Peacock Village 2004 Shu

Wasn’t able to write anything down at work, but ended up with over 20 steepings. Though this tea didn’t start out too complex with western style, nor did it gain complexity, it maintained all that it started with through the 20plus steepings which was very impressive. I will take Autumn’s advice with the remainder of the sample and try my first gongfu brew.
Autumn Hearth sent this to me amongst several wonderful selection that I am most greatful for.
The drink is so smooth and crisp. It actually has a lighter body than I expected, but that could be explained in that the leaves of dense cakes are harder to judge amounts with. That said, I may have added too much water. Whether improper brewing or mistaken expectation this is still a good tea.
Mostly what I get from this is a sweetness. Now I’m not just gonna leave it at that…it’s a…well…kind of a…
OK it has that camphor sort of tingley sweet, as well as an ever so slight honey addition. So a honey flavored lip balm I guess is what I’m saying. Somehow that didn’t come out as eloquently as I had imagined.
I’m really bogged down at this point. There’s an earthiness, though not as apparent as other pu’s I’ve had. On the flip side of that coin though, it lacks much of the bitterness that may help to make up any smokey, malty, or thick wood notes. There is a cedar note, don’t get me wrong, it’s just not overpowering nor is it very bitter.
I read another note or two that said that they had luck steeping it again the next morning so I will try this as well.
To me this is a good tea, though not great. Maybe I need to try brewing again, I was surprised to see three minutes for the brewing time rather than the thirty to forty five seconds I have steeped all other pu’s for.
Maybe my expectations were thrust up after reading David Ducklers beautiful telling of the story behind this tea. That, actually is probably part of it, though I fault Mr Duckler none for this. I surely invite the telling of the tale behind the tea, I should just avoid being caught away by it.
I thank David for making this tea available, and I thank Autumn Hearth even more for putting it into my hands.
tunes-I picked up some CDs from the library and the Orthodox Jewish reggae artist Matisyahu’s Live @ Stubbs was one of them. I’m enjoying it, especially seeing video footage of a man in complete Hasidic attire beatboxing! Wild to say the least.

First review. A disclaimer. I KNOW NOTHING ABOUT PU-ER! (Don’t know why it’s spelled Pu-erh, Pu-Erh, Puer, Pu-er either). My background is working in a tasting room at a Winery, entering cooking contests, and international cooking. That’s it. I have a pretty good palate for THOSE things. I bring what I know about other things to tea and am learning new ways to think about tea as I progress. Nuff said. This explanation is given because this was a tea that took a lot of turns in reviewing.
Here goes:
I used my new PIAO I Glass top drop infuser and 3 minutes for each steep .
I did 1 quick rinse before the first steep. Raw the Shu looks like dark tan-bark. Really!
1. I poured on the water and let the steep go watching the liquid begin to lightly turn brown. Beep…pushed the button to release the water to the reservour below. The liquid is light honey colored and tastes like toasted rice. No earthiness, slightly salty and sweet. Really good and savory. Not a hint of grass or hay but maybe a shitaki mushroom sauteed in there. Super delicious.
2. Way darker color like whisky. Earthy scent. While steeping you can see the leaves begin to float and open pushing away from the solid bark mass. There is a slightly astringent finish and pepper on the tongue, linen and rust. No bitterness. Juicy and light. This makes no sense but it’s what I taste and smell. Oh, faint nutmeg also. I opened the top of my steeper and smelled the wet tea…arh…paint thinner! Whoa…no kidding!
3. This steeping released long-legged creatures moving around the steeping cylinder releasing all the tea flavors just for me. Eight long years from China to Colorado they were locked up waiting for this moment! Eh…timer went off…Really dark liquor this time.
Less paint thinner smell on the leaves! Lighter less earthy flavor. More astringent but still juicy and not bitter. There is a tartness which is like black walnut and an introduction of salt and smoke. Bless My Soul! I like smoke and salt. In fact…Hum…I have some gumbo in the fridge and think this would be a good finish after some gumbo and rice. Not during the meal but after. Very delicious Shu! I have loved all the selections from Verdant thus far! Find the new videos helpful to a rookie like me.
This is not a fancy review but MY review. It’s what I enjoyed this afternoon as a part of my life.

I really love this shu. It just knows what it’s doing. No heavy nonsense. No murky bitterness. No sickly saccharine. Just balanced and fair and sweet and transluscent.

It’s classy.

I want to write more about this later. This is more a reminder to drink again and take proper notes. The scribbles I do have are useless in helping me describe.

Made some last night (yikes, I’m going to need a pu’erh pick to break the rest of my sample up!) and it…. tasted earthy and smooth. I gave it a 15 second rinse (aka infusion that I dumped), and then a ~10 second rinse (same thing, dumped it), then steeped for… 2-3 minutes(?) and ended up with a pretty nice cup. I only drank a sip or two though, which is why I can’t give a more detailed description of the flavours. My mom drank the rest, and said it “tasted like pu’erh”. (In a good way. And not particularly fishy.)

Oh my penguin! This tea! It’s…and the….with a….guh. I don’t even know where to begin.

So the first steep (after two rinses) smelled earthy. Like…really, really earthy. Almost painfully so. It scared me a bit and that first sip took a lot of willpower from this pu-erh newbie.

But I have faith in Verdant Tea. They’ve never led me astray yet.

That faith is amazingly well placed. The earthiness worked well with the surprise sweetness, that hint of white grape on the tip of the tongue….guh. This is a work of art. I am so glad I got this sample. I adore grape anything, so a yummy pu-erh with that hint of grape? Oh my goodness, yes please! I may need to add this to my order as well!

I had this Pu-erh yesterday, was about to write a tasting note on it, and got distracted. So, I am enjoying more today. Dry leaf does not have much aroma, but while brewing and the liquor is quite earthy, which kind of scared me. The first sip is earthy… but it quickly subsides and becomes rather sweet and pleasant. After that, the earthiness is right at the start of the sip, but again, it quickly disappears and makes way for a beautiful sweetness. It’s remarkably light for a Pu-erh. It’s a lovely surprise. My first reaction was that I probably wasn’t going to like it because of that strong earthiness right at the start, but, as it turns out, I like it quite a bit.

First 2 infusions (following a quick double rinse): earthy at the start, followed by a lovely sweetness and a light, crisp taste. In my full-length review of this tea (which will publish in the next week or so), I likened it to honey that had been thinned with sparkling white grape juice. It has that crisp, sparkling kind of sensation, and the sweet fruity taste.

The next two infusions were sweeter and there was some earthiness, but, less than the first cup. It is off in the distance, becoming a memory more than a prominent flavor. A spice profile is developing, in the aftertaste especially, I get a sort of tingle on my tongue that reminds me of the sensation of when I’ve just eaten something with fresh peppercorn. It isn’t a spicy or hot sensation, but that tingle is there.

The next two infusions: the earthiness is now gone. Sweet sweet sweet! Rock candy sweet. There is a dry sensation toward the finish… not astringency, but, kind of like the dry sensation of powdered cocoa but without the chocolate… it is more like powdered, mild spice. Intriguing.

This is a great pu-erh – I’d recommend it to those who have tried Pu-erh in the past and thought they didn’t like it. I think that this one would change their mind. It’s really a unique Pu-erh.

Okay, so there are some Shus you might date: they’re wild, unpredictable, and exhilirating, but slightly high-maintenance. You don’t want to always mess around with steeping times and water temps. Then there is the Shu you marry and she’s from Peacock Village. Beautiful but not flashy, never volatile, comforting, consistenly there for you. Satisfying in the “deep heart’s core.”*

• W.B. Yeats, The Lake Isle of Innisfree

With the arrival of the 2004 Peacock Village Shu, I feel that some sort of cycle has turned upon itself, and brought me back to the starting point of my love affair with pu’ers. When I first moved to China as literature and philosophy teacher at Qingdao University, and as a tea researcher, I knew almost nothing about the vast world of pu’er. For tea lovers, pu’er is truly the last frontier. When you have explored all the other teas out there, pu’er is waiting patiently to reveal its mysteries.

Qingdao has a tea district where all those most devoted to the culture would congregate. I used to go visit Wang Huiming to train in proper Fujianese tea ceremony. Every day I would pass a small shop filled to the ceilings with pu’er bricks, and a young tea-scout named Wang Yanxin. Finally I put aside an afternoon to visit Wang Yanxin and listen to her stories.

She got into the tea business when she was 20 years old, and started spending summers in Yunnan working with small growers, learning the pu’er trade, and tasting some of the finest bricks in the world. She is now 28 years old, and has quickly risen to become one of the most respected palates out there, and certainly the most formidable source for pu’er from small growers in the whole region. Most shops offer some decent quality brocks from Mengku, Haiwan or Xiaguan, but these big companies make it easy, grading their teas, printing catalogs, sending samples, etc. Wang Yanxin was determined to be different, and work with the small growers to bring something to market beyond what most in China had ever experienced. Despite having to go down to Yunnan every month or so to try new pressings, advise growers, etc, Wang continues to succeed.

So what does this have to do with the Peacock Village 2004? That first day I visited Wang Yanxin, I told her that I wanted to fall in love with pu’er. She told me that she would help if I was willing to visit twice a week until I understood. I readily agreed, and we started down the path of shu and sheng pu’er. She was patient, starting with the simplest bricks, teaching me to taste the major flavor profiles commonly found in pu’er. She showed me how pu’er steeps out in time, how it grows with age after being pressed.

Finally, I was beginning to understand. That was when she pulled out the first “Graduate Level” tea for me to try, the Peacock Village 2004 from Tian Di Ren Workshop. I fell in love instantly. Everything suddenly made sense. The lower quality bricks we started with all had a heaviness to them, a certain lingering feeling that was unpleasant. This brick was crisp, light and perfect. I was so excited to taste all the different flavors, and Wang was pleased to hear me describe them.

I may have had a lot of pu’er since the Peacock Village, but it has remained a favorite, representing one of the ideals that a shu pu’er can reach for. I made the call a few months ago to discontinue the Fuhai brick, feeling like it was almost what I was looking for, but falling just slightly short. I debated for weeks about what to replace it with that would be a step closer to my ideal, and finally remembered my beloved Peacock Village Shu.

Wang Yanxin actually tracked down 25 bricks for me! I am grateful to her for everything, and grateful to everyone for the chance to share this.

Soooo delicious, what wonderful thick, creamy, dark sweetness. At first I couldn’t quite put my finger on what the smell and taste of this reminded me of, besides my two other favorite shu. I wanted to describe it as caramel but no, I had a caramel cake at Fridays tonight (my gods, delicious) but definitely not it. Then my mother-in-law asked me to bring her down a bottle of old fashioned cream soda, bingo! I’m much more pleased with this non sickeningly sweet, non teeth rotting version :)

Just before bed, in the fifth infusion (I think) the tart elderberry note became very present and has thankfully stuck around till morning for five more infusions. I’m going to keep reinfusing for as long as I can, amid the toddler’s birthday party preparations, because I’m having a love affair with this tea. I definitely like the original better than the Elderberry creation it inspired, yet that totally helped educate my palate to find the notes inherent in this most amazing shu.

If I win the Tea Cat’s contest I’m ordering more of this and it’s getting its own tin along with the Eight Treasures Yabao. So if you haven’t voted already go check out the gorgeous felines and consider voting for Pan http://verdanttea.com/tea-cats/crouching-kitty-copper-dragon/ I should not that it didn’t stay “thick” for long, it has a much lighter body than I first described, but still very, very flavorful and yes very “clean”. I only rinsed once, but did actually like that second infusion, ::shrug::

The 1st steep without rinsing is 30 seconds or so. It’s mild with redwood and cedar forest flavors. The 2nd was steeped for 30 as well and it’s a lovely reddish brew with an intoxicating feel. I am getting the warm feeling and I actually started to perspire. The clear liquor is pure and crisp with that electric feel in my mouth. I can only imagine what it’s doing inside of me. I am only going to do 3 steeps because once again it’s a gorgeous day. I will leave the rest in the Yixing for tonight. I am coming to the conclusion that Shus are my favorite teas period. There is wonderful feeling that i get from them. This is why we drink tea. When I went back to brew number 3 I noticed the nugget was still intact. I gave it a gentle nudge and steeped for a bit longer. I knew this cup was going to be special. The Redwood and Cedar is now a dense forest with lighting in the sky. This is a very, very special tea….

Really good, ridiculously clean shu. Thanks Autumn Hearth!

So… Apparently there was bit of scandal going around a while back about this being a cheap, low quality shu. I can’t answer for the first accusation, but as for quality all I have to say is that it was delicious.

Putting that behind us…

Early steeps: The tea brews extremely clear with a nice red color. Thick, chewy bread flavors and notes of portobello, vanilla, and something berry-like.

Middle steeps: Lightly oakey, reminds me of the camping on a cold night. Tastes of dark, rich soil. It becomes lighter with mineral, almost sparkling qualities. Clean like sheng.

Later steeps: Dry fall leaves, cedar, and pine. The mouthfeel is sort of meaty, and though its not fishy at all, I’m picturing a nice plank-cooked salmon. (I’m not crazy!) :P The flavors start to get weak around the 8th infusion.

I left the leaves on a gaiwan saucer by the window to dry, and what I found where some nice, big healthy leaves. And these things:

[IMG]http://i1075.photobucket.com/albums/w433/thomascperez/-3-2_zpsd087729c.jpg[/IMG]

Not really sure what they are, young tea flower buds?

MOMENTOUS OCCASION!
This is my first ever pu-erh! EVER! I’m excited, needless to say. This is also my first sample out of the box that LiberTEAS sent me. I was feeling daring, so I decided to make this now that I have time to make more than one infusion!

So, I decided that it would be fairly easy for me to make this in my mug (I need a gaiwan so bad!), so that is what I did. However, I messed up my rinses. First of all, I didn’t boil enough water to make a cup after the rinses. Second of all, I didn’t do the rinses for NEARLY long enough. Third of all, I went to actually brew it and after a minute or so decided that that infusion wasn’t right……… I’m new to this, okay!

Anyways, on to the first (second?) infusion. This definitely smells very earthy, but in kind of a good way… The taste, surprisingly, isn’t very earthy. It’s kind of got a unique flavor to it that I can’t really pinpoint… It’s very smooth and interesting…..

Second infusion-This one smells and tastes bit earthier. It is a bit lighter than the first infusion (even though I brewed for four minutes….). I’m still looking for that sweetness that others have talked about….

Third infusion-I think this is it for this tea. The sweetness has come out a lot! It still smells earthy but the sweetness in the taste has come out a lot. It’s still running a little underneath the base earthiness, but it is way more present. This is my favorite steep!

For my first pu-erh, this is pretty good! I’m looking forward to exploring more kinds (including some of the flavored ones Bonnie sent me) and learning more about them!

So I have had this tea a few times now, and still have one more sample tasting thanks to David. I am still a newbie when it comes to pu’er, so this is one that is inviting unlike a few other pu’ers I have tasted. Very clean and smooth. I did not take it passed 3 steeps,like I knew I should but I was tea tasting….

I like it, but not enough for for me buy it. Still Verdant has some great pu’er and educates newbies like me on them for sure.

My first time trying this. I thought I nearly forgot to include it in the tea I brought home with me for break—perish the thought!

This had a less earthy smell dry, but all of that changed once I rinsed the leaves. Mmm. It’s like walking along a forest path.

I didn’t take notes for individual steepings—I’m a little less fastidious about documenting my tea consumption at home, maybe because it might make my parents think I’m odd as fish. Like they don’t already. But I digress. Onto the tea.

This is unbelievably smooth. I think my words were “this is niiiice…”
Foresty, very very creamy, and sweet in an earthy way. It also develops into a crispness at the end that is really refreshing. In later steepings I got something slightly spicy like cinnamon bark. Pu’erh is a pretty fascinating universe, and I’m excited to explore this more! It’s delicious.

I really want to have some more today, but I’ve just come down with a light cold, so it would be a shame to have such a beautiful tea when I can’t taste the difference between oatmeal and tabouli. This’ll be one for later. Much later, actually, because in two days I’m headed to Costa Rica for the rest of January. Tally ho!

I got this in a sample from Verdant and sadly it will be my only steeping, so I’m planning to steep it all night (maybe even overnight and see what happens). I’ve had a number of shu teas but I’ve never had one that is so light and direct in its flavors. In the first steep it tastes a little like seawater mixed with caramel. There is very little earthiness in this tea unlike other shu teas, instead there is a sweet grainy taste, I can taste the buckwheat like the description says. I did a one minute steep for the first cup, after an initial rinse. 2nd steep was for two minutes. The tea is a lot thicker with a strong shiitake taste. It isn’t as murky as other shu teas and still has a brightness even with a longer steep. Very nice shu pu erh.

I’ve recently discovered that I really like Pu-erh teas. The three Pu-erh teas I have tried from Verdant tea were most excellent. This one is quite earthy, a bit musty (in a very good way) with a citrusy hint.

Today on Moods and Appetites our family favorite: South River Farm Miso. I eat this every single day. I would highly recommend to watch the video (so adorable!) http://moodsandappetites.com/

Thank goodness.

After two previous experiences with rotten, fishy-smelling shu, this one is a welcome change. I’ve been re-steeping and sipping on this for more or less twelve hours, and it’s pretty much just mildly tea-flavored water at this point, but it is so so soothing, and has been good company to cut through all these jelly-covered breads I’ve been nibbling all day.

See, I went to a farmer’s market the other day and met this really nice guy selling homemade jellies. He treated me to samples— several heaping spoonfuls of the freshest and most flavorful jellies my tongue has ever enjoyed, and I left with four jars. Now I am spreading it on anything and everything, and sometimes the fruity-sweetness gets to be a bit much. But luckily, I have this this tea, dark and and savory and a perfect balance to the syrupy-sweetness.

I am going to seriously gain ten pounds. Off of jelly. And it will be totally worth it.

SIP DOWN!!!

Another sample pack is gond; well there is 2 grams left, but I am not counting it.

This is a nice pu-er. It didn’t have that salty fish smell that some shu can have. Also after lots of infusions, lets say 10, the 5g piece that I put in my teapot was only slightly broken apart. Also man can this tea steep. After tons of gonfu infusions, I did a 1 minuet western style brew and it was still full of flavor.

As for the flavor, it wasn’t a mondo amount of earthy flavor. It was kinda like a mix of black tea with a hint of pu-er earthiness to let you know it is a pu-er. The earlier steepings were more musty spice but the later ones had nice ceder wood flavor and tingle.

Overall I would recommend this tea to people who are on the fence about pu-er or are new to it.

Specifics

Pot: porcelain
Water: 4-5oz & one 8oz steep
leaf: 5g
sweetener: no
Gonfu Infusions between 6-10 seconds

This is just Tian di ren factory ripe tea — it’s pretty average. Rather drink something from Menghai

I brewed my sample gong fu style. As the description states Peacock Village Shu has a much lighter body than most Shu’s and very little of the earthiness that I associate with them. I’m tasting sweetness and a vague nuttiness in my first few steeps. I’m not tasting the barley, oregano, and other flavors referred to in the description.

I prefer Sheng pu’er so this one isn’t my favorite. Still, it’s a step up from other Shu pu’ers that I’ve tried.