pu-erh of the day. Sheng or Shou

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Yang-chu said

The ‘08 Xiaguan Kirin is stellar. It’s perfect for those nights that are neither too cold nor particularly warm. Solid smokiness grounds a perfectly refined Wu-liang Mt. treasure. It reminds me a bit of a Haixin brick that I have except, this Kirin in its early stages is packing a huigan on the order of spectacular.

I just burned a huge stick of incense and maybe that why, but it’s all in my cheeks and everything. I can’t really imagine this getting better. The floral notes presently are stupendous. It is very smooth and satisfying.

Thank you fellow steepstaring for the Share.

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AllanK said

Today I drank a different and interesting tea from Yunnan Sourcing, the Sticky Rice Scent Ripe Puerh Tea Mini Tuo Cha Nuo Mi Xiang. This tea was by no means fantastic but it was also not at all bad. It was bittersweet in the early infusions and there was a fair amount of fermentation flavor. The fermentation taste lasted around four or five steeps. The sticky rice scent taste was slightly unpleasant at first but this improved. It tasted quite good in the eighth and last steep. If you judge the quality of a tea by how many steeping you can get out of it this is high quality for a mini tuocha. Judging by the color of the tea in the eighth steep I’d guess that this tea would have gone from somewhere around twelve to fourteen steeps. The tea had not weakened much in the eighth steep. This is a good tea for a day when I just don’t feel like breaking a cake.

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So I tried the compressed heicha from the w2t teaclub but it was undrinkable, and my tolerance is high. The description says residual smokiness but this tea is the smokiest thing I ever drunk or ate. The tea club was great last month but I am disappointed with this one.

curlygc said

Do you think removing the wrapping and letting it air out for a few weeks might help? I haven’t tried mine yet – it’s still wrapped actually.

boychik said

That’s what I did to mine. I will not touch it for at least a month and maybe more

https://instagram.com/p/_E32_6BwnI/

https://instagram.com/p/_E5wjShwq8/

Maybe if you chip off a bit and let it air out for a week or two, do two rinses then a brew. But not gong fu style, high tea to water ratio makes it nasty. Maybe this gives something drinkable. But to be honest I can not see this tea to become drinkable any time soon, or ever.

Cwyn said

Yup air it for several months. It can stay in the bamboo.

I just covered this tea on my blog as I have another log like this. I compared the smell of my 6+ month stored one with this new one. The aired one has grown so much sweeter and fruity smelling. Pretty much anything aged I get from w2t I air out for several months, big difference.

JC said

I just got this one. I’m with Cwyn, air for a WHILE I’d leave it alone for a few months at least. Something to keep in mind is that outside excusing the ‘air’ time, this is WAY too smoky right now, this type of tea is usually drunk until after years of storage, most heicha is usually rougher stuff that requires time to mellow. At its current state this smells like what a Laphroaigh 10yr Cask Strength. If you like that kind of smoke, then this is your now drink, it has this tar like smoke note to it.

Well, maybe I judged to early. It might become something drinkable in the future :).

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Rasseru said

My first aged sheng. 2007 Menghai Silver Dayi from YS tea club.

Still trying to get my head around pu lol

and just realised I should have let this sit for a week. doh.

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AllanK said

Today I drank a ripe from Crimson Lotus Tea, the 2014 Gu Ming Xiang “Bulang Gushu 2.0” 1 kg Brick of Shou Puerh Tea. This was a very good tea, above average if not spectacular. It was sweet with a fair amount of fermentation flavor left to it. It could use a year or two of further aging. According to Crimson Lotus Tea this is a mix of 20% new 2014 material and 80% older presumably 2012 material. Whatever the exact age of the leaves it still needs some time to clear. The real question is, is it Gushu? Crimson Lotus says it is so I can only take them at their word and assume it is. Gushu shou is a rarity indeed. Overall I liked this tea, it was very tasty if a little pricy.

It’s a valid question. I was not there when this leaf was picked. We’ve chosen to take Master Fang at his word.

Yang-chu said

It’s pretty poor form to cross Master Fang, if you know what’s good for you. ;-)

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AllanK said

Today I changed things up a little and had some sheng, the 2015 Yunnan Sourcing “Lao Shu Bai Cha” Old Arbor Raw Puerh Tea Cake. This was a strong and quite bitter tea. The bitterness lasted strongly into the sixth steep. It didn’t really get sweet until the seventh steep. It did not really have an apricot like sweetness, there was still too much bitterness along with the sweetness. This may as I understand it be a good candidate for aging. This tea is made from the leaves of 100 year old trees. Don’t know if that’s considered gushu or not.

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DigniTea said

2004 Yang Qing Hao “Yiwu Gushu” Tuo Raw
Premium YiWu material + authentic GuShu + 100% YiWu area blend + produced by a knowledgeable tea maker + carefully stored in Taiwan = a good tea in my experience. This tea did not disappoint. While this may not be the very best YQH tea I have in my collection, it is a very nice tea. Sweet and earthy notes initially coming from the wet leaves. The early sips offer a sweet, earthy taste which becomes a bit fruity after the first two infusions; a vanilla overtone emerges in the 4th and 5th infusions. The tea liquor offers good mouth and throat feel – smooth feel of the tea in the mouth and throat with nice textures. Overall, the tea has a fairly light body which deepens with longer steeps. Decent chi comes from the tea throughout the session. The wet leaves look very good but since this was formed into the more tightly compressed tuo shape, there are more bits and pieces resulting from the picking off of leaves; nonetheless the material seems to be of high quality.
When you have an opportunity to purchase 12 year old authentic GuShu YiWu material in 2016 at $200 for a 300g tuo ($0.67 per gram), that is a very good deal and a tasty tea to enjoy! If you enjoy tea with nice age on it, as I do, this one is worth owning.

MzPriss said

Your posts frequently end up costing me $. This sounds really good.

DigniTea said

MzPriss – Sorry?? But not really ;-)
My experience suggests that any of the teas (particularly the ‘04,’05, ‘06) are worth owning. Have you expressed interest to Emmet? Ask him about these 3 years (but he also has ’99, ’07, ’09, ’10, and ’11). I have developed a strong appreciation for Mr.Yang’s taste and skill.

MzPriss said

I haven’t gotten with Emmet yet, when I try to click on the email link in his profile it doesn’t work for me for some reason. I need to figure that out.

DigniTea said

I’ve just sent you a PM with info……

MzPriss said

Sigh. Thank you – I looked at it. I want it all.

jschergen said

+1 on these. Not cheap, but hard to beat for the price.

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curlygc said

I have decided to dedicate the new jian shui pot to sheng, and so I’m brewing up some Last Thoughts and I am tea drunk as shizzle right now. I had been staring at the pot all day… yancha or sheng? yancha or sheng? sigh I know, the pot is probably better for yancha. I hope I do not have brewer’s remorse, but so far this tea is straight up FANTASTIC in this pot. But then again, you could probably brew up Last Thoughts in a shoe and it would be fantastic. So I guess I’m going to have to buy another one for yancha. I knew this would happen. You always need another pot, right? Dammit!

MzPriss said

I use one of my CL jian shuis for sheng. It’s perfect.

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AllanK said

Today I drank an aged shou from Puerh Sk, a sample from a good tea friend, of 2002 shou 7581 brick. This was an excellent tea. The main thing I noticed about this tea was it had completely cleared. It had no fermentation taste. It had a nice sweet flavor to it and a little bit of wet storage taste. It didn’t have very much wet storage taste, just a little. And chi, it had an energizing effect on me. It has almost made me tea drunk. I steeped this tea ten times and if I wasn’t at my caffeine limit I would go back for more. This was one tasty tea. It is nice to get a chance to try tea from a vendor I have not ordered from but from whom I have wanted to order for a while now.

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boychik said
2014 Yunnan Sourcing Bangbao Village

Sample with the purchase.
i had a session of it last night and im going to continue today. this kind of sheng brews and gives many delicious steeps. its buttery creamy, some floral and about 3rd steep nice bitterness kicks in immediately followed by huigan.
I really enjoy it. it goes on my enormous YS wishlist.

Ginkosan said

Yup BBV is a solid pick. Got some sittin in the back on my cabinet. Smells almost sugary.

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