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I shou'd probably drink a sheng tomorrow morning.

Where you been hiding @Noonie?

@thommes

I just pulled a new Shou out of the pumidor and will be trying it tomorrow. I’ll post here soon

EoT's 2020 Tian Men Shan GaoGan:
I had wanted this to be the first sample I tried but it fell behind all the other tea in my cabinet

From the smell of the leaves I knew it was going to be enjoyable. All I can say is that it was perfectly balanced,
woody, floral, mushroom vegetable flavor and a youthful astringency. Each sip the flavors were balanced but
I was in a sauna during the whole session. I can drink tea during high noon July in Florida and not drop a sweat.
This had me pouring sweat with a stupid grin on my face. I broke in the yixing teapot I bought from @Bok.

First taste of the 2018 Yunnan Sourcing Warm Fuzzies this morning. I liked it, a lot, but nothing in particular flavour wise that I can point to. It tasted similar to some other ripes I've had (all happen to be from YS, and I've only ever had 5-10 samples or opened cakes so far), with a bit more complexity than some; this will take more tasting to explore further. What I noticed the most though was the warming affect the tea had on me. It wasn't particularly hot in my house when I had it, but I was sweating a bit. And not in a bad way. Really nice warming quality to it. Should be amazing on cold winter mornings up here in Canada.

Interesting. Was talking the warm fuzzies in another mediu this morning. I haven't tried it but added it to my cart.

2003 Changtai Jinzushan. Not super complex but very smooth and comforting.

2005 Changtai "Yun Pu Zhi Dian". Same overall assessment as the post above...

I find it hard to distinguish the different 15-20 year old Changtai teas I've had. Never really spectacular, but always reliable.

Balthazar wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 05, 2020 1:16 pm

2005 Changtai "Yun Pu Zhi Dian". Same overall assessment as the post above...

I find it hard to distinguish the different 15-20 year old Changtai teas I've had. Never really spectacular, but always reliable.

There are a few exceptions that do stand out, but for the most part I concur. Non-inflated pricing makes them a good regular drinker. I was drinking this today to decide if I want to get more and I think I will.

Sipping on some 15 Years Aged Golden Melon Ripe from YS

For those of you who have been regularly drinking pu'er for years, do you find that you're enjoying both sheng and shou, just one of them, alternating between preferring one over the other (etc.)?

I started with sheng and couldn't get enough of it for 8 months or so...then I tried some decent shou and this is has been growing on me, to the point where I'm now preferring it to sheng. Although I feel like I'll swing back or at least go back to 50/50 between them. Lately I've been drinking shou every morning, and sheng every other day or so (in the afternoon).

I like and drink both sheng and shou. I drink more shou because it is so easy to fit into those many thermos sessions when I'm away from my tea setup or at work.....but I can't say that I love it more than sheng. Different contexts make each one shine.

sqt wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 05, 2020 1:24 pm

There are a few exceptions that do stand out, but for the most part I concur. Non-inflated pricing makes them a good regular drinker. I was drinking this today to decide if I want to get more and I think I will.

Out of curiosity, what are some of the better ones you've had? I've been through most of the YS lineup of Changtai, but haven't ventured beyond that, so I really shouldn't be making sweeping generalizations

Noonie wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 05, 2020 8:04 pm

For those of you who have been regularly drinking pu'er for years, do you find that you're enjoying both sheng and shou, just one of them, alternating between preferring one over the other (etc.)?

I started with sheng and couldn't get enough of it for 8 months or so...then I tried some decent shou and this is has been growing on me, to the point where I'm now preferring it to sheng. Although I feel like I'll swing back or at least go back to 50/50 between them. Lately I've been drinking shou every morning, and sheng every other day or so (in the afternoon).

I started out buying probably 50/50 sheng and shu. Today I'd say that I clearly prefer sheng overall. There's the occasional time when I crave for a shu after a fatty meal or on a cold winter's day, but for the former, most of the time I'd actually rather have an older sheng stored in a warm and humid environment, and for the latter (the winter, when my sheng enters a sort of hibernation) I'm more and more finding myself interested in other heicha.

I'd say the big difference for me happened when I went up a bit budget-wise. If I was still drinking very young factory cakes at $15-30 (which is where I started out), I'd probably have preferred shu

been going back the last few days to this lao shu zhuan brick from Chawang while also trying to break out of my very long/dark steeps brewing habits as aet suggested. I really like this tea, more than a lot of other shu I've had that costs considerably more. light and smooth, nothing funky or off, maybe a little dry but it doesn't seem to have hurt it. nice and sweet with lots of plum and marshmallow flavors.

recently picked up an older Xiaguan sheng tuo to scratch that itch... while I know its nothing super special, for me it does what I find 90% of sheng does which is about half way through I start thinking it isn't really doing it for me flavor wise and I wish I'd drank something else. shu I find is still really the one that grabs me, but my interest lies more in other hei cha and black tea, so it makes sense.

lao shu zhuan brick from Chawang

That's a crazy price! Haven't ordered from them. Might have to consider it. I like trying a less expensive tea whenever I place an order cuz you never know. Most of mine choices have been lacking.

I'm looking to get into Fuzhua. Bitterleaf is supposed to have a new one sometime this month so I'm waiting and then I'm going to order both types they have.

Balthazar wrote: ↑

Thu Aug 06, 2020 1:23 am

sqt wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 05, 2020 1:24 pm

There are a few exceptions that do stand out, but for the most part I concur. Non-inflated pricing makes them a good regular drinker. I was drinking this today to decide if I want to get more and I think I will.

Out of curiosity, what are some of the better ones you've had? I've been through most of the YS lineup of Changtai, but haven't ventured beyond that, so I really shouldn't be making sweeping generalizations

Most of the 2001 yichanghao cakes are also very good, though also appropriately priced a lot higher.

The other obvious one is the Brown Changtai but honestly its all about the storage and not the batch, in that storage variations play a much larger role than batch differences. Aggresive storage renders them all tasting the same and far less complex.

There is a 2004 wild (yesheng) cake that I always forget the exact name of, which is very nice too.