pu-erh of the day. Sheng or Shou

Waiting for YS YS.us orders, decided to revisit the white2tea basics raw set, drinking the 2014 autumn today.

Definitely a little smoke, which isn’t too bad, but also fruity sweetness, and menthol, something which is absent from the 2015 spring cake from the same producer. Probably my second favorite from the set, after the 2007 cake.

This was some of the first puerh I tried and there isn’t much of it left so it’s nice to sip down memory lane once in a while…

I had the Yunnan Sourcing 2015 Mu Shu Cha Ancient Arbor Sheng today. I generally don’t do tasting reports because my palette isn’t very mature or sophisticated so I’m generally left just saying how much I enjoyed something (or not) instead of being able to say why.

Anyway, I very much enjoyed this tea. It was pleasant and smooth/creamy in taste. But what I really want to talk about is the qi. Oh did it have lots of qi. It knocked me on my butt and sent me flying. I buzzed around the office all day. Whoo, that is some serious sh- I mean seriously good tea there! This was a sample today but I’m going to have to buy a cake of it.

Recently sessioned the 2005 Shuangjiang Mengku “Mu Shu Cha” (Mother Tree) sheng. The tea liquor is a rich deep golden color and the early infusions are very aromatic, pungent and slightly astringent, with a mature sweetness. Strong aftertaste and thick mouthfeel. The tea becomes a bit creamy and fruity in later infusions and rather full in the mouth with a thickness that stays long on the tongue. 2005 was a particularly good production year for S.Mengku and many of these teas have become highly regarded mid-age shengs. I picked up this one from Houde for $72 (looks like there is only one left) and the 2005 DaXueShan (Big Snow Mtn.) from White2Tea for $60 18 months ago. Two very good semi-aged teas. If you happen to run across either at a good price, definitely worthy of consideration.

2015 Poundcake. Nice change from all the ripe I’ve been drinking the last couple of weeks.

Today I was in a bit of a hurry so I picked a mini tuo cha I ordered from Streetshop88, the 2010 Supreme Yunnan YiWu Lange Puerh Tea Mini Ripe Tuo Cha. This was fairly high quality for a mini tuocha from what I could tell. It was still pretty dark in the eighth infusion and would have gone quite a few more steeps. It was sweet with a lot of fermentation taste to it, not unpleasant as fermentation goes. There was another note that I couldn’t pin down, not 100% good, not particularly bad. Just don’t know what to call this note.

having the last bit of my Green Shroom.

2005 Guangxi Liu Bao “Three Cranes.”

No. Just no.

Yesterday’s slurping:

2006 Mengku wild arbor king raw pu’er from a brick – a bit too smoky in the first few steepings but it calmed down and became very pleasant afterwards

2013 Mengku wild arbor king raw pu’er from a cake – still a bit too bitter for me. It has gone back to the pumidor until next year’s tasting.

Moving to another mountain region today.

Wow, Steepster gets a bad rap in some circles as being full of people who don’t have a clue, but I see some of my TeaChat friends here (who are more knowledgeable than me)! Working on Chawangshop’s 2015 Hekai Gu Shu. Still lots of great ye sheng wild flower flavor and aroma, even after seven brews. Excellent quality leaf too—one bud and two or three leaves all around.

I am tempted to buy some Mengku tea after mr. mopar suggested it on TC, and now that I know Rui’s drinking it too, I will definitely stock up ASAP.

Hi Jay. It is a small world.

Chawangshop’s 2015 Hekai gushu is my daily drinker at the moment since I finished the W2T’s Bosch cake. Different from each other but both very very drinkable.

“Steepster gets a bad rap in some circles as being full of people who don’t have a clue” – that is me!

“but I see some of my TeaChat friends here (who are more knowledgeable than me)!” Definitely not me! I am the clueless one.

This morning I was sipping a very nice 2010 Jingmai raw pu’er. When my mind (have I still got one?) clears I’ll write a short review.