What Pu'er Are You Drinking
Trying out the 12 Years Aged Golden Melon Ripe Pu-erh Tea Tuo from YS. Bought it as a filler, so I didn’t have much expectation. Used 1/3 of the mini tuo and brewed in a 100 ml gaiwan. Decent tea for the price, worth trying it if you are new to ripe Pu erh
Just opened my sample of Crimson Lotus 2017 Midas Touch. Used 7g in a 100ml Chaozhou pot. I really like this tea. Feels older than a 2017, more comparable to 2012-2013 I’ve had recently. Flash brewed for the first five steeps, then added about 10s each time. Went for 12+ steeps before I called it a day!
Over the past few days I've had 3 sessions with a Spring '99 7542 from Tea Masters. In its current state its already been sitting in my pumidor for the past 6 months.
It's nice, still has some bitterness that I think 10+ years of additional age would mellow out very nicely... wish I could taste that now!!
The bitterness can be dealt with a very fast pour on a gaiwan (I don't have a fast enough pour on my pot), which allows me to enjoy the oiliness and nice orange brown hue and bright popping flavors without being distracted. I like to minimize bitterness in my puer as much as I reasonably can. There's a lot of flavor in these leaves!
Contrasting that great experience with 3 sessions of 2014 Hai Lang Hao Gua Feng Zhai from Yunnan Sourcing...
This tea was rather unpleasant, super bitter, poor quality, nothing like the 2008 Gua Feng Zhai I enjoyed from a tea owner's private stash which had sought me to seek out a tea from Gua Feng Zhai in the first place. This was the only kind I was able to find on the Western market though.
It's nice, still has some bitterness that I think 10+ years of additional age would mellow out very nicely... wish I could taste that now!!
The bitterness can be dealt with a very fast pour on a gaiwan (I don't have a fast enough pour on my pot), which allows me to enjoy the oiliness and nice orange brown hue and bright popping flavors without being distracted. I like to minimize bitterness in my puer as much as I reasonably can. There's a lot of flavor in these leaves!Contrasting that great experience with 3 sessions of 2014 Hai Lang Hao Gua Feng Zhai from Yunnan Sourcing...
This tea was rather unpleasant, super bitter, poor quality, nothing like the 2008 Gua Feng Zhai I enjoyed from a tea owner's private stash which had sought me to seek out a tea from Gua Feng Zhai in the first place. This was the only kind I was able to find on the Western market though.
Last edited by d.manuk on Fri Aug 23, 2019 12:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Have you tried to get rid of some of the unpleasantness with more absorbing clays? I would think that porcelain is more prone to highlight them.Shine Magical wrote: ↑Fri Aug 23, 2019 8:17 amIt's nice, still has some bitterness that I think 10+ years of additional age would mellow out very nicely... wish I could taste that now!!
I've had a duan ni in the past but seriously didn't like its effect in general and thought it was too drastic even though it seemed to be a very seasoned pot since the color had changed completely. I also have the same conclusion when using others' duan ni pots... always take away too much.Bok wrote: ↑Fri Aug 23, 2019 8:31 amHave you tried to get rid of some of the unpleasantness with more absorbing clays? I would think that porcelain is more prone to highlight them.Shine Magical wrote: ↑Fri Aug 23, 2019 8:17 amIt's nice, still has some bitterness that I think 10+ years of additional age would mellow out very nicely... wish I could taste that now!!
The tea itself is not even bitter for a puer, I'd just prefer to fine tune it a bit further.
Long ago, before I had honed my tea preferences to Taiwanese and Chinese oolongs, I explored many different types of tea, among them pu'er. Today I dug into the deep recesses of my tea stash and came up with an old (must be at least 25 yrs.) sheng of unknown provenance I decided to brew. Turns out, it is absolutely delicious. It is a Yiwu Mountain Wild Tree Sheng from CNNP. I do not know the year but as noted it must be at least 25 yrs old.
An excellent back-of-stash find.
My 'forgotten' teas cannot yet be more than about 10 years old, as that's when I started to delve down the rabbit hole and bought my first cakes of puerh.
Coincidentally, today I'm revisiting an old favorite, 2007 Yong De white bud shen from Lincang via Norbu. The initial smokiness is all gone, along with some of the more delicate floral/fruity notes, and what is left is herbaceous with a pleasant bite, but it still must be handled with respect, as an injudiciously long first infusion reminded me.
My 'forgotten' teas cannot yet be more than about 10 years old, as that's when I started to delve down the rabbit hole and bought my first cakes of puerh.
Coincidentally, today I'm revisiting an old favorite, 2007 Yong De white bud shen from Lincang via Norbu. The initial smokiness is all gone, along with some of the more delicate floral/fruity notes, and what is left is herbaceous with a pleasant bite, but it still must be handled with respect, as an injudiciously long first infusion reminded me.
At home I keep my pu'er tea cakes in canvas bags as we have just moved to Germany. Later on I'll be buying a large glass cigar humidifier where I'll be storing at least the most expensive teas I possess under controlled temperature and humidity.
I’ve been on the fence about pumidors, and I’m still on it
On one hand I don’t want to buy and store tea, long term, as for now that isn’t a burning interest. But with the handful of cakes I’ve purchased or may add in the short term, I want to store them for consumption in the next 0-18 months, tops.
Thing is, I buy some samples, and like some of them enough that I want to get a cake—not to age but to drink soon because I really enjoyed it. As this happens a few times in a month, the math doesn’t work out because I can only drink so much tea! So I’m finishing the samples I have, will start opening the cakes (maybe two open at a time, one younger and one older, with some for home and some for work) and may may get 1-2 samples with other orders and will only order a cake if blown away.
Darn rabbit hole
These guys sell nice storage bags. And yes the rabbit hole is deep..........Noonie wrote: ↑Wed Aug 28, 2019 8:01 amI’ve been on the fence about pumidors, and I’m still on it
On one hand I don’t want to buy and store tea, long term, as for now that isn’t a burning interest. But with the handful of cakes I’ve purchased or may add in the short term, I want to store them for consumption in the next 0-18 months, tops.
Thing is, I buy some samples, and like some of them enough that I want to get a cake—not to age but to drink soon because I really enjoyed it. As this happens a few times in a month, the math doesn’t work out because I can only drink so much tea! So I’m finishing the samples I have, will start opening the cakes (maybe two open at a time, one younger and one older, with some for home and some for work) and may may get 1-2 samples with other orders and will only order a cake if blown away.
Darn rabbit hole
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