2015 Lord of the Lakes Shou Pu-erh Cake

Puerh Tea TTB. This is a nice shou. But I think it is not as good as his 2012 Huron Gold Needle. It is good though. There was a little bitterness at first and there was a fair amount of fermentation flavor. This was not an unpleasant fermentation taste though. It was dark and rich in the early infusions. I’d say it had some notes of chocolate in there. I wouldn’t say it developed a fruity taste. It did get fairly sweet after the bitterness was history. The bitterness lasted only about two steeps. This is a fairly long lasting shou. I gave it fourteen steeps and it was not quite done. I could have gotten somewhere between two more and maybe four more steeps out of it. But fourteen steeps in a 120ml gaiwan is a lot of tea.

I steeped this fourteen times in a 120ml gaiwan 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, 2 min, 2.5 min, and 3 min. This is one I will have to look into buying eventually. It is my guess that he has a lot of these to sell. I think he really invests in his shou cakes.

Tastes of earth and minerals and has a very smooth and thick mouthfeel.

Got this with Dark Matter 2016. Used my whole 4.2g in my 60mL gaiwan with boiled water. I enjoyed this tea, but I continue to believe that I just don’t like shou as much as sheng or oolongs. Used more than I often would for a ripe, so I kept the steep times down a bit longer than usual, sub 10 seconds for the first 4 or 5 steeps. I only did one rinse, so the first steep was a little bit funky. By third steep, funk was mostly gone.

In the aroma of the wet leaves and the first 2 steeps I got hints of a sour almost fruity note that was barely there at all, but mostly this tea was an earthy, creamy sweet tea. Also got some mineral notes throughout most sessions and some brown sugar coming out in the final few steeps. Leaves were pretty small, but seemed mostly intact. Started out strong and dropped off quickly after around 9 steeps. Seemed like a good shou to me, but not sure I’d be inclined to pick anymore up myself.

From 2016 Dark Matter

Gaiwan brewed, 1 rinse, gradually increasing infusions starting with a few seconds.

I was applying for jobs while drinking this so I powered through it…this is why I split my samples in two. So no great notes but man did I enjoy this. Leaf smells briney, but only a bit of this comes out in the beginning. Good full initial steeps. Lots of mineral flavor throughout. Brown sugar coming out in the end, although a little more unrefined like jaggery or picondillo. Nothing intimidating here.

Tea 5 from my 2016 Dark Matter

I don’t know that I love it, but as far as shou goes, this is the best one I’ve had. Thick and comparatively sweet. I’m pretty sure I like my shou brewed inky black, as I have enjoyed those infusions on this one more. That being said I’m still just not a fan. Too earthy/minerally. I quit on this one early because there are so many teas and life is too short to drink tea you don’t love.✌

If you are a shou-head, this one is probably pretty good.

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