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“I had originally planned to enjoy this yesterday after several steepings of Lao Tong Zhi ‘11 Sheng, but the day got late, dinnertime came, & I decided to wait. So I’m enjoying it now (still...” Read full tasting note
“Wow, this is a wonderful shu. I wasn’t completely sure about it based on its slightly muddy appearance and not having heard of Yong De, but seeing it described as a favorite by both Garret at...” Read full tasting note
“It’s been an exhausting week Steepsters! I’m very glad to say my body recovered from the hit-by-a-car fiasco, but then it promptly adopted a cold. Here’s hoping the next two weeks are much...” Read full tasting note
“Not much to say on this one besides i am having a grand time drinking it up this morning. I’m working from home today and feeling incredibly productive even with my minimal sleep over the past...” Read full tasting note
An incredibly enjoyable ripe cake at an incredible price. What a great value good pu’er tea can be and here is one with over 3 years of perfect storage conditions, so ready to drink now and be enjoyed everyday. One of our favorites, this tea is also certified organic. This is a wonderful example of what we consider a very good ripe pu’er tea. Dark and rich, smooth with a bit of sweetness, you won’t be disappointed!
Company description not available.
2011 Yong De Organic Ripe Pu'erh
Yunnan SourcingYong De Golden Buds Ripe Pu'erh
Tealux2009 Yong De "Certified Organic" Ripe
Yong De Zi Yu Tea Factory2007 Yong De "Ecological Old Tree Ripe Cake"
Norbu Tea2012 Yong De "Certified Organic" Ripe Pu-erh
Yunnan Sourcing2007 Spring Yong De Mao Cha - Loose Pu-Erh Tea
Norbu TeaI had originally planned to enjoy this yesterday after several steepings of Lao Tong Zhi ‘11 Sheng, but the day got late, dinnertime came, & I decided to wait. So I’m enjoying it now (still listening to the ladies play harp duets). This is a very nice fully flavored Shu, no fish or ammonia, reminding me of vanilla wafers, & also reminding me of the noodle kugle I used to make for my kids a long time ago. That kugel was rich with eggs, vanilla, cinnamon. This Shu has a richness like that, a smooth vanilla mouthfeel, a mouth watering sweetness, & it’s just plain tasty! It’s also rather bold!
5G + 4oz (rinse) X 2min (xingyang workshop method)
Subsequent steeps t 2 min, followed by steeps at 3 mins as needed.
Wow, this is a wonderful shu. I wasn’t completely sure about it based on its slightly muddy appearance and not having heard of Yong De, but seeing it described as a favorite by both Garret at Mandala and (different year’s pressing) by Scott at Yunnan Sourcing, I figured a 1oz sample was certainly worth a try. And it was.
Dry leaves: The leaves are slightly larger than the Menghai pu’s I’ve tried, and are a warm, chocolaty brown in color. The smell is deep and rich, but I have trouble identifying any one note.
Early infusions: The first thing that strikes me in tasting is a sort of marshmallow “puffiness” to the liquer. Even in the first steeping there is no noticeable “off” taste. The tea is remarkably smooth and has a deep woodiness with a pleasant zuchini-like flavor.
Middle Infusions: Around the fifth infusion, the tea starts to open up in flavor with notes of saffron, sea breeze, and cantaloupe. The flavor is woodsy like dry fall leaves.
Later infusions: Around the tenth infusion, when the tea begins to be weaker, the flavors become more sweet and subtle. It has a slight vanilla sweetness, and flavors like a dense sourdough bread. The flavor is very clean, almost like a Yunnan black tea.
This is my new favorite pu’erh, very smooth, clean, and deep. A full cake of it has jumped to the top of my shopping list :)
I read this review and marched immediately back to our pu’er storage vault and pulled out one of these cakes. I love this tea. It’ll be out for us to prepare here at the tea shop for the next few days, for sure. I’m so happy that you are enjoying this tea, my friend! It’s a winner. I can’t wait for you to try the Noble Mark sample that I sent you. It is a blend I created from Yong De area where I was there in April. While very young, I think you will enjoy it. I don’t just buy 200 + lbs of tea if I don’t think it’s going to age well :) Thanks for the review!
Went back and counted inventory on this cake. 9 left. One will be snapped up by yours truly, and my partner just said he wants one, too. Our session with it here is going very well :)
Eek, I guess that means I need to order one soon! I’m very excited to try the Noble Mark, I think I’ll brew some up tomorrow :)
I’m working on securing some more of them, but so far none of my connections there can find it. I’ll be back in SW China soon enough. I’ll see if I can find some then!
sorry garret, i think you will soon only have 6 left i think!
oh i am going to be shot for this…..
Mrmopar! Did you buy all the rest of the tea? LOL!
Huh… that’s funny… all of the sudden the stock is down to 6 :) I am glad you are going to try that Noble Mark, too!!!! Along with that loose tea, I’ll send you a sample of the cake I had pressed of it, too. Still waiting for the remaining 320 to get here so I can put them up on the site!
no i just grabbed one and a noble mark sample. garret thanks in advance for the sample of the pressed cake! mr tperez and i have very similar tastes on our pu-erh( he.. he.. i think i got him hooked on it.) thanks and best wishes always!
I know where you live Mr. M!!! ;D
ha ha stop by any time and i will share tea with you! your choice, oh the discussions we could have about pu-erh…….
Haha, well I’d be glad to take you up on that offer some day
anytime, you are always welcome here.
You guys are a bad influence on me…or maybe you’re a good influence on me…le’ts just say I just kind of went crazy & placed my first Mandala order…finally!
Terri, you will not be disappointed with that purchase!
Go, Terri!
Terri, I can’t wait to hear what you got!
Hey y’all! Can we possibly get any groovier people on this thread?? :) Terri and John, your orders just got picked up!!! They are on their way to your wonderful selves!
Yay!! More and more tea! Claire, after perusing various people’s comments about various teas, I kind of went overboard & got the following:
Phatty cake 11
Yong De 07
Menghai dayi red rhyme 08
Menghai “Zi Yun” Ripe Pu-erh tea (purple rhyme) 09
& a sample of Noble Mark
Now I have to figure out where to keep it all! Some day when I get old & pass away, my kids will be going through my stuff & it will be like one of those Hoarders reality shows, with cakes & tins of tea everywhere!
I am so excited to read those reviews! I have to wait until the end of this month to get more tea and I swear, a month has never seemed longer! XD
Need I mention that I have a tendency to contemplate at great length before I buy anything, & then all hell breaks loose…obsessive-compulsive-addictive
oohh Terri the red rhyme is great ,the purple rhyme is too and the phatty cake you will like as well! congrats on you getting a great selection. Garret can’t wait to get it in!
I’m super excited!
Sadly, one can only sample so many teas in a day…
It’s been an exhausting week Steepsters! I’m very glad to say my body recovered from the hit-by-a-car fiasco, but then it promptly adopted a cold. Here’s hoping the next two weeks are much better.
This shu makes me so happy. The flavor is rich, woodsy, and sweet. I got 1oz of it in my last Mandala order and definitely need to snag a cake. I wish I could pick up more flavors in this but my review will have to suffice to say this one is a keeper (and a drinker).
I hadn’t read your post about getting hit by a car until now. I’m so sorry, but glad to hear you’re better! Did you ever report it?
I didn’t, I’m sad to say. I should have but ended up caving in to exhaustion.
It’s understandable. And unfortunately, it’s unlikely they’d ever find her even if you did report it. I hope she stays off the roads.
I still can’t believe that happened to you, Claire! I’m glad you’re ok. Take care of yourself!!!
I hope you’re feeling better soon
I know of a special special collections librarian who will soon receive an entire cake of this tea!
That’s one lucky person!
She is very lucky indeed. :) She even gets to sleep in tomorrow!
Not much to say on this one besides i am having a grand time drinking it up this morning. I’m working from home today and feeling incredibly productive even with my minimal sleep over the past couple of days. The last piece of this is off to Cavocorax so that she can try it out and see what other delights she wants to explore from Mandala :)
So this was a gift during a trade with someone who’s name I can’t find. Thank you Mystery Person!
Generally speaking, I am NOT a fan of pu’erh. I am especially not a fan of Shu pu’erh. But I have it and I thought that I should try it. I had a little chunk of it with a label in a little plastic bag so here goes. I’m using my little yellow single person teapot and cup with the cats on them. I have a matching set of mugs, but the cup sits below the teapot when it is resting so I have a drinking vessel already.
I hope the pu’erh purists will forgive me, but I added a bit of sugar to each infusion because otherwise bitterness overwhelms everything. I will try to do this justice.
1st steep: 10 seconds: boiling water. This tastes really earthy and I’m not sure how to describe it. I’m not entirely turned off by it, and I’m rather surprised about that. I think I’m also getting a bit of that tea chaqi that Terri keeps mentioning. I’m feeling a little light-headed anyway and this after not even a cup of it.
Had to pour out the second steep because of reasons. Third infusion is 15 seconds, boiling water, and it’s not really noticeably darker than the first. I poured through a strainer because the parts keep coming off since the teapot doesn’t have it’s own strainer. This infusion is still a dark orange/brown colour and as I’m tasting it, the flavour has thinned out a bit but it’s becoming a bit more unpleasant for me. I think I will stop drinking this now and apologize for wasting this likely very nice tea when I truly have not developed a taste for shu pu’erh.
Puerh Tea TTB. This is a very tasty tea. It had a moderate amount of fermentation flavor but it was neither fishy nor unpleasant. It was sweet with very little bitterness. Unfortunately I think this is long sold out at Mandala or I would buy one.
I steeped this twelve times in a 110ml Yixing Teapot with 9g leaf and boiling water. I gave it a 10 second rinse. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, 30 sec, 45 sec, 1 min, 1.5 min, and 2 min. I’d keep going with this one but twelve steeps is enough caffeine for me today.
Yep… bought several cases of it when I was in China in 2008 and sold out here in shop back in 2013, I believe. It was a nice one!
2013 was just about when I was getting in to puerh.
I only had enough to try this tea once, so I never reviewed it, but it was delicious as I recall.
I wish it was still possible to get this. With something like this I wonder if it is all gone or if there are any left at someplace like Taobao. You can find all sorts of hard to find teas there.
Thank you so much Terri HarpLady for a sample of this!
I have been drinking this all day. The leaves just keep going and going, huh? This is VERY nice shu. Rich and creamy with just enough earthiness and sweetness and no funk. I love that it is organic, too :)
This is a shu I would definitely reach for any time I have a puerh craving! Glad I got to try it.
No funk is good!
I can totally see why, even sans the funk, that puerhs can be an acquired taste. I mean, it is a taste unlike anything else! If you aren’t sure what to expect I could see it being off-putting at first. Once you get used to it though it is totally craveable!
Well…. some funk is good! A fella’s gotta dance, after all :)
Good call Garret. Plus, some funks are good funks! Take “stinky” French cheeses for example! ;)
Amen, sister!
As far as acquired tastes with pu’er – i have been showcasing alot more of the raw pu’er teas these days here in the shop and in tea classes with great results. The raw pu’ers are completely different in flavor, color, aroma. And the energy (cha qi) one gets from raw pu’er is quite different than ripe. I love it.
I though Westerners would be more averse to raw pu’er, but I am finding out that was a false assumption.
But still, I’ve started every morning for the last 2 yrs with a large pot of the Noble Mark ripe. Great ripe tea is a fantastic way for me to start the day.
All my best,
Garret
I think raw puerhs are quickly becoming my favorite type of tea actually, and I attribute that to the cha qi I get from them! They’re so fascinating :)
Steph we need to make a road trip to MN for tea tastings.
yeah… I love raw pu’er. Investing a lot more in mao cha to have pressed into pu’er these days. Just sipped some of our Autumn Song pu’er here in the shop with two Teavana employees who had only ever had bad ripe pu’er before. Boy, oh boy, did they get turned on! It was fun to watch. They were so excited. Great to have Teavana employees buying some tea from us :) Good times.
Marzipan I would LOVE to visit Mandala’s tasting room some day! :)
Stop by & pick me up along the way, will ya?
I initially like shu better than Sheng, but that has changed. In part, due to the amazing energy, without a doubt.
Time to be brave and drink another puerh!
I didn’t know how to steep it so I gave it a 10 second rinse, after bringing it to boiling. Then I steeped it for 1 minute because I’m too much of a coward to go for longer. :P
I really could have gone longer. This cup is really light and mild. It’s earthy but good earthy? As it cools I detect a little bit of honeyed sweetness. Lovely! :D I’m going to have to steep this a few more times to get a better idea of this tea but I am enjoying it so far.
Thank you TerriHarpLady and Sil for passing this on to me. :)
Sipdown: 187 (which is good timing as I have a pkg from Dexter arriving today!)
