pu-erh of the day. Sheng or Shou
After this morning’s disappointment I dug out a 2005 Six Famous Tea Mountain You Le sheng to try. What a relief to find a bolder tea with good legs and plenty of body. It has lasted the rest of the day and I shall continue with it tomorrow morning. I found its combination of early smoky, bitterness and the transition to a smoother, sweeter tea through the rest of the session to be really positive and enjoyable.
I have samples of both those teas that I got from Yunnan Sourcing a couple of months ago.
I too found the purple Dayi to be very bland, reading back my tasting notes of it it seems I was a bit agitated by it’s mediocrity given the price. ($8,50 for 10 grams).
Curiously enough, the next entry in my log was the SFTM You Le!
It was months ago since I last drank it, but I think I still have a chunk left so I could brew it up.
According to the notes I wrote on it, I liked it a lot in comparison to the DaYi that preceded it!
It was very smoky in the first infusions, I actually vividly recall that bit. For the rest I wrote the base flavour to be decent, but backed by a nice subtle adstringency and a short lived spike of bitterness that transitions quickly, which gave the tea some life.
I also noted a subtle, but persistent aftertaste.
I’ll check my stash to see if I still have some so I can post an update. I know I still have some of the DaYi, but I’m not too eager to try that one now.
I don’t blame you not wanting to try the DaYi again. I have a small sample left and plan to just drink it grandpa style from my flask. It should be fine for that and that way I shall not waste any of it.
Hmm, good call! I think I’ll take it with me to work, and grandpa it there like you suggested.
I also found out that I still have a fairly nice chunk of the SFTM sample, 11 grams!
Edit; Drinking it again now, not too interesting taste wise, but it does feel nice, especially in the throat!
All in all, I must say I like it. Don’t recall what I paid for it, though.
Pu’er is the heartland of the origin place of tea trees in the world, the hometown of “Pu’er Tea” and the start of the ancient tea-horse roads.
In Pu’er, there is the wide-leaf magnolia fossil, which is the ancestor of tea trees dated back to 35.40 million years ago, the king of the wild ancient tea trees of 2,700 years old, transitional ancient tea trees with a history of more than 1,700 years and cultivated ancient tea trees covering ten thousand mu and boasting a history of one thousand years. In addition, the city has 3.25 million mu of tea gardens, including 1.36 million mu of modern tea gardens, 1.18 million mu of wild ancient tea communities, 180,000 mu of ancient tea trees and 530,000 mu of tea tree forests.
Among a variety of tea leaves, Pu’er Tea is reputed to be a “curio” we can drink for its unique taste, special health care functions and high collection value.
I like the sheng/raw puerh tea, especially like the the fragrance of the tea.
for example：2007 year DAETEA 7542,Menghai Tea Factory
Tonight is Butiki’s 1989 Suncha Blend.
Broke this out to brew tonight. The dry leaf in my nose seems to be of cantaloupe or honey dew melon. It is very nice and not with any off notes.
I gave it a very quick rinse and off we go. To be honest this is my second day on this tea. I was a little busy to post about it on the first day. I did make notes though. I really like this blend of sheng and shou. It gives a little sharp note of the sheng just for a moment and then the smooth and creamy shou comes in. It has a little of that wood and smoke and then a hit of the raisin and sweetness on the backnotes. This is very smooth and I think the balance is nice. Pine , sweet , oak and the nice sweet of a nice shou enter into this one. Nice and balanced . Sharp from the sheng for a moment and sweet from the shou after. Nice and wonderful blend.
Gong fu style in the yixing. Complex and wonderful.
Flavors: Oak wood, Pine, Raisins, Smoke, Sweet, Wood
I had a very good experience with the sample of this tea I had. Felt nice too.
I haven’t tried Sheng/Shou blends. I need to try it, I guess if done correctly it could be really good!
And so I move on through my samples. Today I have reached the end of my Yunnan Sourcing samples with a 2009 Yunnan Sourcing Road to Yi Wu “Man Zhuan” sheng. This is a lovely tea with caramel and chocolate in the aroma, and chocolate nuttiness in the taste. I particularly like the way it pops on the tongue like space dust. There is a lot going on and one with a more developed palate than mine should find plenty to explore here.
Having said that, I did look for reviews online and they seem to be mixed, verging on the not so good. I guess my brewing technique works for it.
Thanks for sharing your tasting notes on this tea. I’ve been very curious about this one (and the related Ding Jia Zha) but the prices scared me off. Your description is enticing and it might be worth spending $11 on the sample.
Yes, the prices are scary. As I wrote in the tasting note (or think I did because I meant to), it seems very expensive for a full beeng, but chucking some money down for a sample has proven worthwhile.
I did a little translation on from an article I found on the pu’er tea regions. I think the ones that come from the official 6 great mts, as designated in the Qing automatically command higher prices, especially as pu’er’s popularity rises domestically.
“The Six Great Tea Mountains and Associated Villages
- See more at: http://universotea.com/content/puer-essentials-six-great-tea-mts#sthash.UaJwlTym.dpuf
Trying my first White 2 Tea today! 2014 White2Tea 46&2.
A fairly smooth young sheng. It is soft and kind of floral, very nice flavor. Bitterness comes through after a few steepings. I think those that like young shengs will find this one very pleasing. I like more upfront punchiness, though this is a quality tea for sure. Looking forward to digging into a white whale brick soon! That should satisfy my hunger for zip and zing if it lives up to the hype.
A few months ago I picked up the 2007 Boyou Chun Jie Ji Nian Bing Cha Ripe from royalpuer.com and I’ve been working on it over the past three days. This Boyou ripe is smooth to the taste with all the sweet, earthy notes one would expect from a good cooked puerh. Brewing the leaves produces a bright brown, ruby red liquor with a creamy, sweet taste. I was able to detect special and intense aromas of spicy dried fruits with a lingering finish. I’ve worked through eight steeps now and it probably has more to offer but I’m ready to move on. I am rather glad I picked it up.
Sheng, 2005 JINUO SHAN YOU LE “RED SUN DRUM” PU-ERH TEA
again, its really dern good :)
2002 CNNP Private Order Little Yellow Mark Aged Sheng by white2tea. Rich guy’s vault and TwoDog managed to escape with this stash. So excited to find this in my parcel as a sample. This a powerful leaf begging to be rescued and treated to a spa. Hard to believe it is this old already and still so powerful. Great aging project for someone.
Today I sat down with an old friend, a 1990’s Ding Xing Hao aged sheng from an unknown manufacturer. I skipped my traditional morning tea for some reason so by the afternoon I was ready to sit down and have a cup. I chose a 150cc gaiwan with 4g of tea as I wanted to experience many steepings. 212 degree water, 10s rinse and rest.
The first steeping was 25s and very soft. Elements of grasses, light bark, water. I probably should have tossed this steeping, it was basically rinse quality. Second steeping of 10s emerged stronger dark brown grasses, clean earth tones, the tea was just waking up. Third steeping 15s the tea was coming to full strength. Golden amber color liquor with notes of milk thistle, a faint deep smell of raspberry, and a sense of herbal medicine were present. There is really no bitterness in this tea. The cha qi was making its self knows as I began to feel relaxed and calm, more present in my body. By the fourth steeping the hui gan was becoming quite strong and lingering as I awaited the next steeping to finish.
By the sixth steeping my 16 month old daughter became interested in this tea. We shared this steeping together and she seemed pleased. It warms my heart to see her enjoy these teas so much. At this point I began to notice olfactory elements of methanol gas and sulfuf. Wait, was that… yep. Poopy diaper. Changed the baby and back to the tea.
Seventh steeping 35s the tea was softening and opening up. Gone were many of the grassy elements replaced with the smooth spreading quality of broad open leaf and a hint of orange creamsicle minus the orange. Fascinating… the complexity of this tea… More help from my daughter on the eighth steeping, which she had most of and loudly proclaimed “YUM” after both her cups.
Ninth and final steeping this tea is still going strong, the liquor is still golden brown in color with still a hint of herbal medicine and new notes of sweet potato. The hui gan and cha qi still quite present. This tea could probably go another 9 steepings but I must be off to run errands. I am reminded why this is my favorite tea, amazing flavor and complexity… I am relaxed, at peace, and grateful to be able to enjoy this special tea.
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