pu-erh of the day. Sheng or Shou
Today I also drank Misty Peak’s newest tea, their 2016 Spring Tea. This was quite good overall. There was very little bitterness. There were sweet notes of apricots, stonefruits and what I would describe as dry grapes without the intense sweetness of a grape, just a flavor. This is definitely a tea worth having. There was a little bit of astringency but not a huge amount. There has been a lot of controversy about this tea, was it Spring 2016 or another harvest? To be honest there is no evidence that this was an earlier harvest although it was technically I guess a winter harvest. For some reason they still call the first harvest of the year spring even if it is not yet spring when they pick the leaves. As to whether this was as good as previous years Misty Peaks? That is something I have not decided on yet. I will have to drink the 2015 or 2014 tea again and then comment on if this is as good as those harvests. Overall it was very good tea and a good value for the price. Many will comment that it can’t be gushu for the price he charges. That is something I really see no evidence for one way or the other. Like I said it was excellent tea.
0532 shu in the morning, and a couple of sessions with the YS Da Qing 2015 raw in the afternoon.
The Da Qing was my fave from a batch of samples gotten late last year, and I recently got the bing of it after deciding I could happily drink it every day. Of course now that I’ve got it I’m starting to find faults with it. I was so taken with the aroma and flavor that I failed to notice that it’s a bit lacking in power. But I’m finding that if I up the infusion time after the first 5-6 steeps, and again after 4-5 more, that it gets better in that respect. And is still good for around 12-14 infusions, which is “lots” in my way of thinking.
[EDIT] should have said “up the rate of increase of infusion time…”
Enjoying the 2007 Menghai Dayi 7262-701 this morning – a classic shu production from Menghai Dayi and it is viewed as one of Dayi’s “lighter fermentation” cakes. The outside of the cake is covered with golden buds and tips. Taste profile is primarily creaminess, sweet wood and earthiness. No signs at all of smoke or fermentation – overall very smooth and mellow sip.
Drank the 2016 Fade from Whhite2Tea today. This was good tea. It was said to have some of the Bosch in there but I didn’t really find it. Maybe next time. It was fairly bitter early on. But it lost it’s bitterness and became something sweeter. It was overall pretty good. It had a strong aftertaste that was slightly bitter and some qi. Not a massive qi but I am feeling something. A lot of qi for a cheap brick. It was nice of Paul to send a whole brick in this month’s club package.
AllanK, do you think the 2016 Fade should be stored for awhile or is it good enough to drink now? I got mine in the club package this month too and have heard differing opinions.
I would definitely recommend trying the Fade now. Even if you don’t like it, the experience of understanding how a tea can change after being pressed is valuable. One of the advantages of the tea club is being able to try things “hot of the presses”.
I think the Fade was good enough to drink now. It was slightly bitter but I don’t know if this is a characteristic that will fade with the Fade.
I have sampled what I believe to be the maocha of this tea and also a decade old maocha of the same that Paul provided me as a free sample. It is drinkable now and ages slowly, I suppose it will be especially slower in aging compressed in brick form. So unless you plan on aging it for decades (in which case you may want to buy another cake), you can plan on drinking it in the near future.
It’s definitely good now. Brewing at a lower temp (off boil, 200-ish) may help with the bitter, as well as easing up on the leaf. For what it’s worth, I don’t find it to be bitter, so it’s worth trying now just to see how you like it. I may buy some to age, should be fun to try as it ages. I would have done that with Bosch, but for the price tag.
Thanks everyone for your responses! I think I will try some now and put some aside and try it again in 3-6-9 months. I appreciate your comments and advice.
Got another eight steeps out of the 2010 Xing Hai from Canton Tea Co that I started yesterday. That’s pretty good going. I think it works out to 14 steeps in total before it lost the smokiness that I so like.
Drinking the Fade today as well. I’m not getting any bitterness from it, despite heavy leafing, but maybe my tastebuds have just developed a strong tolerance for bitterness. The best part of this is the aftertaste, which is long lasting and interesting. Some (uninteresting?) qi, no stomach upsets. The only thing that would caution me from drinking this now is the sourness, but it’s not overpowering, and some may like it.
I’m curious how this will settle from it’s pressing in the coming months. My experience from both the Green Shroom and Pin tell me that passing any final judgements on this tea right now would be premature.
ETA: Also, I threw on life of Pablo while I was drinking, and was impressed.
I just finished my first session with this and I found zero bitterness either, but I also didn’t find it sour. Some slight qi. I found it got sweeter as I steeped through it but it began with a fairly grassy note for me.
Interesting. I can see not finding it sour, but I don’t remember getting anything remotely grassy off of it.
Yup, up on the Fade with all the W2T kids ;)
I didn’t get the bitterness (as some have mentioned) beyond a nice touch of astringency at first – but I like that, like a wake up, or high notes in a song. But in general, not really at all. Very tasty, and sweet. I felt pretty powerful, though short lived, qi from it the 2 sessions I’ve had with it (once inside with Life of Pablo on, once outside by a small pond in the late afternoon sun). After the qi flush faded, I still had several hours of strong caffeinated tea-drunk to enjoy. Great stuff, gonna go buy some more!
It is no fun to age Shou Pu-erh, it might become smoother but does not change much. Shou Pu-erh is already mature and done from very begining.
I disagree completely. Shu can transform into something much better, as long as you have good temperature and humidity and proper storage. Well aged shu is like well aged liu bao—sweeter and aromatic with much more complexity than new shu.
Shou will settle and lose the funk from the processing. So I think it will change as well. Just not as much as sheng.
The aged puerh sample we got at the seminar on aged teas at the Coffee and Tea Festival NYC was from I believe 1992 or 1997. It had undergone dramatic changes. This sample has convinced me that shou can in theory change as much as sheng. It had more than lost it’s fermentation taste. It tasted much like an aged sheng actually. It was quite surprising.
A friend gifted me some shu from a private collection from the 80s. It was excellent. Some companies, Langhe in particular, produce their shu on the lighter side, expecting them to be aged further. When I received their Imperial Round it was hideously astringent, tasting much like hongcha. After one summer in 75%+ humidity, with temps upwards of 90, it had become deliciously rich and smooth, worthy of its price.
I am not really a fan of shou Pu-erh…but like Yang-chu said about his Puerh. It is a “lighter cooked” one, it would have more potential to change. The green is like and energy for the microbe, without that the microbe will do their job…slooowly much more slowly.
Even heavily fermented shu can change dramatically in tropical conditions vs Kunming storage. I used to think aging shu was silly, but I have since seen the light!
Today I drank a ripe from Yunnan Sourcing, the 2008 Menghai Qi Zi Zhi Ge Ripe Puerh Tea. This was a tea that I can’t not compare to another tea, the 2008 Menghai Song of Chi Tse by Berylleb King Tea. This is because they are the same exact tea with different names and different storage conditions. If my memory is correct the Song of Chi Tse has cleared, having virtually no fermentation taste left. This tea has not cleared. While the fermentation taste was clean, I detected no fishy taste, it was strong in the first three or four infusions. This was an excellent tea, dark and rich in the early infusions. It had a bittersweet taste at first which got better over a number of steeps and became sweet in nature. There was some chocolate taste to this tea. This was very good tea, but if my memory is not faulty, the Song of Chi Tse was better? Could their storage have been that much better. Maybe I remember it as being better than it is? I have to dig up that tea and drink it again soon for a comparison. In any case this was excellent tea that I highly recommend.
Berylleb is based in Shanghai. Maybe their tea is from Guangzhou? Humidity makes a huge difference to shu aging, too. When I buy shu from Kunming it’s often so dry it’s crispy! I’ve had the same year of 7581 from Kunming and Taiwan and the Taiwanese one was much better.
Do you ever find storage to be too dry? Do you prefer an item to be aged without the assistance of microbes?
Storage can be too dry and too wet too (mold). 70% humidity seems to be about ideal, although temperature and humidity fluctuations created the 88 Qing Bing, which started the dry storage buzz
Yes. I was alluding to preferences. 70 sounds decent to me but I know others who seem to prefer even drier. Of course, HK traditional store is going to give you much more. I know I don’t like the ones where they definitely push the envelope, but I’ve found after airing for 1/2 year they’re ok. Something does seem to be sacrificed in the wet approach, but I’m not sure if much of that can be attributed to the quality of maocha.
Heavy traditional storage will almost completely remove all of the original aroma. Some people here like that kind of pu erh though! I prefer light traditional storage, but HK/Taiwan dry storage is my preference for sure.
Glad to hear your thoughts on this one! Interesting to see the difference in storage.
Login or sign up to leave a comment.