pu-erh of the day. Sheng or Shou

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mrmopar said

Having a 2011 Mahei Sheng from Wynn tea tonight.
This tea was sent in a very nice pouch of paper that had me scrambling to identify it on the Wymm Tea site. I found out when I opened the pouch the type of tea it was. No second picks so I will go with this one.
The sample weighed in at 6 grams so I went with my small (5oz.) steeper. The tea was washed for about 5 seconds and then I started steeping. The brew was very light on the first brew as I thought since it was a very quick steep. The aroma of a faint peach smell came off the brew. First sip a bit stronger than I would have expected for a young tea. It carries a good amount of bitterness that turns into a steamed vegetable note with a touch of saltiness to it. Second steeps bring more punch from the bitterness and the color is starting to get a bit darker as well.
It is a strong drink after the initial early steeps . I pulled some leaf out and it seems to be 2 leafs and a bud on the ones with stems I pulled out. Very strong Spring tea and and complex.

Flavors: Bitter, Peach, Salt, Vegetables

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Cwyn said

Spent two days drinking the last session of the 1998 CNNP Liming from white2tea. The early steeps are my favorite, spicy. A nice change from the usual puerh.

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DigniTea said

I am continuing my exploration of Gedeng shengs across a fourteen year period of harvests. Earlier this week I began with my oldest cake (1999) and today’s tea is made from the youngest material – 2013 Changda Hao Gedeng Raw. Clearly the younger leaf does not have the power of the older leaf material. I am a firm believer that, for the most part, today’s harvests do not produce the same level of power in their teas. There are, of course, exceptions but as a general rule it is my operating assumption and explains why I now focus on finding tea with nice age. This is certainly not an original idea of mine for I believe many (if not most) collectors share this notion.

That said, I did enjoy this tea session for the dual purpose of education and enjoyment. This is a Changdahao tea. Changdahao is a brand from the well established Yiwu Manluo factory. The leaves are on the small side and mostly whole. With almost two years of age behind them, they are beginning to turn and darken and offer a nice clean aroma – no intimidating scent here. The tea soup is gold, clear and bright with a light fruity scent. No truly distinctive fruits come forward but I would describe the impact as fruit-like. The flavor is not powerful or intense but rather soft and welcoming. There is a bit of astringency to counterbalance. The sip is easy to swallow and quickly offers a warmth and sweetness in the mouth and throat.

This is not a particularly complex sheng (perhaps explained by the more limited scope of modern plantation teas that have been processed) but the flavor and aroma are enticing. Pleasant taste and decent Qi. The real question for me is whether it will age into something magnificent. Probably not but I have enough confidence to go ahead and purchase the whole cake (I am now drinking a sample from Puerh Shop). Also it is particularly difficult to find cakes or bricks from GeDeng Shan (革登山) and I want a few in my collection. Two additional GeDengs to try in future sessions.

AllanK said

What vendor did you get the 1999 Gedeng from?

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So I’ve got a cold right now, and I haven’t been drinking puerh because I know I won’t be able to taste it properly…but I miss it so much!

I broke down and drank a Lao Cang rice sheng mini tuo this afternoon. It was very satisfying even if I couldn’t taste it very well :)

I guess when you are sick is a good time to drink down your lower quality stuff, heh.

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Sammerz314 said

Drinking a wonderful 1996 CNNP sheng. Medium body with pleasant notes of wood, moss and strong notes of spice. Nice long finish. Unfortunately I will be discarding several bings this week… dried out and stale.

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mrmopar said

Having Wymm’s Jingmai Spring from 2013.
As it seems our dashboard is working I can finally get this one in. This came in from Wymm as a generous sample.
I dropped it in the easy steeper and gave a short 5 second wash to start out. First brew also at 5 seconds. A nice orchid/floral aroma comes off this one from the cup. The color is a light golden honey color. I get into the cup and finally a Jingmai that is strong and sweet and no overly citrus y.
I usually don’t have a pen-chance for Jingmai tea for this reason. This is one that goes in the other direction. It has a good mouth-feel to it. Very thick across the tongue. It has a nice floral note that drifts into sweetness. This is no doubt first flush Spring tea as it has vigor to it. A nice sense of calm after drinking this and it has gone a cup or two a day for three days now. Nice tea.

Flavors: Floral, Honey, Sweet, Thick

looseTman said

finally a Jingmai that is strong … good mouth-feel to it. Very thick across the tongue. … has vigor to it. … A nice sense of calm … – Sounds great & intriguing.
easy steeper – Which one?

mrmopar said

Just a little glass one I got from eBay. Similar to this and the same seller.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1-Teapot-and-6-Tea-Cups-with-Built-in-Porcelain-Steeper-Gift-Packing-TP070-/400857710511?pt=Dinnerware_Serving_Dishes&hash=item5d54fb3faf
Mine didn’t have the cups with it though.

looseTman said

Thanks mrmopar!

mrmopar said

Quite welcome my friend!

Yang-chu said

Yes. It seems I’m continuing to stub my toe on the jing-mai. Some have the strong orchid aftertaste but little sweetness, other sweet with little huigan, still others with a mysterious clank that I wish would go away. None have had the flair of the Yapu I picked up when in Kunming. Still, I keep trying.

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yyz said

Just curious if anyone here has tried any teas fromhttp://www.tanlongtea.com/collections/our-teas-puer. They are a local company too me and I wouldn’t mind supporting them if their teas offer reasonable value for the money.

mrmopar said

They look interesting.

Yang-chu said

I have. Bing-dao. Not bad. The Yunnan Gold was spectacular. Good value.

yyz said

Thanks Yang-chu.

Yang-chu said

Np. Can’t say that the Yunnan Gold is anything but fairly priced, but other items seem to be the good value.

yyz said

Thanks again. The Yunnan does sound very nice. As for her cakes, many of them have 100g sample sizes at reasonable prices, I think I’ll give her a try:-)

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mrmopar said

Having Wymm’s “Mangnuo Cane Tea” today.
I have brewed all of the samples from them in a neutral glass vessel. I think this is the best way to get a handle to the “essence” of the tea on your first tasting.
I gave a really quick rinse to this one just to wake it a bit. It has a nice green tea and musky aroma to it. The sips are warm, grassy and buttery with the honey sweetness coming through . It has a slight touch of bitter that dwells for a second goes and drifts back in as well. What has really impressed me is the sweet of this seems to dance about a while after drinking it. This has no smoke at all in it. I would say it has been processed with pride. I have had 8 good infusions so far and i will keep going as long as I can with this one. I am up to 20 second steeps and still getting some goodness.

Flavors: Bitter, Butter, Grass, Green, Honey, Sweet

Ubacat said

I really enjoyed this one.

mrmopar said

Yeah nice with stamina for sure.

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Cwyn said

Yunnan Sourcing is having a 12% off ripe sale for three days on both sites.

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Ubacat said

Tried out the Menghai Jasmine cake from mrmopar.

It’s funny how some sheng’s can take really hot temperature’s and others need lower temperatures like the green. Well I brewed this one at about 200F with 2 quick rinses. The jasmine is very light. Done nicely! I could pick up honey notes but there was a bitterness. On the second brew the bitterness was a bit more and then started getting less. It got a lot less when I brewed it at a lower temperature which I plan to do next time. I’ll just start off brewing at the low temperature. I had quite a few infusions on this. The jasmine faded away after the 5th or 6th infusion but the honey notes were still there. I enjoyed this one and if there hadn’t been that bitter edge it would have been wonderful. It probably just needs brewing at the lower temperature.

AllanK said

Is this the Dayi from Berylleb? I have a sample of that coming.

mrmopar said

This actually came from “Lucky Smile” off eBay. He is a member on this site as well under “naturally fine tea” if I remember correctly.

AllanK said

Do you have an ebay link for him?

Ubacat said

I did a search for that seller and never came up with anything. I searched the wrapper (with a magnifying glass) looking for some other markings but didn’t find anything except the year – 2013. It smells so good. The dry cake has a great jasmine aroma to it.

mrmopar said

Let me see if I can find you a link.

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