pu-erh of the day. Sheng or Shou

I started the morning with Mandala 2012 silver bud tea. This was disappointing. I remember the tea as being light and floral, a white tea with underlying character. Now, after about a year of storage at 60% RH most of the floral nature seems gone. A good tea, but not special. I then tried a similar tea: Yunnan Sourcing 2014 silver buds, and found it still had the floral character but had added a bit of richness since the last time I drank it. Lesson: drink the silver bud teas sooner rather than later.

Today I went back to my Tea Trekker order and had a loose ripe, the Loose Leaf Emperor’s Royal Pleasure Shou Puerh. Overall, over eight steeps this was pretty good. The first few steeps, however, were not promising. There was a lot of fermentation taste and that taste was unpleasant if not fishy. There was also a lot of bitterness. Eventually the fermentation and the bitterness left this tea and it turned into something nice with notes of chocolate and some fruity notes. It became quite taste but didn’t start that way.

2015 Ta Go Raw Pu Erh by Jalam Teas
Happy Christmas fellow steepers! Enjoying a nice pu this holiday afternoon. This is a wonderful tea from Jalam’s December tea club. It is from a region described as being “off the grid” in the Menghai area. It brews a copper color, with no bitterness at all in early steeps. It is acidic like young pu erhs are. Bitterness starts to come through in later steepings. It is buttery and delicate, full flavored if not simple. Very high quality as all Jalam teas are in my experience.

I had the 2002 CNNP Little Yellow Mark from White2 today. I still love it.

West China tea company’s Duo Yi Dzhai gushu… Nice tea, clean and fruity. Need to have this again under better conditions, holiday traveling right now.

Today I had something slightly different, the 2011 Black Star Puerh Stuffed Xinhui Mandarin by White2Tea. This was an interesting mix of earthy flavor, sweet notes, and smoky notes from the mandarin. The mandarin also gave up some sweet fruity flavors too. This was fairly expensive at around $9.50 per Mandarin of only about 30g so essentially was an expensive sample but I might eventually buy more. Judging by the amount of leaf left behind in my strainer I’d say the leaf size was very small with a fair amount of dust in it. Overall it was quite good over some ten steeps.

After yesterday’s expensive 2006 LBZ today I am sipping a very yummy Tea Urchin’s 2013 Yiwu Snake Blend sheng.

Had to unpack my pumidor to move it to my new apartment so while I was unpacking I took out the 2013 Yiwu Rolled Puerh by Misty Peaks. This tea was stored in my pumidor for about a year and a half or so. To be honest I couldn’t tell if it had aged any at all. It was good. It was sweet with little bitterness and a moderate amount of astringency. Misty Peaks in my experience is always good although I have no idea yet what it will age in to. I have an older sample of Misty Peaks from 2005 that I have to drink soon and then maybe I’ll get an idea on what this tea might turn in to.

In what is probably my last gongfu session until after I move into a new apartment I drank the 2008 Xiaguan “Baoyan Ripe Cake” Ripe Puerh tea. This was a good tea and a fairly strong tea. There was a fair amount of fermentation flavor. This flavor was initially somewhat unpleasant but I wouldn’t use the term fishy. The Yunnan Sourcing description says Whiskey/smoke/peat. While I didn’t notice these notes as I was drinking it I do think it is a fair description of the tea in a mild sort of way. Overall this tea was quite good and a bargain at only $25 a bing.

I must confess to using very good tea as a respite during the hectic holiday family-time – sneak away and enjoy several quiet minutes with my tea. One of my favorites during this time was a generous sample of the 1996 CNNP Green in Orange from White2Tea. What a nice example of aged tea!! The color of the liquor is deep orange-red and the sip is smooth with a nice aged taste. Definite sense of a woody sweetness with every sip and an interesting tang of minerals or spice (I could not decide which). Vibrant texture in the mouth and throat. A very pleasant sweet aftertaste lingers nicely in the mouth and throat. The qi builds throughout the session (relaxing and warming). Overall, a delicious tea which I found quite comforting.