pu-erh of the day. Sheng or Shou
Tonight I drank some mouth-puckering sencha but I also wrote up a brief interview I did with mr. Mopar on his storage set up, after trying a tea he sent me, I’m most impressed by how fresh his tea sample is. We hear all too often about how North Americans are supposedly ruining puerh and drying out cakes etc.. But his storage proves that reputation wrong. You can check out a photo and our brief interview at http://deathbytea.blogspot.com
Today I broke out a 2013 Bang Pun Unfermented Puerh by JalamTeas
I’ve been out of pu erh commission for several months now, but am making a comeback. I was having some stomach issues, and pu erh was especially hard to drink. I’m still having some issues with ripe pu, but today’s raw went down smoothly. this is a Jalam tea club offering from several months back. I was only a member for a couple months because I figured it was too expensive on a per unit basis. $24 for a 100 g cake is about a $84 per cake. not cheap. But the tea they offer is damn good.
This was a very nice cake. Super fresh smelling, like fresh cut flowers. The tea was not bitter, very smooth, flowery, and honey like. The quality reminds me of Tea Urchin. A superb tea. I just rejoined the club.
Rich!! I was just asking myself the other day “wonder what happened to Rich?” Sorry to hear about the gut. We will all be here to see if we can find some tea that will work for you. Have you tried Liu Bao? It is post fermented black tea. The tea is oxidized before fermenting, unlike the kill green used with puerh.
I suggest a peppermint tea high iin peppermint oil for stomach issues, or peppermint oil capsules. I have had stomach issues too and drink peppermint tea daily. It helps some stomach issues and may help heal over time. I can send you an Amazon link for the peppermint tea I drink if you are interested.
Yeah, I was wondering what had become of you as well. As for the peppermint, it really depends on the nature of the stomach issue. In Chinese medicine digestive issues that respond well to peppermint may have more to do with the liver than stomach, though cardamom which has a similar “mintiness,” so to speak, is decidedly for the tum-tum.
Thanks for the encouragement, everyone. My stomach is pretty close to normal again, it was more food sensitivity as opposed to a real health issue. Not sure what was going on. I’ve had a few raw pu erhs now, so hopefully I will get to a ripe soon.
Sheng totally kills my stomach at times depending on the tea. I am definitely less bothered by shu. In fact, when I first quit drinking coffee for tea the shu was recommended to me as the lowest acid tea to drink.
By Chinese medicine standards, sheng is constitutionally cold, shu is constitutionally warm. Most people will respond favourably to shu, because most have borderline weak digestive systems, particularly as we age. In China they like to encourage taking shu with ginger, one of the king herbs for boosting digestive function. This is documented extensively across cultures see pubmed.com.
Still, there are others who have “heat” in the stomach, for whom sheng would probably be better. It’s certainly a tastier option before having to hit the hard stuff like coptis, also well documented for its benefits on gastric issues.
Of course, in an age where there are scopes and probes of all sorts plus antibiotics, one should seek Chinese medicine out only as a last resort to modern biomedicine. However, it’s still rather interesting to observe the differences in our responses to tea within a simple yet elegant framework.
Bang Pun is in southern Yunnan, apparently. Thanks for the shout out, Cwyn! I’ve been drinking some fantastic black teas lately from YS which have been easy on the stomach. Working my way back…..
Enjoying an “old school” Changtai cake today – 2005 Changtai YiChangHao Zheng Pin Raw. The cake offers the color and aroma of good aging and contains a mix of long whole leaves, stalks and the occasional tip. Full mouth-feel and flavor which quickly changes to sugar cane sweetness. It has a thick body and a comfortable tea energy feel. Overall, this is a solid blend of decent leaves; nicely aged and decent infusibility (8-10 times); solidly sweet, with a reasonably thick body. This is not a high energy cake nor is it terribly complex but it definitely offers a lovely cup which is solid, quite enjoyable and keeps the mouth watering throughout the session. I have become a fan of these aged Changtai offerings and I feel lucky to have found this one at The Chinese Tea Shop in Vancouver at a fairly decent price.
Here’s the link to the Zheng Pin:
http://store.thechineseteashop.com/Pu_Erh_Tea_Cake_Yi_Chang_Hao_Zheng_Pin_Chang_Tai_T_p/pugc-05-345.htm
2014 Autumn Mengsong Bamboo Raw Puerh. This is a VERY good Autumn Raw, definitive sweetness and thickness with a mostly fruity(somewhat floral) mellow bittersweet note. This is young still so the Bamboo notes are still very light, though you may be able to taste something every once in a while. I’d recommend this no problem. It does draw some astringency as you go, but it is 2014 after all.
Siam Tee shops, Shan Tea, North Thailand tea processed as a raw loose puerh. Its a little more bitter and less floral than my other current jaocha, but underneath it has a nice and sweet honeyed apricot flavour with hints of exotic wood. So far it has been resilient, I only started extending the steeping time after the seventh steep. I love the sweet lingering aftertaste.
This morning I tried the Mandala Tea 2011 Wild Mountain Green
This is a fantastic tea. It has a touch of bitterness coupled with some sweet grassy notes. it is aging nicely, I’d say. good quality.
2009 Haiwan Lao Tong Zhi 901 Ripe, sample from Wilson of travelling teapot. I’m impressed with his storage and the fact that he hauled 8 tongs of this on a train from Guangzhou to Singapore.
Interesting news that I found, Prince William is scheduled to visit Xishuangbanna on Wed, this week. His interest is in “nature.” Yeah…the Prince Drinks Pu.
My tea photos on me blog http://deathbytea.blogspot.com
I finally made it into a ripe today!!! Wohoo! I went for the Bulang Imperial from Crimson Lotus. This is indeed a very nice tea – smooth, rich, and a just a touch musty. I noticed that they are sold out of it, and are sold out of absolutely everything at this point. Looks like they are on a sourcing trip in China, I am looking forward to seeing what they bring back. I like their taste in ripes.
Afternoon tea with the wife today was the 2004 Shi Kun Mu Yibang Gushu Raw by Chawangshop.
This is a nice somewhat aged pu erh. The first few steps were kind of mushroomy, but later steeps were a bit fruity. It had a nice Amber color. The tea held up to many infusions, so I’d say the leaf quality was high. Not much astringency, for better or worse. Very strong cha qi, I am really hopped up. It’s kind of expensive, $142 for 400g, I only bought a sample.
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