The best shu/ripe pu-er to try

[Konrud]

I'm sure I'm not the only one who would be interested to know the top 5 shu/ripe pu-er tea to try.

Please write your top 5
and I'll try to keep the edited top 5 from all the answers here.

Just please write the full name of the tea and a website that this very tea can be bought from (if applicable).

The list should go in descending order:
5.) Good
4.) Good+
3.) Even better
2.) Great
1.) The Best tea

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Live top 5

5.) -||-

4.) -||-

3.) -||-

2.) -||-

1.) -||-

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[debunix]

My problem with this exercise is that I have not bought much in the way of shu puerh recently, and so my favorites are not currently available. I loved the 2009 Lao Cha Tou from Norbu so much that I bought several bricks and still have some of the original left. I like that it is plummy and earthy and never bitter and it does great in the thermos for bulk brewing and sharing away from my tea setup. Norbu is now a wholesaler, so no going back to that source.

I have bought several of these bricks as backup for when the Norbu version runs out, and it's still available:

https://yunnansourcing.com/products/201 ... pu-erh-tea

but I'd hesitate to rate it as 'best'. I liked it enough to stock up.

[OCTO]

OK.... I'm going to give this a try... but it might get a little awkward.

Live top 5

5.) -|1970s Yunnan Brick. White paper wrapping with green printed BaZong NeiFei label.|-

4.) -|1980s CNNP Ba Zhong Cha Beeng|-

3.) -|2003 TuoCha 500g. Brown paper wrapping. Aged for 18 years.|-

2.) -|1980s 7581 Brick. Brown paper wrapper with black printing at the front and back.|-

1.) -|1999 MaoCha, loose packed puerh. Stems sorted out and removed and aged for 20 years under natural tropical weather|-

Cheers!!

[wave_code]

@OCTO no fair!

As people are trying to get at in your other thread, a question like this isn't really a possible thing to answer. Unless you just want to know what is the most expensive yet easy to purchase, in which case the answer is probably some 'special' batch Dayi cake. Many newer drinkers probably have a list of yunnan sourcing shus or similar companies that brew up pitch black and taste like marshmallows, and that is what they know and what they want and thats that. Many people aren't interested in that though- some people will, like sheng, find shu under 10 years of age or longer undrinkable, others don't mind it fresh, some want heavy fermentation some want light. Storage changes things drastically too - if you could buy an identical tea that had each spent 5-10 years in someone's private storage in US/EU, a wet HK warehouse, Kunming dry storage, Guangzhou, and Malaysia and Taiwan and they will all be different. You could go to even just 5 different vendors within HK and they will taste different. Maybe you find Kunming storage too dry, or maybe you find HK teas undrinkable - this may also change over time.

For some easy to acquire teas that can start giving you a picture of this though ones that jump in to me head would be

-09 Menghai purple ripe from Yee On. delicious camphor bomb - I have been drinking this a LOT lately. great for the price, gives you a taste of HK storage but it isn't overly agressive

- v93 is kind of a modern classic recipe. if I understand correctly it became so because it is a good recipe that was very affordable, but of course now has become very popular so prices go up. that said, you can find tuos with a few years on them for quite good prices still, and you can always pick up younger ones quite cheap. gives you an idea of a bit of what to expect from Dayi shu.

-find yourself a good version of a 7581 or brick in that style. stems, larger grade leaf, not too tightly compressed and with lighter fermentation. another classic style that is both tasty and a good benchmark thing to have tried a few times.

- look for a factory/recipe that is inexpensive and common but still reliable like the above v93 or say Xiaguan tuo where you could try the same tea from different ages and/or storage locations - this will start to give you a picture about what time and storage and do to a tea. especially for factories like Xiaguan which have a very signature taste/processing style

[aet]

OK.... I'm going to give this a try... but it might get a little awkward.

Live top 5

5.) -|1970s Yunnan Brick. White paper wrapping with green printed BaZong NeiFei label.|-

4.) -|1980s CNNP Ba Zhong Cha Beeng|-

3.) -|2003 TuoCha 500g. Brown paper wrapping. Aged for 18 years.|-

2.) -|1980s 7581 Brick. Brown paper wrapper with black printing at the front and back.|-

1.) -|1999 MaoCha, loose packed puerh. Stems sorted out and removed and aged for 20 years under natural tropical weather|-

Cheers!!

I'd love to try those as well

[OCTO]

I'd love to try those as well

Come visit me… we yumcha all night

[Konrud]

My problem with this exercise is that I have not bought much in the way of shu puerh recently, and so my favorites are not currently available. I loved the 2009 Lao Cha Tou from Norbu so much that I bought several bricks and still have some of the original left. I like that it is plummy and earthy and never bitter and it does great in the thermos for bulk brewing and sharing away from my tea setup. Norbu is now a wholesaler, so no going back to that source.

I have bought several of these bricks as backup for when the Norbu version runs out, and it's still available:

https://yunnansourcing.com/products/201 ... pu-erh-tea

but I'd hesitate to rate it as 'best'. I liked it enough to stock up.

Great.

Thank you for your response.

[Konrud]

OK.... I'm going to give this a try... but it might get a little awkward.

Live top 5

5.) -|1970s Yunnan Brick. White paper wrapping with green printed BaZong NeiFei label.|-

4.) -|1980s CNNP Ba Zhong Cha Beeng|-

3.) -|2003 TuoCha 500g. Brown paper wrapping. Aged for 18 years.|-

2.) -|1980s 7581 Brick. Brown paper wrapper with black printing at the front and back.|-

1.) -|1999 MaoCha, loose packed puerh. Stems sorted out and removed and aged for 20 years under natural tropical weather|-

Cheers!!

Great. The list looks interesting.

I'll try to look them up, maybe I will even be lucky enough to try them one day.

Thank you for your response.

[Konrud]

OCTO no fair!

As people are trying to get at in your other thread, a question like this isn't really a possible thing to answer. Unless you just want to know what is the most expensive yet easy to purchase, in which case the answer is probably some 'special' batch Dayi cake. Many newer drinkers probably have a list of yunnan sourcing shus or similar companies that brew up pitch black and taste like marshmallows, and that is what they know and what they want and thats that. Many people aren't interested in that though- some people will, like sheng, find shu under 10 years of age or longer undrinkable, others don't mind it fresh, some want heavy fermentation some want light. Storage changes things drastically too - if you could buy an identical tea that had each spent 5-10 years in someone's private storage in US/EU, a wet HK warehouse, Kunming dry storage, Guangzhou, and Malaysia and Taiwan and they will all be different. You could go to even just 5 different vendors within HK and they will taste different. Maybe you find Kunming storage too dry, or maybe you find HK teas undrinkable - this may also change over time.

For some easy to acquire teas that can start giving you a picture of this though ones that jump in to me head would be

-09 Menghai purple ripe from Yee On. delicious camphor bomb - I have been drinking this a LOT lately. great for the price, gives you a taste of HK storage but it isn't overly agressive

- v93 is kind of a modern classic recipe. if I understand correctly it became so because it is a good recipe that was very affordable, but of course now has become very popular so prices go up. that said, you can find tuos with a few years on them for quite good prices still, and you can always pick up younger ones quite cheap. gives you an idea of a bit of what to expect from Dayi shu.

-find yourself a good version of a 7581 or brick in that style. stems, larger grade leaf, not too tightly compressed and with lighter fermentation. another classic style that is both tasty and a good benchmark thing to have tried a few times.

- look for a factory/recipe that is inexpensive and common but still reliable like the above v93 or say Xiaguan tuo where you could try the same tea from different ages and/or storage locations - this will start to give you a picture about what time and storage and do to a tea. especially for factories like Xiaguan which have a very signature taste/processing style

I try to give people a bit information of about what others prefer/like.

Hope it might help someone. Your answer definitely will.

Thank you for your response.

[debunix]

Another shu that I’ve had several editions of and I’ve always enjoyed is the Menghai Golden needle White Lotus. It has a deep caramel sweetness in the two or three versions that I’ve had that I’ve liked very much.

It should be easily available from many suppliers in many different years‘ versions.

[Konrud]

Another shu that I’ve had several editions of and I’ve always enjoyed is the Menghai Golden needle White Lotus. It has a deep caramel sweetness in the two or three versions that I’ve had that I’ve liked very much.

It should be easily available from many suppliers in many different years‘ versions.

Great. Thank you for your response.

Do you mean something like the following?

https://yunnansourcing.com/products/201 ... b3f3&_ss=r


Any specific year, supplier you'd recommend?

[debunix]

Yes, just like that. I have gotten these teas in the past from Yunnan Sourcing, and I like it enough that I think I’m on my third different vintage. But I have no specific vintage or even source to recommend getting it from, because that’s the point of one of these classic recipes: it’s supposed to be pretty consistent from year to year. In my limited experience (I’ve only had a couple of teas where I have tried different vintages of the same one), I couldn’t begin to tell you which is best.

[Konrud]

Yes, just like that. I have gotten these teas in the past from Yunnan Sourcing, and I like it enough that I think I’m on my third different vintage. But I have no specific vintage or even source to recommend getting it from, because that’s the point of one of these classic recipes: it’s supposed to be pretty consistent from year to year. In my limited experience (I’ve only had a couple of teas where I have tried different vintages of the same one), I couldn’t begin to tell you which is best.

I see.
Well, maybe I should try it too.