2004 Old Youle Ripe Pu-erh Tea Brick

Started this one yesterday and just continued on into this morning. I am used to shou being very dark. This one was clear and the color of sun tea – light orange. The wet leaf is very dark and musty/earthy smelling but the brew is extreme mellow horse tack. Very, very easy to drink. I started with a 30s steep and the last I let steep about 4 minutes to see if it would turn inky. The answer is nope. A very nice poo-air.

tunes=Mumford and Sons(yes more Mumford)-White Blank Page/Thistle and Weeds/
Dust Bowl Dance/After the Storm/I Gave You All/Liar.

Wow this is a rich bang up shu! Well worth the cost.Multiple steeps continue to fill the cup with flavor.

Had This one this morning before heading out to the hospital to be with my husband, i wont be making many teanotes or anything this week cuz ill be up here most of the time till he comes home. I like this Tea too it is realy good over ice in the car.

Overall I find this a fairly sweet and rounded edged ripe puerh that is overall light in its feel and taste. Overall a good light puerh but I do not think it is worth a few cents short of $30 for a 450g brick, so I am very glad that this is a free sample that I’m drinking.

Courtesy of a exceptionally kind Steepster friend, my wife & I were able to experience this 13-yr old shou.

Color – Chocolate brown
Fragrance – Very faint
Aroma:
- Warmed leaves – Damp wet leaves
- Rinsed (10s) leaf – composted top soil
- Post 20-min rest – sweet fine pipe tobacco
- Brewed – Mild pu-erh aroma
Liqueur – Amber, initally a little cloudy

Taste – As one would expect with a 13-yr old brick, there wasn’t any bitterness, acidity, fishiness or funk.

Note:
It’s likely that I got off on the wrong foot with the Old Youle Brick by following the brewing parameters that have worked so well with many varieties of Menghai Dayi shou.

My first clue should have been immediately after the 20-min rest. I normally use a cocktail fork to loosen up the warmed wet leaves. Typically, this requires very little effort. In this case it wasn’t so easy. In fact, when I broke the chunk open, it was still dry on the inside. Since this was to be our first caffeine of the morning, no red flags occurred to me.

I typically don’t read other tasting notes before tasting a new tea, so as not to potentially color my impressions. Clearly, when trying a new (non-Dayi) shou, I need to check the Steepster recommended brewing parameters first.

Initially with a 10s steep, it was thin, flat, astringent and woody. The 2nd-round was very similar but improved to medium-body. By the third round, it was more mellow, but still woodie at the end of the sip. As I remember, there was a persistent woody aftertaste. (However, I didn’t make a note about this specific point.) Since woodiness isn’t a flavor I appreciate in shou, I lost interest in going any further.

Flavor profile: wood, bark

Impression – Since the brewing parameters used apparently weren’t a good match for this shou, I don’t think I can offer an accurate impression.

17.7g / 6 oz / 205° / 60s preheat / 60s warm leaves / 10s rinse / 20 min rest / every 2 steeps combined: 5s / 5 / 5 / 5 / 15 / 30

Thick, tasty, aged, and low-priced shu. It arrived as two 225 g bricks with layers of largely intact leaves are easily pried apart. Initial rinses have a faint fermented smell but that is gone after the 2nd rinse and replaced by an aroma of sweet creamed butter. Tea liquor is dark burgundy and clear. It’s very comfortable in the mouth and throat and quite warming. Along with notes of sweet creamed butter, leather, sweet bamboo, and damp forest there is also noticeable qi and mouth activity. Perfect evening tea.

A very nice brick. I rinse 3 X 5sec. each before starting to enjoy this heartwarming shu. I find it to be rich and creamy with nice depth. A 10 year old brick which is quite easy to pick apart and retrieve many whole leaves. I’ve enjoyed 6 thick syrupy cups this morning – rich, earthy aromas and smooth sweet flavors. This is listed on the PuerhShop website as 450g brick for $32.95; however, mine came as (2) 225g bricks in the package (making it very easy to split with another shu lover).

I got a sample of this from the most generous boychik in exchange for some sample size baggies.

I really like this one. Easy drinking. Smooth. It started earthy sweet, kind of like bell pepper. It ended just kind of sweet, nice flavor. I got several infusions out of this, at least a dozen….