2005 Changtai Yun Pu Zhi Dian / Top of the Clouds

Honestly, I can’t smell anything or taste much right now. It’s actually a great time to focus on the general impression of a puerh and the way it feels in my mouth and body rather than my default mode which is to get lost in tastes.

Despite my schnoz not working well, I am able to pick up on aged puerh smell and forest floor in the rinsed leaf along with yeasty and bready qualities. The liquor has an oily thickness to it that when combined with a general tartness and minerality gives the impression of a lighter-bodied tea. Seems like it might taste of tobacco. The initial infusions feel great going down my throat and leave a thin and cooling camphor coating. There is also a bit of throat drying early on along with slight bitterness that does grow stronger but it is complementary. A light returning sweetness presents, seems date-like but combines with the back of the tongue bitterness to give a bittersweet lingering. I do notice some roughness and numbing of the tongue.

The energy is notable for me in the regard that it gives me a general sense of well being and positivity and it makes me dance. I much prefer this feeling to heady teas since I’m always thinking anyway.

On that note:
Album pairing: Paul Simon - Graceland, found in my housemate’s record collection
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGEz7fwcmlY&list=PLgD_2-Ds0_gpHnMOnyYpuVCdAJ_9Olkv&index=1

This is a solid aged sheng, one I could see keeping as a daily drinker.

I have been going through my CLT samples, thinking whether I should get any of the cakes, and I realized I never wrote a review for this one. It is among the better semi-aged teas I’ve tried, but the price reflects that as well.

The highlights of the tea for me are its flavour complexity and the cha qi. It also steeps for a long time. Even though I don’t find it quite as appealing taste & texture wise, I might get the cake with the current sale. I’ve been generally disappointed by CLT’s house productions, so I may not add anything else to the order. If you have any strong suggestions, let me know please :)

The aroma is deep and sweet with notes of rainforest, plum, fermented fruits, copper, thyme, honey, and a touch of lavender and nettle. Taste has a lot going on too. It is bittersweet, crisp and tannic overall with a good astringency. Over the course of the session I noted flavours of eucalyptus, autumn leaf pile, anise, grape skin, kombucha, chamomile, bread crust, walnut bread, rice paper, and red grape juice. Aftertaste continues with the impressive display of flavours, ranging from kale, to apricot and macadamia nuts. It is pungent and mineral, with a fairly long-lasting huigan and a camphor-like throat cooling quality.

Body is light to medium with a drying, bubbly mouthfeel that becomes a bit more milky mid session and silky at the end. The cha qi is noticeable and fast to appear. In my older notes, I described it as a full-body experience, but I am not sure I am getting that this session quite as much. I do get some slightly numbing sensations in my legs, but it seems mostly just very calming today.

Gongfu, 100C 5g 100ml
The wet leaves look darker than a young sheng, clearly this has been aged. Smell faintly like dry fruit. Only one rinse.
Steep 1-4, 20-30s: immediately i am hit with a thick, silkt texture, with dried fruit taste, like dried pear—it is light and not too acidic. The chunk of leaves are still opening up, and seem to be mostly leaves with only a few stems. The liquor is a rich color between honey and molasses. By steep two this is becoming a little bit more acidic like a darker dried fruit(dates). The retronasal taste (finish) i notice an almost eucalyptus-like freshness.
5- 7, strong musty sort of spicy taste— is this what camphor is and what shou pu aspires to? I’m starting to get some astringency.
8- , astringency lightening, everything giving way to some sweetness/hui gan, and this induces lots of salivation. Liquor lightening, i wish i had leafed harder. Fading back to a silkier mouthfeel on the way down again.
One of my first aged shengs, and i liked it.

Have 25g worth of a sample that I just got around to breaking into. WHY DID I WAIT??

5g in 70ml gaiwan. Water right off boil. Flash steepings x6-7 each friggn delish both in mouth feel and interesting in taste change. Picking up notes of light woods faintly smoked, indistinct fruits. Not Bitter but somewhat astringent making me want more after each cup.

Im no ace at tacking down notes so take mine with a grain but I was very pleased with the first session of this sample.

Qi… yep there in spades too. loopy stoopid lookin at my toes like a stoner askin “What r those?” And Im not usually one to mention the feels. Pretty stoked to have received this little stash and would be very happy to have a cake or two in my stash.

How do I get bings past the spouse without getting more storage vessels?

My first aged sheng.

Didn’t know what to expect. The leaves definitely looked more similar to ripe pu than the young sheng I’ve had.

Rinsed for about 5 seconds, then did first steep of 5 seconds, and increased by 5-10 seconds after that.

Wow. The imagery of biting into a slightly overly ripe peach pops into my head whenever I take a sip.

I wonder if most/all aged raw are like this. Impressive.

Smokey, tobacco, sweet fruit (apricots?), smooth. Do not push this one too hard or it will be very astringent. Start with VERY short (3-5 sec) steeps for this first 5 steepings. I used 10 grams in 130 ml Jianshui pot. Next time will only use 7 grams. God solid tea. Easy to drink and enjoy.

Update 4/8/2017: I followed my own advice and decreased first five steeps each to 3 seconds. That helped a lot and the tea was much more approachable. This session went a dozen steeps, and although the later steeps were obviously weaker in flavors, they had a delicious creamy texture that made it worth it to keep steeping.

Original review:

My first sheng ever. Before this for puerh I had only tried a couple shu, and one of them was a realy bad marine backwater fest. So, I had no idea what to expect with this sheng.

I read of people talking about all these flavors and fruits in sheng, and I was skeptical that I would pick them out. So, the highlight of this sheng experience was how readily the apricot stood out for me, upfront and as a wonderful lingering aftertaste.

A second session made me realize that the apricot is actually for me closer to a dried fruit from the Andes in Peru called aguaymanto (Peruvian ground cherry, dried). There is a tartness. Also discerned a floral character, jasmine, and maybe honey.

But, I also learned with this tea that I was over-steeping it. With 5 grams/75 ml and initial steep of 20s/10s/7s….I was mistakingly trying to extract a more intense fruit flavor that way, but I instead was confronted with a smoky bitter burnt and too-astringent experience.

So I backed off, increased the leaf:water ratio and less time steeping, that mellowed things out. My bad, but I learned.

Really enjoyed that dried fruit enduring aftertaste.

I really appreciate the longevity of this tea! Just 5g took me from morning to afternoon (around 8 steeps at 200ml each). It’s so smooth, tasty and buttery, without any bitterness at all in any of the steeps. This is the first Sheng I ever tried with some age behind it, and would likely reach for this over a ripe puerh (though I tend to favor young shengs and oolongs overall).
Very nice sessionable tea.

Here’s Hoping Teabox – Round Six – Tea #27
I had to try this sheng from the teabox! Again, I can’t really offer much insight into shengs, but this one was delicious but nothing spectacular. Mild, sweet, fresh, a bit creamy. The steeps never became too bitter while sheng is usually very touchy for me. Even the third steep at just boiled was tasty. A sheng unruined is delicious enough for me! Not much to say about this one, but I just wanted to make a note for my tea brain (Steepster) that I drank it. Thank you Steepster, for being my tea brain and being a gateway for so many delicious teas!
Steep #1 // 25 minutes after boiling // 35 second steep
Steep #2 // 23 minutes after boiling // 35 second steep
Steep #3 // just boiled // 35 second steep

Got 17g of this from Haveteawilltravel’s stash.
The dry leaves have a faint smoky smell that carries over to the wet leaf, when some earthy aromas start to emerge. It steeps to a nice amber color.

Super smooth, a little smoky, definitely a light flavor to start. Faintest hint of some buttery notes at the very end. After a couple of the early steeps some dryness settles in and I start to feel the qi.

Around steep four or five the texture starts to thicken up, and I start to get that fluffy mouthfeel I’ve seen people talking about. It feels even thicker and fluffier if I let it cool.

This tea carried me through most of the day—from late morning through lunch with the SO and into the afternoon. I didn’t really get any sweet or fruity notes, but I enjoyed this and I am glad I have enough left for a couple more sessions.