pu-erh of the day. Sheng or Shou

Four Peaks Lao Man E Summer 2011 by Tea Urchin

Just received my second Tea Urchin order, what a great company. They put their cakes into individual little boxes. Everything was packed with care. This tea is a blend. It was pretty good, as usual from Tea Urchin. It had some interesting flavors, a moderate amount of bitterness for a Lao Man E, and strong cha qi. My wife and I got a little tea drunk. It lacked somewhat in zip and strength, which are my top preferences. But it was very nice nonetheless.

After my Korean sejak session I decided to try out a CNNP cake that has been living in a cardboard box under my bed for 5 years. It has been under there so long now I am not sure what it is anymore. Except I can tell visually from the cake and in the pot it is a blend of mostly shu and some wild raw leaves. Performs like a shou, not much variation in the steeps. I threw out 3 steeps just to get to the later ones and see if it varied from dank earth, but it didn’t. It is a no fail pleasant shou. I should really just break up the cake and pile it into a jar to drink up, as I am now just considering it a drinker, but I stuck it back under the bed, lol.

Today is a sheng from a 600 year old single tree in Duo-Yi Village, Nannuo (available at JK tea shop). This tea comes in loose form and has beautiful, long leaves. The wet leaves have a pleasant nose that brings back old memories of Bai Mudan. Perhaps I may just have to steep some white tea one of these days. The best way to describe this tea is Bai Mudan with some mouth feel. Frankly, I think the name of the tea is more impressive than the tea itself. Its good at best. 79/100

Having a 2011 Hai Lang Hao Autumn Yuan Sheng Xiang.
Working this one up tonight, an interesting description by the seller.
Dry leaf slight smoke and vegetal aroma.
One rinse with 10 grams in the Gaiwan. A spicy green aroma to this one.
First steep, actually 3 short ones for the cup. Brewed aroma wood and steamed vegetables.
First sip pretty stout with some tongue tingling going on. Pine and citrus seem to come to mind on this one. Very nice lively mouth-feel on this one. A nice little hit of camphor along with the other flavors dancing around. A very complex one to drink but simply enjoyable.

Flavors: Camphor, Pine, Wood

Having a Hai Lang Hao 2013 “Zhu Jiu”
Ordered a sample of this to try on my last order.
I broke out 11 grams for the Gaiwan. Went with a 5 second rinse to wake up the leaf . It is flora land aromatic after the rinse. Did 3 quick 5 second steeps for the big mug for this one. Color is a bit lighter than I expected, more like the color of a newer tea. Avery thick tea with a decent shot of bitterness.
Quite potent with hints of pepper , wood camphor and a bit of the saltiness that some shengs can give.
It really opened me up to some deep breathing about halfway through the cup. Nice Huigan on this one. Tongue tingle goes a bit after drinking this one for a while. Some hints of apple in this one also. Very nice tea. Sweetness at the end.

2013 Bada Shan Wild Tree sheng by Camellia Sinensis. 11 gr in the 260 ml pot but didn’t completely fill with water, kind of a big Jian Shui pot I am using. Spicy, cinnamon, can taste the peony of fresh green tea. Spicy gone after about 3 infusions. The description for this puerh says large “orange” leaves were added. I am not sure why they are orange, or where the spice comes from. Need to investigate the dry cake more.

Sampling the 2010 Chen Sheng Yi Hao (offered by TeaUrchin) over the past three days. Highly recommend! Easy to make the decision to purchase an entire tea cake. A very exciting sampling for me because this particular Chen Sheng Hao is built upon high quality Lao Ban Zhang leaf. Sweet, soft and creamy in the mouth with a pleasant swallow; very gentle kuwei which I thoroughly enjoyed. Took it for 12 steeps and the tea continued to give – smooth until the very end.

I’m having a cube of something that a seller threw into my order, called Cun Lei? Cang Ming. Can’t be too sure about the second character as I can’t find it in either of my reliable dictionaries. In any case, it is a mini of about 8g of tightly packed raw. Citrusy smelling, a hint of sour at the front, then wet sweet, round full mouth-feel, hit of pepper on the back end. Light coloured broth. Steeped at 10s, temp of about 190 After the rinse of maybe 40 s in tepid water, I used the pick to break up the cube. Tastes smoother on the warmish side. Mild astringency, sparky in the mouth, aftertaste decent.

Yunnan Sourcing 2012 “Bi Luo Chan” certified organic green spring Wu Lian Mountain. The quotes must mean it is not a true Bi Luo Chan. Anyway it tastes completely like a sheng, spicy, dry on the throat. Tastes like tea that would go into a cake rather than rolled.

Enjoying my Hai Lang Hao “Big Snow Mountain” on it’s second day. Was wondering if there’s ever a problem with mold growing on the leaves when they’re left overnight? It tastes just fine but was concerned about that. I had left the wet leaves in an open strainer container when I finished with them yesterday.