pu-erh of the day. Sheng or Shou
Yesterday I drank an excellent raw puerh from Streetshop88, the 2007 Top Organic Yunnan MengHai Spring No 1 Puerh Cake Raw Black Tea. This was surprisingly smooth with nice sweet notes throughout all the eight steeps I gave it. Oddly it seemed to be a little more bitter in later steeps, perhaps the tea was simply opening up. I had bought a 100g sample of this cake and picked up the bing yesterday night. There were not as many changes in the early steeps but I noticed changes in the tea in later steeps. This was the best raw puerh I have drank in a while, not as good as Misty Peaks but damn close.
How can it be raw pu’erh when it’s black tea? I thought all raw pu’erh was from green and you compared it to Misty Peaks which is a green raw pu’erh (or so I thought!). There’s still much I don’t know about pu’erh.
Sometimes ripe puerh has “black tea” on the wrapper. I have a cake like that. What we call “black tea” in English is considered to be “red tea” in China.
Streetshop88 often uses the words Black Tea in their description for raw puerh. That was in the name of the cake.
Yeah I believe you. They may have also just used a wrapper that has the correct Chinese but incorrect English. There is no reason for concern about the English text.
Interesting! I don’t think I’ve had a raw that was dark (black) only ripe. I’m really curious about this tea.
2010 Hai Lang Hao “As You Like” Ripe
Away for a few days without any enjoyable tea so I am delighted to be back home and digging into an interesting box of samples from a good tea friend. The samples included this HLH shou which has been on my shopping list for some time. Trying it today so that I can make the final decision to order a cake while the 12% sale is active at YS.
This is an easy drinking, rather enjoyable ripe puerh. A smooth blend of three different harvests (2003, 2008, 2009) which helps to balance the flavor profile and give it a little more depth. One is hit with the sweetness and then a slight oiliness appears later which is quite complimentary rather than offensive. This is a lighter fermentation cake which helps it to be clean with no off flavors of any type. Overall, this tea is made of quality material and comes across as rather tasty, solid, and enjoyable. I plan to purchase and set aside for 2-3 years for I think it has the potential to become even better with a bit of age.
Three years after its purchase, the Banna 2008 raw is just a damn good tea. It’s gone from blah to being sweet, floral and withstanding numerous infusions. It’s been stored in humidity ranging from 70-40%, probably averaging about 56%. A very big thumb’s up.
2009 Yong De Da Xue Shan Sheng
DaXueShan (DXS) tea is a favorite of some and I include myself in this group. This one is particularly good. Most of the DXS teas we hear of are from the Mengku side of the mountain. This particular cake is from the Yong De side.
Made of decent material (reported to be gushu), now with six years of proper aging. Many intact whole leaves used to make the cake. Deep golden, clear soup. Sweet yet complex taste (mix of stonefruit, wood and leather) giving it a pleasant thick body. Active mouthfeel providing a nice feeling in both the mouth and throat. Many might detect a small amount of bitterness but I think it quickly becomes sweetness and then a nice cooling effect emerges. Solid depth and good Qi found in this sheng.
I have picked up several aged cakes from FinePuer and I have been very happy with each one. However, I must say that this is definitely one of my favorites due to the pure enjoyment of drinking a cup and the surprising thing is that it is the youngest of all my FinePuer purchases. A bargain at $58 + shipping.
I like this one a lot and I highly recommend it to those looking for fine puer. If you have not done so already, check out James’ comments on TeaDB.
http://teadb.org/2009-yongde-daxueshan/
It is DigniTea’s fault for posting this, I was waiting for James’ post to fall away and not alert any more buyers but too late for that hope.
Oh I really really want this. I’m supposed to be on hiatus. But just in case I WAS going to get some, what else would y’all recommend from FinePuer as far as nice tasty shengidor-worthy companion for this?
What I ended up getting: This cake plus a 2006 CNNP Yiwu Wild Arbor and 2007 Xiaguan Golden 8100 Bowl which sounded good and was cheap enough to take a chance on.
Just got this tea in. It’s a white pu’erh. It doesn’t seem much like a pu’erh but it’s very good.
Dry from the bags it has a wonderful aroma. It reminds me of my Chinese black teas (bi luo chun & some others). The leaves are all dark and light. Really pretty.
I brewed at 205F, 150 ml, 3 g. Two quick rinses and then started drinking. This doesn’t have that sheng taste that other raw pu’erh teas have. Right away it taste like a cross between a white and a black. With the first infusion, the tea was a yellow colour. I’m already on the 2nd and it’s gotten darker (they call it red). It’s malty , fruity, with sweet honey notes and some hay notes. This doesn’t have the heavy feeling I get from black teas. It’s very light but still really flavourful. Absolutely no bitterness in this tea. This tea is supposed to be from 2012.
I was picking up some flower teas from GoShopStreet and I put this one in the cart last minute. Glad I did. It’s a winner.
That’s a Moonlight White you’re drinking. It’s 1/2 oxidized, picked and dried under the light of the moon. It’s considered a beauty tea. It’s v. popular among those who fancy white teas and black/hong tea.
Nice description.
Thanks. That explains why it falls off after a few infusions. I’m used to pu’erh lasting MANY infusions.
I think you’re right about 3 or 4 infusions usually for these type of teas. btw, did you taste any mint in it? some have very pronounced camphor notes.
Today I drank an excellent shou puerh from Streetshop88, 2003 Supreme Aged 400g Golden Buds Yunnan Peafowl Puerh Tea. This tea had none of that unpleasant flavor often associated with semi aged and aged teas. It was sweet without any bitterness. I would venture to say it had what is called a dates flavor to it. It had very little fermentation flavor. It was good enough for me to give it fourteen steeps in one session. It was worth the price. In my experience Streetshop88 sells good puerh.
Gotta love those Streetshop translations, I dunno whether the golden buds of a peafowl trumps the Drunk Overlord cake I bought.
I have that one. It’s another Lang-he tea, though I think in this case it might be attributed to Lang-he. Dunno, though the liquor is Lang-he gorgeous. I wonder if you’ve noticed any of the orange peel taste? A rather unique cake for certain.
It had a nice sweet taste but I wasn’t thinking orange peel, although as that is a matter of interpretation it is possible. And Streetshop88 lists the brand as Peafowl, not Lang-he or did you mean Lang-he are brand?
There’s no such thing as “Peafowl” brand. If you look at the bottom, you’ll see next to the last big character a rather shabby looking Lang-he logo. Hard to say, there’s no other info on the wrapper, probably consistent with the pre ‘05 era, but there’s no doubt the fake meisters like to use its name. Anyway, as they say, “there are real fakes and fake reals,” the former being of good quality but fabricated and the latter being from the real producer but not up to that producer’s standards. I’d put this in the former category.
I pulled mine out this morning to see what it was about since my last sampling back in Jan. The orange peel is very evident in the aroma, but in the first two infusions this time I noticed much more mushroom. I agree those first two infusions were very sweet, a slick sweetness that lingers. Later more of the spice, which I associate with orange peel comes through along with the tannins and a drier finish. I seriously doubt that this selection is as old as claimed. For one, the tannins and for two the caffeine in this one is making me feel a bit jumpy, which is a rare reaction.
As far as my limited sampling of Lang-he’s go, this one is unique. Yes, it possesses the liquor beauty and cleanliness of others, but the notes are entirely different. Usually, I pick up different types of chocolate but this one definitely has a little kick of spice. Who knows, I’ve got one sitting about from ’07 that smells like chocolate-covered cherries. That would be a relatively new discovery as well.
Here’s what the logo looks like… http://universotea.com/content/langhe-tea-factory
You’ll see the same little circular emblem at the bottom in superscript next to the last character, along with the trademark “R”.
The peafowl=peacock drawing on the wrapper, maybe EBay censors that word. Streetshop88 sells off brands, they don’t usually sell famous labels. Although their Banzhang is trying to be something it isn’t, I suppose, but the $6.98 cost tells the story. I like their cheap tea and free shipping.
I think we can all agree that peas are pretty foul, especially frozen or “creamed” from a can.
For what it’s worth, the inner wrapper on mine says Langhe and the neifei does too.
The complicating matter that makes any clear pronouncement one way or the other difficult is the “danwei” ethos, which permeated production up until quite recently. Branding and marketing have mainly been a reflection of the rise in consumption patterns, a debatable index of rise in living standards. Sure, there’s more money and consumption but there’s been a commensurate loss of peace-of-mind and time. Of course, these are political questions that falls outside the purview of the court.
I was referring to the drawing on the wrappers of the 3 peafowl cakes Streetshop is selling, they are drawings of full plumage peacocks. The wrappers are quite pretty.
I tend to get less annoyed by knock off brands than others, as long as the buyer know what they are getting. What I like about these brands, especially some of the cakes sold by Streetshop, tend to be very clean teas. Sure you may not get more than 10 steeps but they aren’t overly twiggy, dirty or foul (fowl maybe). For me the knock off market is getting better overall in quality. I can’t complain when I can buy quite tasty tea for a lot less than real labels.
Yes. I think we’re on the same page about the particular cake in question, in addition to the matter of “knock-offs.” The problem is when you drop coin on something that turns out to be a fake. Anyway, we know that there are many items out there vastly overrated or maybe just reflecting a change in valuation. I have a FB associate in Taiwan who was talking with other Chinese about the desire to get tea pricing on par with wine. Really the only thing that needs to happen is for the RMB to revalue by half of what it presently is.
Catching up on some overdue notes. Three days ago I tried a 2004 Nanjian Phoenix Superior Grade Yunnan Tuocha I picked up from Puerh Shop last year. Brewed gongfu in my 100 ml gaiwan with 200 F water.
I found this to be a very smoky sheng. Pine smoke dominated the aroma and flavor through the first six gongfu steeps before stepping aside and letting it’s true nature come through, although I got some smoke in the retro-nasal exhale through the 11th steep. Once the smoke did subside I found some floral notes in the aroma and a fairly strong and pleasant tart and sweet combination that finally tapered off around the 15th steep.
This sheng has some power and legs, but it’s just too smoky for my tastes.
I’ve done a number of gongfu sessions of the 2007 Ronzhen Imperial Concubine (Puerh Shop) over the past several weeks, trying to dial in the brew parameters. I landed on using much cooler water than I normally would (180 F) to emphasize the sweetness, which can be significant in some steeps. This tea does not have a lot of caffeine so it’s a good candidate for an evening session for me.
I don’t get the honey notes the vendor describes. For me it’s more like sugarcane in the early steeps, along with some floral notes and a hint of Yunnan spice. A pleasant tartness creeps in during the middle steeps and remains through the end. I’ve been averaging 13 steeps per session.
Considering it’s reasonable price, I’ll lay in another cake or two for the future. It’s a good sheng for when I’m in the mood for sweetness.
A note from last month! (it’s been very busy here). I finally got around to prying a chunk off my 500 gram brick of Master Han’s 2013 Sheng (Verdant). Brewed gongfu style at 205 F. Got some faint smoke in the first three steeps but then it subsided. Camphor, pine, citrus, pepper, and a nice underlying sweetness dominated the first six steeps, yielding to sweetness, slight pepper and a pleasant tartness in the next six. The liquor was a beautiful, clear amber color. Overall a very nice sheng which I’ll drink it sparingly to see how it ages over the coming years.
2012 Ruiyan Nannuo Old Arbor Sheng (previously offered by White 2 Tea)
The gift of a lovely sample from one who knew I had missed out on this tea allowed me to enjoy a lengthy session today with this rather special Nannuo. Dark leaves in the cake which offer some of the typical peat smell. Many whole leaves combined with bits and pieces of leaves and stems. The clear and bright tea soup is gold with a bit of orange tint and a light floral aroma. The taste is brisk with a little astringency. Astringency then sweetness emerge quickly in the sip – sweet fruity flavor which brings to mind thoughts of stone fruit (peach or plum?). These linger in the mouth and throat but notes of spice are added to give a nice punch to the aftertaste.
Overall this tea is fun to drink and it presents decent body from the first steep onward. Full mouth-feel. Sweet with the flavor of stone fruits and a lingering hint of spice. Palpable astringency with a sweet draw in the mouth. Decent durability – 8 rather interesting steeps with an appealing mix of flavors and sensations. Many thanks to my benefactor.
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