Wild Monk Sheng Pu'er (2012)

within 20 minutes of its delivery this tea was in my pot, it is semi sweet with very melow earthy undertones not pungient like many puers, the leaf grade is outstanding its clear that much thought went into the production and due to the nature of the trees it was harvested from no cup will be the same.

The more I drink this pu’er the more I fall in love with it. I will be ordering more tonight.

This is my first Sheng, and I love it! It took me a while to get used to Pu’er tea, as I’m more of a fan of Oolongs and Chinese Black (Red) teas. Very lovely and I’m reaping the health benefits of Pu’er!

I have this and still have yet to open it. It smells deeply smoky and earthy. When I don’t forget about its existence completely I often wonder when I will finally have the nerves to crack it open. It was supposed to be the first of many puerh cakes.. but here we are.. me and it. Alone together.

One day I will drink some. Probably tomorrow actually. Baby steps.

Brief note

While trying to get through my sample stash, I had came upon this one from the old sample box that LP had sent a few months ago. I apparently hadn’t finished the samples from the box (there are four more remaining which must’ve been more than a session’s worth at the time).

I must say that this reminded me a lot of pipe tobacco. It mostly reminded me of the pipe itself after it hasn’t been smoked from in months and months. The pipe has that slight subtle note of tobacco, but has lost that once dominant odor/smell/flavor. I’m guessing that this must’ve been a smoky sheng once upon a time, but has ceased to be the smoky tea like it had been. Now, you only get the reminder that it once was something smoky, but currently remains as the reminder of something that once was….

Another small sample out of the Puerh TTB! Brewed 4g up in handy 60mL gaiwan. After really enjoying the 2015 Reprise cake, I was interested to try the OG Wild Monk that people seem to have raved about. The dry leaves had a bit of a smoky aroma to them, which only intensified after a rinse. There was also some fruity and perhaps woody notes to the leaf aroma.

There was a bit of smoke to the first two steeps, but it wasn’t unpleasant. Other than the smoke, those two steeps had a bit of a fruity finish and were thick and creamy in the mouth, leaving a bit of a tingling sensation on my tongue.

By the third steep, the smoke was gone, replaced by a few different flavors which interplayed nicely. There was a hint of cinnamon, along with the fruity sweetness. The fruity notes weren’t intensely peach or apricot or anything, but were pretty laid back. By the fifth steep, I was also getting a bit of a sugary sweetness in the front of the sip.

This tea had some pretty powerful qi – even with the small amount, I was really feeling it by this point in the tea session. Felt pretty tipsy and fuzzy-headed. In terms of flavor, this tea really hit its stride around steep six as well. A great balance of bitterness and sweetness. There is just a touch of mouth-drying going on, but not too bad at all. I tasted fruity and light aromatic woody notes in the tea. This flavor carried on through another eight or more steeps – so I got a decent amount out of that little 4g sample!

I can see why people were excited about this tea – it’s definitely a good one. Very balanced flavors and hard-hitting qi. Hopefully Mandala makes it back online soon, though I’m fairly certain this tea was already gone beforehand.

I am here to write my first review after trying this tea that a friend left me a big piece of. I prepared the tea with about 7 grams of tea in a big tea pot and used water that was almost boiling. It is one of my first Puerhs and they told me it was one of the best.

It is good, the taste is nice but the smell is a bit unrefreshing. I like how it makes you feel when you drink it, which is apparently why Puerh tea is so popular. I usually drink Oolong or green tea, and this is actually kind of in between those. I have to go to their website and see how much it costs. It is good.

Today was great until 2pm when I got a headache. It is now 10:14pm and I still have it.

Miserable.

Pulled this out for 14 steeps while cooking:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10152987343467361&set=a.10150201555322361.309460.714617360&type=1&theater

Headache… this was great, very powerful taste for a sheng with beautiful leaf. Some dark green with red/brown tint. Overall one of the better shengs I have had.

This is another one of the teas that I’ve been tantalizing over trying and now I can!!

The cake was a beautiful assortment of red, forest green, and a little gold. This cake was so loose and easily pried apart. The dry leaf had a wet moss and sweet autumn scent. I could tell this was going to be a soft Sheng, which is alright with me. I placed a generous chunk in my warm yixing and gave it a whiff. The scent was still sweet but with a campfire background. I heard about this teas smoke, and I was excited to actually taste. I washed the leaves once and used slightly cooler water than what I usually use for Sheng. The steeped leaves lost their sweet tone and became woodsy and smokey. This woodsy aroma was different though. IIt was more like a green woodsy, like bamboo ,rather than dry wood like pine. The initial sip was so smooth! A heavy flavor of yams, smoke, and earth filled my mouth. This was a very deep and smooth Sheng. The brew had absolutely no bitterness or astringency. By every steeping it became softer and deeper. If you don’t like sharp Sheng then this is definitely for you! The qi was sneaky. I didnt feel it until much later and it was rather soft. The feeling was more like a plateau effect rather than a sharp spike that floors me, hahah. I really liked this and I’m so grateful to be able to have it :)

https://instagram.com/p/2TURkEzGeS/?taken-by=haveteawilltravel

Decided to continue with sheng today…
Wow, is this one fantastic…
That hint of smoke is really interesting…and the flavours here are so layered and complex. This is one special tea.
Tobacco is present, but in this mellow sort of way that is completely in harmony with everything else going on… it’s really amazing.
It would be very interesting to taste the 2014 compared to this one….
Thanks for this one, Dexter!