Yanxin's Reserve '04 Shu Nuggets

I really like this pu-erh. It tastes amazing! It has these delicious cake-y kind of flavors, complete with notes of vanilla, sugar, caramel and cinnamon … even some wheat-like tones in there! So good!

Definitely a pu-erh I’d recommend to anyone, even someone who doesn’t think they like pu-erh. This is incredible!

VERDANT TEA NUMERO DOS!

I actually have no idea if that’s how you say the second because I take French not Spanish :P. I was going to try and make the Spring Tieguanyin but I don’t have enough patience or the right environment to do that in right now, so I figured I’d make this one! I’m realllllly hoping that this ends up tasting like the reviews say it does because they make this sound like heaven in a cup.

I’ve never seen a tea like this before. I am familiar with pu-erh bricks and I’ve seen those before, and I’ve seen loose pu-erh, but I’ve never before seen a nugget…. They’re actually kind of cute in a way! I’m brewing this one western style as I still have not gotten my hands on a gaiwan or a yixing teapot, but I do know that Teavana has yixings (alright, well not true ones, more like mass produced ones, but a yixing is a yixing right?!?) and I’ll be near one when I go to Pennsylvania next weekend, so I plan to pick one up while I’m there! Anyways, back to the point at hand, I put two full sized and then one little baby nugget in the infuser basket and did a double rinse with 208 degree water, both for ~15 seconds.

First Infusion-205 degrees for 3 minutes. This is interesting because it didn’t brew up to that dark color that every other shu I’ve had (not that I’m experienced, because I’m not by a long shot!) has done. It looks more like a regular black tea, with a deep amber color, almost like maple syrup. It smells somewhat earthy, maybe a little hay-like. Oh my goodness (on a side note, I can’t handle how many times I’ve said the phrases “OMG,” “oh my god,” and “oh my goodness” in these past few reviews, it’s actually getting kind of ridiculous). This tea is so amazing. There’s nothing added to my cup and yet it tastes so naturally sweet. I can see why this would be compared to angel food cake! There’s a nice graininess that lends itself to the actual cake, and then there’s a nice sugary note that sweetness the entire thing. I am not disappointed at all. This is so incredibly interesting and delicious. I could easily see myself drinking this all day but unfortunately until I have a method of gongfu brewing, I can only really make 4-5 infusions with one set of leaves :(. le sob that’s actually so upsetting because if I used a gaiwan I suspect that I could easily make this tea all day without the leaves ever running out of steam. But, regardless, there’s no use crying over spilled milk (or in this case, there’s no use crying over milk that you don’t have), so I will have to live with my (more than functional) current brewing vessels.

Second Infusion-208 degrees for 3 minutes and 30 seconds. I just noticed how much I rambled on the first infusion notes and I would like to apologize for making you read my incoherent babbling :P. This infusion has a lot more of an earthy feel to it, though there is still a nice sweetness. I don’t know if anyone else has gotten this, but I get a wine-like flavor as an aftertaste…. Maybe it’s the elderberry that David mentions on the website? I’m not familiar with elderberry so I have no idea, but there is definitely a dark, fruity flavor. This is also really nice. It’s pretty late and I’m beat so it looks like this session will only get two infusions, but this was SUPER good, and I’m so glad I asked for this! Thanks again David and the folks at Verdant Tea!

Um, wow. This is more than amazing. TeaEqualsBills ,how did you know?! This has been on my mind since the very first tasting note popped up. It got me insanely excited about puerh, and then here it is, right in front of me. I can hardly believe my eyes! I’m in love and I haven’t even sipped it yet! THANK YOU!!!

I’m going to go into detail on my blog, and the post should be up Friday. Until then – there are some unmistakable sweet and light notes on the first steepings. Angel food cake for reals! I’m even imagining notes of small, colourful sprinkles – it’s just so rock sugar sweet! Yum!

A truly changing tea, each steep unlocks another layer of goodness and new flavours. An amazing tea that anyone afraid of puerh simply MUST try.

After seeing tasting notes on this, I HAD to have it myself. Since I can’t fall back asleep, might as well get started on infusing it all day long.

This is the second puerh I’ve ever had, and the first to not be chocolate orange flavored. I have some of the tuochas from Teavivre but I’m still scared to use them, so when I see “angel food cake” I find a good starting point to stop being afraid. At least that’s what I hoped for, and I’m pretty sure it’s working.

I like to mix infusions when I steep in my gaiwan, so I’ll be putting 3 in a mug probably each time.

This is kind of ridiculous. How is this even real? It seriously tastes like cake. First I get the clear taste of flour, almost like if you took uncooked pasta and put it in your mouth. There’s also malty tones to it. But then it’s sweet.

Since I am trying to teach myself French for the 38295th time (I can’t believe it’s been almost a year since I was there, where has time gone?! I took 2 years of Latin and 2 semesters of Italian, plus I speak English… how hard can this really be if I try.) I already know the word for this. Délicieux!

Now on the 4th through 6th infusions, tastes more like hay. It’s still a bit sweet, but now I am tasting some cinnamon and kind of getting a cooling sensation.

Ok, finally to 7-9…I did finally fall asleep for way too long in the afternoon. I should be working on a paper. It’s tasting more like cake, this time with maybe a caramel glaze. It just tastes so good I don’t know how to describe it. Hay notes have kind of dropped off now. I get a bit more cinnamon now.

I’m going to 18. I am. Just you wait.

INFUSION TEST!
#1
I can smell some cinnamon hints but the taste is very gentle overall. I’m looking forward to infusion progression on this one! I will say this – it’s quite velvety while swirling around in your mouth :)

more to come…

I’ve been waiting for the right time to brew and taste this remarkable Verdant ’04 Shu. You know, waiting for the peaceful mood and amount of time without any interruptions. Then, last night I had a night of rest without pain! I woke up with a prayer looking forward to whatever God has in store for my day, being mindful to be thankful for whatever comes.

This is not a sample tea! I bought enough to have over and over again. Oh the delight of it all!

My brewing method for Pu’erh’s has become my Yixing purple pot that looks like a bird. It’s very easy to use. It has a handle and filter in the spout that looks like a bird beak. I am having some steeping adjustment issues! The Western style that I used before had much longer steep times…and the Yixing method is shorter. Also,the Western method might give 5 steeps and the Yixing 18! Who drinks 18 cups by themselves?! I know I can’t do that much drinking all at once so I devised my own plan of 5 infusions and then transfering the leaves into my Gaiwan for later since it isn’t porous. I don’t want any mold in my porous Yixing pot! I hope this is useful information to anyone else just starting off with a Yixing. Cut the steep time down like the instructions say!

Rinse the Nuggets 10 seconds and do this twice. Use Spring water (especially if you have a clay pot!).

1. I blew the steep time on the first infusion…ha! It went about 3 minutes. Old habits are hard to break! The liquor was very dark and sweet smelling like linen and cake. This is the most linen scented tea I’ve had. The Pu’erh was juicy and smooth without tannin or bitterness. When I went back to smell the leaves, they were still a hard clump of bark and also sweet smelling like the tea but not earthy or malty.

2. This time I only steeped 8 seconds with good rich brown color in the liquor. This was much better tasting. The flavor had not opened up yet but it had become creamier and less linen like. The leaves were still hard in a clump and black brown.

3. I could taste a tell-tale Pu’erh-ness that I love on this pour. Sweet earth and cinnamon biting my tongue. The tea was juicy and I tasted waffles warm and nutty.

4. Now I did a 5 second steep and pour. The leaves had opened up quite a bit now and smelled more leathery. The liquor was dark and malty, rich and smooth. There was a definate sweet bakery undertone with peppery cinnamon filling my mouth. The linen was gone but not the juice. I could feel the coolness with the pepper which was an interesting sensation.

5. I think this was my favorite pour. Short and sweet, peppery spice up front with a little linen scent and dry but juicy (if that makes sense). I gave the tea my best winery tasting- room slurp to the back of the mouth, rolling it around your palate test. Sweet, slightly malty, vague salt, super smooth, sweet yeast bread dough, cool cinnamon bark with pepper finish.

6. (I added a little sugar which brought out a vanilla yammy taste due to some subtle malt I suspect).

At this point there were still some hard parts to the leaves that must open up in the water! I have 12 infusions to go! Whoa!

I love Pu’erh…love, love, love! This was so good already! I’m not even half way done with the first tasting and it will go on all day! How much Pu’erh do you think I used for these 18 infusions? 1.5 teaspoons! Crazy Wonderful!

The description for this tea sounded incredibly enticing, so I could not resist. The people at Verdant are by far the best company at writing tea descriptions that make you swoon. I was surprised by just how strong the aromas of cinnamon and vanilla cream were in the tea as it brewed. I didn’t have to try hard to find these flavors, they really stuck out clearly. The earthiness of this tea is there, but it is very light and smooth and as I sip I get faint flavors of cinnamon and malt, and there is a tingling sensation on the finish. This is a very clean, smooth and delicious pu-erh. I’m so glad I was brave enough to try pu-erh so early on in my tea adventure, because I now know that it’s going to be a life-long love.

I’m brewing this western style so I can enjoy it while video editing without being too distracted. Woohoo multitasking!
I didn’t get much scent from the leaves, but the brewed tea has a definite fishy odor. I’ve learned not to judge tea too much on the scent though.
The flavor was actually pretty minimal. On my second steeping I went a little long but didn’t really see an improvement.
I don’t know about this tea. It’s another tea that I’ve tried recently that has been just mediocre. But I haven;t found a perfect pu-erh for a long time.

I played a beautiful wedding last night, & it was especially fun because the 2 girls who are now wives had great taste in music! Normally I play a 30 minute set of classical pieces while the guests are arriving. For this union I played a mix of latin jazz & tunes by Sarah McGochlan. Both brides were stunningly beautiful! Now I’m heading out to play a more traditional wedding at Pere Marquette Lodge in IL.

I chose this sample this morning because I wanted a more grounding tea, & I’m finding puerh to be just that: a tea that brings my airy fairyness down to earth!

Dry it smells kind of like an old barn that hasn’t been used for awhile, a well aged compost (which IS basically what it is, but luckily not the kind one would find in a barn).

Steeping it smells of the ocean, & of butter, with a slight hint of dried plum. It also reminds me of the smell of sheets that have been line dried in the sun.

The finished product? Smooth! Smooth & shiny like a piece of obsidian. There is no bitterness, no astringency, but what there IS is an amazing buttery texture, kind of like the corn tuocha, but it doesn’t taste like corn. The flavor is deep, earthy, & satisfying. Also, there are fun tingling sensations on the tongue that make me smile!

I just re-steeped in my to-go mug so I can enjoy this on my 45 minute drive through IL.

Rinsed the leaves at 208F for 15 seconds, then a second brief rinse with slightly cooler water. Used about 7g of nuggets.

First infusion (205F/4min):
Smells a bit earthy. Tastes a bit like dirt. In spite of what I thought was over-steeping, I don’t think it suffered for that extra minute. In fact, I think it could stand to be stronger.

Second infusion (205F/3min):
Less dirt flavour, more sweetness? Still not getting any of the flavours that other people have.

Third infusion (205F/4min):
Again a bit less dirt flavour, a bit more sweetness.

Hmm, ok. This is my first straight pu’er (other than the one from my roommate), and I’m not sure what exactly I think. Wondering if I put enough tea in – my scale may have messed up a bit; it was a nugget plus a couple partials. Or maybe my rinse(s) weren’t done correctly. It wasn’t bad, but wasn’t particularly impressive either, in my opinion. Maybe pu’ers just aren’t for me? Either way, I’ve ordered the sampler from Verdant, as well as 1oz. of another one, so I will know soon if pu’er is my thing or not.

Reserving a rating until I’ve tried this one again.

The first thing I noticed with this tea was the strong scent of fish after the water was added. I am still hopeful that this tea won’t taste fishy.. but the scent is enough to scare me a little bit.

Hmmm. This cup has earthy & hay flavors that fade into something a bit sweet. Sadly, this tastes a lot like fish to me and I really dislike fish. I can see how this might be a yummy tea, but I can’t continue to drink it as the fish notes are all I can taste/smell. I’m disappointed that I can’t taste any of the cake/pastry notes. Well, I’m happy that I sampled this tea before buying a bunch more.

Yay! I got this today and instantly tore into it!

I have to say it’s super smooth and the flavor seems very soft and slate-y. But I’m not getting much of anything else, sadly. No cinnamon, no sweetness, no vanilla, no angel food cake…

Just smooth, soft, slightly rooty puerh-ness.

But wait!…..if I breathe deeply and exhale with each sip—I can taste something like buckwheat…something like malt-o-meal..something like those whole wheat tea biscuits in those cylindrical packages _{(“Digestive Biscuits”?)}. Then, finally some rich buttery notes, upon cooldown.

Wow. Some teas assert themselves right away. This one doesn’t. Patience is key!

Story: Well today has been a bust. I woke up to my dog being sick. We think he might have ingested something, but don’t know what. He was breathing hard and wouldn’t eat, and would barely drink. Someone told my mom to give him a pinch of Pepto and to give him lean boiled hamburger meat. Of course when I get back from the store he comes out and eats food out of his bowl………. at least he is better now. sigh this is so not how I planned my day to go. What a waste.

Tea: Backlogging from a few days ago with this one. I am slowly getting through my samples……. slowly. I brewed this with the gonfu directions on Verdant’s website; though sadly I forgot to do a second rinse. Here are my random thoughts from each steep.

Steep 1: Must and spice, sorta of malty. Still need to understand linen flavor but I think it taste it. I am getting some Caramel now.

Steep 2: More sweeter. slight menthol on the tongue. sweetness yes. omn nom.

Steep 3: More cakey now. A slight spice coming through. tasty. minty menthol after taste

Steep 4: Sorta of cinnamon and heavy linen and semolina

Steep 5: Stronger cinnamon. Not so much a flavor as more of that dry spice tingle I associate with cinnamon.

Steep 6: More savory taste and some minty after taste.

Steep 7: Caramel like savory and sweet with a smidge of mint and cinnamoness

Steep 8: Crisper less savory and more cinnamon taste. very sweet is back. Semolina again maybe. Also still cinnamon. Pine dew maybe.

Steep 9: CINNAMON LEVEL AT 8000!!!!! lots of salty caramel and a hint of pine dew…..yum!

Steep 10: lots of pine dew. some cinnamon after taste. Also savory, but lots of pine dew in the beginning sip.
Cooled: more savory caramel and cinnamon

I then did a couple of western brews, but I didn’t like them as much. They were very strong of burnt caramel, but that was it. I liked how through the steeps it got less caky/malty and turned into salted caramel cinnamon, but with a bit of woodiness and menthol to keep it from getting to bold. I never could get the nuggets to break apart.

Overall it was very good. I wouldn’t call it uber complex, but it was what a would call upper middle shelf. Very good flavors from beginning to the end of the sip. It would be good for someone who doesn’t like earthy Puerh’s.

As I look over my entries on Steepster I’m noticing a lacking of Shu Cha notes that really is not representative of how much of it I drink. I gave it some thought and realized that it’s sort of taken a hit from the fact that much of the Hei Cha I drink is in accompaniment to food. I love eating all kinds of different food but I can’t handle particularly oily or fatty foods. Turkey bacon has too much grease for me and even a little butter on bread makes my belly churn – imagine how the Chinese cuisine I love makes me feel or if I were to try eating a cream sauce or French cuisine. Hei Cha really does help settle my stomach to the point where I can actually enjoy even fried food and the taste goes really well together. So much so that I tend to go and prepare food once I start drinking it (though I force myself not to if it’s a well aged Sheng Cha).

I’ve had a hard time brewing this tea for evaluation for this same reason. It’s really nice and sumptuous and simply having one cup really makes me want to have some food to go alongside it and some kinds of food leave me reaching to brew it. This time I held off until I’d had at least enough of the fifth infusion for evaluation before making some Hong Kong pan-fried noodles to accompany it… Broccoli Beef with Cha Xiao Bao and Shumai went perfectly with it the first time I made it.

I left just enough to brew in the sample Geoffrey sent me from the first time I brewed it. This time I used a slightly lighter concentration at 8g in my 220mL Zi Ni Shi Piao for large leaf and compressed Shu Puer. In retrospect, I really ought to have used a full 2min infusion from the get-go after the initial rinse but it was still very pleasant with the shorter brews.

Dry Fragrance was fishy. Very similar to uncooked catfish fillet. Leather, leaf litter, cassia, musty wood and the general smell of a pond filled with duckweed and algae that’s dried up were obvious smells when placed in the warmed pot. As it cooled a bit, the predominant fragrance was old graham cracker with a light hint of camphor or menthol.

Wet Leaf Aroma was much more simple – buttered biscuits that are slightly burned on the edges and wet cinnamon stick (again, cassia not true cinnamon).

Liquor Aroma is very light from infusion to infusion and very consistent. Kinda musty like the smell of sweat and a faint herbaceous wood character like dried willow.

Fresh water was added to the kettle after the fourth infusion – temp increases before and after that are from reheating of the same water. This pot takes 15 seconds to pour, so tack that on for total contact time.

1) 1min at 97C
Light intensity, crisp, and sweet. Full body but light overall character and that crisp and sweet primary impression makes it hard to think of this as more than a moderate-bodied tea. Light rear-of-mouth astringency is more obvious in finish and when aspirated. Overall very mouthwatering. Deep red-brown coloration and clear but the color is saturated to the point that I can’t see the bottom of a narrow cup with only 100mL in it. Just a little bit in a small cup leaves the infusion darkish orange, similar in appearance to some Dian Hong. Primary flavor is Grape Nuts or barley. As it cools to a temperature where I can actually drink rather than sip or slurp it takes on a nutty flavor leaving the overall flavor experience very, very similar to black “Forbidden Rice” in both the base and aftertaste.

2) 1min at 90C
Sweeter – Honey on wheat toast. Very mouthwatering – even more than the first infusion. Barley and Forbidden Rice are dominant. Less astringency leaves only a hint of drying towards the rear of the mouth. Extremely refreshing as it cools to barely warm. Makes me think of drinking Mugicha.

3) 1min at 98C
Lighter intensity and body and with slightly less saturated color as well. Little more astringency than second infusion but less than the first. More delicate character reveals some star jasmine and honeysuckle florals that were obscured in first two. As it cools it takes on a distinct taste like that of water that’s passed through peat… Unfortunately I know this taste well from container gardening with carnivorous plants. But yeah, very peaty.

4) 2min at 95C
Color back to the saturation of first two infusions but light flavor like the third just a little greater in presence and somewhat more crisp. Light astringency comes out more as it cools while light driftwood flavor comes out and soy character pops up in the nose.

5) 2min at 96C
Richer body but more piquant in the back of the mouth (closer to the throat now). Bit of leather, sweat, and fried tofu with soy and hoisin sauce in the nose. However, sweetness similar to last infusion mitigates any potentially negative impression from the gamy qualities. Light menthol note and mouthfeel permeates, especially as it cools, and a longer lingering crispness leaves this the most pleasant infusion up to now and the largest deviation in character. At this point I succumb to the notion of making some food to go with it so the following infusions are tasted without having a clean palate.

6) 2min at 98C
Lighter in a sort of flatter way – acidity either not as great as previous infusions or is impeded by residual oil from food. Aftertaste very similar to Dian Hong Long Zhu. Flavor is like the fourth infusion as it cools though with a slight added body so flavor somewhat different (I’d set aside small amounts of all previous infusions while drinking to compare cool). There’s a marked pinching sensation near the base of the throat near the epiglottis but astringency has left the tongue region. Most of the flavor is only really discernible as it cools a bit. Once lukewarm it is very similar to a toasted plain bagel.

7) 2min at 93C
Ever so slightly lighter intensity than the sixth infusion but still good body compared to the first four infusions. Two characters start really coming out that I sort of feel are present in earlier infusions but I hadn’t either placed or separated out from base flavor: Oleander and light pure Maple syrup. Star jasmine noticeable again and bread-like character more like a multigrain bread.

The tea was clean overall but a tad more astringency than I’d prefer from a Shu. Very smooth with lower end of Full Body when taken as a draught, but crisp and lively when either slurped or taken in a small cup. Even after the fifth infusion the nuggets were still compressed and “clunking” in my pot, just starting to break up. Still chunks mostly compressed after the seventh infusion so it’s a waste to stop here but I’m waterlogged now… Will revisit the tea in a few hours but I’m not likely to add anything tasting-note wise except a note as to when the nuggets finally break apart since the character in this is sort of just varying intensities of the same flavor set. I remember the first round I did still left some compression after thirteen infusions… I think this tea may be better off to brew in a little 60mL gaiwan (which I’m iffy on with puerh – I prefer enough volume for the leaves to settle and temp to be maintained in brewing) or shared with a bunch of people so it can fully open up. I’m interested in that opening up in this one, in particular, as the infusions up to now feel very much like adjusting the volume on the same song.

Comforting and clean, for sure. I pretty much agree with the whole synopsis Verdant writes about this except for the lack of astringency. Perhaps keeping the steep temp to 90ish C or even as low as high 80’s and pushing the steep time longer would benefit it in that regard, but I’m always reluctant to drop below 90C for a ripened tea. This is very tasty and approachable either way. Not nearly as impressive as the Xinyang, though.

Dear gods this is delicious. So glad this is my introduction to shu pu’erh, because really this is heavenly. I have don’t know if I would have made the angel cake connection but its definitely there in the second steep and stronger in the third. It’s so light and sweet and vanilla-like and leaves the tongue with a cloud on it. Yep, heavenly.

The husband however continues to disappoint. I handed him a cup of this third infusion and though it’s totally darker than the clear yabao, after sipping it he says “This is the same as the last one you gave me”. Though he added it was more mineral. I asked if it was unpalatable to him and said “Not unpalatable, undesirable”. Further grounds for divorce.

Thank you to Bonnie for this sample.

Not a lot to say here really. It’s good. Drink it. Oh, ok, a bit more detail. Well, I’m on the tenth steep now and it is still great. The taste is a bit of vanilla and cinnamon with a cakey feel to it and there was some earthiness in the early steepings. It is developing well and I am enjoying it a lot.

It’s taking me a while to get to like this tea.. but I’m finding its growing on me slowly but surely. I’ve been steeping these nuggets for about a week now and they’ve only just broken apart today. Crazy business!
One rinse was done for these nuggets. First steeps brought a nice unsweetened angel food cake taste with vanilla and definite white starchy spongy cake taste (though again, unsweetened so it throws you off a bit)
Mid steeps introduce a nice maple syrup caramel aspect which is delightful and surprising… it accompanies the angel food cake. Definitely my favourite steepings.
Later steeps (current) bring about more of the angel food cake flavour, with the maple, and a nice silky mouthfeel.

I’ve probably done about 25+ steeps on these leaves and they’re still giving. Definitely was a delicious investment..
Boiling filtered water, short steeps initially (10s)… midsteeps were approximately 20-30s, late steeps 1-2 minutes

Oh wow. This isn’t bad. I was afraid of all the descriptions of Pu’er as being fishy, and indeed, the one from Whole Foods that I’d picked up was fishy. This isn’t fishy at all.

This is a sample from an order of samples I made from Verdant. I haven’t liked any of the other samples much so far, so I’d been putting off trying the two pu’er samples.

I’m not sure how to describe this, other than to say I do like it. I brewed it in a gaiwan, and poured into a small cup, added nothing, and sipped. After about 3 sips, I can say that I do like it, though it’s probably not something I’d drink on an everyday basis.