I like the Spring of Menghai cakes and 7532's as options for high priced 7542 series. They punch well and are about a third cheaper in the wallet.Balthazar wrote: ↑Sun Oct 23, 2022 6:10 amYes, the last few years' (close to a decade) prices have been insane and I don't know anyone buying those teas for drinking...
Still, I think some of the earlier ones are worth the prices they command (at least auction prices). Speaking of which I am drinking the 801 7542 today, which I consider a solid daily drinker though a bit lacking in the energy compartment.
What Pu'er Are You Drinking
I have to admit, I've been getting a lot of perverse enjoyment from reading your posts about your adventures with traditional storage...
I'm having this same 1999 loose leaf tea today; I'd call it traditional storage which has tamed the underlying tea's original astringency but hasn't removed its youthful vigour, with simple flavours but a pleasant feeling. It still tastes 'raw' and hasn't been 'cooked' by the storage.
However, I can understand why you may feel differently; it must be hard to get the flavour profile of "soiled diaper" out of your mind once that description makes its way into there... I'd suggest avoiding any other traditional teas until you've recovered (unless you want to get any other samples out of the way before beginning your road to recovery).
Andrew
Exploring more of my first order from Ketlee.in....
2022 Ketlee spring gushu sheng cake:
The dry leaf has a lovely rich plummy fruity earthy scent.
4 grams of leaf in a Petr Novak treebark pot:
10 seconds boiling water and the rinse is sweet, malty, vegetal, a touch bitter, and quite nice.
10 seconds again...still sweet, malty, vegetal, herbs, hint of bitter
10 seconds again….nice….
20 seconds…still liking this one very much
20 seconds….bitter coming out a bit but still malty/earthy and pleasingly herbaceous
….and I’ve lost track of the infusions….now out to 7 or 8, still very short and dilute, because that’s how I roll, but I like this quite a bit.
2022 Ketlee spring gushu sheng cake:
The dry leaf has a lovely rich plummy fruity earthy scent.
4 grams of leaf in a Petr Novak treebark pot:
10 seconds boiling water and the rinse is sweet, malty, vegetal, a touch bitter, and quite nice.
10 seconds again...still sweet, malty, vegetal, herbs, hint of bitter
10 seconds again….nice….
20 seconds…still liking this one very much
20 seconds….bitter coming out a bit but still malty/earthy and pleasingly herbaceous
….and I’ve lost track of the infusions….now out to 7 or 8, still very short and dilute, because that’s how I roll, but I like this quite a bit.
Big question is how does it compare to Chinese sheng? Never encountered malt in sheng before...debunix wrote: ↑Sun Jan 01, 2023 11:57 pmExploring more of my first order from Ketlee.in....
2022 Ketlee spring gushu sheng cake:
The dry leaf has a lovely rich plummy fruity earthy scent.
4 grams of leaf in a Petr Novak treebark pot:
10 seconds boiling water and the rinse is sweet, malty, vegetal, a touch bitter, and quite nice.
10 seconds again...still sweet, malty, vegetal, herbs, hint of bitter
10 seconds again….nice….
20 seconds…still liking this one very much
20 seconds….bitter coming out a bit but still malty/earthy and pleasingly herbaceous
….and I’ve lost track of the infusions….now out to 7 or 8, still very short and dilute, because that’s how I roll, but I like this quite a bit.
Had a low leaf lazy trial brew of Ying Kee tuo I picked up out of curiosity and was somewhat pleasantly surprised. No traditional HK storage notes, this being the first pu of theirs I have tried I don't know if wetter HK style is typical for them or not... but for a tuo I felt it broke apart surprisingly easy and at just 2g or so in 80ml it was brewing up surprisingly dark orange. No age given or any details so I sort of went in assuming it would be something like a cheap Xiaguan builk tuo re-wrapped. I don't have a ton of other factory tuo experience to compare it against but I was pleasantly surprised for a cheap impulse buy and look forward to giving it a proper session. I'm still kind of doubting that Ying Kee is bothering to source and press their own material though given how many 'house' teas they offer in basically every popular style. Anyone know if they commission their cakes from particular factories?
FT8653-6 (iron version) again today. I think I've mentioned before that I drink significantly less sheng puer from late autumn to early spring, because even with storage conditions that are unchanged at a macro level (i.e. taking only temp and RH into account) there is some mystery factor that makes them all feel slightly hibernated during the cold/dry season and then pick right up once spring arrives. Maybe that mystery factor is to be found in the drinker and not the tea. In any case, Xiaguan teas in general seem less affected by this. (Besides, these days I often find that I'm more in the mood for shengpu even if only at 80% of "normal enjoyment" than I am for other kinds of tea.)
Having become accustomed to using larger pots, I used a bit too much leaf today. Adjusting steep times accordingly to get the combination of plum, incense and woodiness that I enjoy from this tea (I'm starting to think I slightly prefer it to the jan/feb batch 05 thick paper T8653, though they're both very decent medium-aged Xiaguans in my book).
I'm trying something a bit different with the last few steeps today, by mixing in a tablespoon of Nin Jiom Pei Pa Koa to fend off a stubborn bronchitis cough.
Having become accustomed to using larger pots, I used a bit too much leaf today. Adjusting steep times accordingly to get the combination of plum, incense and woodiness that I enjoy from this tea (I'm starting to think I slightly prefer it to the jan/feb batch 05 thick paper T8653, though they're both very decent medium-aged Xiaguans in my book).
I'm trying something a bit different with the last few steeps today, by mixing in a tablespoon of Nin Jiom Pei Pa Koa to fend off a stubborn bronchitis cough.