Shu and young sheng

One of the intentionally aged teas, Pu-Erh has a loyal following.


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Jul 10th, '12, 22:20
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Re: Shu and young sheng

by needaTEAcher » Jul 10th, '12, 22:20

wyardley wrote:
needaTEAcher wrote: "I agree with Wyardly that..." Just my opinion, not solid fact, nor is it anyone's reality except my own (and apparently Wyardly!), though I bet there are more than a few people out there with a similar view!
Well, I do actually have a book which says this explicitly. It's in Chinese only, but the marking of the percentage sheng / shu material in various teas (dating back to the 40s or so), is pretty clear.

So, I'm not saying that I think it's for sure so, but it's not a random opinion either. It's based on one author's opinion, which seems to jibe with things I've heard from folks who have read other books about old pu'er.
And ultimately, I agree. But then again, I agree within the context of the traditionally defined structure of what makes puerh "good", i.e. smoothness`(lack of bitter), depth and complexity of flavor (breadth of the spectrum), feeling generated in the body, strength and duration of aftertaste, etc. Since I agree with all of these, personally, then I agree with the conclusion that shou can't go as far as sheng, as set by the above parameters.

That said, if someone rolls into my tea circle or onto teachat and says, "Hey, I think shou tastes better, and I prefer to drink young shou over a 50+ top shelf sheng," then I will be happy that they found what brings them joy. I won't tell them they are wrong, though I might explain what is considered the industry standard. And I would drink lots of shou with them! 8)

Oh, and the percentage shou vs sheng thing sounds rad. I wonder if my teachers considered it shou if it contained a certain percentage of shou, or something like that. If you find any book that mention it in English, let us all know!

Jul 11th, '12, 05:08
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Re: Shu and young sheng

by yanom » Jul 11th, '12, 05:08

Yes, personal preferences. The more I think about it the more I feel that my pue'r preferences split three ways into young sheng, aged sheng, and shu. Of course there are variations within. Some people might like all of them. Some only one. My personal preference is clearly for aged sheng, but it's too expensive to drink the nicer stuff every day. I also rather like shu, especially because unlike other teas, I've found a couple of brews of shu after dinner doesn't stop me sleeping later in the evening. Young sheng, I don't really like. For me, it's as far away from aged sheng as shu is, and in a direction I'm not so fond of.

As for shu with a bit of age on it: I've tried a couple of samples of 10+ years shu which seemed flat to me, but others which were delicious -- obviously with my limited experience I've got no way of knowing what role age plays there and how much it's just due to the quality of the tea in the first place (or, indeed, my own preferences).

I don't remember reading people discussing "qi" much with shu, only sheng. But I picked up a bing of what I was told was 2002 shu from a little shop in Hong Kong which I can't really make my mind up about: some days I really like it, others not so much: it doesn't have much of the sweet/savoury earthy richness I like in lots of shu, but does give me some less usual mouth-tingling, and also something I associate with "qi".

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Jul 11th, '12, 12:30
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Re: Shu and young sheng

by needaTEAcher » Jul 11th, '12, 12:30

yanom wrote:I don't remember reading people discussing "qi" much with shu, only sheng. But I picked up a bing of what I was told was 2002 shu from a little shop in Hong Kong which I can't really make my mind up about: some days I really like it, others not so much: it doesn't have much of the sweet/savoury earthy richness I like in lots of shu, but does give me some less usual mouth-tingling, and also something I associate with "qi".
In my experience, shou doesn't have the same level of qi feeling as sheng, and especially not younger shou, but I had a pot of some pretty decent 1985 loose leaf shou that had a killer kick to it. Drank a 7-pot session once at 10 or 11, and couldn't sleep until early the next morning!

I have had 5 or 6 sessions with a 1960 loose leaf sheng, and I have never experienced anything like it! People around me usually act like they are on drugs!!!! The effect is amazing and really soothing. But my teacher told me about that 1940s shou that I mentioned earlier, and he described the feeling of super strong qi, among other effects.

Generally, I find that older shengs pack a more powerful feeling in my body than older shou, and younger from both tends to generate less alertness and overall qi feeling for me. But, again, everyone is different!

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