Golden Buds Shu Pu'er Xingyang 2010

The last month or so has had me toggling between that 1992 Menghai (notes of flood damage and deep forest loam) and the 2011 Lao Tong Zhi Old Comrades (quite sweet, a second brick of which is waiting for me in a PO Box in CA, which I can hopefully recover before too much time goes by, I’m nearly done with the first brick).

Those of you who have been reading for some time know that I have developed a great love of Yunnan golden over the past few years, and the website talks of sandalwood which is one of my favorite scents, and so it is with great anticipation that I dive into this new shu offering from the great folks at Verdant.

The dry leaf smells sweet and spicy, caramel and sandalwood indeed. But get it wet and suddenly you’re in the forgotten back room of a boot repair shop. Old leather, dust, mold and old wooden tools. Despite this, the mustiness coming off of this cup is unexpected. More like a very peaty Scotch than old leather.

This is clearly a young tea. I hope Verdant has the discipline to hide away a few cakes to put back on sale in 5-10 years time. I know I sure don’t.

It’s been a long day.
I got up early & drove 2 hours with Ari to play at the memorial service of one of my dearest & oldest friend’s grand-daughter, who left this world a week ago at the age of 11 months. I had only met the baby once, but she was a delight, as all babies are. My heart aches for my friend, her daughter & other children, & her grandchildren, & for their tragic loss.
I’m home now.
I brewed this tea following the Xingyang workshop recommendations:
5G + 4oz (rinse) X 2 minutes
This is a potent, smooth, & slightly bitter brew. Just what I need at this moment: grounding, introspective, a reflection of the harsh realities of life.

I’ll review it in more depth on another day, when my heart isn’t aching.

So since I’ve been sipping on sheng pu’erh earlier today and yesterday, I decided to see the difference in flavor between sheng and shu by trying out a shu for a bit now! It was time to open this sample from Verdant, I mean, no time like the present! The dry smell was nicely earthy, not as woody as the sheng.

I decided to try the same steeping parameters that I did for the sheng : around 3-4 g of tea I assume (1 big chunk and a few smaller ones) and did two rinses with boiling water, first for 25 seconds and second for 15. Then pour the boiling water in and out as fast as I can in my little glass teacup. The color of the liquor is a sharp constrast to the sheng; this one is a deep rich reddish brown, while the sheng was a pure gold. This one definitely has a thicker scent to it as well, a more rich, caramel scent. This is giving me more of an earthy smell as opposed to woods, I’m picturing more leaves in a deep forest, shrouded in mystery, while the sheng was more clear, woody, rain in the trees, up a bit higher above the ground maybe? Both are unique, and I quite like how they both remind me of the forest, but different aspects of it!

As for taste, this had the tiniest touch of fishiness, just a wee bit, also in the aroma a bit, but not unpleasant at all. I also noticed it dissipated by the end of the cup, so maybe a few seconds longer of a rinse would have eliminated it entirely. The flavor is more rich and caramelly, with a clean aftertaste. To me, this tea has a more sweet aftertaste with the sparkle, while the sheng was more of a crisp sparkle, different sensations. This tea is already becoming very soft and silky as well, something I really enjoyed finding in my first shu pu’erh. I can only imagine how much silkier this tea will get with multiple steepings!!

Overall, this tea hits more of a comforting level I think, warm crackling fires, or the inside of a tree. In comparison, the sheng I had earlier was more reminiscent of being outside in the forest while it was raining, the deep woody flavor was indeed the outdoors. Both are very interesting, and very happy I actually had these back to back to compare the flavors! Now that I’m getting on to how to brew pu’erh, I’m unsure of which one will be my favorite. Another wonderful offering from Verdant :D going to enjoy a bunch more steepings while I get back on track to doing my finance project lol.

I’ve taken some time off work and I feel like I’m on house arrest. Gotta keep watch of Octane. We got good news from our vet this weekend, but we’re still on seeing the results in him that we should.
So, with stress at maximum level I was grateful to have my tea club haul arrive yesterday. I’m escaping in this cup today, it’s fantastic, on my fourth cup, it’s smooth and sweet and woodsy. I’m in love!

Delicious, The taste of this one is the reason I fell in love with puerh in the first place i think, it reminds me of some of the very first puerhs I ever tried.
It is earthy and bold yet smooth and clean tasting. The taste to me at first is slightly sweet and almost doughy like a flakey pastry dough almost like a crossant.
later steeps are surely reminiscent of sandalwood and have a slight pleasant bitter to it, its a nice puerh to me.
I enjoyed this one very much :)

Uh so good.

I’m not getting any brussel sprouts, but I am definitely getting the xingyang shu ’08 nuggets flavours coming through. AKA… tastes like angel food cake! How deliciously exciting is that?!

Yummeh yummeh.

I’m really glad I was accidentally sent extra samples of this tea because #1 this is only my 2nd Pu-er EVER (the first being some “season’s pick” puer fannings from Upton) so I’m still figuring out pu-ers, and #2 I had an allergy attack (sneezing fit) halfway through my steepings and my taste buds are a bit deadened from not being able to smell right now. I’m on steep #4 right now and it has been fun to notice differences between the steeps. I steeped according to the workshops recommendation. Thanks Verdant for offering tea of the month trials! :)

Hmmm, dry I’m not getting much from these leaves. Upon opening the bag it just smells a little bit clean. But, boy does that change with hot water. From the moment these touch water the smell is intoxicating and fills the air with the aroma of cinnamon bread dough. The liquor is a dark amber red that matches the richness of the scent. At first sip this tea.. makes my tongue feel a bit numb and tingly? That’s unexpected! Second and third sips are almost overwhelmingly rich and sweet, with a flavor that feels comforting and familiar, but I can’t place it. At the end of the sip there’s a bitterness but not an unpleasant one — a soft, earthy bitterness. It feels like an integrated part of the flavor rather than a mistake of over-steeping.

For the first 3 infusions this tea is incredibly bold, with sips that start sweet with a doughy heft and end with an earthy bitterness. It’s delectable, but it’s like a rich chocolate cheesecake — I can only handle a little bit before I start to feel over-saturated with flavor.

For the last 3 infusions the tea lightens. The flavor isn’t so heavy that it feels like it’s pulling you down into the earth and turns more refreshing and invigorating. The flavor as it first hits my tongue is sweet with spicy notes of cinnamon and maybe a hint of clove. In the finish I can finally taste that sparkling quality that David mentions. Every sip ends so clean.

This was an interesting first experience with Pu-Erh. I feel like there’s this whole other side of tea that I’m just now tasting. I’m glad I tried brewing this tea by the Xingyang workshop recommendations, but I think in the future I might be served better by a brew that isn’t quite so bold.