pu-erh of the day. Sheng or Shou

After seeing the Essence of Tea 2001 Mengsa sell out I decided to brew up some Essence of Tea – 2000 Green Stamp again. I loaded up 7g and was hoping for strong flavours. Unfortunately I was let down. Watered down smokey wood this time. Next time.

Finishing the 2018 EoT Wuliang Wild sample. It’s so mild in taste yet with a mellow depth in feeling. A perfect fit for today. The leaf isn’t as short-lived as I initially thought. Does really well with the long and hot treatment.

2005 Chang Yu Hao Yiwu from Essence of Tea. Last 6g used. Thick, rounded liquor hitting all sides of the mouth with heavy presence. I believe this is from old trees. Flavour is deep, mellow stone fruits, plum. Got many steeps out of this.

Breaking into a Simao tuocha raw from Tea Urchin, Spring 2003. The paper has printing and branding but I can’t read it. Received as a freebie when I bought some cakes last year. Haven’t seen it for sale on their site.

The first several cups have been all creamy fluff and whispers and silk. The tea just disappears. Instant mouthfeel association with the 2005 Changtai Yun Pu Zhi Dian from Crimson Lotus. Mellow, aged, tonal with nuttiness, leather?, apricot with herbs and perfume. A big punch of bitterness disappears quickly after swallow. Kind of a milky honey huigan. Woody incense smoke aftertaste. Warming before a light cooling appears later. Small healthy leaf, lots of buds, more brown than green.

Good freebie, I’m very appreciative :)

Back to the 2017 Slumbering Dragon from Crimson Lotus. Turns out I don’t need to drink powerful yesheng using my typical pu brew of 6-7g.

Moving into Xishuangbanna, Mengla county. This is going to take a while. I have a lot of samples from Mengla, though not nearly as many as from Menghai.

Starting with Zheng Si Long 2018 Ge Deng from Tea Encounter. Woof. So, so thick and balanced. The sweetness isn’t upfront. More bitterness and stronger minerality than what I’ve experienced in other Yiwu region teas. I’ll get more detailed in my tea log some other time.

The leaves seem to run out of juice pretty quickly (to be fair, this pot does have a long pour and the tea is young), but those first handful of infusions were a treat. What a nice introduction to Tea Encounter’s offerings.

Kind of related: I helped to dismantle 3 bathroom vanities and was able to salvage a lot of nice white oak. Along with the wood, I was gifted a belt sander, a workbench and sawhorses. Neighbor across the street is a cabinet maker and he’s going to teach me how to use a table saw and router. Maybe in a month I’ll have some tea trays.

Mandala’s Antwerp’s Placebo. It’s a young ripe. I’ve yet to really grok any pu-erh thus I rarely drink them. This one, though, is quite nice. It brews up very dark but there’s no fishiness or barn yard. If anything, hints of bitter chocolate. Very clean tasting. If it weren’t so hot here, I’d want this as a daily drinker. At least I have something to look forward to come fall.

Found the name odd so I Googled it. It’s from something the Grateful Dead (ugh!) did. Fortunately, that didn’t ruin my tea experience.

Back on one of my lovely old Verdant shengs today. It’s hitting the spot in all of the best ways – rounded, refreshing, woodland/forest scents and flavours, deep orange colour… Really lovely on a Saturday morning!

2006 8582 <601> batch. Taiwan aged. Very nice with some dried fruit in the rinse along with some floral. Got some bite on the back end. probably due to the bigger leaf or some BuLang mixed in there. Sweeter as the cup cools a bit. I seem to prefer these and 7532’s over the 7542’s. Maybe these aren’t as hyped and stay more affordable longer.