pu-erh of the day. Sheng or Shou

I’m drinking tea and applying for jobs today. I so love job applications … not. The 2004 Man Zhuan from Zheng Zhi is doing a good job of keeping me calm and focused though. It’s quite mellow with a nice astringency that develops shortly after swallowing and continues to make the tongue prickle for some time. There’s a light fruitiness to it and something floral and woody that is very enjoyable. Definitely a good choice for today.

Trying the 2013 Ye Xin Raw Pu-erh by Yunnan Sourcing
A nice fairly easy to drink young sheng. It brews a pale gold, the liquor is very nice, thick and hearty through numerous infusions. The flavor is good, basic, a little floral and sweet, but some sourness is pervasive. This is a nice quality tea, good but not great, and is priced fairly at $28.

I’m enjoying some 2013 Ontario 1357 Shou from Whispering Pines. Really smooth with an intense body feel. Nice!

I drank a 2008 Nan Jian sheng this AM, then I had some Phatty Cake as a nice afternoon shou. I felt quite sleepy after. Is that normal for some shous? Or unrelated?

I think I am gonna bust into one of my final Yezi shou samples after dinner. :)

I drank an excellent raw puerh tonight, Misty Peak Teas Raw Rolled Puerh Balls. They were smooth and sweet without more than a hint of bitterness. I wish they were not so expensive. He had them on sale at two for one, still they are $4.95 per ball. At 7g each that is pretty pricy. At that price I won’t soon be buying more.

I am enjoying an excellent raw puerh this morning that Garret from Mandala gave me a sample of. It’s 2013 Misty Peak Yiwu Raw. I can’t believe this is 2013. It’s got a deep honey sweetness, some stone fruitiness and no bitterness. There’s also a light spicy note. I’m confused though. Doesn’t Misty Peak sell tea too?

This morning’s coffee substitute was the 2010 Dragon Pillar by Menghai Dayi.
I’ve wanted to try this one for a while. Thank you Steepster trading friend. This is supposedly one of the upper tier Dayi cakes. This one fetches $90 right now. My how prices have skyrocketed for some of these Dayi teas. Is it hype or is it that good? Hype. It’s really not bad, but far from the best dayi I’ve tasted. It basically is an average Dayi ripe, though it did not hold up that well. Not terribly interesting nor smooth, but good flavor nonetheless. It would be a good buy if it were, say, $30.

Spending time with a 2005 sheng I discovered thanks to an older note from Hobbes – 2005 Green City Peak Arbor purchased from Puerhshop.com. This one has a nice yet subtle complexity. The taste is vibrant and fresh with a definite mushroom flavor. Seems to have nice endurance – two rinses and 10 steeps in and I believe it has more to give.

My second day of steeping 2011 Spring Norbu White Buds Sheng by Norbu Tea
Dry leaves are so pretty silvery green and uniform in size. Sweet, somewhat floral with pine notes. Later steeps introduce anise maybe. pretty thick, yellow. there is some bitterness but its slight and welcoming to make things interesting.
i’m so glad be able to try such unusual and great tasting tea.

2005 Wild Tree “Ye Sheng Cha” Raw Pu-erh tea brick of Dehong Yunnan Sourcing.
I think its first time im tasting wet stored aged sheng.
its sweet and herb spicy. Also menthol pretty pronounced in the beginning. i pick up some earthiness, like dump soil, but its not much,some trace. its not unpleasant to me. had more than 6 steeps, color is orange tinted. Again, my steeps were very short, maybe if you steep longer color would be brighter. Long lasting sweetness. Coolness in my mouth remained for a long time.
I think i like it a lot.