2006 Bulang Bamboo Leaf Shou

A decent ripe! I got this tea from a w2t order a few months back, and I enjoyed the session quite a bit! Relatively consistently plucked small leaves with a decent wet leaf aroma and a vibrant liquor. This tea was smooth, thick yet juicy with a bit of character and body to it. This tea had a decent finish and a semi-decent cha-qi. The steep longevity and the aftertaste was relatively average along with the nuance when it came to the flavour and taste. The overall flavour was nice but lacked any distinctness from other ripes I’ve tasted. Generally, a good tea that wasn’t the cleanest but nothing too bad.

brewed with Brita filtered tap, boiling, grandpa style in a glass. slight thickened texture. I’ve never been able to pick out distinct notes for any shou puer or ripe liu bao I’ve ever tried so I should probably stop being tempted to buy more. I think I remember reading a review of this at some point where the reviewer mentioned it tasted like sucking on bamboo chopsticks so I bought it out of curiosity. I’m slightly disappointed to report that the taste was not that of bamboo chopsticks.

Handful of Steepster Freeze fuzzy recollections incoming.

The shou — somewhat oily body, the taste full petrichor and reminiscent of black oak and dark, dry loam. The bamboo imparted a cool and airy, green ‘essence of bamboo’ feeling that accomodated very well the dark, mineral nature of the shou. The aroma of gentle sage steam crossed my mind. Medicinal in that nature. The two main flavors played off each other well, melding into a cohesive flavor profile. The energy for me was cooling, focusing and somewhat overwhelming. Overall, a good, clean damp-free shou. Something I’d recommend as a contrast to warming, chocolatey, coffee, red fruit leaning shou. Thank you, Togo!

I find this tea really delicious now that I’ve figured out how to brew it properly. I love the darker red-like color that has a light fresh fragrance and hint of bamboo in the smell and taste. It’s a wonderful breakfast tea that I find helps give me energy and focus. I enjoy it with a little bit of almond milk.

An easy to drink shou with a super clear liquor we have here. Its dry leaf scent reminds me of old books and fish market. In the we leaves, I noticed aromas of wet wood, sauna, leather, old furniture and later on in the session also red currant and toasted rice. Taste-wise, there is a light bamboo note initially indeed. Overall, it is quite medicinal, woody and savoury, with some bitter, tart and nutty characteristics too. One particular flavour I tend to get is sage. The aftertaste is much sweeter and reminiscent of red bean paste.

The liquor is mouth-watering, smooth, bubbly and a touch astringent. It is not very coating though. There is some aggressive cha qi, although not too strong. It makes me feel focused.

Didn’t save super thorough tasting notes, but I know I did 5g, 100C, 100ml.
Super pleasant shou, a great place to start because this lacks just about anything someone could find offensive in shou. The bamboo has contributed some aromatics almost like white rice, with some subtle wood but not wet wood like other ripe puer. Not heavy on soil tastes either, a really easy drinker. I’m considering picking up some of this!

The smell is little marine with a less pungent shou aroma. Actually, I noted a bit of bamboo shoot as well, but very faintly.

As for the flavour, it’s forwardly smoky, very mellow and smooth. Great balance between bitter and sweet. Hard for me to really place the flavours, though, even as it continues to develop; I’d say it’s more woodsy with light earth notes. A challenging one indeed.

Super-easy drinking. I steeped it for a full minute pretty early on and it was still fantastic with a warm, long-lingering aftertaste. Highly recommended!

I like this much better these days. I have probably just improved in terms of brewing through the years. I leaf this harder than others and give it a very good rinse to avoid feeling too much of the bamboo. I know the name has “bamboo” in it, but I wasn’t expecting so much, uh, bamboo-yness.

It’s strange that I seem to prefer younger raw pu’s, but older ripe pu’s. Guess it works out better financially in most cases so yay?

My brewing method has also changed considerably in terms of ritual and artifacts.

0. The bottom double-walled cup of the 150ml brewer shattered months ago (the company wanted to be paid like 80-85% of the cost of a brand new brewer to replace the cup so I said F that) and I switched to a 75ml budget gaiwan that also worked beautifully.
1. But recently, the lid of my daily workhorse 75ml gaiwan shattered, so until I replace that or figure out some other solution, I am using an even smaller porcelain houhin (<55-60ml total capacity).
2. This gets super hot, so I use a large clean bandana as a tea towel, mostly for hand protection as I pour.
3. Every shou or other funky tea gets sieved through this before drinking: https://ebay.to/35mb01h
4. To help me measure water when needed there is a 100mL Pyrex (also serves as a handy little tiny pitcher)
5. This then gets poured into a thick walled Korean ceramic teacup that weighs ~91g (I love this weight) and holds ~60ml.
6. There is a separate discard bowl that holds quite a bit, more than enough for at least two different tea sessions.
7. I used to filter tap water (which didn’t work for a number of reasons," then got water delivered for about 2 years but encountered many problems with the service); now I boil bottled water in a 30oz adagio electric kettle, store the water in a 44oz Zojirushi, and this works great. I know fancy places will have Bonavitas, but I’ve used them before and don’t enjoy the user experience nearly as much as the Adagio+Zojirushi combination.
8. For sessions that benefit from more capacity, I use some 120-150ml capacity items, mainly from Lin’s Ceramics.

I actually have a number of small cast iron teapots from the now defunct Teavana that could be used to store the off-boil water, and they’re more aesthetically pleasing, so we break them out for guests, but those things are surprisingly high maintenance, even the ones coated with enamel on the inside (they’ll rust if you aren’t meticulous), so 95% of the time I am pouring straight from my Zoji. Them’s just facts.