pu-erh of the day. Sheng or Shou

Feeling a little adventurous this morning so I went with 8 grams to 100 mL of Yunnan Sourcings 2012 Autumn Mu Shu Cha. This sample (sealed) has been sitting in a drawer for about two years.

The wet leaves definitely aren’t the prettiest I’ve seen. It’s mostly chopped up material. The soup has your typical yellow/golden hue and begins a bit cloudy. However, this clears up rather quickly.

Personally, I think this soup is nice. Its a little too “fruity” for my liking, but it has a nice thickness to it. It’s definitely a strong tea (perhaps this is due to tea/water ratio) with more than just sweetness going on. It has a nice finish and leaves the mouth salivating. However, I think many, including myself, may find it lacking that pure, clean characteristic I find among what I consider high quality shengs.

Personally, I think its a nice tea. $51 for 400 grams? Definitely a good value. However, nothing too special.

Today I drank the WHite2Tea 2015 Red Shroom Ripe Puerh Tea in a side by side comparison of my electric kettle and my new Anta Pottery Clay Boiler. I did six steeps with each using the same amount of leaf and identical gaiwans, 100ml each. The result was that the tea with the ceramic kettle was smoother and even a little sweeter. The fermentation flavor also tasted a little less intense with the clay boiler. The tea itself turned out to be really good, sweet with little bitterness. There was a fair amount of fermentation flavor but this flavor was not all that unpleasant. Overall this was an excellent tea. In the end I gave eight steeps to the tea with the clay boiler. I have now drank enough ripe for about three days. My electric kettle will now see less use. It’s still a lot more convenient and I think I will still use it in the morning when I typically brew western style. It is also good in that I can set it for a lower temperature as for green tea or oolong. I wish there was such a thing as a variable temperature clay boiler.

I’m drinking a tea I got from Crimson Lotus, 2015 Spring “Gu Ming Xiang Bing” Yiwu-Bulang Blend. I think it’s the same tea that’s listed under same name and available from Yunnan Sourcing so I guess both vendors carry it. Anyhoo, it’s seriously potent shit. For a Bulang, there’s really no bitterness at all. It’s light, sweet, and smells of juicy fruit gum. And in terms of qi, I’m six steeps in and I feel pretty fantastic at the moment. It’s got the soft Yiwu flavor profile, combined with a Bulang ass-kicking. All for $57 for a 357g cake, which is not at all bad.

Side note, I do wonder if this is a tea that would be suited for aging. EDIT: The Yunnan Sourcing site says it’s an excellent candidate for aging. But then again, it also says “the Bu Lang provides a bitter, smoke and horse sweat character.” SAY WHAT?

2007 Bo Nan Shan Yun Wu Sheng cake (suggested by @mrmopar) and 2002 Nan Jian Te Zhi Shou tuo, two new daily drinkers that so far seem to be worth their respective prices ($24 and $19)

https://www.instagram.com/p/BBOWZimqsmX/?taken-by=tearurnt

Drinking traditional storage pu erh…sheng that you can’t even tell is sheng.Well, aside from the color of the brew (red, like weak shu). Talk about wet storage! Sweet and smooth drinking…old school HK bo lei.

I’m two blocks from the harbor and the tea store is across the street, and I swear I can taste salt in this tea! It actually tastes like Hong Kong!

Continuing with yesterday afternoon’s mid-aged Jinggu material – 2003 White Dragon’s Wild Tree Jinggu Raw brick. Overall, this is full in taste and a nicely balanced sheng. The tea is appealing in its power and tendency to tickle the tongue and linger in the mouth and throat. Good amount of character with a non-threatening bitterness to offer more complexity.

2002 Nan Jian Te Zhi Shou, which I decided to review on my blog…

https://tearurnt.wordpress.com/2016/02/01/2002-nan-jian-tu-lin-te-zhi-tuo-ripe-puerh/

I was in a hurry to get some tea in before it was too late for caffeine so I chose some mmini tuocha, the Sticky Rice Premium Chang Yun Mini Tuocha from Shanghai Story on EBay. This was fairly nice but not spectacular. It was initially bittersweet from the puerh tea with a fair amount of fermentation flavor. There was an earthy sweet note from the sticky rice but a different sort of earthy than from the puerh. The flavor of the sticky rice effectively covered up any notes of chocolate or fruity notes that were there.

2012 Qiu Yun Wild Arbor Yiwu. Tasty, mellow, fruity, complex, and also giving me a most wonderful schvitz. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpMLgoDwd1c

2002 Xiaguan Baoyan Jincha… This mushroom suits me just right on a (bitterly) cold & snowy night. I’m impressed with the development and smoothness since my last session with this tea. It’s brewing up a clear and dark orange color, with a sweet earthy scent. Nice woody flavors dominate, balanced by sweet leather and maybe a hint of vanilla. A smokey addition and a hint astringency add some complexity to this straight-forward tea. Warming and comfortable is how I’d describe this one. I’ve been exploring shu recently for something on the deeper side, but this is what I’m looking for. Hopefully later vintages age as well.