autumn tea is always it seems available. This one was noticeably stronger than I remember his Autumn tea being. Overall this was a really good tea.
Bout to have this sheng again because its pretty tasty to me
http://steepster.com/teas/yunnan-sourcing/49544-2013-yunnan-sourcing-autumn-ye-sheng-raw-puerh-tea
Kirk sent me a sample of this one, i like it, i may have to buy a cake.
Revisiting 1992 Menghai Red Star tuo from Tea Classico. This tea has been airing in one of my small crocks for 7 months. At one month I noted the wet storage and lack of other flavors. Now the humidity is almost completely gone or changed over to a more mineral taste. And I’m getting sweet honey tastes now that were completely masked before in the storage.
This is my review of 2011 Moonlight White from Yapu Tea Co.
I did 2 10 sec rinses on this tea but I wonder if I really need to on these moonlight teas? They are not quite the same as the other pu’erh. The first infusion was malty like a black tea but light. It was just a bit too light for me (and I don’t like strong teas) but I could still pick up the hay notes and it was sweet. No bitterness in this tea. I couldn’t pick up any fruit notes like I’ve had in another moonlight tea but it was still good.
2nd infusion was about the same. I brewed it stronger hoping for some of those fruit notes but still didn’t get any but still remained sweet & malty with hay notes.
This tea seems to have a good energy. I have been really sensitive to caffeine lately and I didn’t get that caffeine jolt at all. Instead I just felt energized. I started out feeling really crappy ,queasy & sluggish this morning but once I had a few cups of this tea I was full of energy and doing loads of things for the day. This tea also was good through a few infusions.
I wonder what Yang-chu thinks of this tea? He sent me this tea but I couldn’t find a review on line. Thanks for the sample Yang-chu!
Rinses aren’t all that necessary. I pick up a few peppery notes, classic Yunnan Gold like taste, but no fruit. You’re right about it being mellow. Moonlights don’t age like pu’ers either, so 2011 is prolly as far back as I would go. The post steeped leaves are gorgeous, whole and demonstrably well selected.
I generally do a short rinse, just to make sure there’s no dust or anything. This style is one of my favourites for easy drinking. :)
Moonlight Whites are picked in the evening under the light of the moon. They are stored at day and then brought out at night till stored or formed into cakes. I’ve never heard of a moonlight brick. Since they’re a Yunnan variety, not exactly like white, not exactly like black, not exactly like other pu’er they can’t decide on how to classify them. They are typically considered a beauty tea, for the skin, for women. Grades vary, though it seems difficult to score decent moonlight white here in N America. The grading is contingent upon the measure of down on the leaves, minimal tannins with maximum sweetness and character.
I’m confused – the one Ubacat was talking about is 2011. The cake I’m looking at on Ebay is 2011 – does that not mean it’s “aged”. I wouldn’t expect to be buying 2011 black teas? (I know nothing other than I’ve LOVED the last couple of “moonlight” teas I’ve tried….)
Experiment. There’s a range of views about this variety. Get back to us and let us know your findings.
I’m really new to this style – OMGsrsly shared some with me and we’ve been talking about them…
I really really liked this one:
http://steepster.com/Dexter/posts/297399
LOVED LOVED LOVED this one:
http://steepster.com/Dexter/posts/297079
so in the spirit of further exploration and to return the favor and have some to share with her. Last night I ordered these two:
http://www.dragonteahouse.biz/beauty-of-moonlight-white-yunnan-puer-tea-cake-2012-raw-200g/
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Premium-Yunnan-Organic-Moonlight-White-Buds-puer-Puer-Puerh-Loose-Leaf-Tea-Raw-/331433813419?ssPageName=ADME:L:OU:CA:3160
If I’m not mistaken, the one you “LOVED” is from the Juming Tea Company. I’m familiar with the one you ordered, actually gave it as a gift to a teacher, Taiwanese… but that was because I could tell just by looking at it that it wasn’t exactly what I was looking for. I’m hoping he mostly drinks oolong or some other stuff. That’s our secret. Anyway, the more YGB tastes like black tea, the lower on the totem pole it is. Even the very high grade Yunnan Golds don’t taste like black tea. This isn’t to say that black teas in all their tannic glory are bad, just relaying what I’ve picked up based on pricing. I haven’t tried any Yue Guang Bai in maocha form, that’s how not in the know I am; will look forward to your review. As for the cakes, down is everything. You should be able to squeeze it like a cushion… Ok I exaggerate, but there’s got to be give.
Maybe someone else knows but it seems that Jinggu is the Yue Guang Bai standard-bearer. I have one, which were I not informed, I’d confuse with silver needle. In this case the leaves are pure down and the black leaves are very much less than 1% of the whole. One difference from the silver needle, however, is the cast. YGB has a golden silvery hue, whereas silver needle is silvery green.
Yesterday I drank an excellent ripe puerh from Berylleb King Tea, the 2008 Yunnan Yangpin Imperial Appreciate ripe puerh. This was the best ripe I have drank in a while and certainly the best of new cakes I have drank recently. This is a moderately priced puerh, not real cheap and not real expensive at $49. It was worth the price in my opinion. It started out a little bitter but this quickly went away and I was left with a nice sweet puerh. There were no sour notes to this tea which I have found on some more expensive teas. I brewed this ten times in a 170ml Yixing teapot and think I could have gotten at least another five or six steeps out of it. I don’t think they sell samples of this one but I could be wrong. It is nice to get a puerh from an unknown factory that measures up to the big names.
Yang Pin Hao might be a lesser known factory, but it’s not a no name factory by any stretch. I’m given the impression that it has a fairly solid reputation。 Established in 1912, their top brand is the Yang Pin Hao line. They get counterfeited, imitation being the highest form of flattery and all.
Samples are available, so I’m going to give this a try. Speaking of lesser known factories Alan, I noticed you own the 2014 Tie Guo Li “Lun Dao” Ripe from YS. Have you tried it yet (or might you be willing to try it and let us know what you think)?
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