@thommes I just meant that I usually have two cakes opened for a period of time, and I'll drink one of them on a day, and the other another day. They are different enough that's it not the same tea daily, as I like to mix it up.thommes wrote: ↑Sun Jan 05, 2020 8:57 amNot 100% sure what you mean by rotating this tea with another. I've found that I have a sheng in my gaiwan and a shou in my travel mug. I pour water in whichever I'm in the mood for and when the tea stops steeping, I move on to another tea. If it's a shou I haven't sampled before I'll use the gaiwan to see the differences in the steeps.Noonie wrote: ↑Sat Jan 04, 2020 6:55 pmGood to hear! Like I said in a previous post, I enjoyed it enough to order a second cake. Although I do want to order another cake aged 15 years or so, but from the previous samples I've had not a lot was to my liking. So I either have to buy a cake and see how she goes, or try more samples (likely the smarter option!). For now though I will get through the first cake. I rotate this with a 2012 for balance...and I quite enjoy this approach to drinking pu'erh (having it about 5 days a week).
LOL about buying samples. I was buying samples and then rushed to place an order in early december to take advantage of the holiday sales. Some of the cakes/bings I've bought are ones that I have sampled and some aren't. I say the same thing about a bottle of scotch especially when the price gets $$$. I'd prefer finding the scotch in a bar and taste it first but a lot of bars just don't have a good selection of scotches and the ones that do charge $$. So I typically just buy a bottle after I research. I figure it might be easier with the puers. Find a sample or do a teaswap for a sample.
What Pu'er Are You Drinking
I love sweetness in young puerhs although I also enjoy nutty more savory profiles as well. I always try to have both in my stash of young puerh.
Aged puerhs ...haben't met one yet that I didn't love...alll those dark wood notes, peat, dank leaves, forest floor, brown sugar...or else the camphor, tobacco, and leather...I love them all
I have some 1970s loose aged raw puerh from Norbu that is quite unique (to me). It not only the typical aged notes of dank autum leaves, forest floor, and brown sugar but also fruit notes like yellow and red plums, lychee, and simple syrup sweetness. The fruit notes are vibrant yet work beautifully with the darker earthier notes.
You were expecting the samples to be shou pu? No wonder you were underwhelmedthommes wrote: ↑Thu Jan 02, 2020 6:34 amSo... I tried this tea in the aged Puerh sampler. I've tried it twice, and I hope that there's some left for a third tasting. My initial reaction was little taste. I think I read some reviews about it and like everyone was oooh la la with excitement and I tasted it for the second time. Again lackluster for a 'new' pu drinker. I read your guys post and it's like I'm missing something... so I looked at my order to make sure that I knew what I was talking about. Yup the Top of the Clouds was included in the aged puerh sampler... then it struck me. Aged. Not RIPE. I think I looked at a couple of the samples and they were all shou pus. I was expecting all the teas in the sampler to be shou. No wonder the tea was lackluster. LOL. I really hope I have enough for a third tasting. I also had the thought that every bing/cake is different and within the cake/bing there could be differences, maybe I just got a bad sample. But no. It's a sheng... not a shou.
Since I have not yet tried any teas from Crimson Lotus, I can't comment on the sampler that you tried. My only suggestion would be to keep any leftovers and try them in a few months. I found that my preferences and even impressions changed overtime. Puerh that initially failed to dazzle me or appeal flavor-wise sometimes became an oft drunk staple as my taste in pu grew (loving these pu rhymes)I tend to brew my new pu with a generous amount of leaves to water ratio when trying something for the first time. This helps, especially for puerhs that have a more understated flavor profile. Later I experiment with differnt leaf-water ratio, often finding a different side of the tea with a simple adjustment. Same is true with brew timing, sometimes adding only a second or two really helps bring the flavors or texture out...othertimes the opposite is true, less is more, so to speak.
Thanks for the update, especially your impression of the Lucky Cloud. I have never tried a Jing Mai yet, in part because it seems to be one of those understated teas that might leave me underwhelemed. I could be completely wrong..maybe there is Jing Mai out there with a Bulang like punchthommes wrote: ↑Thu Jan 02, 2020 10:50 amWow... was I ever wrong. I did buy the aged sampler which contained the 2005 Changtai "Yun Pu Zhi Dian / Top of the Clouds" sheng. However, what I think I have already sampled was the 2013 Jingmai "Lucky Cloud" as I found the empty sample package here at work. I still have to check at home to make sure I haven't tasted the Top of the Clouds. I may have already sampled both.
Ok I have gotten my story right. What I have already sampled was the Lucky Cloud and I"m going to stick with my impression that it was lackluster for a shou. I still have enough tea for one more session. I've read a lot of good reviews on it, though with me it's not clicking. Not sure if I got a bad sample. However, I am just starting out with learning about shou and have sampled only a half dozen or so.
Unfortunately some of that is still greek to me.oolongfan wrote: ↑Sun Jan 05, 2020 6:53 pmThanks for the update, especially your impression of the Lucky Cloud. I have never tried a Jing Mai yet, in part because it seems to be one of those understated teas that might leave me underwhelemed. I could be completely wrong..maybe there is Jing Mai out there with a Bulang like punch
Ah ok... Jing Mai is a mountain. And Bu Lang is another mountain. Are you talking about a sheng or a shou from Bu? I checked what I've ordered and I have a sample of sheng and a 357g bing of shou from Bu Lang. More likely that the sheng is gonna be opened before the bing of shou but I suspect that you're likely talking about the shou having the punch.
Mystery Tuo today.
It's yielding a deep amber liquor, earthy loamy humus with a hint of sweet, very very nice. Wishing again I knew where it came from to give proper credit. There's just nothing to 'brew to avoid' in this one--no aging funk, no hints of bitter, nothing but deliciousness.
And it's always nice to bring out my other Petr Novak treebark pot to enjoy it.
It's yielding a deep amber liquor, earthy loamy humus with a hint of sweet, very very nice. Wishing again I knew where it came from to give proper credit. There's just nothing to 'brew to avoid' in this one--no aging funk, no hints of bitter, nothing but deliciousness.
And it's always nice to bring out my other Petr Novak treebark pot to enjoy it.
VIDEO
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-5jl6n ... e=emb_logo
Welcoming the New Year 2020 with the 1990s Orange Mark, HK traditional (wet) stored. Fragrant aromas of talcum powder, age florals and wood accompanied by a heavier concentration of dark and age expression. The brew is rich and opulent, offering a thick mouthfeel with a pleasant sweetness and layers of age nuances. As the tea opens up, dark TCM emerges, dates, red wood, resins, vanillin, minerals within an array of dark organic herbs and root.
May 2020 be a good year for everyone
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-5jl6n ... e=emb_logo
Welcoming the New Year 2020 with the 1990s Orange Mark, HK traditional (wet) stored. Fragrant aromas of talcum powder, age florals and wood accompanied by a heavier concentration of dark and age expression. The brew is rich and opulent, offering a thick mouthfeel with a pleasant sweetness and layers of age nuances. As the tea opens up, dark TCM emerges, dates, red wood, resins, vanillin, minerals within an array of dark organic herbs and root.
May 2020 be a good year for everyone
Hmmm my response to this message got lost to cyber.oolongfan wrote: ↑Sun Jan 05, 2020 6:45 pmYou were expecting the samples to be shou pu? No wonder you were underwhelmed
I tend to brew my new pu with a generous amount of leaves to water ratio when trying something for the first time. This helps, especially for puerhs that have a more understated flavor profile. Later I experiment with differnt leaf-water ratio, often finding a different side of the tea with a simple adjustment. Same is true with brew timing, sometimes adding only a second or two really helps bring the flavors or texture out...othertimes the opposite is true, less is more, so to speak.
Yah. I was expecting the samples to be shou. It was the aged sampler. The first two that I looked at were shous. I'm sure my brain then just associated the sampler with shous.
I was making up some shou, a 12 year from YS. The wife said she wouldn't mind trying some since I was raving about it. She's a coffee drinker. I gave her a taste and she liked it. Yesterday I gave her some of the 803 hei cha from YS and she didn't like it, neither did the son. Said it tasted like dirt. I'm not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing but as soon as I get a couple tea cups, I'm gonna let the wife sample as many different pus as she wants. I figure when I find something she likes, I'll add that to the next order for "her." lol.
Sounds like you are ahead of me...my husband won't even try tea, in any formthommes wrote: ↑Mon Jan 06, 2020 6:14 amHmmm my response to this message got lost to cyber.
Yah. I was expecting the samples to be shou. It was the aged sampler. The first two that I looked at were shous. I'm sure my brain then just associated the sampler with shous.
I was making up some shou, a 12 year from YS. The wife said she wouldn't mind trying some since I was raving about it. She's a coffee drinker. I gave her a taste and she liked it. Yesterday I gave her some of the 803 hei cha from YS and she didn't like it, neither did the son. Said it tasted like dirt. I'm not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing but as soon as I get a couple tea cups, I'm gonna let the wife sample as many different pus as she wants. I figure when I find something she likes, I'll add that to the next order for "her." lol.
Sorry not to clarify sheng or shou in my comment about Jing Mai versus Bulang. I wa mostly talking about sheng as my shou experience is limited. The few Bulang shengs that I have had were complex and powerful. I would like to try a sheng from Jing Mai...but my tea budget was depleted this past year (blame my adrenals).
Crimson Lotus offers a sheng/shou comparison set - both made from the same material. I have wanted to try this offering to better understand the difference in processing, especially in shou. I am still so new to the latter, that I probably can not yet identiy the origin of the tea when it is processed as shou
2005 CNNP Big Yellow Mark Raw Puerh from Yunnan Sourcing. A blend of Nan Nuo and Bulang spring tea. Big and burly, sweet grain notes, autum leaves burning type smoke,, perfumed tea notes, honey, mint, hints of camphor, and a touch of salinity. I have had this tea twice in the last week - both times brewing with less leaves than usual. The smokey quality of this tea seems much more noticable these last two sessions - but I am not sure if it just the change in leaf to water ratio, or just me (getting over a head cold). I will have to check in with this tea once my sinuses are completely back to normal.
Spring Tip 2007 Yunnan Shuangjiang #mengkurongshi #shengpuerh #puerh. I have this in the same rank, maybe slightly below, like 8653 from #xiaguanteafactory . Very strong, invirogating, less smoke and no strong huigan present but bitterness that goes well with dumplings:) Went strong with about 8g for 100ml #shuping. This will go long and far.
#cajcheck
#cajcheck
Haha I wish the cake I was prying into six hours ago was easy to break apart...still nursing my punctured blood vessel! Next time I’ll be using a special glove on my other hand. Never had a problem before, but the Bingslayer literally went from pointing at 12:00 to stabbing be at 9:00
So far I haven't had to break into anything larger than maybe a 20g tuo, which was relatively easy. However, I have been looking at a tea knife, not sure of the chinese name for them. They remind me of a postal letter opener. If I could only find the half dozen that came home with me from old jobs....Noonie wrote: ↑Fri Jan 10, 2020 8:29 pmHaha I wish the cake I was prying into six hours ago was easy to break apart...still nursing my punctured blood vessel! Next time I’ll be using a special glove on my other hand. Never had a problem before, but the Bingslayer literally went from pointing at 12:00 to stabbing be at 9:00