pu-erh of the day. Sheng or Shou

Went to Hidden Peak Teahouse in Santa Cruz today. This is the first place I ever had puerh and brewed tea gongfu style. Excited to come back and bring Lamu and her parents. We had a sheng/shou mix from 80’s and early 90’s. It got real nice after 6 steepings. It started getting sweet with long lasting throat flavors. Finished the day up with some Planet Jingmai we brewed for friends after an awesome meal of al pastor burritos.

Today I tried the 2008 Dayi Song of Chi Tse. I reviewed this tea a while back. I think I got a bad sample because it was bad. It was a strange experience at that time. My body told me ‘no way’ and to immediately instructed me to throw it in the garbage. But when the TTB box had a sample of this tea in it, I decided to give it another try since so many people seemed to love it. So I tried it today, and this time around, I found it to be one of the best Dayi ripes I have tasted. It is sweet and deeply fruity. I really loved the first few steeps. I got quite hopped up, so this is a good one if you are looking for caffeine. Later steeps were not quite as smooth, more bitterness came through. Then, it turned into that yeasty bread dough flavor. This is a great tea, and at around $40, it is one of the few semi-aged Dayi teas that are reasonably priced. I guess this particular tea does not have a hype factor built in. Both Berryleb and Dragon Tea House sell it.

Gradually working my way through all of my Bulang Teas. So far I’ve had:
2008 Bulang Shan Imperial Grade – Crimson Lotus
Spring Lae Cha Tou from Bulang – White2Tea
Imperial Dark Bulang Gong Tin – Mandala

I still have 2 Shou & 1 Sheng left in my ‘survey’.

Today I am drinking yabao for the first time in over a year. Yunnan Sourcing 2015 “Sun-dried buds” Wild puerh.

Refreshingly different! I am drinking it grandpa style and really enjoying how long it lingers on my palate :)

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Having Tribute Tea’s Jingmai Mountain Ancient Sheng.
I got this out to actually review last night and kind of forgot about it.
I got about 11 grams in the easy steeper to start with. This is a loose maocha and the aroma is of a sweet hayfield.
I dropped this in and gave rinse to start with. The tea-pet enjoyed it,
The aroma on the first steep, a bit tannic.
This one is a Jingmai so the citrus is expected. It is there but this has a good bitterness on the edge as well. It really compliments the cup. The color is darker than most teas from this age. I would say due to the storage being loose maocha.
It is a nice complex brew that give the body a good feeling on a cool Summer night.

Flavors: Bitter, Citrus, Hay, Tannic.
This has good legs to it.

Today I drank 2002 Tai Lian Kunming Tea Market Opening Anniversary Raw by Yunnan Sourcing. What a nice middle aged tea. Thanks to Brenden for putting a sample of this into the TTB. It brews a deep amber color, with fairly thick body. The storage has been dry. It is not terribly complex, I’d say it is nice and basic. Early steeps have some smoke, which eventually clears. There is little bitterness or astringency, which is part of why the flavor is simple and straightforward but has little huigan. Later steeps are more on the fruity side. I got plenty of infusions out of it.

I’ve been in the lowdown with Puerh lately, but I tried a few this past weekend. Including from the free teas form the White2Tea move sale.

I have this ‘mid-2000s Wet stored Sheng’ It’s good and it has life for plenty of aging still, unfortunately it is also out of my preference for tea storage. I received around 250gm of this cake (a bit more than half) and used about 7-8 grams for my tasting session. I’m willing to exchange it for any tea (doesn’t have to be same amount) or gift it to someone who might enjoy it as long as they cover the shipping. It its pretty close to the Hong Kong stored CNNP, but it is younger so it has a bit more bitterness to it still. So keep this in mind, I want to make sure the person who gets it enjoys it. PM me if interested.

In OTHER news, I finally tried Crimson Lotus’ 2012 Bulang Gushu “Ancient Tree” Shou. This stuff is good and thick in the mouth with a very pleasing play between bittersweet and sweet notes. I honestly found my new ‘winter’ Shou, I usually prefer Sheng during the summer, but this one is already in like to be drank non-stop during the winter.

Today I drank the 2015 Bosch. Put it through fourteen steeps and the cha qi is just starting to catch up with me. I am strangely noticing the effect of this tea now after I have finished my cup. I do believe I have had too much caffeine but it is still early. This tea was smooth from the beginning. I was expecting more bitterness but didn’t really find it. This is admittedly a stellar tea. It is also the most expensive tea I have purchased a cake of to date. I enjoyed the hell out of this tea. I must admit that White2Tea produces a quality product. I think this tea would have easily gone twenty steeps if I hadn’t already had too much caffeine.

Currently drinking TeaUrchins 2012 Miles Birthday cake! Pretty nice tea with a wonderful story behind its wrapper. Got to love those Gua Feng Zhais!