Search found 347 matches

by StoneLadle
Wed Aug 26, 2020 4:05 pm
Forum: Fermented Tea
Topic: What Pu'er Are You Drinking
Replies: 2051
Views: 924436

Re: What Pu'er Are You Drinking

2007 Mengku Sheng. Old, wild, Bingdao material. Dry, pressed leaves are dark with copper undertones 🍁 Aroma is reminiscent of quality, woody, sweet pipe tobacco. Mouthfeel is soft, thick, and heavy. Liquor is a beautiful red-orange. Taste reminds me of sticky red raisins, elderberry syrup, and cher...
by StoneLadle
Wed Aug 26, 2020 3:57 pm
Forum: Fermented Tea
Topic: What Pu'er Are You Drinking
Replies: 2051
Views: 924436

Re: What Pu'er Are You Drinking

klepto I agree that a puer session is a great reason to wake up! It's lovely to watch the sun rise while peacefully enjoying the nuances of a well developed sheng. Right now, i'm wide awake from totally overdoing it on a couple of teas from the 80s, and it's fast approaching 0500, perhaps I'll be s...
by StoneLadle
Wed Aug 26, 2020 3:51 pm
Forum: Fermented Tea
Topic: How to explain pleasant bitterness
Replies: 35
Views: 11760

Re: How to explain pleasant bitterness

Thanks for expanding on that. Also, we're in total agreement about young puer and the deliciousness of liubao. My point was simply that I don't find it strange all at all that you react differently to coffee or even oversteeped English Breakfast compared to liubao and aged puer. It seemed rather co...
by StoneLadle
Wed Aug 26, 2020 4:56 am
Forum: Fermented Tea
Topic: Telling the difference between sheng and shu when both have been stored Hong Kong style?
Replies: 44
Views: 16413

Re: Telling the difference between sheng and shu when both have been stored Hong Kong style?

TeaZero wrote:
Wed Aug 26, 2020 4:52 am
I think the main difference is that shu will always be thicker, smoother and earthier relative to long aged sheng. Old shengs develop are more 'herbal' or 'medicinal' aroma, which shu's don't have.
Hi there, I beg to differ. The medicinal notes of a good aged 7581 are highly prized
by StoneLadle
Wed Aug 26, 2020 4:34 am
Forum: Fermented Tea
Topic: Telling the difference between sheng and shu when both have been stored Hong Kong style?
Replies: 44
Views: 16413

Re: Telling the difference between sheng and shu when both have been stored Hong Kong style?

I agree, and I had the suspicion that you and StoneLadle might actually not disagree either, which is why I wrote that his statement would not be controversial " if we agree that (HK) "natural storage" is the same as "wet storage"/"traditional storage" ". When he talked about "naturally aged raw PE...
by StoneLadle
Wed Aug 26, 2020 3:27 am
Forum: Fermented Tea
Topic: How to explain pleasant bitterness
Replies: 35
Views: 11760

Re: How to explain pleasant bitterness

Doesn't that make sense though? Liubao is rarely bitter (particularly the most common mid- to higher fermentation types), and my impression (correct me if I'm wrong!) is that you mostly drink aged puer stored in Malaysia, which will generally speaking also be less bitter than something very young o...
by StoneLadle
Wed Aug 26, 2020 12:13 am
Forum: Fermented Tea
Topic: How to explain pleasant bitterness
Replies: 35
Views: 11760

Re: How to explain pleasant bitterness

...i mean, life is always paradoxical,

coffee is bitter and i like it with sugar and cream, can't stand it black on it's own... but i love dark oversteeped Pu Erh and Liu Bao...

and i also like English Breakfast Tea with milk and sugar...
by StoneLadle
Wed Aug 26, 2020 12:05 am
Forum: Fermented Tea
Topic: How to explain pleasant bitterness
Replies: 35
Views: 11760

Re: How to explain pleasant bitterness

I was recently talking with a friend about how they should try sheng. One of my reasonings being the complexity and the interesting factor of pleasant bitterness in good young sheng. They looked at me with a puzzled look and questioned me on how something could be bitter and pleasant I began to try...
by StoneLadle
Tue Aug 25, 2020 11:34 pm
Forum: Fermented Tea
Topic: How to explain pleasant bitterness
Replies: 35
Views: 11760

Re: How to explain pleasant bitterness

Is the pleasant bitterness you're referring to the kind that turns into a subtle sweet taste? In Cantonese, there are two types of bitterness. 苦 (ku) and 甘 (gan). Ku is the pure bitter taste, and Gan refers to the bitter taste that turns into sweetness after the bitterness subsides. For me, 100% pu...
by StoneLadle
Wed Aug 19, 2020 11:29 am
Forum: Fermented Tea
Topic: What Pu'er Are You Drinking
Replies: 2051
Views: 924436

Re: What Pu'er Are You Drinking

After many attempts to attach the file that failed I went with the good ol Google drive, excuse the bad photo quality.. Great pic of a tasty brick! I'm glad you found it palatable. It gets better with age I can assure you! I have two bricks of mid 90s vintage that are doing two different things. On...
by StoneLadle
Wed Aug 19, 2020 3:38 am
Forum: Fermented Tea
Topic: What Pu'er Are You Drinking
Replies: 2051
Views: 924436

Re: What Pu'er Are You Drinking

Auxilium wrote:
Tue Aug 18, 2020 12:01 pm
2005 Zhong Cha Red Star 7581 from bitterleaf tea, very good clean smooth ripe earthy date-y all round very lovely flavor the only small hiccup was me cutting my thumb open trying to pry it apart! :)
Hi there, do you have a picture of the brick?
by StoneLadle
Wed Aug 19, 2020 3:13 am
Forum: Blogs, Podcasts, & Vlogs
Topic: Reviewing a 2003 and 2004 Dayi 7542
Replies: 2
Views: 1980

Re: reviewing a 2003 and 2004 Dayi 7542

Hi.. some thoughts as I've been sorting through aged cakes from the mid Nineties thru till early Naughties... Thoughts on storage... 1. as the teas age, to me it's more a matter of quality of storage. Natural storage in the sense of keeping things clean and well, natural is best, but most aged cakes...
by StoneLadle
Sat Aug 15, 2020 12:27 am
Forum: Fermented Tea
Topic: Telling the difference between sheng and shu when both have been stored Hong Kong style?
Replies: 44
Views: 16413

Re: Telling the difference between sheng and shu when both have been stored Hong Kong style?

Chadrinkincat What does your palate tell you? Will you say no to either of those cakes? HKG storage to me, is very good when done well. "Natural" storage with controlled conditions also very good when done well, but it needs to err on the higher side. That's me. Or a combination of both, also good....
by StoneLadle
Fri Aug 14, 2020 7:21 am
Forum: Black Tea
Topic: What Black Are You Drinking
Replies: 680
Views: 342774

Re: What Black Are You Drinking

Thanks for the post, StoneLadle. New references for taste are a welcome challenge. Rarely do we read about "late" garlic nor the taste of betel nut. (Chewing betel nut dulls one's taste buds for drinking tea, I've heard; so, I never tried it.) The betel nut reference was to the tea itself.. it's an...
by StoneLadle
Fri Aug 14, 2020 7:14 am
Forum: Black Tea
Topic: What Black Are You Drinking
Replies: 680
Views: 342774

Re: What Black Are You Drinking

Thanks for the post, StoneLadle. New references for taste are a welcome challenge. Rarely do we read about "late" garlic nor the taste of betel nut. (Chewing betel nut dulls one's taste buds for drinking tea, I've heard; so, I never tried it.) Ahhh... Typo.. it was meant to read as lard, garlic...