SOTD- sheng of the day

Pretty much straight from the beginning, Sanhetang was all about the sun-drying, and if you check their blog posts, you'll find lots of pictures of bings lying around in the sun. EdoB, how does your experience with the 2011 DianGu affect your memories of the 2009 DianGu sample? Did Mile's Birthday Blend have comparable thickness to the Nannuo?

I tried the Puersom maocha again today. Like the last time I played with Puersom Hekai--the second time isn't as good as the first. This isn't that much thicker than normal cheap stuff, and the soup is drying, a bit. Flavor is still pretty good, with some complexity in a decently long session.

shah8 - I think the Birthday Blend was as thick or thicker than the Nannuo. It was nothing like the LuoShuiDong. I would have to go back to the 2009 DianGu sample.

SOTD - XiaGuan '99 tie bing (iron cake) - This is called an iron bing for a reason. Even though this is aged it can only be broken up into large chunks or essentially fannings. This is from a Nic Tang sample back when he was selling them. The tea is clearly aged but has no wet storage signs. The flavors are light but it does make the mouth water from the back of the tongue and it is slightly drying. So far the qi is noticeable but not overpowering - just a sense of increased but calm energy. A decent tea but I'd be afraid to see what the price is now. When I first looked at this a year or two ago it was around $300 a cake which seemed like a lot at the time. (Actually it still does but I'm sure the price is quite a bit higher now.)

EdoB said:

Even though this is aged it can only be broken up into large chunks or essentially fannings.

Click to expand...

I don't love tie cakes for exactly this reason!!

SOTD: EoT 2012 Bulang - First, let me say, I have not yet tried the 2010 EoT Bulang but I did have the 2011 Bulang shortly after it was released so it has been some time since I've had it. I found the 2012 to have a similar taste as the 2011 but much lighter. It reminds me of the taste/bitterness of aspirin a bit. I didn't notice any signs of oxidation or other "processing" in this tea. It was on the lighter side though. I did not experience any qi with this at all but I also drank a bit less (5gms instead of 6.5 or so.) Still, I would have expected to feel it a bit. I just saw that a couple of people on TC mentioned this as their fav 2012 sheng while I know others have found this to be rather lacking in comparison to 2010 and 2011. I have to try this again but I did not find it to be noteworthy one way or the other and in the EoT lineup for this year I definitely prefer Bangwei 33 and GFZ over this.

Today, I had my last normal serving of YS '10 Yongde Da Xue Shan. It was very nice. Was thicker, sweeter, more floral aroma, and more complex than the very first brew I made from it.

Yesterday, during the tea meetup, I had:

2001 Dayi label Yiwu. This sucka costs a lot of money on taobao, but it's not very good. Not bad at all, but it's fairly plantation, with a broad caramel sweetness lurking below the general sheng flavors. I would rather have the MYH '01 instead.
2000 Fu Hai brick from Jing Tea Shop. This was brought once before, and it was kind of hollow, bitter, with a nice finish. Today, it was soft, round, and very nicely refined woody in the same way that finish was before. I think this is a little expensive @ $67/250g, but this is one of those few aged shengs (at least when compared to the rash of duds I've had recently, other than the Mengku Yellow in Green) still being sold today that's really is quite tasty.
2001 Xiaguan Baoyan Iron bing. I have a sample to try at home, but there, it was very nicely woody in an unusually full way for a Xiaguan. My 2003 Jingcha is more hollow, more sour, but also has some sweet flavors in a more complex soup/session. This was the last tea, though, and we were tired. I think I will enjoy it very much when I try it again, soon.

Teaurchin is selling the Tai Lian Yiwu 2003 brick for ten bucks more than YS. Just thought that was interesting. Could be better storage, could be anticipation of when overall prices will justify this one, who knows.

Ess Oh Tea Dee: 2012 Chawangpu "Jingmai"

Jingmai seems to be one of the regions that tastes noticeably dissimilar to other regions. I don't necessarily like it as much as other areas, usually. However, this Chawangshop version really won me over - it is flavoursome and quite lovely, with all of the fullness that one might hope for in a young tea. It manages to make itself heard over the poor water and background noise of my lab, and forces me to pay attention to it. Really very enjoyable, and heartily recommended if you're looking for a solid Jingmai example. I like its price, too - Chawangshop seems as if it's right on the optimum of price and quality, for my tastes.


Toodlepip,

Hobbes

Hope it's not a problem if I join you.

Today it is 2006 Hai Lang Hao's Laobanzhang (thanks, hster!). A really nice tea, but its charms seem to become a bit muted with oncoming brews. Will have to drink more of it.

Drinking 2001 Baoyan tie bing. It's good for slapping. Makes an excellent paddle for naughty bums, and also delivers a good thwack to the tongue. Iron bing is iron bing, and however dark the soup is, it's not a gentle tea. The flavors are okay, but the 2003 Jingcha is just much more pleasant than this, if more sour, and a bit more empty.

The second note that the HLH '06 LBZ gets weak quickly is interesting. LBZ isn't *that* durable, but some of them really are, and even the definite LBZs that aren't, will last more than 8 brews for sure, and generally will last about 12 brews.

shah8: The strength/color of liquor and "main taste" are there even in 10th brew, but the feeling I have from it is weaker and weaker and it is not as pleasant and full as when I started the session. It's like if it was a blend of old and younger trees and the old tree part died out first.

2010 Shi Kun Mu Pin Jian -

Lots of grain and bean notes. Nice yellow soup. Really I prefer this to the Douji Da Dou.

Still working on my Mengku 09 1974 (I'm actually proud that after referencing the maker name, I had only misspelled it by one letter (Mingku). I just cracked it open three days ago. 2-3 pots a day... I figure another two or three weeks on it, then I'll be cracking open a 2010 Mengku Old tree.

SOTD: 2012 ChaRen (from Tea Urchin) Spring Gao Shan Zhai - this was just ok really. It was clearly better than the Luo Shui Dong but if my memory serves me correctly the GuaFengZhai and Birthday Blend were thicker and stronger in taste. The GSZ was not that thick but was stronger than the LSD. It had some light citrus notes. I didn't particularly notice much in the way of qi. FYI - I had maocha from a sample.

JakubT said:

shah8: The strength/color of liquor and "main taste" are there even in 10th brew, but the feeling I have from it is weaker and weaker and it is not as pleasant and full as when I started the session. It's like if it was a blend of old and younger trees and the old tree part died out first.

Click to expand...

Welcome!

2011 Chawangpu Yiwu Gao Shan Zhai -

Grain, butter and flowers. This is quite tasty...and I am bummed that it is sold out.

Longtime lurker here, I owe a debt of thanks to many of you in this thread for recommendations and reflections on sheng. So, thank you.




SOTD: 2011 Taochaju Gua Feng Zhai I decided to chip a piece off of this cake today, which I do on occasion as a treat. It's quite a special yiwu, that goes through a lot of development and has a lot of staying power. Grains and warm sweetness, butter, fruityness and cooling in the throat. A nice addition to my summer day.

Best Tea House 2001 Yiwu brick. Has some nice flavors, but it's just unacceptably harsh for the age. No qi, okay aromas. Not much to mouthfeel. Dayi label Yiwu from the same year might have been inferior to more boutique productions, but it's better than this by some margin.

SOTD: 2008 Lao Man'E cake, about 3g, mixed with two leftovers from samples, one YS 2011 Bada and a random 2010 Bu Lang, about 2g each. I was clearing out some small bags I have left and decided to mix the LME with the rest. The first two steeps, the bada and bulang were coming through with a lot of leather and tobacco. On steep three, the LME woke up and beat the hell out of the other two. Lots of strong kuwei. Really nice throat and mouthfeel. Here I am an hour later and my saliva still tastes sweet.

Teaurchin Luol Shui Dong '12 maocha again. I paid more attention to it, and I entirely enjoyed it. I still think that it's likely that it's plantation tea, because it's on the wrong side of "is it too harsh for gushu?" equation, and there are certain flavors that I associate with plantation in it. Flavors are definitelly what Luol Shui Dong flavors should be, though. If it's gushu, then it's somewhat problematic, as it's inferior to other examples of LSD, like the ZhenSiLong '09 I've had that's probably plantation as well. The aroma wasn't very strong, and there was very little after the initial brews. The thickness was a touch thicker than water, but it goes down a little harsh at times. The durability was pretty good, as it delivered a potable soup of light, but sweet flavors brew after brews, past, oh, 13 brews. There should be respect for quality plantation, but the big problem for me is that at $70, the opportunity costs compared to buying older Yiwu at Houde is severe, and there are better, cheaper alternatives, seeming by reviews, at Chawangshop among others. Good preferable new teas at YS as well. 250g of that Xikong, eh?

2001 Cheng Guang He Tang Mengsa. Strange - it does not feel/taste all that different from the 1999 Dragon and horse. And the notable taste of hemp string is rather unusual for Yiwu - maybe some weird storage aroma?

Edit: And after four more years of aging, the leaves are greener than Hobbes' from 4 years ago. Weird.