pu-erh of the day. Sheng or Shou

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DigniTea said

2009 Douji Hong DaDou Raw
The Douji DaDou produced in 2009 is a blend of very fine Menghai and Lincang leaf. The characteristics of the two areas blend wonderfully to produce a fantastic cup! The cake is composed of beautiful whole leaves throughout (i.e., not just on top) which are quite large. The tea liquor is a nice orange-yellow color – even after two rinses it was a tiny bit cloudy during the first 2-3 infusions. The scent is pleasant – fresh, fruity, sweet. The sip is quite smooth and mellow with a definite sweetness and there is a little boldness and strength to balance the sip. Nice chaqi settles in after 10-12 swallows. Definitely an appealing complexity in this one — a good quality offering and I am a fan for sure!

The Douji brand is considered a premium puerh – particularly their single-mountain cakes. Unfortunately these cakes have become extremely pricey in recent years. I have learned from a few individuals more knowledgeable about puerh than I that the best value in Douji products may now be their blends which also use high quality tea leaves. Of course these too have risen in price recently. However, if you keep searching you just might stumble upon a cake here or there in a tea seller’s inventory with a little age on it and an “older” price which makes it a bargain compared to the more recent Doujis. I’ve stumbled upon a few lately and I am very happy to have added them to my puerh collection.

Yang-chu said

Informative.

mrmopar said

You need to message me with your tea pimp I mean supplier! :P

DigniTea said

Mopar — Sorry I missed your comment. As you know, Douji is a recent rising star in the high quality Pu-erh tea arena. (1) They use the best of arbor materials harvested in early Spring and processed strictly by traditional methods. (2) They intentionally limit the size of their annual production. In order to maintain such stringent standards (point 1) they guarantee that the company will produce no more than 100 tons of tea a year – in contrast, the XiaGuan Factory produces roughly 7000 tons of puerh each year. These are the factors making Douji puerh difficult to find.

There are no surprises – I shop in the same places as you and most of the collectors we know. I started looking for Douji cakes a year ago and I’ve been vigilant in the search. I’ve picked up the last Doujis at YS; several from PuerhShop (he still has a few); I’ve found a single item or two on ebay or Aliexpress from odd unknown sellers (and I still do a Douji search when I visit ebay or aliexpress). From what I gather, authorized resellers are now limited to China Cha Dao (Jerry Ma) – those items I have stumbled upon are leftover inventory from before the change. I have also purchased from China Cha Dao – good seller with fairly quick shipping from China.

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Yang-chu said

2006 Bulang, Tiandiren Teavivre
I mentioned a couple weeks back that I had this after someone mentioned having it. I noted that it tasted horrible. I was flash steeping at 195 and it tasted like cigarette water. Yeah, I’m from Iowa and I went through my tobacco chewing days like everyone else. The worst “chew,” as it’s called, imho, is the sawdust stuff that comes in a hockey-puck called Copenhagen. This all to say that brewed at that temp, this Bulang conjured memories of Iowa and I was only too eager for the right time to try again at my normal raw tea temp of 175. Big, big, big difference. Positive. Much sweeter, a hint of sour. The cigarette, not necessarily tobacco but yes, taste lingers in the background, not unpleasantly. I’ve only had one infusion so far.

Cwyn said

Maybe you should brew up a Yixing full of Copenhagen and see how it compares.

Yang-chu said

Hahaha. That’s funny. I think Redman would be much better. Actually, I have a buddy who gave me some tobacco that he grew himself. I went through a stage where I’d add some of it to the Hai Lang Hao’s Bulang Wild or V93. It worked.

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Sammerz314 said

Enjoying a blend of a 1998 Yiwu and a 2005 Yiwu from Misty Peak Teas. I received, and enjoyed very much, these samples a few months back. Unfortunately, there was only 2-3 grams of each leftover – not enough for a steeping given the size of my gaiwan. I decided to blend the two. The tea is pleasant… thick in the mouth, nice aged notes and a very long finish. There are subtle notes of almonds. Excellent blend.

Tealizzy said

Mmm, almonds!!!

TwoDog2 said

That must have been an interesting session!

Cwyn said

So, is that white2tea’s 1998 Yiwu?

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Yang-chu said

2006 Bulang, raw, Tea Urchin— gets better with each cup, with building sweetness and complexity: smoke, cedar, sour, astringency. A shade not clear broth during the first few infusions, clears up while color darkens a bit. I think this is my fav among the TU stuff I’ve sampled. —I see it’s a Six Famous Mt brand tea not TU.

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Yang-chu said
Tealizzy said

Thanks for sharing!

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I’ve been drinking some of our 2014 Spring Bai Ying Shan ‘Mengku’ sheng puerh today. It’s quite nice, but during lunch I found it paired perfectly with kung pao chicken. :-D I just wanted to share that.

Interestingly enough, I was drinking your 2008 Bulang Imperial Grade shou that I splurged on this week and I found it went perfectly with my cinnamon flax cereal this morning. Talk about a great way to start the day!

mrmopar said

Yum on both occasions.

Yang-chu said

Yes. I like the pairings.

Matt now you have me craving some cereal! :-D

There’s never a bad time for cereal.

mrmopar said

Or tea.

I ate cereal for lunch after reading your comment today. :-D The power of suggestion.

apt said

once i saw a picture of kendrick lamar eating cereal and later that day I ate a lot of cereal

CARTOONS AND CEREAL/I AIN’T FELT THIS GOOD SINCE

apt said

power of suggestion indeed, i’m listening to kendrick and craving cereal for the first time in years

Cwyn said

Flax cereal and sheng…thus causing and curing constipation all in one meal.

It’s all about balance!

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mrmopar said

Having a 2010 “Hai Lang Hao” Bulang Wild arbor shou tonight.
I convinced the “Chairman” to pick this one for us tonight after she played with the catnip mouse that I enticed her with.
i did the 8 gram sample with a 5 second ’wash" and brewed it in the Gaiwan after giving it a 30 min rest.
The brew with the first infusion was a nice burgundy after a 5 second steep. It gives a nice brew. No of scents and nice to see in the cup. I gives a nice woody , sweet and a touch drying brew. It is very nice and a very smooth brew to be as young as this one is. Very nice and I am grateful for the one who allowed me to try it. Nice and Nice.

Flavors: Drying, Sweet, Wood

Yang-chu said

I’ve noticed a bit more astringency in the two of theirs I possess.

AllanK said

I have that tea, thought it was good. I have enough of that to last quite a while. They only sold the whole brick.

Sammerz314 said

sounds very nice :)

AllanK said

Yunnan Sourcing now sells a 2013 version of this tea. I eventually plan to buy it, also a 2kg brick.

mrmopar said

I agree the shengs have a astringent factor but I didn’t find it in this shou sample.

AllanK said

I’ll have to break out a Hai Lang Hao sheng and see if it has more astringency or not. I have a couple of their shengs in my pumidor one of which I opened to give a tea friend a sample and have not yet tried myself.

AllanK said

On another note, I was able to get onto this page. A glitch kept taking me to another page.

mrmopar said

Allan they are good and “Punchy” shengs for sure. Try one for sure.

Yang-chu said

yeah, i’m talking about the shu astringency relative others, say CNNP, xin yi hao, even Lang He.

mrmopar said

Oh I got ya.

Ubacat said

The “Chairman” has very good tastes.

mrmopar said

Yes she has done well. With a little guidance from me. I will say once she picks one you can mix it up and she will usually pick the same one again!

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A few weeks ago I got samples of both of the CNNP 2005 1938 Anniversary teas. I reviewed the Shu a week or so ago, and today I finally got a chance to try the Sheng. I really enjoyed it as well, & would love to have a cake of each for my collection.

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AllanK said

Had the 2010 Yunnan Sourcing “Bang Dong Village” sheng puerh today. It was quite good with little bitterness and notes of apricots and stonefruits. Isn’t an apricot a stonefruit anyway? This was one of the best shengs I have ever had taste wise. It was sweet even before I added sugar to it. It was worth the price. I don’t think I will run out and buy another but I would certainly think about picking another one up at some point. Mostly the teas I choose to stock up on are shou puerh.

Wow that sounds REALLY good!

Yang-chu said

I translated an article on Xi Gui on Sat. Bang Dong is somehow related… http://universotea.com/content/short-intro-xi-gui-puer-tea-village

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Rich select said

Today I tried the 2013 Yiwu Pinweizhichun Ripe by PuerhShop.
There are some ripe teas that I find have a very special texture. I think of it as kind of velvety. This is one of those teas. It’s flavor is not terribly deep, but the quality of the broth is really nice. It is a semi-fermented ripe, meaning the fermentation process was stopped about midway through. It is a high quality tea for sure. There is some bitterness, but it is integrated well, with a smooth base underneath. Not the most potent of flavors, but I liked it nonetheless.

AllanK said

I may try this one tomorrow as I bought it in my last order. Saw your review and almost tried it tonight but came across the Xiaguan first in my collection.

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