pu-erh of the day. Sheng or Shou

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Rob said

Slumbering Dragon by crimson lotus tea. Very attractive dried leaves and unusual taste.

We were just talking to those farmers last night. The new harvest is looking good!

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tperez said

Revisiting a sample of 2006 Chang Tai Hao “Tian Xia Tong An” from YS. It’s less funky and more enjoyable than it was a year ago. Nothing amazing, but a good bang for your buck sheng with quite a bit of aged character.

What are your favorites from YS? I’m looking to put together an order with a lot of samples

mrmopar said

Da Si, Qing Mei Shan and Mang Fei from them are nice.

I second the Qing Mei Shan. My cake is 2014 Spring, but I’ve heard good things about other years as well.

AllanK said

Can’t remember if I had that one or not. YS has good stuff.

Cwyn said

The Changtai is a decent drinker in the $40-range. Anything better really will cost more.

?! said

Too many to mention but these lists:
https://steepster.com/teas/yunnan-sourcing (all teas)
https://steepster.com/teas/yunnan-sourcing?pu-erh=on (pu only)
can give you a pretty good idea on what to consider.
(just make sure to click on “Highest rated” somewhere on the right side)

Pat-teaJi said

In the same categories I also enjoy 05 mengku Zheng shan Da Ye and 09 Chen Sheng Hao Fu yuan Chang. And I also like the 2015 YS autumn Wa Long

Ken said

Sheng only? If you havent tried it, green miracle!

tperez said

Thanks for the suggestions!

Cwyn; I agree, definitely a good aged tea for the price

Ken; Actually up for just about anything, I might have to check out that Green Miracle

?! said

I second the Green Miracle, even though I’m not much of a shu drinker. I just ordered 5 more cakes + some other pu some minutes ago (I’m really running out of space now, lol)

I’ll “third” the Qing Mei Shan as a very good young sheng (I have the Spring 2013). I’m also really enjoying the 2005 Wild Tree “Ye Sheng Cha” brick (wet stored, but clean). And the 2000 CNNP “Zhang Xiang Bu Lang” is definitely worth sampling.

Weasser said

I am drinking Green Miracle now, I decided last night to finally try it before buying a few more cakes, and while it’s very good, it’s not hitting me the way it does a lot of other people. The problem is, now I have “BUY SOME SHOU” in my head, and it’s hard not to once that idea is in there. I think it’s time to re-try Crimson Lotus’s Old Soldier one more time. The last time I had it I bought three more Tuos. If I have to buy some shou, I may as well get more of what I love and not just like.

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Ken said

White2tea basics 2014 autumn.

Less bitter than I would have expected, even with a hard brew, I just got a hint of bitterness, its more floral and medicinal, its surprisingly light and nice.

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tperez said

2013 Yunnnan Sourcing “Ye Sheng Cha” brick

I hadn’t had this one in a while, I forgot how harsh it is. Knock your socks off bitterness, but it has some interesting flavors. Strong tobacco, a bitter fruityness like grape skins or seeds, roasted barley, and olive oil. That might sound pretty good, but honestly it’s mostly just bitter and harsh. Good cha qi though, this one reliably gives me a tingly, floaty feeling in my head.

Dug through my collection today and realized that there were a few cakes, 2011 and 2012 YS productions, that I couldn’t identify/remember which was which. Subsequently spent a while trying to cross reference the characters with the YS site. I really need to label them!

AllanK said

I used to label all my puerh as I received it in the mail. Now I wait until I drink it. It can be difficult to figure out what is what. I can usually figure out where I bought it and generally find out what it is but sometimes it remains a mystery.

Psyck said

I always label the Year/Name/Weight/Price immediately after opening the shipment. Even for samples. Usually store them segregated by vendor.

mrmopar said

I am also labeling right off the bat. If I didn’t I would be lost.

Weasser said

I label them, add them to my spreadsheet, print out as much info as I can find and add that page to my binder witch is separated by vendor so when I look through my teas I can easily know what I’m looking at, how much I have, and how it was described by the vendor. There’s a reason my wife calls me a geek. :D

Cwyn said

Yeah I’m more like Allan, tea goes into some storage and later I find it and think, “what’s this?”

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AllanK said

Today I drank an aged ripe from Yunnan Sourcing, the 1998 CNNP “Lucky Brand” Ripe Puerh Tea Cake. This tea was overall pretty good for an aged tea. But it had clearly not been phenomenal when it was young and I would not describe it as phenomenal now. It was however tasty. There was no fermentation taste left. There was some wet storage taste but it was not strong. There was a sweet note from the beginning and no bitterness. The sweet note did evolve and change somewhat but I really did fail to pin down the specifics. There was something of what I think was an aged flavor to this tea but it was not the sort you find in semi aged raw. It was not leather and tobacco. It was not completely unpleasant either, just hard to describe. Overall I did like this tea. I do, however think it is a little over priced at $105 but it is definitely worth a sample.

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Weasser said

Sacred Owl ripe from Chinalife. All I can say is I wish it was still available. A great shou.

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Weasser said

2005 wild tree “ye sheng cha” raw from Yunnan Sourcing. It’s the second time I’ve had it from a sample I bought. It’s an excellent tea and when I just went to my tea spreadsheet I was happy to see I bought 500 grams of it after I had it the first time. I just looked and it’s still available.

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2008 “LBZ” from Tao Tea Leaf. When I tried this shortly after receiving it, I liked it, but it was quite active in the stomach. Not really unpleasant, but not something I found appealing. I broke up a cake and tinned it up with a bit of humidity, and after just a couple of weeks the result has been positive. Not only is the tea less assertive on the stomach, but more aromatic to boot.

and i think I’m feeling the qi now. . .

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Two teas today:

First of is the 2003 Wistaria Ziyun (Nannuo). This is a deceptively strong tea. I take a sip, think “this is pretty chuggable” and can easily down my cup if I like, but then the tea starts hitting heavy on the body, and the effects really linger. Reminiscent of a bulang, but you can’t remember ever being punched. One of my favorite teas I’ve had the luxury of tasting, with the strong caveat that I’m not sure I’d want to call this ‘ready to drink’. Used 10g/100mL, and really took my time drinking this throughout the day. Maybe 80% steeped it out? I’ll know tomorrow when I hit it again.

Second tea was a 2010 Bulang from Tea Urchin. I was finishing this off from yesterday, when I’d used a large pot and plenty of leaf and drank with a friend. Gave it two long steepings today to fill a mug, with the intention of expending the tea. I wasn’t sure the Ziyun was ‘done’ with me at this point, but it’s silly to not steep out a good tea, right? :P. Got me on a nice caffeine high of sorts, which is still lingering a bit (3+hrs later).

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Ken said

Beautiful taiwan tea company, 1980’s dank raw puerh, all I can say, it is dank.. very dank.. but its not that bad.

Ken said

About 8 or 10 steeps in and its actually getting really good now.

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