pu-erh of the day. Sheng or Shou

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DigniTea said

2006 Shuangjiang Mengku Fall Lao Ban Zhang Raw
Today I am enjoying another nice sheng recently purchased from Yunnan Sourcing. This cake is 100% Ban Zhang Wild Ancient Arbor material. Leaves seem to be complete – undamaged during gathering and processing. Very clear pale yellow tea liquor. Nice leaf; medium compression but quite easy to pick. The tea offers a nice bitterness followed by a quick, pleasing sweetness. Plenty of energy in this one.

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mrmopar said

Having Butiki’s 2009 Banchang Puerh tonight.
Measured 7 grams out to brew. Dry leaf has a musky aroma to it and leaves look nice and whole. Not broken and torn as in many blends. Wet leaf has a touch of citrus on the aroma similar to a Meyer lemon.
First steep 5, 5 and 5 combined to a larger cup. Tea brew is very clean and clear. No cloudiness at all in after going through the strainer.
A little touch of smoke so light in the background that passes to a slight wood and slight bitter that turns into a nice kind of bitter that turns into a semi-ripe apricot type of finish.
it gives a bit of the tip of the tongue “buzz” for 10 to 15 seconds after you sip it.
A warm fruity and musky aroma comes off the cup if you bury your nose in it as I do. I like to savor these things very slow and the experience that comes with it.
Solid sheng and easy to drink without lots of bitterness that come with some of these teas. A bit of Kuwei or slight bitterness comes and goes to a nice sweet finish on this one.
Solid and Solid tea.
I would love to try this 5 years from now to see the development on it. …Someone remind me at that time.
Gong Fu method.

Flavors: Apricot, Bitter, Smoke, Sweet

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Cwyn said

2005 Early Spring Menghai Sheng tuo, nest shaped, purchased from Yunnan Sourcing at their Menghai sale. This is what I have been wanting in a sheng, aged spicy oak, with smoke and nothing wimpy. Packed the Yixing full, at 10 steeps+ now and still not past 20 sec. steeps. Liquor looks like warmed brandy in the glass, this is poker lounge and guns for real men and women. I feel like I need to go to church and confess after drinking this one, lit up a cigar too and the tea still cuts right through. Bitter when steeped too long, not for the faint of heart. Worth every penny and a real experience! Just what I have been looking for!

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lkbigfish said

“Silver ingot” sheng tuo from yunann sourcing. Just starting out the pu erh journey, but I already know I prefer raw over cooked. I also kind of like the younger ones I have tried the best.

These tuos I suspect are no more than a few years old, I don’t remember what the site said when I bought them but they are good as well as cheap. The middle steeps (3 and 4, and probably 5) really went to my head, and were on the astringent side but not too bitter. The last few steeps really mellowed overall without losing my interest. And you have to love the shape of these things – if you have seen them you know what I mean.

Sammerz314 said

Reminds me of a birds nest :)

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Rich select said

I tried a 1996 Menghai tuo cha from Banna tea. Yuck! I thought someone replaced my tea leaves with mushrooms.

mrmopar said

Dry stored, so almost no aging. Put it in the pumidor for a couple of years and re-try it.

Cwyn said

Yeah, properly stored that tea should be really good unless it is not really Menghai.

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Roughage said

Today I am drinking a 2006 Fengqing Raw Pu-erh Tea Tuocha from Teavivre. It’s a free sample they sent me. I had tried it once before and found it very powerful. It still is. Although there does not seem to be great depth to it, I can feel it relaxing my whole body and the smoky, woodsy taste with the sweet aftertaste and mild astringency are very pleasant.

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Happy 4th Everybody!
I started the day with a 2004 Puerh, http://www.puerhshop.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=1049
Old Youle Ripe Tea Brick, I like this one, it is very decent, Tho not the best Puerh it is very clean tasting with a little earthyness and a slight sweetness, with no offensive aroma or anything, Not bad at all at just 30$ for 450grams. It would be a nice everyday puerh and a very decent puerh tea for beginners.
Honestly to me there is not much more in the way of notes to say about this one other than it just tastes really nice because it just don’t have many of the deeper complex notes that are common in puerh, it is pretty much kinda plain the earthy and sweet note to me are very subtle but it still has enough nice flavor to keep it going for many many steeps.
I enjoy it best over Ice it is very refreshing.
Lance does not care for puerhs at all but he will drink this one with me as an iced tea, I swear the iced tea at one of our fav Chinese restaurants is a puerh quite similar to this one. Like this one it is probably a cheaper but quite decent everyday puerh.

Cwyn said

I think a lot of Chinese restaurants serve shou puerh. Could do worse, but I would prefer an oolong or decent green or black with dinner rather than puerh. Went to a Japanese restaurant recently, turned down their tea bag oolong, but when I opted for iced they had made it with the tea bag oolong and it was actually all right. But about shou, seems like it is more a one note tea to me no matter what. Maybe I can taste a bit of plum or chocolate but otherwise just has a similar flavor across the board. I have one shou cake here and a few samples but don’t feel the need to buy any more shou. Forever chasing the awesome sheng, on the other hand…

I feel kinda that same way with shengs lol I’ve got lots more shou than sheng.
I do feel the needs to buy more sheng tho maybe you can recommend me a good one?

Cwyn said

Anything from White2tea will probably be great, or if you don’t want the shipping cost then Mandala has good cakes. Yunnan Sourcing has a US site with a huge selection.

apt said

white2tea shipping isnt bad

Cwyn said

I don’t think so myself, usually around $14. But for some folks they could afford a lil more tea by buying closer to home.

apt said

$15 flat rate is better than most puer shops anyways…I would personally wait on placing an order there though…

Thanks :)

mrmopar said

Agreed this is an excellent one for the price.

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Cwyn said

2014 Manzhuan sheng by White2tea. Was gonna resist buying this. I really…truly…was…gonna…then apricots with a touch of smoke, old gushu tea cake. Nope, in for one, there goes my wallet, say buh bye money…

Roughage said

I’m still trying to resist starting the White2tea samples I have in favour of working through older ones. Comments like this are not helping my resolve. The White2tea teas all sound far too good!

apt said

like I said, wait a bit for white2tea

Sammerz314 said

Gushu? How old are the trees? I have a free samples coming in the mail as we speak. Pretty excited to sample his material. Always excited about true gushu.

Cwyn said

Hm the description says ancient arbor gushu but not how old. I have a chance to taste this in person too on Tuesday if I hop quick, white2tea (Paul) is hosting a tasting on Tuesday in Madison, WI…

mrmopar said

Tell Paul you want biscuits and gravy with Big Spring Mill flour if you go and watch his facial expression. Then tell him I told you to ask.

JC said

I was interested in the this one as well, I didn’t sample it because I wanted to know more about the age of the trees as well. I’ll try to shoot Paul an email if I remember to do so later, I’ve found some Gushu are REALLY worth the money.

TwoDog2 said

Delay from me on the reply here, have been busy pouring tea for Cwyn :)

http://imgur.com/iy7Bmqt

Here is an image of the trees for the 2014 Manzhuan. Difficult to give an exact age (without cutting down trees) but the trees are in the “old-oldest” range for the mountain. Hope you all get a chance to try it!

And here is a review from the fellows over at Tea DB, which might also shed some light on it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvcnEsZHaBs

JC said

Hi TwoDog2,

I did order a sample, so I’m really excited about trying it when it arrives.

mrmopar said

TwoDog2 hope you didn’t mind me having Cwyn tease you about the biscuits and gravy stuff ;P . She was very lucky to be able to attend. One day we will have to do this also.

Sammerz314 said

I am pretty excited about the samples as well! I can’t wait to try them :)

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Cwyn said

CNNP 2009 7572 Ripe. This is the only ripe cake I own and I’ve mostly kept it in a cardboard box. Grandpa’d a chunk in a Yixing mug. Tastes a bit like the box even after a rinse, should’ve aired it out. Nicely cool on the throat and kicked me good with body heat and tea high. Serves its purpose but I am not a huge fan of shou. Gonna air this out fully and drink it up this year as my son prefers ripes and black tea and he is here now.

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Roughage said

I finished yesterday and began today with a 2007 Menghai 8592. It’s a good solid tea. Not remarkable but rich enough to be very drinkable.

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