pu-erh of the day. Sheng or Shou

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2013 Bulang from pu-erh.sk. Great tea. Overshadowed in my mind by the 2013 Bada, which had more punch, but still a great in its own right.

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Rasseru said

Hekai gushu 2015. I really love this tea, there is defo an amount sweet-spot though. 10g too much, 7g is about right, else its a bit too leafy & sweet.

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1992 Tibetan Kang Brick from YS. The flavor profile of this tea reminds me of the 2005 Naka from White2Tea. The Naka is obviously the better tea, but this one is no slouch, and is pretty cheap for such an old tea.

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AllanK said

Haven’t posted here in a while. Today I drank a very good ripe, the 2011 Yunnan Longrun Puerh Tea Cake Chunhui. This was a nice sweet ripe with little to no bitterness and a moderate amount of fermentation flavor. I bought it from Spring Tea Group but through Amazon. They also sell through their own website. Longrun Puerh Tea is also available on Taobao too. I have not noticed it anywhere but the Spring Tea website, Amazon, and Taobao. I have now tried about four or five of their teas including I think one raw and all have been good quality.

Yang-chu said

They have a few shops in Kunming.

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2014 Rui Gong Tian Chao from chadao.de today. Really tasty, super sweet; still has some of that sheng bakcbone/bitterness, and in a good way. Then again, I had some YQH yesterday, that despite my best efforts was not as aired out as I would have liked, which is to say I only found the storage flavor slightly vile. So I can’t help but wonder how much of the positiveness was due to the comparison. Anyways, I think the Rui Gong Tian would be a great beginner sheng (let’s pretend that we can ignore the price) as it’s mostly approachable but still has plenty of that sheng vibe. Might even get some qi off of it too.

Rasseru said

I love this stuff.. I’ve got lovely apricots & cream with yiwu-edge from it. and end game steeps always taste pleasurable to my buds.

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Yang-chu said

2014 Ai Lao Mt private production sample is simply the best fkn tea I’ve ever had. Period. From the first pour. The guy just threw in a sample, and not some 10g thingy, a hunk of perhaps 40g. He told the attendant to throw it in as an afterthought.

Sweet and minty viscous and golden and juicy. It has amazing attack on the blade of the tongue, the cheeks, in the throat, like a sticky candy with mint, clove, horehound, something like the syrup from canned pears. For those who care, gua beizi.

This is my second time drinking it and my reaction is the same. It’s unbelievable that he’d score me such a chunk! His shop is easy to find in the tea area of Kunming. He has Buddhist statues very prominently displayed, which is not like the other shops and there’s really not a lot in it. Very Buddhist. He had sunflower seeds in the shell on his wooden tea table. Most of the shu cha in KM I didn’t care for, either boring or dirty-dirty-musty-dirty. He didn’t rinse his tea, didn’t talk a lot, and after my first sip got up from the table to make a purchase. Turns out he’s from Taiwan and ladeeda. He didn’t have a name card. It was fabulous.

?! said

Man, stories like this make me want to pack up and get back to Yunnan – I’ve been there twice and had the time of my life. Over here I can’t even order what I want from China without having to mess around for HOURS!!! (sic!) with some %&$§ custom folks over a couple cakes.

Yang-chu said

There’s a Steel Pulse song that goes, “Ain’t got nothin’ to declare.” I got my best feel for the city so far. Took the subway and walked a fair bit. The Taiwanese outfit had the best tasting stuff hands down with He He Chang and Shujian coming in second and third, fourth a Da ’07 Xue Shan from Rongshi Mengku, and fifth another Rongshi Mengku from the same year be different vendor. Much tea was drunk.

?! said

I remember a Taiwanese outlet that I’ve visited a couple times during my stays in Kunming many years ago but don’t remember the address. Pretty upscale with …loads of tea, fancy taiwanese teaware and stylish female shop clerks.

AllanK said

You are lucky to get your tea so close to the source at Kunming. I have ordered from several internet stores based in Kunming not the least of which is Yunnan Sourcing but it must be great to walk into a tea store and be surrounded by puerh. My local tea shop had one cake of sheng available and wanted $185 for it. Now this is not a bad price for a really good sheng but I had no reason to believe the tea was worth the price as the counter girl couldn’t tell me why it was worth so much. If she had come back saying it was Bing Dao old tree she might have tempted me but she didn’t seem to know where the tea was grown.

Yang-chu said

Bing Dao is 30k rmb/kilo presently. You do the math. All Bing Dao you presently possess is worth bazillions. Wonder if the older stuff, more than 10 yrs is as good as when it is relatively young.

AllanK said

I have only had young Bing Dao and those I bought from Yunnan Sourcing. One of his AUtumn Bing Dao teas and his 2016 Spring Bing Dao. Both were incredible. Have no idea what older Bing Dao tastes like.

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Weasser said

2003 Changtai “Ji Nian / Memorial” Sheng / Raw Tuo by Crimson Lotus Tea. It’s the first time I’ve had it since I tried a sample sent to me by CL, and ended up buying three tuos before finishing my session. Now I remember why I didnt wait. This is one delicious tea.

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2009 gong ting bulang Abbey tea. First thing I noticed was the lack of fermentation in the aroma. I’m used to getting a little fermentation in the aroma and maybe the first steep or so on an average shou, so this one being completely divorced of it is nice. Plenty of kick, a nice rooty/herbally flavor, and I’m getting the sweats. Good Stuff.

Rasseru said

Yeah this is a good shou. it reminds me a bit of coffee in its sharp/bitter edge

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2012 CNNP Hunan Hei Zhuan from CWS. Another tea that smells great straight from the dry leaf. Actually, this tea has been resting in a clay pot for awhile, which I think helped. In any case, this tea has a nice fruity smell and taste throughout the session. Something like the gongting shou of yesterday is more my style, but I suspect for many this would be a great daily drinker.

Rasseru said

I like this one a lot. The simple plummy water thing works for me

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Pat-teaJi said

This morning I drank 2011 YS Ai Lao mountain raw./ taken from a sample. I very enjoy this tea. Very aromatic, floral, grass, honey, good feeling in the mouth and back in the throat. Also there is a floral sweet after-taste hui gan. By the sample I had it looks like the cake is mid to high compression and the wet leafs are nice but broken. The tea goes many steeps without loosing strenght.

mrmopar said

Excellent tea.

?! said

I haven’t tried the 2011 version but have a cake and a half of the 2013 Ai Lao – excellent bang for the buck.

Cwyn said

I too have a large sample of the ’13 Ai Lao, it is an experimental sample now in a stoneware vessel for the past two years.

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