pu-erh of the day. Sheng or Shou

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mrmopar said

Having the TeaUrchin’s 2009 “Guan Zi Zai” Bulang cake.
Broke this one out as directed by Chairman Meow. The Chairman “pawed” and pointed this out tonight for me to try.
I got out 10 grams and let the Chairman approve of it and in the Gaiwan it went. I gave a quick rinse before starting. The aroma was nice and very sweet an fruity. I can’t really describe which one but very nice. I did 5 second steeps on this one. The liquor is a medium yellow level of darkness. It has a nice aroma to it. The brew has a bit of bitter bite and astringency to it but not overpowering. Not a lot of discernible smoke as in the vendor’s description. It does creep up on you and give a semi-sweet and pleasant bitter to it.
Multi- faceted in terms of flavor notes. maybe a bit more complex than my taste buds. Pleasant and very reasonably priced for a 5 year old tea. I think I should have bought more than a sample.

Flavors: Astringent, Bitter, Honey, Sweet

Yang-chu said

Chairman Meow… that’s funny.

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Cwyn said

Floating in the tea boat over here…:) sort of a sample sip down night for me. Started off with Yang-chu’s lovely sample of the Silver Peacock 2012 Bulang. 4 grams plopped into a Yixing in 90 ml water. Hit it good with boiling water, but it didn’t give me the astringency and bitter he wrote about. Tangerine colored liquor, nice and fruity but not a lot of smoke. Very pleasant 5 steeps and it gave out a bit. Looking at the Baggie, I think he might have taken a lot of care to pick out buds and less of the bits of chop that he wrote about as forming the center of the cake. Maybe this blend needs the bits to get that bitter and astringent thang going, if the buds themselves are on the milder side. I wouldn’t have guessed Bulang from this. o.O

Followed that dance with an old soft shou, an “8892 1990s, possibly 1980s” provided by TwoDog from White2Tea. This one has the wet storage smell, which is probably what prevented it from becoming a dusty old shou. 3 grams in a porcelain gaiwan, I fussed over the brewing receptacle decision since I normally grandpa shou in a big, covered Yixing mug I use solely for shou mostly, of late, to recover from a sheng tea drunk. But obviously an old tea deserves more attention than my old lady mug. Two rinses to get rid of the mustiness, and then a dark garnet emerges with incredibly clean and smooth mouth feel, like silky chocolate.

Wow! I feel just so incredibly cared for by such thoughtful tea pals! Thanks so much for a beautiful tea session. Still another session left of these beauties for another night!

awilsondc said

I sampled that silver peacock as well, and it was better than I expected. Sort of light, not quite punch you in the face flavor, but a softer flavor profile. I remember enjoying it.

Yang-chu said

It’s less bitsy in parts. I think I’ve used up all the bitsy stuff, but I surprised that you didn’t get smoke. It strikes me as very smoky, sweet and bitter. Hmmm. So interesting how these teas change and what we detect.
oh yeah, i picked up another of these and it wasn’t in the least bitsy, so it was just the cake.

JC said

Hmmm, you sold me on that shou.

Cwyn said

Yang-chu, I probably didn’t get the smoke because it is usually tiny particles of char in the cake, and your sample is clean, whole buds and cleanly broken leaves. Those char particles are probably hiding in the cake^^

TwoDog2 said

That 8892 actually a sheng – but the fact that is past the shou smoothness test is a good sign. It’s soup is already a dark red

Cwyn said

Okay, my research on the web turned up 8892 called a shou so that is why I referred to it as such.

TwoDog2 said

It is a weird tea, in that so many of the references I have sought out about it have contradictory information. Definitely easy to confuse. Even the Chinese language sources are frequently contradicting each other. I like the tea though, which is really all that matters

Cwyn said

Yeah it was really gorgeous even to look at, I use a clear, double wall Oslo cup so it looked like a jewel.

TwoDog2 said

Very clean tea. That was one of the things that struck me about it. And I love the effect of the double walled cups with ultra clear teas.

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Rich select said

2009 Xinghai Bulang Qiaomu Sheng by Crimson Lotus Tea
The vendor description is spot on for this one. It has a low level of smoke that is apparent, some earthiness and tobacco notes, with a bit of aged flavor. This isn’t my cup of tea, but I think many of you will appreciate it, especially if you like Xiaguan in general or the White Whale in particular.

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DigniTea said

2005 Changdahao Yiwu Mansa GuShu Raw
Sweet and mellow with nice energy and it produces a lovely aftertaste! After reading an older note on Hobbes’ blog, I was intrigued by the history and attributes of this particular cake. I was not familiar with Manluo Tea Factory (now Changdahao) but apparently back in the day, they were highly regarded. This particular cake is made from high quality leaf gathered from an ancient tree farm on Mansa’s high mountain (in the Yiwu tea growing area) and is part of their 2005 Six Famous Tea Mountains collection. Produced using very traditional hand processing and stone pressing. The dry leaf is beautiful – intact large leaves throughout – moderate compression making it easy to pick off a small amount. Clear yellow-gold tea soup that tastes honey sweet with a nice huigan. A little pepper on the tongue in the first few cups. Nice balance and very pleasant in the mouth. I have thoroughly enjoyed this one over the past two days. Gotta love tea blogs maintained by experienced people (e.g., Hobbes) for great tea discoveries!!

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Rich select said
2010 Impression Hongyu Pu-erh Tea Cake by Boyou Tea Factory

A very nice smooth ripe from puerhshop, a quality offering from the Boyou factory. A touch of fruitiness initially, followed by several steeps of earthy deep richness. A great bargain at $18, and a good one to start with if you are beginning your puerh journey.

Yang-chu said

I’ve seen that one and thought about it. I like the Boyou I have. Keep getting distracted, though I think he sets a proper standard for judging shou.

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Cwyn said

Finished off the 2002 Bulang tonight, but got a puerh headache from it. Following up now with my trusty 2009 7572. I’m impressed with myself on how well I did putting a little age in that cake, it is really tasty now.

JC said

Is the 2002 Bulang too strong or are you not a fan of Bulang in general? I had a 1998 Youle that made me upset the other day, not so much Cha Qi, rather just not sitting well.

Cwyn said

It still has quite a bit to age out, despite being 12 years old, and the storage has been drier than some of the other teas I’ve been drinking lately. My understanding is that Bulang prior to 2007 has a lot more power to it than after 2007.

TwoDog2 said

My experience with that cake is that the material is overwhelmingly strong. The processing is far to the smokey end of the spectrum, so much so that the first several steeps are almost roasted. Then, later in the session it just keeps getting sweeter and heavier. It is an ox of a tea

Cwyn said

It wasn’t as smoky as the Menghai tuos I have, and I like smoke in tea. Very powerful tea.

Yang-chu said

Your smoke threshold seems v. high.

Cwyn said

(Lights a cigar) Who, me??

TwoDog2 said

You would have fit in with the farmers who self processed their own teas back then. They were not shy about smoke. Some still aren’t.

Cwyn said

Nope, not shy about smoke. I come from a line of Marathon County ginseng farmers.

JC said

This sounds interesting! I’ve only had one aged two aged examples of Bulang both have been somewhat controversial, so I’m not sure if I’ve ever tried a real aged Bulang. I’ve had the 2003 Bulang Jin Pin from Houde and a 2002 CNNP Bulang from Chawangshop. I preferred the Houde one. Will you have this for sale?

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TwoDog2 said

Drinking a 1990’s raw tea that smells like hot butter and raisins. The sample sat on my shelf for the better part of two months. I neglected it because it was with a group of lack luster samples and it seemed like more of a chore than a prospect.

That’ll learn me to judge a tea by the company it keeps. Every group of ruffians has a keeper.

Pic here, for anyone who is interested:

http://i.imgur.com/epgjAGD.jpg

Yang-chu said

Nice.

Cwyn said

Speaking of a pile of puerh, I am dealing with a full storage and am wondering if I should take out the 1-2 traditional storage cakes. They were aired before being put in but now I am feeling OCD about them in with the natural storage stuff.

TwoDog2 said

One or two well aired out cakes probably won’t influence a large amount of other cakes in a very significant way. But, if you want to separate the natural and traditional, it wouldn’t be a bad idea for the sake of purity. And it will scratch the OCD itch, which is a bonus.

apt said

go check that picture again! people on Imgur are commenting on it hahaha

Cwyn said

I don’t see the comments? Maybe it is my IPad.

My traditional cake smells okay, checked it just today. I could also wrap it one more time since the regular wrapper has some bug holes.

What is really odoring up my storage fridge is that young Amerykah gal, she is staining up her wrapper like a menstrual pad. Haha!

apt said

my comment was mainly directed towards Mr. TwoDog. people are asking where to buy puerh in the image comments

Cwyn said

I know, I just can’t seem to figure out how to even view imgur comments.

apt said

below the picture

mrmopar said

Cwyn what humidity are you storing in? I have the same cake but no soiling of the wrapper yet.

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Javan said

For those interested in an introduction to the history of pu-erh, check out http://teadb.org/old-school-new-school-puerh/#more-1774 on TeaDB. I also recommend the book James mentions in his article, Puer Tea Ancient Caravans and Urban Chic by Jinghong Zhang available at Amazon (or smile.amazon if you are a charity donator) http://smile.amazon.com/Puer-Tea-Caravans-Anthropology-Environment/dp/0295993235/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1407090494&sr=8-1. I’m reading it now accompanied by YS autumn YiWu purple tea (http://www.yunnansourcing.us/store/index.php?id_product=289&controller=product). Quite enjoyable taken together.

Yang-chu said

a botanist buddy of mine has an associate who produced a photo-monograph on the horse trail. He gives it the thumbs up. http://www.amazon.com/The-Tea-Horse-Road-Ancient/dp/9749863933/ref=pd_sim_b_4?ie=UTF8&refRID=1TGT6V33BA9SVMVNTV00

Javan said

Looks terrific, Yang-chu. Thanks!

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Rich select said

2008 Lincang Lancang Bai Ying Shan Sheng by Crimson Lotus Tea
This seems like a good example of a particular sheng flavor profile. A mix of very light smoke, tobacco, and medicine. It is a pretty nice tea and an interesting one to try.

Cwyn said

I have a sample size of this too. Decent, but not as good as their yummy ripe teas.

Rich select said

Yes, their ripes are outstanding. I just ordered a bunch!

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How long do the flavoured loose leaf puers last? The package for my Lupicia tea says early 2016, and I just wanted to see that was an accurate assessment.

Cwyn said

Puerh itself has no expiration, the flavoring is what could go bad.

Thanks. Thought so, but wanted to make sure.

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