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SOTD- sheng of the day

arghblech

arghblech

shah8 said:
/me blinks...

Wow, that was totally not what I expected. The sample I had, the issue was that it was problematically hongcha until you wash that stuff out by, like brew 9. Sour, too. It was a little unpleasant. But superbitter? *wood*? My sample was always smooth, and very unbitter. Also not woody.
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Lots of hongcha and I assume that is where the chemical sourness is coming from. The woods aren't strong or anything... like a passing scent of the inside of an old piano. Also, I'm brewing in a gaiwan so this isn't being influenced by my trusty old yixing.

I'm starting back up on these leaves this afternoon so I'll see if there is any carryover. I still have two sessions left of this sample.
 
arghblech

arghblech

More 2007 XZH Spring Din Jin Nu Er...

I decided to try again so I could compare with shah8's comments. Brewing the same way (same gear, same water source, from the same sample, etc). Today there is no bitterness at all... just a giant pile of an almost latexy sourness. There really is something rubbery in this stuff. Super red soup for a 2007. What a difference one day makes. Still icky though.
 
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shah8

Now you're tempting me to open a bing and try some! How is the qi? I take it there is no fruitiness?

2 shengs of the day.

1) '10 Bangwai. Muted power, mostly in the throat, and very subtle tastes. Good qi.

2) Tai Lian, not as good as usual, but that still means I can't keep my hands off of it.
 
P_K

P_K

From Western Yunnan ebay store.

This did not start well. Very....very herbal and very smokey. In fact, the first two infusions tasted like some kind of chemical hellbrew. I tried two more and they were marginally better. I was about to throw it out....but decided to pick it up the next day. My what a day can do. The smoke has relented considerably and now adds interest to the leaves. Powerful chaqi. I actually staggered when I stood up....something I have not experienced in a long time. Very infusable...up to 14 when I stopped. And it could have gone another 2-3 with no problem. Intriguing. I'll be interested to see what happens next time.
 
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shah8

One sheng of the day, XZH '06 brick. Outperforms the '08 LBZ the way the Man Nuo does. Never as complex tasting or as active in the mouth or throat, but thicker soup, richer taste and smell, more pleasant qi, sweeter, and much longer session. Lower in astringency than usual, but plenty of it to add to future taste/feel, unlike the '08 LBZ or '04 YQH SR.

I think that if you're not getting the best boutique new productions, then you are best off with getting older stuff. It doesn't seem like Gan'en is some elite brand or anything (I could be wrong), but the '05 is considerably better than newer LBZ that I've tasted and read about. I'm seriously wondering if the overall leaf quality is headed down.
 
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shah8

Hey Hobbes, the sample was great for me! Anyways, oxidized wild, wild-leaf puerhs has always been pretty polarizing. There's a hilarious t4u thread about such teas, with people hating it, loving it, made nauseous by it...Did you ever try the one most people have had, the Xiaguan Baoshan wilds?

Two delicious shengs of the day:
Tai Lian, was really good today in terms of really great aroma, and lots of perfumed/incense woods in the taste, as well as coconut and cherry.
Mansai, which was interrupted before I ever got to the usual drop-off in flavor, so I just had great Bulang. And then I get to wondering if it's *reeeeally* Bulang, or just Myanmar puerh ?:~)
 
Hobbesoxon

Hobbesoxon

shah8 said:
Hey Hobbes, the sample was great for me! Anyways, oxidized wild, wild-leaf puerhs has always been pretty polarizing. There's a hilarious t4u thread about such teas, with people hating it, loving it, made nauseous by it...Did you ever try the one most people have had, the Xiaguan Baoshan wilds?
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No, sir - I've not tried that Xiaguan as far as I know. Not much from Baoshan makes it to the market, which is odd, given that is is an entire diqu / prefecture between Lincang and Dehong, of similar size to each. Plenty of natural mountain parks must make for plenty of tea trees... :)


Toodlepip,

Hobbes
 
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shah8

Galiongshan is in Baoshan, up against Myanmar...think you've had that teaspring aged sample...

Galiongshan does seem to be popular with chinese boutique makers. Think it goes by Pine Mountain or some such.

Eeeeh, if you're ever curious, I'm sure one of the regulars still has that recent-year Xiaguan Ancient Wild Tree. Good for trauma, I say!
 
G

grasshopper

1992 CNNP Zhu Tong Cha
From Jing Teashop
Purchased six years ago.
In this case, no hint of fire.
The amber liquor presents a bifurcated, dithyrambic herbal-citrus profile, not conflated or commingled (but it's still early days).
Apparently the compressed tea was removed from the bamboo at time of manufacture, sliced into little discs (like gigantic aspirin) and then put back into bamboo.
There is a line across each slice, and the slices weigh about ten grams per.
This product seems to be more factory-processed than campfire-processed.
Stay cool, cool friends.
~grasshopper
 
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shah8

Two shengs of the day:

fannings and debris of Tai Lian. Didn't taste great, but was very cooling

XZH XiShangMeiShao. Kinda danda metrosexual of a tea. Very charming and pleasant tea. More likely to be satisfying than the Yiwu of the same year, and satisfying today--very sweet, strong mouth/throat feel, light flavors and aromas.
 
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shah8

Two shengs of the day:

HLH Fall '10. Enjoyable until the crash.

Western brew of Nada's Manmai. Tons of umami as a result, so it was unusually savory in a glutamate fashion. Floral meaty was definitely a new one on me, but it was pretty good, with nice throat feel (in the cooling, there was also a hint of abrasive feel, but nothing bad at all) and the qi went very well with reading the new novel by Charles Stross, Rule 34 (for a near future procedural, it is obscenely funny). I think Ouch knows that rule, actually.

note that someone bought a tong of XZH Jingmai @ $135.
 
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grasshopper

Sheng of Last Night:
1994 De Lan Raw Pu'er
From YS, LLC, purchased in a group-buy soon after the business opened its doors--I cannot recall the year. '05? I dunno. The cake arrived looking like gold shu iron cake--extremely thin around the edge, hard and tightly compressed, dark--but no black in it. No shu flavor or redolence--very delicious tea--much better than the '92 Zhu Tong. I bought just one beeng cha since it looked peculiar (what peole now call "oolonged"?), and I chunked it into a zisha jar for storage. My super-accurate retrospectrometer tells me I should have purchased more back then. Where are the Time Lords? Best to all, ~grasshopper
 
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shah8

2003 Menghai Bulang Boutique. Mild, subtle, goooooooood. Richer than it seems at first.

Found out the LBZ I've been harsh on was in fact Nada's own pressing, from maocha Hobbes has talked about in the 2008 LBZ maocha page. It made me think abit more about what Nada likes, how he picks leaves, etc, etc, and difference from then to now. For instance, the 2011 maocha looks to have leaves that are much bigger. Another thing that got really pressed down in my mind is that I more or less demand rich tastes over most other things, including complexity. The 2010 Mansai might not have much in the way of powerful huigan, or consistently good endurance, but I really, really, like to drink that because it's so full of many different flavors. I just will not be all that interested in any other green tea but sencha for the same reason. I fundamentally like Assams more than I do Darjs or Nilgiris--easy to brew rich taste over such things like elaborate florals/fruits. I think I really understand at this point that I probably shouldn't bother with any more LBZ, because no LBZ that I will ever have a reasonable chance at now will be better than a Man Nuo or Nada's 2011 Guafengzhai in terms of that rich taste I desire. All the flashy stuff LBZ does, I like, but it doesn't make me tick unless I get the gym socks too. Used body-builder gym socks.
 
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