pu-erh of the day. Sheng or Shou

Today I drank a ripe from Crimson Lotus Tea, the 2008 Qiaojun “Double Dragon” Shou/Ripe Puerh. This was an excellent shou. It did have a fair amount of fermentation taste to it. While this taste was not fishy it was perhaps not as pleasant as some. It lasted about four steeps. There was little bitterness and a lot of nice sweetness to this cake. The leaves looked like good quality to me but that is only an opinion. Price wise, this was reasonable at $38. Well worth the price in my opinion. Don’t think I’d be happy if I had paid a lot more.

2012 Yunnan Sourcing Zhu Peng Zhai up today.
Getting this one out after having it a while. I am surprised I haven’t logged it yet.
I got out 9.9 grams to start with. I know a little off what I normally brew. I finally retired the old scale to the grand son for one that has a back-light to it.
I gave it a quick rinse and a wait of about 15 minutes to wake up a bit.
The first brew was about 5 seconds. The color is looking promising as it is getting closer to a light gold color. It has a heavy tobacco note in the initial sip. This one tends to hit the middle of the tongue. Some are at the tip or the end but this is at the middle.
Taken in small sips this tea is almost viscous. There are some subdued sweet notes in there but this is quick on the Ku Wei. I guess some would say its a bit astringent as of yet. This one is near Mang Fei which is known for bitterness. This one leaves a nice proactive finish after the sips.
I bought this along with the Wu Jia Zhai and I look forward to comparing it to this.
$30.00 a cake makes it a bargain for me.

Flavors: Bitter, Sweet, Thick, Tobacco

Today I drank a tea from Pu-erh.sk, the 2004 Shu Tuo. This was a delicious tea. There was no fermentation flavor. It had completely cleared. There were some initial notes of spice and there were some remnants of wet storage. It had a note of wet wood. This however was not strong ant the tea was really good. There were some notes of chocolate in there too. This was just an all around good tea.

2004 Shi Kun Mu’s Menghai Gushu Raw
Shi Kun Mu is a tea trader/blender/master from Taiwan and I was very curious about the 2004 ShiKunMu productions (Yiwu, YiBang, Manzhuan, Menghai). I was too late to buy the Yiwu and Manzhuan but when my Menghai and YiBang cakes arrived over 18 months ago, they seemed a bit dry so I stuck them away to freshen up a bit. They have been in my humidity monitored tea cabinets and they now seem ready to taste. The Menghai cake is rather enjoyable – overall a tea of rich flavor and mouth feel. Reported to be spring ancient arbor material, the leaf looks good and the dark golden tea liquor is very clean. Sweet aroma lingers in the cup. Early steeps offer an earthy mushroom flavor which lightens and becomes sweeter in the next cups. The flavor includes a bit of rather delicate astringency in 3rd and later infusions but this makes the tea a little more interesting and complex in my opinion. Camphor and menthol appear off and on. Reasonable amount of Qi builds up through the session. Decent endurance – I’ve enjoyed eight cups and the tea has more to give. My mouth continues to water from the tea session which ended an hour ago. Now I’m looking forward to trying the 2004 YiBang!

Today I had the White Whale, at last. I could never bring myself to buy this but now I got a sample from a German TTB and I enjoyed it. It’s smooth yet certainly not without any oomph, and there’s a decent huigan.

I’d say this tea lived up to its name back when it was priced at 19USD, though for 31USD I believe I can find better and equally mature Sheng.

’99 Bamboo Wrapped Ripe Brick from puerhshop (free sample)

I normally steer clear of shou (too many unpleasant experiences), but I have become curious to find clean and tasty options for a change of pace. I grabbed up this sample (maybe 7-8g) from my stash hoping it would fit the bill on a cold and icy morning. So far, I’ve been pleasantly surprised. The broken/separated dry leaf smelled sweet with a touch of earth and none of that nasty fishy/fermented stink (not a bad start). After a single hot rinse the earth was dominant in the pot, but not unpleasant (maybe I won’t be chucking this leaf?). The first steep was immediately thick, dark and coated my mouth with soft cereal and earthy sweetness. I’ve steeped this sample 6-7 times so far and haven’t noticed much change except for a slight increase in sweetness over earth (not much complexity here). If I had to say, this one might actually be a little too soft and uncomplicated even when given extended (2-3 mins) brew time. The strength of flavor doesn’t match up to the color, aroma, and mouth feel. Still, this leaf was enjoyable to my tastes and that is an achievement. I’m now hopeful there is a shou out there for me.

Next on my list to try is the ’04 Old Youle Ripe Brick…

Friday night before a holiday. No work for ten days. Have to travel soon, but I have the next couple of days to myself. Watching Jessica Jones on Netflix (which is kick ass btw) and totally grooving on some White2Tea 72 Hours. This sheng is not only delicious, but the qi is some fantastically heady stuff. I’ll have to review it some time when I’m not binge watching Netflix. Right now I just don’t have the vocabulary or inclination to put what an experience this tea is into words.

13 San Ke Shu. This is doing quite well, more smokey and bitter in a good way, still with a base of sweet and creamy vegetables.

Today I drank a ripe purchased from Aliexpress King Tea and made by the Menghai Banzhang Tea Company Ltd. It should be noted that this tea does not in any way claim to be Lao Banzhang tea but is an example of a company using the name Banzhang to increase profits. The tea is called 2011 Lao Man’ E GuXiangGuChun Shou Cha and was pretty good overall. It had little or no bitterness and a moderate amount of fermentation flavor. This flavor lasted about four or five steeps and was somewhat unpleasant but not what I would call fishy. It was sweet from the beginning with some notes of chocolate in there. Later on it developed a note that I would interpret as dates flavor, but that is just an interpretation. Unfortunately, King Tea no longer sells this tea but I imagine it is available somewhere if someone wanted to look. I gave it ten steeps and overall it was quite good. In the first couple of steeps it was weak but good in the end.

One of my unforgettable raw pu-erh experience for sharing.

It was “tasteless” when the first sip went through. Gently touching the surface of the tongue was extremely clear, clean, and soft. Furthermore, my mouth was coated with endless layer of “purity”. It was tasteless because the mouthfeel was so unbelievably clean. Imagine you are surrounded by the old trees mountain high. Imagine the freshness and breeze. It was like back to the origin where the universe was born at first place.

The aftertaste was so deeply penetrated. It seeped through every tiny little single cell of my body. I couldn’t resist but surrendered to the overwhelming attack to my body. The energy was so gentle yet concentrated. It circulated within my body and I couldn’t feel my weigh somehow. It was like I became part of the ambience and immersed myself to the surrounding. I am EVERYTHING and EVERYTHING is me.

It is so hard to forget.