pu-erh of the day. Sheng or Shou

A few teas I havent drunk enough to warrant full reviews

2008 song of chi tse. The first thing that struck me was a mushroom note.

I’m glad im buying more shou & getting interested in the differences, I like the 2009 bulang gushu gong ting, it was ‘good’ tasting even though it wasnt the usual notes that I like (sweet thick chocolatey), it was more bitter and thin, but defo rich. i think its interesting to drink.

2013 peacock blend. Loved this, I get milk taste from it straight away..

My second cup of the day was Mandala’s Noble Mark.

Today I drank a 2kg ripe brick I bought on Taobao. As best as I could transliterate the name it is the 2004 King Mai Ye Yunnan Yunnan Puer Tea Brick 2 kg Early Spring. While there is no way to validate the claim of early spring, a translation of the back of the brick did say it was from 2004. The fact that it had partially cleared seems to confirm that. There were some wet storage notes early on, for about the first two steeps. They were not strong. They were replaced by a sweet note, not sure how to describe it. It had a very thick mouth feel in the early steeps. It was in the end a nice tea. I only paid about $85 with shipping. If Taobao Focus didn’t get an obscene amount for shipping it would have been an even better bargain. I realize I took a serious risk buying a 2kg brick from an unknown seller on Taobao. They could just as easily have been selling something from 2015 and passing it off as 2004 tea. It seems their claims were accurate about the age. No way to know if this is really spring tea. Spring tea is not usually made into ripe but it could be. In any case it was good, and a bargain to boot.

today i have this: http://steepster.com/teas/yunnan-sourcing/72596-2012-nan-jian-certified-organic-mini-brick-ripe-pu-erh-tea

official page: http://yunnansourcing.com/en/nan-jian-tea-factory/1464-2012-nan-jian-certified-organic-mini-brick-ripe-pu-erh-tea-100-grams.html

my original review: http://steepster.com/Kirkoneill1988/posts/331837

i plan on having a few others i had yesterday or this too: http://steepster.com/teas/yunnan-sourcing/26991-gong-ting-pu-erh-in-tangerine-golden-horse-8685-ripe-tea

official page: http://yunnansourcing.com/en/otherfactories/1628-gong-ting-pu-erh-in-tangerine-golden-horse-8685-ripe-tea.html

my origional review: (i could not get link)

i also had this first thing when i woke up: http://steepster.com/teas/yunnan-sourcing/53302-2013-huang-ying-menghai-raw-pu-erh-tea-mini-brick

official page:http://yunnansourcing.com/en/otherfactories/2658-2013-huang-ying-menghai-raw-pu-erh-tea-mini-brick-100-grams-.html

My original review: http://steepster.com/Kirkoneill1988/posts/331880

A 2015 Xiaguan Gold Ribbon Tuo Cha. I was worried it’d be savagely bitter, but it wasn’t too bad. Definitely had some bitterness, but was absolutely withstandable. Mostly sweet-ish vegetal flavors.

Had, over the course of two days, a lovely time with some 2000 Yi Wu Shan Tea Brick from Yunnan Sourcing Tea Club for March. Really liked this stuff – it’s the oldest tea, puerh or otherwise, I’ve had – and it was super tasty. Dark, reddish, nice sweetness and that aged taste / fermentation?, earthy…I also had a nice hit of sweet/tart cherry (maybe) through the mid steepings. All in all, really enjoyed this!

http://yunnansourcing.com/en/otherfactories/3795-2000-yi-wu-shan-aged-raw-pu-erh-tea-brick.html

This morning I finished trying the 3 You Le shengs that came with the Sheng Olympics. They all have positive but different characteristics. I have decided to join the rest of the three samples to have a ‘mix’ of the three teas next weekend as I have already had a bit too much tea today. Holding thumbs.

Today I went back to my Yunnan Sourcing order and drank a ripe tea, the 2004 Nan Jian Feng Huang Ripe Puerh Tea Tuo Cha 250g. This tea was one I managed to enjoy despite it having a rough start. It started with a fair amount of wet storage taste. This note of wet wood lasted into I would say the sixth steep. It was then replaced by a sweeter note. This tea never developed the note of chocolate that people seem to want in their ripe tea. It just wasn’t that sort of tea. It was tasty in the end. I will have to revisit it in six months to see if the note of wet storage goes away.

I’ve been drinking the good stuff lately. Yesterday was the last day for YQH orders so I was drinking samples before making a last-minute decision to buy part of a cake. Today, I started with W2T 2005 Naka, and am now drinking the Tea Urchin 2011 4 Peaks Lo Man E, which is really good.