pu-erh of the day. Sheng or Shou

This morning I had both a Sheng and a Shou session.

The Sheng session was with the 2009 White Moonlight from Seven Cups. Leaves were still in my Gaiwan from yesterday, and had a number of steeps left. So I sat with that for about an hour, doing my usual morning routine of Emails, Browsing tea blogs, and my usual breakfast of “PB & P” – Peanut Butter and Puerh!

Taste is balanced, for such a young puerh there is no bitterness present, not even on long steeps.

An extended aftertaste is present in the tea, offering the linger pleasure of a slight astringency, copulated with notes of sweetness that play in the mouth long after.

Tea stimulates in a subtle way, no jitteriness or tea drunk, but a calm consistent energy throughout the body.

Smooth and rich, while remaining subtle and complex. Medium steeps provide beautiful color, amber tones on the lighter side, when in the cup, but in the gaiwan still has a greenish appearance. Brewed in a porcelain Gawain, so aroma and color is much more apparent.

Steeped out the tea, cleared the cups and gaiwan, deciding I wanted to keep drinking, so threw in some 2002 Menghai 7529. Over-steeped the first infusion, which was a mistake…way too strong, even for an aged shou. Won’t make that mistake again, unless I end up in another tea trance…

Taste is smooth, clean, not earthy, but with light hints of sweetness. Slightly drying mouth feel, but not astringent (could be left over from the Rose tea I drank earlier). Utterly smooth, no smokiness. Slight Umami flavor, with notes of Jujube dates present.

Aroma is not overly strong, possibly due to cake having been dry stored, and not stored properly upon my purchase. No musty or earthy smell. Aroma is reminiscent of the taste, smooth, with a slight sweetness yet many subtle notes that come through only upon multiple inhalations.

Still going strong on this tea!

Today I drank an raw tea from EBay seller vin_enjoy. The 2016 Xiaguan Tuocha Puerh Tea Cake Raw Chi Cha Qu. This was a mix of good and bad. It started out with a note I would describe as turpentine. Someone else might describe it as medicinal. There was a lot of bitterness and astringency to this cake. There was a strong drying sensation to this tea. It did however improve. The turpentine was gone by steep five. By the twelfth steep it had evolved into something smooth and mildly sweet. There was a lot of improvement over the steeps.

I started off the day with some Green Miracle, and it was ok. Decided to try my other two samples of Wistaria, because I’m trying to decide on a purchase. The 03 Ziyin (Youle) was sour and smokey. So then I try the Tai He, and that’s just… weird. I don’t even know how to describe it. And then I start to wonder if my taste buds are just off today, so I go back to the 03 Ziyin (Nannuo) which I’ve had twice and loved both times, and it also tastes sour and weird to me.

I’m wondering if my occasional reflux issues are screwing around with my taste buds. I did have a bit of reflux this morning, but took a pill and that was the end of it. Various food items taste predictably normal, but the tea… why is it that sometimes tea just doesn’t taste right? It’s 7pm and normally I’d look forward to a long Saturday evening of tea drinking, but I think I’m just going to give up for the night. Does this happen to anyone else?

GǔShù HuáZhú Liángzi ‘16 from pu-erh.sk today; 7g/60mL. I Really liked this. A bit more direct than pu-erh.sk’s Naka, and on the sweeter side of things. Also experienced a more body focused qi (versus mind), that was less sneaky. Another one of those teas where I wonder why you’d bother aging it; it’s good now.

I’m on day two of the 2004 Year of Monkey by SGTM. It seemed more oily earlier in the year. Today its very musky. Yesterday it was very woody, mediciney, of cloves, menthol, a touch of cinnamon perhaps. There’s still a very handsome sheen on the leaves, maybe that’s kerosene. Seems like it is Mt Wuliang material in that Tulin and Xiaguan kinda way. Spicier than the Nan Zhao ’08. It is also rounder. In fact this the roundest Wuliang that favours the spice expression next to a cake from ’08 that is no longer available.
The aftertaste will become the subject of many volumes by philosophers, poets, and economist alike. The calculations derived by figuring relative tongue numbing to the force of clove times kerosene over time elapsed on mouth roof minus tongue will impress theoreticians for generations to come.

GǔShù HèKāi ‘16 from pu-erh.sk, 7g/60mL. I think this was my least favorite of the pu-erh.sk teas I’ve had so far, simply because I wasn’t jiving with the flavor as much of the others, and there weren’t any other factors that stood out to counter this. Still good though. And what exactly did it taste like? 42.

Drank some unknown maocha I picked up in Kunming earlier this year. It appears to have changed quite a bit since the spring. The tea is smoother and the flavors seem to have mellowed and melded after a Hong Kong summer. It does seem to be less aromatic and sweet than when I bought it, and the milk-and-fruit-like character it had seems to have dissipated almost entirely, but the tea is easier on the tummy now. Should be interesting to see what it’s like in a year!

Today I brought some 2004 YangPinHao from W2T to work. It is getting colder and I usually prefer Ripes in the winter, but raws with age are a good option too. This one is very woody both in base smell and taste of the liquor, possibly from that slowly fading wetter storage. Note that I said liquor as opposed to soup/broth, I usually use the later for describing those thicker and more satisfying teas that feel almost like drinking veggie or light chicken broth. This one is more on the woody, sometimes rich bittersweet, but not thick spectrum (at least to me). It offers more refreshing finish and a woody note that starts soupy but immediately is more ‘juicy’ and refreshing. Its satisfying because of the camphor that it leaves behind. As the steeps go it gets a bit of body that balances it out a bit.

Today I drank an ancient tree ripe tea from www.purepuer.com, the 2006 Jin Yu Xuan Nan Nuo Mountain Black Puerh Tea Cake. This was probably the best ten year old ripe tea I have had. There was very little fermentation to start. A little in the first couple of steeps. It was bittersweet in the start. The bitterness did not last long. There were some notes of chocolate early on. Later on I would say a dates note emerged. This became the smoothest and sweetest ripe I can remember drinking. The tea leaves for this cake come from 500 to 800 year old trees. While this cannot be proven I tend to believe Larry at Purepuer. It certainly had the lasting power of ancient trees. I steeped this 18 times and then boiled the leaves to get the rest out of them. There was also some qi to this tea, a relaxing qi, not major but there. Again this was one of the best ripes period I can remember drinking. For the price I paid I expected nothing less than the best. This was $310 for a 400g cake. While I think the cake somewhat overpriced it is damn good. Larry raised his prices a while back I think this one was fifty dollars cheaper.

Today I’m revisiting 2004 Hai Lang Hao “Nan Nuo Bai Hao” from YS. I liked this one a while back and wanted to check how it is doing. It has progressed for sure!

The wet leaves smell woody/incense-like with bitterness and (bare with me on this one) alcohol like, like the smell you get off the old drunk guy that only drinks hard liquor lol… but in a good way if that makes sense. I mention the smell because even though it is strong in aroma the liquor itself it is more rounded although it still offers astringency and bittersweet notes. At is goes down it has plenty huigan with dark rich notes and hints of that ‘alcohol’ note.

Quite honestly this one has notes that make me think it might be similar to W2Ts 1990s blue mark, but not as strong just familiar enough. If I take a whiff from the pitcher after pouring it has some spice notes to it. This was a nice surprise