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2008 Yi Wu bamboo aged sheng from Norbu. I bought what seemed like a lot of it soon after the first taste, and I've been very pleased with it however I infuse it; I've done everything with it--gongfu in small pots to large thermos infusions. It goes well with my new to tea office tea buddies too. It's herbaceous with earthy and sweet caramel notes, and can be infused many times when the pot is as filled as Petr's unglazed bizen-ish pot is now. I started this session last night, end it will go for most of the day today, Interrupted by other teas here and there.

@OCTO: I tend to dismiss mini-tuocha puer as being a bit of a gimmick, and I'm not familiar with any old raw examples, but yours sounds like a very nice aged brew. I was not aware that they were made as far back as the 80s; I had just assumed that they were a more recent invention.

Thanks for sharing, and for reminding me that even something as simple as a mini-tuocha can become special.

Andrew

Trying out some 1994 Xiaguan cooked tuocha chunks that I got recently from Yee On Tea Co.

I don't drink cooked puer very often, but I do enjoy it when it is old and traditionally-stored, especially if I just want something simple and relaxing to drink without having to think too much, or if I've been unkind to myself and just need something soothing and comfortable to drink.

This one is sweet and smooth, as expected, but very refreshing and vibrant, with a long-lasting savoury aftertaste, and a bright, relaxing, potent feeling. It is the feeling that it gives me that sets it apart from younger cooked teas, which often feel 'hollow' to me, and I also like how it comes across as being fresh, and light on its feet, without that overly thick, sweet, cloying character that some cooked puer can have.

It's a very pleasant tea, and a good answer to the question that some people ask, 'Why bother to age a cooked tea?'. It would be fun to take some of these chunks to yum cha one day.

Andrew

@Andrew S I also gravitate towards shou more than Sheng in cold weather. I am not sure if it’s just me, I feel like my sheng tasted lighter during the winter. As to aging shou, I think it varies from fermentation level.

Another thing that captured my attention is your pot. Is this late 70s early 80s 祥興 tea shop ordered zini pot?

My cold weather drink usually tends to be yancha, and old puer tends to be a drink for lazy days.

DailyTX wrote: ↑

Sat Oct 16, 2021 8:45 pm

Another thing that captured my attention is your pot. Is this late 70s early 80s 祥興 tea shop ordered zini pot?

I believe so, unless someone proves me wrong. It's been brewing old puer for more than a decade, and I've been quite happy with it.

I got a few other puer samples from Yee On in my order, so I'll see if I can get around to trying them and posting some comments about them, in case it might be useful to anyone. I'm quite pleased with this one, though, so my expectations are high...

Andrew

Andrew S wrote: ↑

Sat Oct 16, 2021 9:18 pm

I believe so, unless someone proves me wrong. It's been brewing old puer for more than a decade

Certainly looks the part for having been diligently seasoned!

Bok wrote: ↑

Sat Oct 16, 2021 9:49 pm

Andrew S wrote: ↑

Sat Oct 16, 2021 9:18 pm

I believe so, unless someone proves me wrong. It's been brewing old puer for more than a decade

Certainly looks the part for having been diligently seasoned!

not much info on 祥興 pot aside from a summary from another forum. Very interesting category of yixing/zisha

Sampling an interesting shou pu lately. Looking at the wrapper, the cake looks like it hasn't age at all. The wrapper underside has no information. It doesn't taste pre-2000, so might be production from 2001-2005? Or a possibility of counterfeit tea? The bamboo tong tied with metal wire where this cake was from has some signs of aging. Seller said the tea has been in the United States for 15+ years.

@DailyTX: I guess that it is hard to tell if a tea is genuinely old (especially a cooked puer) if it has only ever lived in a fairly dry environment.

But then, if it doesn't taste 'aged' regardless of how old it actually is, I'm not sure if there is much practical use in trying to ascertain if it is genuinely old, at least beyond trying to work out if it wasn't objectively worth the price paid.

Andrew

Andrew S wrote: ↑

Mon Oct 18, 2021 2:36 am

DailyTX: I guess that it is hard to tell if a tea is genuinely old (especially a cooked puer) if it has only ever lived in a fairly dry environment.

But then, if it doesn't taste 'aged' regardless of how old it actually is, I'm not sure if there is much practical use in trying to ascertain if it is genuinely old, at least beyond trying to work out if it wasn't objectively worth the price paid.

Andrew

@Andrew S
The dry and colder environment definitely make tea stored in the West difficult to date. And this shou was highly fermented before pressing into cake, so it's hard to tell the quality of the leaves. On a positive note, this tea has a clear ruby red tea broth with a hint of sweetness, zero fermentation taste, and lasted for 6-8 rounds. I would say it has went through some transformation. It's an everyday drinking tea price, so no complaint at all.

Just received my ripe Mengku from Farmer Leaf the other day. Took about a month to get to me (US). I'm pleasantly surprised. Super smooth and easy drinking with some seriously stimulating effects. It's been treating well at work And seems well priced for 357 cake.
https://www.farmer-leaf.com/collections ... pe-pu-erh

Makes me want to try the Menghai cake
.. but I think 357g of ripe is enough for now.

2011 V93 with milk, salt and butter. Managed to make a perfect first steep in a three liter pot.

Trying a small sample of the 1990s 7542 that EoT is currently offering.

It tastes older than it smells; the aromas at the start had a bit of that raw, young, grainy quality that frightens me, whereas the palate is quite smooth, without that young tea bite. It has a cool minty quality and a long-lasting aftertaste, with a kind of savouriness that feels like a distant memory of the smoke that it once had. It does not feel uncomfortable to me, in the way that dry-stored teas often do, and it tastes smoother as it cools down in the cup.

I guess that it is a semi-aged tea for me; no longer young and raw, but not yet mature enough to be what I'm looking for in puer. People who like dry-stored teas would probably enjoy it, though. It's an elegant tea, and pleasant to drink.

I just wish that this tea had spent all of its life in Hong Kong, instead of being removed to drier storage, but that's just me.

It disturbs me whenever something from the 90s tastes young to me. I think that the dry-storage craze in puer has been taken way too far... But again, that's just me... Many other people obviously have very different tastes.

Andrew

Tried a raw 8582 from 2004, but it was no good for me. I have a particular aversion to a flavor that I can only poorly describe as "sweatsocks" that sometimes crops up in certain pu'er, although I'm not sure if it means the same thing when others use the term. It wasn't a dog's-foot cornchips type flavor, which frankly I think I could tolerate. I regret a little bit that I didn't give it a second chance, because I have so little to say about it when I am sure it wasn't a one-note tea, just a tea that had one note that I particularly dislike.

I seem to encounter this flavor more in dry-stored pu'er for some reason -- maybe the established tea-molds in traditionally-stored pu'er chase off whatever makes this flavor? Could it be something in the leaf itself? Usually when an Assam tea is too weak due to age to take milk anymore I just give up on it, rather than trying it plain, but maybe that is a mistake as far as understanding Assamica teas...

2007 Yi Pin Tang "Yi Wu Zhi Chun" Raw Pu-erh from Yunnan Sourcing (US)

I haven't had much sheng lately, mainly because I didn't really like the one cake I had opened; also because my morning tea is shu and then I'll have either sencha, gaoshan or aged shu later in the day. The sheng I had opened was from 2016 I believe, and I'm no longer keen on that young sheng flavour.

This semi-aged sheng from 2007 is more up my alley flavour wise. It's clean and has that soft Yi Wu character. It brews up a nice, deep red. About 7 steeps in and still going strong. I used 7g in a 100ml celadon gaiwan. The gaiwan is thicker than my porcelain one and I believe adds to the softness of the flavour, albeit in a good way (for how I like sheng).