Ripe/Cooked Puerh of the Night

[SliceOfLife]

NFF... try the generic Pu-ehr they have in mini toucha at Whole Foods... it may just be worse than that stuff.

Looks like dirt. Smells like dirt. Tastes like dirt. Dirt and rat droppings.

The toucha

Press it a little

Pick out the pieces that didn't break up when pressed and get a closeup

Rinse comes out like spent coffee grounds

Less than half the tea is left in pot after one rinse... it continues pouring out with every infusion. By the third, the pot is empty.

[shah8]

Blended 5g of Secret Fragrance shu with 2 grams of SE Memorial sheng dust. It was okay, but rather unpredictable and uncoordinated--there wasn't much summation as there was greater-than-sum-of-parts. Early infusions were a little sour, and had a strong chocolate note. SF always had a soft and subtle one, but it's really strong here. The soup did taste deeper, but I'm not sure to much advantage. The aroma was nicer and more solid in smell. After some infusions, the tea settled down and started really massaging the throat in heat and cool. The qi was nice, as usual. Camphor edge in the taste as well.

[nff]

NFF... try the generic Pu-ehr they have in mini toucha at Whole Foods... it may just be worse than that stuff.

Looks like dirt. Smells like dirt. Tastes like dirt. Dirt and rat droppings.

The toucha

Press it a little

Pick out the pieces that didn't break up when pressed and get a closeup

Rinse comes out like spent coffee grounds

Less than half the tea is left in pot after one rinse... it continues pouring out with every infusion. By the third, the pot is empty.

well given what they do the make SHU those things very well may be just that. i generally stay away from mini's i'v only found one mini i enjoy which is sold from a reputable tea shop. its not a shu either which is amazing to me since they only seem to sell shu.

speakig of shu from that shop. tomorow i will be trying out some 2002 menghai/dayi something or another since i cant read chineese.




steve seems to think that its 7562. any guesses are welcome.

[shah8]

Had the 2009 Dragon Pole yesterday. Very solid soil and chocolate flavor, with a bit of camphor around the fringes. Early brews had a notable plummy chocolate aroma right after the pour. Body-warming to some degree. Less energetic in the mouth than it used to be, but still a solid cooler in the mouth and throat, with a bit of lingering taste. Generally kind of boring, and expires quickly for a short session.

[nff]

2002 menghai shou of some sort. 7.6g in dayi gaiwan. 100c

2 rinses

1st infusion 10s: woody sweet citrus herbal no astringancy only slight dryness


2nd infusion 15s: citrus almost minty? leaves a menthol coolness in the mouth.

3rd infusion 15s: heavy wood that changes to citrus and mint finish.


4th infusion 25s: the wood citrus and mint seem to be a trend with this tea. its pleasant


5th infusion 30s: not turning out to be terribly complex but quite nice. ill stop here if i find anything difrent ill add it.



well it seems i got 15 or so out of it not nearly as much as id like but not bad. so heres the spent leaves.

[ouch]

I drink shu once a year, whether I need to or not.

[mosomoso]

6FTM 2003 brick. No special effects, no flimsy gong ting or buds in this lot. Just mangled leaf, aging well. Deep and sweet, what a shu should be.

Cheers to all

Rob

[grasshopper]

mosomoso--

I bought three of those zhuan chas in 2005 from TeaSpring, and I drank one, liking it very much. The other two are in one of my shu boxes. I recall it was deep and sweet when it was young. I liked it a lot. It made an impressin on me. It's grown yet deeper and sweeter over the ensuing years?

Just out of curiosity, Rob, what's the humidity like in rural NSW Australia?

Best wishes to you always.

~geraldo

[mosomoso]

Greetings geraldo

I think it was your recommendation that got me curious about those bricks. I also have an old Liming shu brick from '98 which is so coarse that the leaf veins are like horse hair. It, too, is sweetly mellow, with a very pretty and clear ruby colour. I'm starting to suspect that sturdy, low-grade leaf stands up well to the heavy ferment and then the aging. I'm less confident about aging the buddy, fussy shus. I've had no luck with teas like the Golden Needle White Lotus.

Climate here is like the coastal fringe of the southern US, but more ventilated. The classic pattern is: late winter/early spring dry, the rest of the year humid. However, since about 2007 it's been pretty constantly humid. This El Nino has brought our first bad dry spell in years.

I'm told good things about your climate in the Pacific North West, rain and all. I feel the Pacific must be the ocean for discerning types like us, geraldo.

Cheers to you and to all

Rob

[P_K]

2011 Menghai 7562 brick -

A solid shu. Yum.

[shah8]

I had 5.3g of this tea: http://www.holymtn.com/catalog/rare-...h-brick-p-1819
+
1.7g of this tea: http://www.yunnansourcing.com/store/...id_product=867

Wonderful shu blend. TCM and wood with slight, very slight berry/plum undertones. Early brews have very good aroma. Smooth. Thick. A little qi. Very durable. I might have had the 2006 version of the former, but the maker is the same. The best low grade leaf shu formula I've ever had from a factory.

[TwoDog2]

2011 Menghai 7562 brick -

A solid shu. Yum.

Hey P_K, does this have much dui taste or is it fairly smooth? I have a Menghai 7572 from 2011 and it is still pretty "stank"

[shah8]

The 7572 is a traditional (well, traditional to late 90s early 2k's) process shu. Wodui up the wazoo comes with that, and it will be some years before it fades. This is why Dayi has lines of shu that's more ready to drink after 6 months...

[TwoDog2]

The 7572 is a traditional (well, traditional to late 90s early 2k's) process shu. Wodui up the wazoo comes with that, and it will be some years before it fades. This is why Dayi has lines of shu that's more ready to drink after 6 months...

Agreed, that was why i was curious how smooth it was. I have not chipped into that cake.

I also have one/two Dayi shus from 2012. One cake smells kind of like someone gutted a bass on a pile of wood chips. I think it will be at least a couple of years before that cake is drinkable.

[P_K]

Hey P_K, does this have much dui taste or is it fairly smooth? I have a Menghai 7572 from 2011 and it is still pretty "stank"

Yeah its more approachable for its age compared to some of the Menghai shu bings. I always thought my 7452 had more wudui flavor than my 7572 though.

[TwoDog2]

I don't have any 7452, so i am not sure how it compares. It could also be a storage issue.; I have neglected those cakes pretty badly. I didn't want them near my sheng, so i just tossed them on a shelf (in a dry climate). Their strong smell is probably due at least in part to my bad parenting. I should air them out

[AjaxLepinski]

B&B is astonishing... I've been drinking tea purchased from Mark T. Wendell for 12 years and I thought I knew tea! Some very deep things going on here! :o)

[GN?]

I brewed 2011 eot gushu shu loose leaf this morning . It was incredibly bad. I love the cake but ugh. The unpressed version tasted like I was chewing on potpourri chips and washing em down shots grandma's purfume. I think something very bad might have happened to it while in my possession. This tea in cake form is great (the reason I scooped up the last of the loose leaf) and I think I remember this stuff being ok when I first got it but I'm not sure. Has anyone else tried this in loose form? I think like 2dog my shu gets ignored while my sheng gets the spa treatment.

[AjaxLepinski]

My first pu-erh purchase, back in 2001, tasted like dirt and it took about 11 years before I would try it again. My second attempt, last month, was good enough to keep in rotation - small, individually wrapped cakes from Mark T. Wendel.
Sure enough, B&B is ever ready to stoke the TAD and after reading a recommendation in an earlier post, I bought 357 grams of 2008 King of Bu Lang from Mandala Tea. This was my third purchase of Pu-erh in 30 years of tea drinking and it is really, really astonishingly good! I also picked up a brick of 2007 Menghai 7562 that I will be sampling tomorrow morning.
Lapsang Souchong has always been my favorite (half pound in the glass jar to the right of the moca pot) but I think that the King of Bu Lang has taken it's place!

Here's my stash:


I was a bit impatient and couldn't wait to get a taste so, I just did a 15 sec wash and a 25 sec brew with a chunk that I tore off the cake with my bare hands. ROCKIN' good tea!!!

[thanks]

2011 Yunnan Sourcing "Hui Run" Ripe of Bulang. According to Scott, this contains first flush spring material entirely sourced from Bulang mountain villages. I don't doubt it, as the cha qi was quite strong. The tea is strong, pungent, very slightly still carries a fermented flavor, but wow this is an excellent shu. Thick, sweet, and coating, this seems to have been fermented excellently.