2015 Lord of the Lakes Shou Pu-erh Cake

I’m only barely getting into puer, so don’t want to pass much judgement, but this was a really pleasant tea for a rainy day. Steeped in a tiny gaiwan. Reminds me of being out in the forest after the rain, maybe with a little bit of good dark chocolate.

This is the last of the Pu-erh samples from Whispering Pines. I’ll go to sampling their black teas again after this. I received a nice size sample of 18g and used 6g of it.

It is a thick mouthfeel and it is active in my mouth as the description says. It tingles my tongue. There is quite a bit of minerality, wet rocks note. I didn’t notice any bitterness throughout the infusions, nor did I get a lot of astringency. It’s very smooth, warming. The fermentation flavors are there, the rich earthiness, wet earth, some mushroom notes.

It’s a nice blend of “Bulang Mountain material from 2007 and Menghai area material from 2012” and was fermented in cloth bags versus pile-fermented. Some other notes were of bittersweetness, brown sugar sweetness, some spices and did detect a little of the fruitiness, the tart cherries and dark chocolate. The finish is the brown sugar sweetness, not the bittersweet or tartness.

Their site mention that it is very reactive to humidity changes “so let it settle out for at least a week once it’s arrived at your house” which I did. I think this is a good daily drinker type, very rich and mellow. I enjoyed it after a good lunch.

Yixing gaiwan, 6g, 212°F, 110ml, rinse, 11 steeps: 5s, 10s, 15s, 20s, 25s, 35s, 45s, 55s, 65s, 75s, 120s

082/365

I haven’t been drinking a lot of shou recently (or any pu’erh, come to that), but a rainy winter day like today strikes me as the ideal time to be doing so. There’s just something about walking to work across a muddy field and then drinking a tea that tastes earthy and muddy that appeals to my sense of worldly balance.

The first steep is exactly that. Earthy and muddy. It’s not too heavy on those flavours, although I kept the first steep fairly short (around 30 seconds, since I’m brewing western style.) There’s a background mineral note, but not much else just yet.

Second steep is slightly more muted; smoother and creamier. It’s still earthy, but there’s a more prominent sweetness and a light brown sugar flavour.

Third steep is very similar to the second, although with a more pronounced mineral quality in the way of wet rock. It’s marginally less sweet because of that, particularly in the aftertaste. The initial earthiness is diminishing.

Fourth steep is still primarily mineral, although that is also diminishing. The earthiness has all but vanished, along with most of the sweetness. A slight bite is emerging – not enough to call it astringent, but a little drying and catchy in the throat.

Fifth steep is lacking a lot of flavour of the earlier infusions. Up front, it’s primarily a sweet water kind of flavour, but there’s still a bit of a minerally/wet rock vibe towards the end of the sip.

It’s probably not quite over, and I could squeeze a few more resteeps out if I really wanted to, but I’m going to stop here because I’ve been drinking this one all day and I fancy a change. Sometimes I forget how much I love shou, and this has been a brilliant reminder!

This tea it thick and rich with sweet flavors like cherry and vanilla. People talk about tea’s ability to transport the drinker to another place and time and this is one of the few shous I’ve ever found that do that for me. My only regret is that all I have is a sample size of this cake. I will be ordering more soon!

Enjoyed a tea sesh with this tea yesterday morning. First ripe puerh I have gotten into (been drinking raw puerh up until now) and the darkest tea I have ever drank. The dry leaf had a dried salted fish aroma but also earthy. I did the recommended steeps and got a thick & velvety soup, rich molasses color and it overall reminded me of coffee (which I rarely drink). This was a great introduction for me into ripe puerhs – looking forward to more exploration. (Gong Fu Style in a glass gaiwan)

I had a 14g sample and used half in a 170 ml gaiwan, which in hindsight was too large, especially for my usual flash steeps.

The result of not following the instructions was that I couldn’t get a sense of the tea which was tasting like hongcha.

After three steeps I put the rest of the 14g into the pot, ah that was the ticket.

Clean soup, smooth, nutty, bittersweet chocolate and brown sugar.

Made for an enjoyable long session on a chilly morning.

Sipdown!

I find this blend reminds me a lot of a lake or pond in smell and taste. It is Earthy, but more specifically wet Earth, sand, wet rock, petrichor. I like the hint of spices (pepper?), slight tang of sour and bitter, but overall really good. The soil + mineral flavour is also accompanied by wet wood/bark, and it makes me think of a lake’s shore lined with driftwood.

It has a thick mouthfeel, but no sweetness.

Gongfu brewed in my shiboridashi. Lord of the Lakes produces a very smooth blend that has a fair amount of sweetness to it. Another really good shou from Whispering Pines that deserves your full attention as this is not a casual drinking tea.

First infusion, 20 seconds: smells a tiny bit sweet. A lot of mineral taste in there with the earth. Like licking a wet rock (in a good way). Maybe a little hint of molasses.

2-3 infusion, 10 seconds: As soon as I pour over the hot water, the dark, dark cola color BLOOMS in the bottom of my teacup. Fairly bitter and espresso-like. The bitterness is more mineral than vegetal bitterness if that makes sense. Fermentation flavor is not too bad.

Overall a pretty good but one-note shou for me.

Another sample Brenden gifted to me during our tea session. I put 8g of this into my 100ml gaiwan.

I didn’t get much scent from the dry leaf. I rinsed the dry leaf chunks for about 5 seconds. I first detected a camphor type of scent. As I was sniffing that and trying to really make sure that is what it was, a brown sugar note hit my nose. Whoa. That was not what I expected based on the original scent I was getting. Very interesting.

1st steep, 10 seconds. The leaf scent went to the fermentation side after this steep. But the liquid has a sweet mineral mushroom scent. The first sip or two left me with the impression of smooth, slightly sweet, slightly creamy, and a mineral-like note. Just a hint, though. The color of this infusion is like a bronzed orange. Wow, yeah, as I drink it there is this caramelized brown sugar scent that wafts up. It isn’t exactly in the flavor but the scent is there.

2nd steep, 10 seconds. The scent of the leaf here is more brown sugar sweet. The shou chunks broke up and turned this steep liquor into a much darker color. Cola-like. The scent of the liquid has more of a typical shou character. Earthy. And the flavor gives off a bitterness on the back of the tongue. Maybe I steeped it too long for the leaves breaking up but wow this stuff is all over the place. Perhaps one of the more complex shou’s I’ve had in those terms. I do hope the bitterness goes away in further steeps as it is not an aspect I enjoy. It is not completely overwhelming but certainly makes itself known on the back end.

3rd steep, 10 seconds. I had to take about an hour break here but I’m holding at ten seconds in order to take care of the bitterness. While it is still there it is less pronounced. A bit smoother.

4th steep, 15 seconds. Ok, I feel better about this steep. We are back to a smooth creamy shou flavor. Very drinkable again. Also, excuse the fall off in detail of reviews. It has been a total of 3 hours since I’ve began drinking this. Life happened. Electrician stopped by and did some work. Kids wanted me to push them on the swing set. Dinner needed to be started. So, forgive the lack of detail. It started out so strong, too!

5th steep, 20 seconds. This is settling in to a nice session. I have to end the review here though.

Overall this comes in as a nice shou. The bitterness throws one off a bit in the first few steeps but after that it settles down and becomes fairly dependable.