pu-erh of the day. Sheng or Shou

Had a sample of YS’s 15 Da Xue Shan. For such a cheap cake it’s pretty good! Soup is just a little too thin for my tastes, but there’s lots of mouth-feel and it’s very very bitter. Notes of wildflowers, sweet grass, honeysuckles (the usual stuff). Seems like a really good value, though maybe it’s more of a “buy now drink later” kind of cake…

2006 Xiaguan 8673

I’m enjoying it. all bad aroma has cleared now and has a bit of a pine tree thing about it. its very autumn forest tasting. Thats the only way I can describe this.

Also raisins.

Drank the 2005 Teji Tuo from White2Tea this afternoon. I am not sure if I liked this tea or not. It had what you would probably call an aged flavor. It had no hint of wet storage. That at least was good. It was really rock solid. My Damascus steel tea knife that I got from Yunnan Sourcing wasn’t up to the task of breaking it. Had to break out the ice pick. If anyone is looking for a good tool to break up really rock solid cakes an ice pick that you buy for less than $10 on EBay is a good tool. Even kind of looks like a puerh pick. This tea did get better as I resteeped it. Gave it ten steeps over all. I guess I haven’t decided if I like aged sheng or not? Although this is an example of a cheap aged sheng. Has anyone heard what is coming next month with the White2Tea club?

2015 Yunnan Sourcing “Autumn Mang Zhi” Ancient Arbor Raw – I’ve had this one before, but had some sample left. Wanted to see how it compared to the first time. Very similar. Came on hard and fast, turning melon sweet later. Certainly not for those who shy away from bitterness. Complex for sure. I like it, but not an everyday drinker for me perhaps…

Drank the 2014 Yunnan Sourcing Autumn Lao Shu Bai Cha Old Arbor Raw Pu-erh tonight. At $46 for 400g it seems fairly priced although I think the 2014 Ai Lao Mountain Wild Arbor Pu-erh is just as good at $30 for 400g. Maybe I’m missing something because I’m reading very different tasting notes from other steepsterites and YS reviewers. I’ll have to try it with the mineralized water to see if I get a different experience. I still have ~7g so I can do a good session.

Drinking the 2011 7572 Shu from Pu-erh.sk today. This tea was good overall but started poorly. There were some fishy notes in the first two steeps. These did not last and neither did the fermentation taste. There were some chocolate notes in there. In steep twelve I got a note I would describe as burnt caramel. I think there were some dates notes in there too but that one is open to interpretation. Overall it was very good tea. Good for a 7572 recipe from a minor tea factory.

i’ve left it at home so i don’t recall exactly which menghai dayi 2009 ripe pu erh i was just drinking, but i was enjoying it, and it was the end of the little sample packet. so i came over to this thread while waiting for my son to finish his swimming lesson…

you people are HORRIBLE. made me just purchase more tea from ys. thanks a lot, people. ;p

2015 Tuhao as FK white2tea. Sample from Grill. This tea has been in a gaiwan for a month, I take a few cups a week off of it. Because of my very dry house air, the tea dries again in a day, which is fine, I keep brewing away and it doesn’t quit. Really like this tea. Alternating it with 2009 CNNP shou, depending on whether I’m cold or in need of a diuretic, in which case I brew the Tuhao.

finished my cake of MCA from W2T yesterday. I really got that tea perfected by the end. now im having my last sample of 72 hours.

Today it’s a semi aged sheng from Awazon Tea, the 2006 Awazon 100 Years Old Tree Puerh 357g Raw Cake Red. This was a fairly nice sheng. There were no wet storage tastes to it at all. It was not too bitter and had a nice sweet note, although this note was not the apricot note of a young sheng. It had a nice qi that I noticed in the second steep, very relaxing. This tea is not expensive at around $40. So far I have had good luck with the teas I bought from Awazon or www.pu-erhtea.com. This one has not aged as much as some teas of similar age. The color of the tea was a dark yellow. It had not yet turned to red. Maybe that is why it didn’t have any unpleasant aged taste to it. I liked this tea. It was fairly astringent though.