pu-erh of the day. Sheng or Shou
2011 Yubang Golden Needle White Lotus Ripe by Tuochatea
I decided to take a chance with my last order from Tuochatea, and try two cakes I never heard of. Their prices are so cheap, it is worth the risk! Some of their cakes have not gone up in price since 2009! These days, with pu erh prices so inflated, that is saying a lot. This tea is only $16 (plus shipping). It’s my first tea from the Kunming Guyi factory. The wrapper is pretty (hey, you know you look!), though the sticker seal is impossible to undo without busting up the wrapper. This is a wonderful tea, and an amazing bargain. It is dark, rich and deep, clean and smooth. No off tastes, except for what I think is a little travel aftertaste from being in a box and on transports for 6 weeks (just got this a few days ago; I hope it is not something more serious). There is no earthiness or mustiness, this is one of those cleaner shus. It held up to a lot of steepings. This is a real keeper and I will have to get another with my next order!
Hey, that sounds fantastic. Thanks for posting about it. Do you have the link for your tea?
Yeah, I don’t like the trend in stickers. BTW, the prices of pu’er are reaching a global average. As one who deals in Chinese herbs many from Yunnan, I can tell you that it’s not just pu’er. The cost of notoginseng, which could be purchased for less than $50/lb five yrs ago is now over $500! Sellers in Chinatown have even stopped providing products with that ingredient. Other herbs like tian-ma and Prince Seng, have also gone through the roof, the latter from $19/lb to over $130, last time I checked two years ago. The costs of labour, weather challenges, and speculation in the mkt have had serious implications for the natural products market. I seriously doubt that that trend will reverse itself, as some have opined. Everybody wants more cash and as the dollar equalizes with the rmb… Well, you get the picture.
My second pu erh from Tuocha today! Another good one at a great price. The first few steeps were a bit subdued, with somewhat damp flavor. Then, after about 4 infusions, it got much nicer. Fruitiness, some sweetness, and still thick, slight astringency. Holds up well. All in all a tea worth trying!
I’m just here to brag about the belated birthday gift I just got. ELEVEN puerh samples from TeaUrchin!!! I will be sure to post notes about them all since hardly any have been reviewed on Steepster :) :) :)
You go girl! I have a sample of that one myself. Looking forward to hearing how you like it. Love TU!
2005 CNNP Ripe Brick by Tuochatea
Another nice tea and great bargain from Tuochatea. This one is $8.50 for 250 g. It’s not out of this world, but it is a clean mellow ripe cake, with some age behind it. No off flavors, medium body, a cleaner shu, not earthy or musty. Again, another one worth sampling if you are placing an order with Tuochatea.
2010 Guyi Yubang Dong Ban Shan by Tuochatea
Another Tuochatea offering I tried, rounding out my tour of some of their teas this weekend. This one is a sheng from Guyi. Not nearly as good as the ripe I tried yesterday. It’s not terrible, but it definitely falls flat. Kind of that bad dull dirt type flavor, with some overtones of fruit and citrus. So I suppose my risk in trying two cakes from Guyi paid off. This one is not so good, but the other was excellent. Only wasted $16 or so and I’ll add a few of the ripe cakes to my collection.
2011 Taochaoju Yiwu Guyun Raw
Enjoying this fine selection from Paul at White 2 Tea. I requested a sample of this and his 2007 Taochaoju Yiwu with my last order because I was interested but wanted to be certain before purchasing a cake. This one definitely delivers on the promise of using very fine leaf from one of the Six Ancient Tea Mountains. Very mellow tea with a smooth texture. Clear golden honey colored tea liquor. Sip at first is woodsy but becomes vegetal, sweet and a little creamy very quickly. Cooling with a dry coating in the mouth. It has only the slightest bit of a very pleasant astringency. By the 4th steep, this is a very light apricot fruity tea – delicious!
Hello Everybody! I hope you’re all well and drinking lots of tea! This morning I am sampling a 2011 Menghai Golden Phoenix (again, courtesy of John). A brief wash releases a pleasant smokey floral aroma. The soup has a soft sweetness with a charming mouthfeel. Nice hui gan with this one. I’m enjoying this tea and will be steeping it the rest of the day. Good one Mrmopar!
The only pu I’ve had this morning is my beloved Special Dark. Other than that, I’ve had some Jun Chiyabari from Single Origin, Golden Orchid and now working on some Golden Fleece. I’m still trying to make time for a whole day or two of shengs – maybe next weekend.
I have to agree with Tea Urchin’s description of this tea. It is quite nice, smooth with a touch of bitterness, a little coffee type flavor. Clean and medium bodied. And it’s gushu (wild trees), so that’s a plus! A quality tea all around. This and the Lang He Yu Pin are great ripe cakes from TU, I’ve tried the other two they currently have and they are not terribly interesting.
Having Yunnan Sourcing’s 2012 Sen Zhi Kui Bada cake.
After reading the vendor description I think I am ready to go. I picked off 9 grams and broke out the Yixing for this one. dry leaf looks nice and there is no “heavy” compression on this one which means it will age faster. A 5 second rinse and an almost damp hay aroma to it. First steep 10 seconds and it brews a nice darker yellow brew. It has a bit of an edge to it without being too harsh. It has a light floral semi-sweet note that coats the mouth and tongue with some viscosity to it. It does bring for a sweet honey plum note at the end. I still think it has room to grow but should turn out well.
Flavors: Hay, Honey
Teavivre sample Ancient Tree Spring Chun Jian Raw Puerh Cake 2012. Actually the tea was loose whole leaf, smelled malty. After a rinse and a brew I inspected my Yixing to see the leaves and found a black chest or pubic hair in the pot. No way it can be mine, I have white hair. Threw out the entire sample. Ew…
I’ve found you have to treat miscellaneous objects in puer tea like prizes in a box of cereal, just in order to maintain your sanity! I’ve found many a stray hair, chicken feather, bug, or other random object in cakes of puer.
“Prizes”, I tell myself….“prizes.”
Then pick out the offender and keep brewing.
Maybe, just do another rinse if it bugs you?
I’m with TwoDog on this one, I’ve learned to live with stuff like this and now it merely amuses me. Xiaguan has been very generous with the gifts to me, I think with the weight of all the “prizes” combined they owe me a tuo!
That’s unfortunate! But as TwoDog2 mentioned, is not at all uncommon. I’ve found that smaller factories have less of these, but you’ll still find your usual ‘prize’. I’ve found pebbles, twigs(not tea related), human hair, not so human hair, broom hairs, pieces of the tarp they use to cover Shou. In other words, I’m a lucky guy with prizes lol. If you feel like is not head hair discard it, but I’d argue that it is head hair that looks ‘funny’ since it was probably strained while breaking the cake itself.
Well the follicle on a head hair is different. This was definitely a body hair. If this was a cake I had ordered, and not a loose tea sample, I could have inspected the rest of the cake. But it was a small sample packet with maybe 15 grams of loose tea. Out it went!
The other trick is to pretend it’s the hair of whatever person you find most attractive on planet Earth.
It takes some suspension of logic, but makes it much more palatable.
Lol. I am kind of past it where that kind of thinking has much effect anymore. I have found broom type fibers in tea before.
LOL. I remember that I was enjoying once of my favorite Ripes (brick) and when I had about 30-40grams left I was surprised… I had not found a single foreign material in it! I broke off a piece to celebrate and there it was, staring at me the biggest pebble in any Puerh I’ve owned so far. Now is a funny story. :P
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