2016 Yunnan Sourcing "Shan Hou" Old Arbor Raw Pu-erh tea

Sipdown and overleafed one. 6 and something grams. And my 85 ml gaiwan.

Dry leaf was vegetal, bit of tobbaco, astringent, little herbal.
Quick rinse and tobbaco disappeared, became more strong in astringent and vegetal notes. I do not know how much steeps and how long they were. But usually I counted some time between 15 seconds to 30.

First steeps were super astringent, then it turned to mellow, some notes of leather there. Following steeps were quite vegetal, but bit plain, nothing really distinctive. And then? It was just warm beverage.

I wonder if I steeping it wrong, or need some more aging. But I have no more left. But thank you Donatzsky for sample.

A sample from Togo. Thanks, guy!

The dry leaf smells fantastic, somewhat bitter with sweet apricot, herbs, vegetables, mushroom, pine and soft leather. The liquor starts off really clean, vegetal and tart with an aftertaste of apricot, musk melon and yeast roll. Then the tea quickly turns into battery acid. Holy crap my mouth is raw and so dry. Can’t make it past 4 steeps even with decreasing the temperature from 205 to 195. Ow.

2016? This one’s going to need a lot of age and tlc before it’s drinkable.

More than 3 months later, I am trying this again, and the experience is better this time. I am not quite sure what went wrong last time, but it could be a few things. I seem to remember I sampled it very early after the parcel arrived, so that could be it.

The smell is not super strong, but I do get some sauna, honey, pine and mountain herb notes. Taste is very herbaceous, medicinal and mushroomy. As I alluded to before though, the bitterness hides a lot of the complexity. Given how strong and pungent it is though, I think it has a great aging potential. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately, from the point of view of my savings), I don’t expect to settle anytime soon, so I am reluctant to buy teas purely for aging purposes.

Mouthfeel is fairly thick, cooling upfront and very dry in the finish and aftertaste. This session’s experience was not very physical, but it enabled me to zone out quite successfully, which I prefer to be honest.

Good bitterness and good body, however, also a certain degree of astringency without particularly noticeable Qi. Good endurance and good quality but nothing special, what would set this tea apart from others.
Images and more at https://puerh.blog/teanotes/2016-shan-hou-ys

Wow! This is a very high quality sheng that hits all the right spots for me.

Brews a medium-dark yellow, noticeably darker than most of the other 2016 sheng I’ve been tasting. Smells of spice, honey and reminds me a bit of bag balm/tiger balm. Like the aroma the taste is spicy with prominent notes of mushroom and aromatic wood like pine and cedar. Honey, grain, stewed veggies, fresh spring water, and herbal medicine with a hint of something floral. The brew is thick and viscous, very potent and moderately bitter. It’s very complex and active in the mouth with a cinnamon-like pungence. The qi is noticeable very early on and makes my face and cheeks feel flush and tingly. Five grams lasted many brews and about a liter of water. The brewed leaves are plump and an attractive olive green with thick veins and stems like spaghetti noodles.

This is a very potent tea with a nice balance of bitter and sweet as well as a complex, never boring flavor profile. I tend to be kind of stingy when purchasing tea, really struggling to spend over $50 on a cake, but this is a tea that I will happily spring a little extra for.

This is potent, viscous, sweet, and spicy, with underlying bitterness. Nice light compression on the leaves, as all of Scott’s recent cakes. The steeped leaves have a nice sweet fragrance of grain and honeysuckle. The tea soup has a deep golden hue—borderline orange, something I hear is typical of Jinggu. It’s possible I added more leaf than usual, but I still don’t get that color using similar brewing parameters with other new young sheng.

It steeps consistently musky sweet roasted grains, spicy rosemary, savory mushroom, and roasted zucchini. I noticed over several sessions the nice cedar base in this tea. Very nice qi in there too that is evident from the first steep. These leaves are reportedly from tea trees plucked only twice a year, which I think explains the impressive viscosity and potency of this tea. I’ve had most of Scott’s Jinggu teas and this seems like a cousin of the Bai Ni Shui, but more potency and sweet grain notes.