2012 Huron Gold Needle Shou Pu-erh

Tea type
Pu'erh Tea
Ingredients
Pu Erh Tea
Flavors
Mushrooms, Bread, Chocolate, Loam, Meat, Mint, Round, Smooth, Sweet, Warm Grass, Walnut, Wet Earth, Wet Moss, Wet Rocks, Wet Wood, Cocoa, Cream, Mineral, Moss, Forest Floor, Earth, Creamy, Sweet
Sold in
Loose Leaf
Caffeine
High
Certification
Not available
Edit tea info Last updated by Whispering Pines Tea Company
Average preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 1 min, 30 sec 5 g 6 oz / 172 ml

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26 Tasting Notes View all

  • “Got a little box full of delight from ashmanra (thank you!) just as Steepster borked itself, so this is a catch up. I was terribly excited to try this shou, as everything from Whispering Pines has...” Read full tasting note
    92
  • “Shou puer has always been a difficult tea for me to describe. How do I make it sound enticing? Stale walnut bread soaked in the smoothest, silkiest mossy-mineral-meaty-mushroomy-chocolatey-earthy...” Read full tasting note
  • “We started drinking this late last night. We are moving youngest into her own room this week and it involves painting (including the ceiling – what a pain in the neck!) and finding a home for all...” Read full tasting note
  • “Seems like people have waxed poetic about this shou – I see the appeal but I’m maybe too new to shou (shoubie?) to pick up on what’s described as cocoa and mushroom. I do detect: minerals like...” Read full tasting note

From Whispering Pines Tea Company

A beautiful pu-erh that was produced in Xishuangbanna province but stored away from the intense aging conditions there after production. All of the rough earthyness has faded already and this shu shows great potential for further aging. This high-grade loose shu pu-erh was an exciting find. Gold needle grade generally accounts for less than 0.5% of a fermentation batch, and is usually used sparingly to smooth out blends before pressing. Finding loose gold needle grade shu pu-erh is exceedingly difficult because of this.

Our Huron Gold Needle is the silkiest tea we have ever tasted. It feels at though there isn’t even tea in your mouth, and the flavors are being magically transported by a thick, weightless warm air. It floats across the tongue and down the throat on a carpet of moss, cocoa, and sweet fruit with a lasting creamy warmth in the aftertaste.

http://whisperingpinestea.com/2012-huron-gold-needle.html

Learn more about the Great Lakes Label here: http://whisperingpinestea.com/puretea/great-lakes-puerh.html

About Whispering Pines Tea Company View company

Whispering Pines Tea Company is dedicated to bringing you the most original, pure, beautiful tea blends. We use only the highest quality ingredients available to create additive-free teas teas inspired by the pristine wilderness of Northern Michigan. Our main focus is on customer satisfaction and quality.

26 Tasting Notes

92
389 tasting notes

Got a little box full of delight from ashmanra (thank you!) just as Steepster borked itself, so this is a catch up. I was terribly excited to try this shou, as everything from Whispering Pines has positively astonished me thus far.

I think the most surprising thing about this tea is that it isn’t rich or even terribly complex. It’s just so clearly and simply and daintily mushroom. I’ve used “fungal” to describe some other shous, but woo — this just redefined the word for me. It’s a light mushroom, like white button or portobello. Clean, creamy, extremely drinkable. No compost flavor whatsoever — restraint in the piling? Feels respectful of the leaves. This might be a good introduction to ripes for a new drinker.

Flavors: Mushrooms

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1552 tasting notes

Shou puer has always been a difficult tea for me to describe. How do I make it sound enticing?

Stale walnut bread soaked in the smoothest, silkiest mossy-mineral-meaty-mushroomy-chocolatey-earthy fondue you’ve ever tasted?

Heck, I dunno.

May the shou aid in digestion. Thank you, White Antlers.

Flavors: Bread, Chocolate, Loam, Meat, Mint, Mushrooms, Round, Smooth, Sweet, Warm Grass, Walnut, Wet Earth, Wet Moss, Wet Rocks, Wet Wood

Mastress Alita

Or you can take my sophisticated approach and just say, “It tastes like dirt.” :-)

tea-sipper

Sounds good to me!

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3207 tasting notes

We started drinking this late last night. We are moving youngest into her own room this week and it involves painting (including the ceiling – what a pain in the neck!) and finding a home for all my crafting supplies. (Gulp. I buy those like I buy tea.)

Last night’s four steeps were all Western style and combined two at a time. The predominant aroma was mushroom. Or maybe I should say MUSHROOM. I haven’t had a powerfully mushroom pu in a while, so this was a refreshing change.

This morning as we have it with breakfast, i am struck by how creamy this is. This is smooth and mild and has a silky mouth feel.

I need to do a gong fu session with it sometime, but it has been great by the (large) pot. I think six steeps are the limit on this one for me. The final one took a while to color up but had nice flavor when it did.

gmathis

“…but I can’t give that away…I might use that. With my kids.” (The kid thing immediately makes my hoarding sound noble :)

ashmanra

Yes! I sit here right now surrounded by the 48 bottles of glitter THAT I KEPT after making a bag to give away…

Evol Ving Ness

What a happy thing glitter is!

ashmanra

Evol Ving Ness: Twenty-four bottles of the glitter (it was in a boxed set) were purchased while I was high on pain medicine after finding out that my cancer surgery would have to be repeated as I didn’t have clear margins and they wanted to do a mammogram just TWO WEEKS after my segmental mastectomy to see what we were dealing with While I was under the influence of whatever they gave me before the mammogram, my daughter drove me to lunch and then the craft store, where I fortunately used coupons for my purchases. Apparently I made a card when I got home. I was very confused when I found said card because I did not remember buying the dies to cut out hearts and wondered how the heck I cut them out, until it slowly filtered back into my brain that I had gone to a craft store while high. I am grateful that I am thrifty even while under the influence.

gmathis

At least you had something to blame it on. I just have no self-control and I’m on coupon mailing lists for Hobby Lobby, Michael’s and Jo-Ann’s. I think we may need a support group.

ashmanra

Definitely a support group and not an intervention!

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61 tasting notes

Seems like people have waxed poetic about this shou – I see the appeal but I’m maybe too new to shou (shoubie?) to pick up on what’s described as cocoa and mushroom.

I do detect: minerals like river rock, clay, salt

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81
15459 tasting notes

Sipdown (128)!

This is a special note…

It’s my 3333th Tasting Note! What a fun number!

I chose this tea to write about for that tasting note for a couple reasons. Firstly, it’s definitely a more popular tea here on Steepster and I liked the idea (which I think was suggested by Equusfell) of dedicating a more monumental tasting note to something I’ve been saving for a special occasion or a tea that’s very well regarded within the community. Secondly, it’s sort of a miracle I’m trying this at all. And by that I mean that, when I placed my Whispering Pines order on Black Friday there was a definite goof made on my part. Instead of sending the order to my new address in Regina I accidentally sent it to my old Saskatoon address.

It shouldn’t have made it to me. By the time I noticed the error and managed to get in contact with Brenden the tea had already been shipped off and there was nothing he could do. I spoke to postal workers both in Canada and in the states and there was nothing they seemed to be able to do to reroute the package. Initially, my former roommate wouldn’t reply back to me about sending it my way either (we didn’t part on good terms). It seemed like a lost cause and a write off of an order. However, like a week after tracking was showing the package as delivered in Saskatoon I got a message from him saying he’d sent it my way. Three weeks pass and, well, nothing. Saskatoon and Regina are three hours away from each other so that’s not normal shipping times. Then, out of the blue, Whispering Pines order! I think that’s my 2016 ‘tea miracle’ all used up already. But hell; I’m not complaining.

So yeah; I think this tea has a fair bit of significance that makes it worthy of being note number 3333! And of course I drank it Gong Fu! Actually, I had the session with my mom who’s starting to appreciate pure teas quite a bit more as of late – though she still prefers, as she puts it, things that are “Coconut Cream Pie” flavored over “Mud Tea”. But we’re getting there…

Here’s the TLDR; of my tasting notes from the session:

- Eight+ Infusions
- Starts off very robust with a brothy, thick mouthfeel
- Very mushroomy with kind of meaty notes, earth notes, and wood notes
- Also starts off surprisingly sweet despite a strong savory/umami profile
- Evolves into a more lightly woody/earthy body sip
- With definite rich vanilla notes!
- My mom described it as a sweet pork rind flavour…

Very awesome Shou all around! I can see why people who are drinking WP Pu’erh as some of their first time pu’erhs fall for Pu’erh so hard. It’s such a unique and interesting kind of flavour and it really holds your attention.

VariaTEA

hahaha I think your mom and I are on the same page with regards to “mud tea” :P

__Morgana__

Wow, that is a lot of 3s!

OMGsrsly

Ha! Sweet pork rind. That’s an interesting note. :) Congratulations on 3333!

Christina / BooksandTea

Happy 3333!

I love reading your tasting notes because you describe flavours that are really subtle, unusual (to me), and precise. I wish I had your palate!

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86
1184 tasting notes

Thank you for the sample Brenden!!

The pretty gold leaves went into my infuser with an earthy aroma of creamy dark cocoa and a hint of fruit. This translates well into the taste as well. The flavours and cocoa notes are a little lighter than the other pu’erh I tried but I don’t mind to have on days that I want something a little on the lighter side. I enjoyed this cuppa and have more for another cup or two.

Resteeped for 4&5 minutes.

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 0 sec 1 tsp

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93
318 tasting notes

My first tea from the Pu TTB!
The dry leaves are tippy and medium brown to gold. It’s a very creamy shu with mineral, moss and cocoa notes, and it gains a bit of fruityness as it goes on. A nice young ripe that could definitely benefit from further aging

Flavors: Cocoa, Cream, Mineral, Moss

Preparation
Boiling 0 min, 15 sec 8 g 5 OZ / 150 ML

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92
266 tasting notes

I will start by saying if you like stronger shou puerh than this is not a good tea for you. When using the vendors recommending gongfu brewging spects (and even with extra leaf) the puerh comes out as very light and delicate. The two main things about this tea that stand out to me is that is is both sweet and smooth. This tea also has a bit more complex flavor profile than most of the shou puerh. To me the “flavor notes” if you want to go there are more of of a little fruity and a little forest like which I think is what the vendor was talking about with the moss. The 3rd infusion does indeed have a bit of cocoa notes which to be quite honest I was quite skeptical of the claim in s shou puerh. Upon the 5th infusion I would say the tea had died and had produced “colored water” so one must really enjoy really really light tea to be able to get all 6 infusions out of this tea. Regardless I have to admit this is clearly a really high quality shou puerh even through it is much lighter than what I generally go for.

Whispering Pines Tea Company

Glad you enjoyed this! I’d recommend grabbing a cake or cake sample of this one. Compression greatly increases infusability in shou, and this one is SUPER strong and much longer lasting in the cake. :-)

John Grebe

Opps, I just realized that I write this under the wrong heading as I was drinking the cake version of this tea when I wrote up the review. You are my first introduction to the more delicate puerh teas or at least ones that I could get into and I come from a background of a lot of HK wet storage style shou puerh so my definition of a shou dying is likely not the same as yours or at least at the moment.

Whispering Pines Tea Company

Ahhh gotcha! Yeah the puerh I press is definitely dry-stored and more delicate fermentation than the majority of stuff out there :-)

John Grebe

You are having a good influence on me and will enjoy the next reviews I write up soon … Ontario 1357 is now one of my favorite teas.

Whispering Pines Tea Company

:D It’s my comfort shou. I’ve got a lot more shou cakes in my lineup coming out over the next couple years too :)

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27 tasting notes

Oh you silky smooth shou, you. New to shou? This shou is for you! Shou newbie like me? Fear not, this pu-erh is gentle and as smooth as silk. I will not rate this gentleman, but I love this warming, subtle, silky tea.

Flavors: Cocoa, Forest Floor, Moss

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100
673 tasting notes

a lovely tea!

when i smell the leaves dry, they have a chocolate/musty smell.

when i smell the leaves wet, they have a stronger chocolate smell.

when i look at the brewed tea, the tea looks chocolaty brown.

when i smell the brewed tea, i smell earth and slight chocolate.

when i taste the brewed tea, it tastes like earth and slight chocolate.

i rate this tea a 100 because of the tastes, aromas and that its smooth.

im not sure if this came from scribbles or amanda’soggyenderman’wilson, but id like to thank both just in case.

Flavors: Chocolate, Earth, Smooth

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 0 min, 30 sec 5 g 8 OZ / 250 ML

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