2005 Rocket Yiwu

Lately I’ve been on an aged sheng kick, drinking several aged sheng from YQH and some from Chawangshop. So while I’ve tried several different kinds, other than how a tea actually looks, it always seemed to me that the difference between aged sheng and shu was a chasm in terms of aroma and flavor. Until now. This is the first aged sheng I’ve tried that really seems very much like a shu to me. It certainly bridges the gap between sheng and shu in a way that no other aged sheng I’ve tried has done. I’ve only been at this pu thing for about seven months, and while I’ve drunk a whole lot of tea in that time, I’m probably still a newb. And if you’d have served me this tea and told me it was a shu, I’d have believed you. The aroma is something I can only describe as storage and maybe a little bit of dirt. The flavor is much better than the aroma though; it’s smooth and pleasant enough I suppose, but the effect is incredibly drying. Have you ever gotten thirsty drinking tea? Yeah, me neither… until now. Anyway, I am glad I tried this tea, I had been curious about it for awhile. But I’ll take a pass on ordering a cake.

Pu’erh TTB 2015 Tea #10

This was a much darker liquid than what I just drank which made me think it was going to shock my taste buds awake. While this tea is a beautiful bronze color and has a nice aroma, I believe that a few cups of this in a row becomes rather drying. Someone might say: “hey didn’t you just down 15 steepings of another sheng?”
That would be a valid question, but… if you saw my drinking habits at work you would understand that on some days I am drinking 12+ ounces of sheng per hour for roughly six hours straight and there are certain teas that do not produce that dry effect. Does the taste negate the negative effect of the dryness? Not for me, but this is still a pleasant darker sheng that has some qualities of the light ones such as a small sweet aftertaste that makes me think in years this will lower on the roughness and become a much nicer elixir. Unfortunately, I do not store tea because I buy and drink… so I’ll pay the higher price later on if someone lets me know that this has become better with age :)

Puerh Tea TTB. Thanks to White2Tea for giving me the opportunity to try this tea. The main notes I get from this are bamboo, spice and wet wood. There is a lot of wet storage taste to this tea. I wish I could say I really liked this tea but I can’t. It is however a nice example of an aged sheng. There is no doubt in my mind to the age of the tea, bot the color of the liquid and the taste say aged sheng.

I steeped this tea twelve times in a 60ml gaiwan with 5g leaf and boiling water. I gave it a 10 second rinse and a 10 minute rest. 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 stopped because of the caffeine factor but I’m sure that this tea would go the distance if I wanted to continue.

This is a fantastic priced 2005 sheng, right now $88 for 400 gram cake. There are notes of amber, incense, camp fire, stone fruit, humid storage essence, floral potpourri, and orange. Lots of tea drunk in this one. I got around 14 infusions, so even more rocket fuel for your dollar. A good daily drinker for the daily tea drunkard.

Full review on Oolong Owl http://oolongowl.com/2005-rocket-yiwu-sheng-puer-from-white2tea-tea-review/

TEAM ROCKET IS BLASTING OFF AGAIN!

Received this in my first tea club shipment from White2Tea. My initial notes from first session:

Dry leaf- whole leaf, brown with some lighter fuzzy leaf. Not much aroma.

Wet leaf aroma – earthy, camphor, menthol, evergreen

Liquor – nice medium to light brown, mostly clear

Mouthfeel – active mouthfeel in the back of throat and tongue, thick

Taste – earthy, mushroom, woody, walnuts. Reminds me of the real late steeps of one of my Xiaguan shous. Tastes like some kind of candy that I’m having trouble remembering— Necco Wafers perhaps? Later steeps reveal sweeter berry flavors

Aftertaste – not real prominent, but woody and sweet gingerbread.

Cooling effect

I need to drink this one again, but I can definitely see buying more of this, especially for the price!

I really wanted to love this tea, after hearing it compared to Keyyixing and LYM… but it’s just too… yiwu.

This is a great tea, it’s balanced, has a great throat feel and after taste. But at it’s heart it has that powder taste I find off putting in many yiwu teas with age on them. I might come around after the second round of this tea (there was enough in the sample for two)… but I’m coming to the sad conclusion I need to drink up the young yiwus I like… because I’m not a fan of how they age.

If you are into yiwus, especially ones with age, this is a great buy. I haven’t met anyone else who gets geisha powder from yiwu (I presume this is the yiwu floral note)… so I’m assuming this will be a beloved tea for many at a great price. If I wasn’t so broke, I’d be tempted to get a cake just to age in case I ever come around, because the quality of tea is quite enjoyable.

If you need a tea that bites you back… this is not the tea for you. There is a bit of astringency in the form of the after taste of some kind of puckering stone fruit, but no bitterness. The storage this tea was in must be superb, because it’s very clean. To be honest though, part of the enchantment with the Keyyixing for me was the slightly murkier storage that gave it that ocean note.

This is a tea that is clean and will appeal to a wide audience, and has a lot of great qualities… but other than the awesome label (I love spaceships!) there isn’t anything truly unique or outstanding about this brew.

Received 10 grams as part of the White2tea club.

I first tried 5 grams in my trusty gaiwan. It was good, but nothing special. I went through around 15 steeps over a 24 hour period. It tasted like a generic aged sheng puer. Nothing really jumped out at me that would distinguish this tea as something special.

I waited a few days and then used the second half of the sample in my “aged sheng” yixing… and wow. There was this ridiculous creaminess that was amazing. Complexities in aroma and flavor profiles abound… sweetness with the underlying creaminess. My expectations were far exceeded.

I will definitely be picking up a cake.

I got this one as a 10 gram sample in the white2tea July 2015 tea club shipment. It’s Yiwu so naturally milder in flavor, and slightly sweet. But a little one-dimensional to me. Good age – seems humid stored? I’m relatively new to the world of raw puerh so bear with me. The thing that strikes me most about this tea is the qi. I started feeling it creep up on the second steep and started sweating on my 4th cup. Possibly the strongest qi I’ve felt from a tea yet. Very nice. I would drink this tea primarily for the feeling, though the taste certainly isn’t bad. It just doesn’t have a lot of nuance to it.

W2T July Teaclub

Very interesting and complex tea..
Rinse: 30s, light peach color.. a little smoke, smooth shou flavor.
Steeps 1&2: 5s, orange/yellow color.. smoky, campfire, wood, wet leaves
Steep 3: 5s, fire orange.. same flavors, but a soothing, warming feeling.. a touch of sweetness
Steep 4: 10s, bright orange.. same flavor.. not my favorite flavor in the world, but it’s alluring.. drawing me to have another sip, and another.. I’m feeling the qi building and also feeling slightly drunk.. off of a yiwu, which is new for me.
Steeps 5&6: 10s, bright orange.. the rough edges of the flavor are gone now, yielding a tea that is smooth, woody, and smooth.
Steep 7: 15s, orange.. Now here’s where I’m going to sound like a nutjob. Add the smallest pinch of salt (literally, a few granules). You won’t notice the salt, but it unlocks a cooling sensation and a sweetness for me that’s amazing. Or maybe I’m just teadrunk. Either way.
Steeps 8&9: 15s, light orange.. still some woodsy notes, but a sweetness is breaking through the noise.. honey-like..

This is as far as I can go right now.. Excuse me while I take a cold shower XD This tea makes me so warm inside. Let me know if I just lost all credibility with the salt thing ;)