pu-erh of the day. Sheng or Shou

Drinking my comfort cup-Upton’s Sticky Rice Pu-Erh Tuo Cha. Brewed it very strong Western style in one of my new tea pots. On my second steep. It’s molasses-y, dark, subtly sweet. At first I was embarrassed to post, since this is nothing exotic or costly, but figured what the heck. It’s filling the bill for me and making my waking up tolerable. When I’ve had a rough night (arthritis and fibromyalgia) that leads to a torturous arising, this always does the trick for me.

Yes! I always think of myself as having tea with the birds.

Off to work now. Full of puerh and good feelings!

finishing my sample of the 2006 LBZ from YS today.

I really like this one, but its just too expensive for me at the moment

Today I drank a really good ripe from Yunnan Sourcing, the 2014 Hai Lang Hao “Bu Lang Tribute Brick” Ripe Puerh Tea. This was an excellent tea overall. It had a fair amount of fermentation that was really only unpleasant for the first steep and really only prevalent for the first four or five steeps. It had an unusual note in it. In the third and fourth steeps I noticed a definite note of sticky rice. To the best of my knowledge, none was used in the creation of this brick so the note is unusual but nice. It stayed a nice sweet ripe after that through twelve steeps.

My favourite W2T 2015 raw pu’er is now sold out. That was Bosch. Sniff.

’08 Lancang Ancient Tea Co., Lancang Tuo Cha “Year of the Rat”. A light bronze liquor with a Jinggu/hongcha/metallic type finish. A sightly sweet and lasts and lasts. Tannins very pronounced. Tastes like a grown-up tea. Not a big fan.

The ‘05 Lancang Ancient Tea “003” is a 125g cake, which glistens with very finely selected leaves and buds. It’s spring tea with considerably more fragrance than the tuo above, though the signature between the two is noticeable. This is to say that the Jinggu/dianhong/plus metallic features are the some though much more pronounced in the latter. The liquor is sweeter and much thicker in the cake, though it also possesses this dianhong twang that I’ve never tasted in any other puer, certainly not this strongly. That twang seems like it might convert into wood, if the tuo above is any indication. Much more wood in the tuo. The 003 also evokes a sense of first perhaps jasmine before fading into something rose-like, a trait I mostly associate with dianhong. Like the tuo above, strikes me as a grown-up tea, one to be loved by those who fancy hongcha. The 003 leaves a far more positive impression than the tuo, which must be noted is their most modest offering.

Which brings me to ‘12 CNNP Fu, not lucky “fu” but some literary character that is probably reserved mostly for poetry, 馥。 I’ve been “tinning” this one since about Jan in order to expedite the transformation. There’s zippo negative that I can say about this, but it is worth noting that it doesn’t seem to possess the characteristics that I associate with CNNP productions.

The fragrance, taste, fruitiness, and sweetness all explode. It has a medium to light viscosity but it is filling. It’s a super cheerful creation. The CNNP’s I’ve had previously tended to have lower notes and were more evocative of a dark honey, along with some bitterness and overall Menghai-type flair. This one is a no thinker drinker. And guess what? Kids will love it!

Drinking more of the 2011 Dayi 100 yr Century shou puerh. This was a hefty cake chunk that mrmopar sent me a year ago, I say “was” because I’m down to maybe three small chunks left. Mild but pleasantly sweet shou that is not tasting very heavy of fermentation. First few cups are darker brown, then later steeps more reddish and clear. I get a good ten steeps from a session. My tea is a little flat because I kept it in the plastic Baggie it was mailed in, compared to when chipped off fresh from the cake in mrmopar’s storage. Saw the tea online for $74, either on sale or down from $84 a year ago.

Today I am drinking a cheap ripe brick from Streetshop88, the 2005 Yunnan Aged Big Leaf Puerh Tea Ripe Fitness Brick. My first impression of this tea was that the leaves looked lower quality. After all it was a cheap brick. Then I began to drink the tea and was pleasantly surprised. There was a hint of wet wood or wet storage in only the first steep. There was very little in the way of fermentation taste to this brick. It had almost cleared. It had a nice sweet taste to it. You could probably argue that there were notes of chocolate and that it developed a fruity taste in later steeps. I think this brick is quite the find for it is that good. It was two 250g bricks for just over $25, wrapped in bamboo. I didn’t notice any taste from the bamboo but it could have been there. In the end I gave this fourteen steeps. It was still early and I didn’t want to stop drinking this delicious tea.

Yunnan Sourcing 2011 Man Tang Hong Gong Ting. Nice small intact leaves with a med. fermentation. Leaf is burgundy and brown. Deep brown broth. A nice ripe flavor, well balanced. A great blend.