What Pu'er Are You Drinking

[tealifehk]

Trying out BitterLeaf's 2017 Mengku. My sister loved the smell of the dry leaf and commented that it smelled really sweet. It does, and that carries over into the liquor. I get a kind of fresh milk note from this tea that I also get in maocha I bought in Kunming. This is a nice, clean tea; not exceptional, but good longevity in the hongni Yixing and would make a lovely daily drinker. Not astringent or bitter. I just realized it's $29 for 200g. At that price, IMO, it's very fairly priced, so if you're looking for a pleasant young sheng that you can drink right now, their Mengku is pretty good!

[JimMinor]

Trying out BitterLeaf's 2017 Mengku. My sister loved the smell of the dry leaf and commented that it smelled really sweet.

I was amazed by the smell too, really really good!!!

I'm drinking Bellwheter for the first time, it shocked me, so good, elegant, with a nice fragrance, and a slow aftertaste, i'm enjoying the second infusion so i can't tell much more.

[CWarren]

2015 Vesper Chan Bulang Raw from Bana Tea Company. Some smoke and sweetness mixed with apricot, slight bitterness in second and third steeps, none in later infusions, semi creamy soup, some dryness in the mouth and packed with serious calming qi. In final infusion the leaf heavily sugar scented and soup nothing but delicious sweet water. Gorgeous leaves both wet and dry. Great session especially for such an affordable cake.

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[CWarren]

A session filled with notes of mushroom, coffee and earth. Savory until the end with zero sweetness. Very thick and creamy soup. 2015 Vesper Chan Bulang Ripe from Bana Tea Company.

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[CWarren]

2016 Daily Drinker from white2tea. Sweet and smokey goodness that smooths out nicely in later infusions. Some decent depth for a more basic cake too.

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[Chadrinkincat]

Decided to break into another XG T004 tuo after finish one in a month. It's a pretty decent daily drinker. Shame it's no longer for sale at mxtea. They have a few slightly newer versions of it that might be worth comparing.

[CWarren]

2017 “Planet Kunlu" dragon ball, (‘long zhu' 龙珠), from Crimson Lotus Tea - Kunlu Shan small arbor tree material picked and processed in Spring of 2017 and pressed in the Summer of 2017. Some slight youthful bitterness that moved into buttercream and honey florals in later steeps. Nice looking leaf and liquor. Need to set some of these aside and try again in a year, two, etc...

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[heichaholiday]

I've been neglecting posting so I have a pretty big backlog to post... I'm drinking the YS Cha Tou Sheng Yun at this moment - lots of rose and floral tastes and aromas, pretty much no wo dui at all. A day ago I drank some of the cake of Red Sunset Twin-pack Ripe Puerh (a Vesper Chan tea from Bana Tea Company) that I got from Liquid Proust. Definitely Bulang material - I've been drinking a lot of Bulang ripes recently and can recognize them fairly readily now. Kind of bittersweet with some chocolate going on. I probably wouldn't pay $75 for 400g but the single 200g cake I got at less than retail, totally worth it.

[CWarren]

2015 Ba Ya Brick from Hau Ying Chen. So tightly compressed that it took half a dozen infusions and some early light steaming to open up. Some strong astringency and bitterness but also some pleasant raisin and burnt sugar notes. Leaf had an almost seaweed aromatic mixed with pistachio nuttiness before moving into the more common sweet apricot notes of young sheng. Pretty complex for something so youthful. Beautiful liquor as well. An enjoyable session. I will be trying the 2016 cake from him tomorrow to compare.

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[miig]

That's some bright liquor for a 7 years old tea! How far has the tea aged?

[CWarren]

Much less compressed than the 2015 Brick and much smoother with less bitterness. Thicker mouthfeel too but no real heavily definable tasting notes other than some light tobacco smokiness. 2016 Ba Ya Cake from Hau Ying Chen. A comparison with a previous night’s session with the 2015 Ba Ya Brick.

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[CWarren]

2004 Yiwu from Tea Urchin care of Liquid Proust via a tea swap. Infusions forever...all the notes I love with aged sheng...old books, ripe pitted fruit, some damp wood, slight camphor, and resin; even a little shroom. Absolutely beautiful liquor with rich amber hues. Serious mellowing qi. Nice sweetness from beginning to end. Very enjoyable session.

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[the_skua]

2004 Yiwu from Tea Urchin care of Liquid Proust via a tea swap. Infusions forever...all the notes I love with aged sheng...old books, ripe pitted fruit, some damp wood, slight camphor, and resin; even a little shroom. Absolutely beautiful liquor with rich amber hues. Serious mellowing qi. Nice sweetness from beginning to end. Very enjoyable session.
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Decent color on it for '04...do you know where it was stored? Shanghai?

[CWarren]

2004 Yiwu from Tea Urchin care of Liquid Proust via a tea swap. Infusions forever...all the notes I love with aged sheng...old books, ripe pitted fruit, some damp wood, slight camphor, and resin; even a little shroom. Absolutely beautiful liquor with rich amber hues. Serious mellowing qi. Nice sweetness from beginning to end. Very enjoyable session.
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Decent color on it for '04...do you know where it was stored? Shanghai?

No idea on storage other than there is no sign of wet storage present. I believe this may have been stored and aged as maocha before being pressed which could account for the color and several of the flavor notes.

[heichaholiday]

I decided to revisit the shou that got me into puerh - 2015 Nan Jian 703 from Yunnan Sourcing. It's lost all of its wo dui as far as I can tell. Just tastes like camphor and pumpkin spice. Not really sweet or bitter. I enjoyed it but the lack of sweetness and bitterness will probably keep me from drinking it very often. It's super cheap though so I'm not really gambling much if I try to age them for a decade or two and I'm young so I have time on my side.