Bulang Shan Imperial Grade 2008 Shou/Ripe Puerh

Tummy is upset, possibly glutened at the pizza lunch today (there were special pizzas). It’s not too severe, so I’m treating with puerh and pineapple.

I finished my Special Dark off with a couple of really long steeps, to squeeze all that I could out of the leaves. And now I’ve moved on to this tea.

Om nom. So good. (PS. I measured my favourite kyusu, and it’s 145ml, though that’s with a tea that doesn’t expand as much. I’d get much less water in the pot with an oolong or a loose moonlight white.)

I rinsed, then forgot about it (I’ve gotta pack for tomorrow!), and now I’m doing steeps just until it “looks right”. Haha.

So good. It’s quite thick. A little wet wood tasting, but not much. Just what my tummy needs. I think it gets sweeter as it gets steeped. And I’m pretty sure it’d take a long steep if I really wanted to. And it’s a little floral, I think. And slippery. Interesting.

Honestly I don’t remember what I thought of this at the Tea Festival – only that it was tasty and I needed to buy it. I have no regrets!

A quick rinse and a five minute steep (no lecturing Tea Friends, I’m getting over the stomach flu – oh yeah, and this is normal for me).

Watching Leap Year, a movie (supposedly) about a woman going to Ireland on Feb 29th to propose to her boyfriend, because he’s got to accept. Old Irish folklore, supposedly.

So, I want to love this movie right from the start. Obviously, whomever wrote it has never been to Ireland, or Dingle – one of my favorite places on this planet. How do you fly to Dublin from Boston, end up in Wales because of a horrible storm (plausible, sort of), and then TAKE A BOAT to CORK, which gets diverted to DINGLE?! Seriously. Then, of course, the shore she washes up upon cannot on any planet be Dingle, or Ireland… until the shot pans, and then, I believe it, sort of, kind of. The writing however, takes me right back to Dingle, and all the oddities of a super small Irish town – including the way people call each other names (eediot, crackpaught), the pace of life, that’s it’s almost all men you encounter, that the landscape stuns beyond words, that North American’s preoccupation with labels and formalities means little elsewhere.

Gosh, I miss Dingle. Funny, considering I was deathly ill there, too… went for a walk, got stuck in a storm and nearly swept out to sea, ended up staying a week instead of a few days just to recover.

Thanks to OMGsrsly for sharing some of this with me! “May the rowd rise up ta meet cha”.

So I am finally getting around to this shou which I purchased months ago. This is a great tasting shou. It is very strong but very smooth. Very woody with pretty much no fermentation to me. Rinsed this twice for 3 seconds. By the second steep,it was very dark. The aroma is very soothing. Like wet wood on a rainy day. A must have. I purchased a whole brick as should you if you enjoy great shou.

This is a sipdown, though there’s not a number change since I drank it before it was added to my cupboard…

Anyway; my first set of tea pets arrived today! I was really, really impressed with how carefully and thoroughly they were packaged as well. Seriously; so much bubble wrap. Since Crimson Lotus was kind enough to add this free sample in with my order, I felt it was only appropriate that the first thing I fed my two lovely teapets with was this tea! So, for a few hours, I just brewed this tea – every now and then feeding an infusion to my new dragons. They’re super cute; when you pour tea over them they blow little “snot” bubbles from their snouts – and my tea tray just looks and feel much happier and complete with their addition. How anyone could not have a tea pet to keep them company during a Gong Fu session baffles me.

Of course, you have to name your pets right? So when my little sister got home from school I had her help me come up with names for the pair. We initially were trying to come up with something Chinese but in the end we settled on “Zak and Wheezie” from the children’s show “Dragon Tales” because they’re brother and sister twin dragons.

http://dragontales.wikia.com/wiki/Zak_and_Wheezie Cute, right?

As for the tea…

I got a whopping 14 infusions from this tea before I felt like the flavour was really degrading past the point of my wanting to to drink it. I’ve been getting a lot better with resteeping tea, and drinking a lot more teas Gong Fu style but even still 14 infusions may actually be the most I’ve ever done of a single tea in one sitting? My Pu’erh knowledge is still fairly limited and I’ve definitely tried the least Pu’erh of any tea type (except yellow tea; but the difference between the two types isn’t actually a lot) so I know my palate is not as refined here as it is with most types. For me to break down the subtle differences between each infusion would be impossible at this point.

What I can say was that this tea was incredibly lovely and have an overall thick, and smooth mouthfeel and rich, full bodied flavour. While the notes present in each infusion changed ever so slightly throughout the session depending on the infusion the overall taste and prominent notes were wet earth, clay, dark baker’s chocolate, leather, smoke, and wet wood. Overall, just very dark and natural – like a forest floor, almost? But with a subtle sweetness and richness to it. Yummy!

I really, really need to put as much of an effort into Pu’erh as I’ve done this year with Oolongs because when I do take the time to have a long Pu’erh session I really enjoy it. It just seems like such a broad tea type to tackle. But I’m getting there, albeit slowly.

First off, thanks to Glen & Lamu at Crimson Lotus for sending out this sample. It’s taken a little while for me to finally get around to it, but definitely worth the wait.
The dry leaf had a clean kind of aroma, with a hint of spice. No ammonia, or mustiness whatsoever.
The early steeps provided a smooth & sweet cup, with a slight coffee-like edge.
The tea quickly blossomed into a rich dark brew, with a thick mouth. It was delicious & robust enough that it would be great with breakfast. The aroma of the wet leaf is of whole grain bread and vanilla egg custard, very sweet & satisfying. There’s also some spicy wood in there.
I drank from these leaves all afternoon, and into the evening, all the way until it was a sweet water.
Very pleasurable.

CL was kind enough to include this sample when I ordered a cake of Whispering Sunshine and I was happy to discover a very good shou with medium body and great energy. The first couple of infusions featured a fairly strong tobacco flavor and a somewhat lighter menthol taste both of which persist through successive infusions. I especially like that the tea isn’t in-your-face sweet, like so many other shous that mask their imperfections under a layer of confection.

As I continued with the session, a pleasant tang emerged along with a nice mix of fresh bread and black cherry. Around steep five or six a pulse of sweetness entered the mix but it was far from cloying.

This tea drinks like a much more expensive one—Thanks to Crimson Lotus for offering it.

First of all, a huge thank you to Crimson Lotus Tea for the opportunity to try this tea as a free sample! I am so sorry that I am so late reviewing this tea, but I am finally getting to it now!! Very excited as I’m craving a shu today, even though it’s ridiculously hot outside again.

I am also doing this with my gaiwan, which I haven’t used in AGES!! So nice to have a gongfu session again! I used the large piece from the sample pack and still have a bit left, as my gaiwan only holds about 4 or 5 oz.

The dry smell is deep and rich, a bit fermented, some wet wood and earthy notes. I did two short rinses of about 5s each and then first steep was about 5s as well. The cake piece started breaking up on the second rinse, so the first steep is quite dark!

The steeped smell has a caramel note to me, along with damp wood in the rain. Rich and yummy smelling. Also heady, it could be the heat, but my head spun a bit from just smelling it :P

As for the taste, mmmmmm shou, it’s been far too long. The flavor is thick and rich and grounding. Not too much fermentation to me, just smooth, with some dark wood notes. The aftertaste is sweet, a brown sugar melding into burnt caramel flavor. It’s cozy and warming haha, not that I need that today, but it’s just the flavor I was craving, even on this hot day.

The second steep is even darker than the first, and also smells thick and luscious. Tastes very good as well, maybe a bit mellowed but still very deep and delicious.

Overall, this is a great shou, not too strong and not weak, just right for me! I will continue steeping this throughout the afternoon, I wanted to try a sheng but this one might go for too long for me to try that today :P thanks again to Crimson Lotus Tea for the free sample! This is a great tea, and I definitely will consider it for purchase in the future, it’s just so mellow, rich, and delicious. Oh, and so far, a more calming chi than energizing. I like that :D

I got this shou as part of an “intro to pu’er” set from Crimson Lotus. 6g of tea, 200 degrees, gaiwan, two short rinses and 5-10 second steeps. The wet leaves smell kind of funky at first (is that fermentation? I don’t know, but it fades). Dark soup. Flavors: smoke, sweet, grass, oak.

EDIT: drinking this tea again about a week later. Noticing more complexity in the brew now. It’s really a nice shou. I would purchase this again.

I am enjoying this sample from Crimson Lotus Tea immensely. The dry aroma is hay and barnyard. That used to make me nervous. Now I rather expect it. I did two rinses. The first cup was at 10 seconds. It is root beer colored with a pink tint. The first thing I notice when tasting was the thick creamy feel running along side the initial bite. Kind of opposing sensations but they work together. After the bite settles, I get mild horse tack that drifts into a sweet smooth finish. Cup two was much darker, pouring ruby red. Similar in taste to the first. The difference is this introduced a cedar note at the beginning and moved the bite to later in the sip. I also caught a light smokiness when exhaling. I only noticed the smoke after ‘testing’ a hot out of the oven chocolate chip cookie made with sugar free chips. Did the cookie bring the smoke out or add it? Who knows. Both the cookie and the tea were very enjoyable. Highly recommend both.

I got two samples of this tea, and I first tried a basket in cup brew that was just ok. The other sample I brewed gong fu and my first steep was my favorite, chocolatey, smooth, yummy. Subsequent steeps lose the chocolate, but are replaced by a smooth woodsy taste. An enjoyable cup of shou.