TeaChat

I notice that a lot of you purchase sheng from very recent vintages. As a general rule (not trying to sound uppity), I never purchase sheng that's not at least six or seven years old (I want to drink it now!) Do any of you enjoy drinking brand-spankin' new sheng or are you purchasing it to start drinking it a few years later after it acquires a little age?

Good sheng that's six or more years old is expensive. $20-$30 bings tends to be stuff within the last couple of years.

Yes, but can you actually drink a tea with say a 2012 or 2013 vintage? I don't think I've ever had a particularly young sheng. The stuff I have from 2007 and before is divine though.

Yes, but I've pretty much lost interest in doing so, especially for the milder teas. Really really nice stuff like some Sanhetang '09s, I'll drink for pleasure rather than mere curiosity, but terrified of drinking good things too fast.

Odd that as long as I've been into puerh I've never really had a young one. Mainly, I'm just too scared that it's going to be too bitter, sharp and generally offensive to the palette. Also, I'm too impatient to buy one and just let it age; though it has happened before but not intentionally (see my other thread). Maybe I'll experiment with a young sheng on a night that I don't have to go to sleep at all.

MrEffendi wrote:Odd that as long as I've been into puerh I've never really had a young one. Mainly, I'm just too scared that it's going to be too bitter, sharp and generally offensive to the palette. Also, I'm too impatient to buy one and just let it age; though it has happened before but not intentionally (see my other thread). Maybe I'll experiment with a young sheng on a night that I don't have to go to sleep at all.

Good, young sheng is required drinking to understand what the interest is in Puerh tea in general. There are many good tasting, young sheng teas that can be drunk in the early stages. The flavor will necessarily be different than aged Puerh but they can have a sweeter, fruitier character than their aged counterparts. Buy samples and experience something new.

High quality nascent sheng, such as EoT's offerings, are a joy unto themselves.

I love young sheng. I have plenty of 2010-2013 that I can drink every single day. Many of them are from yunnansourcing

MrEffendi wrote:Do any of you enjoy drinking brand-spankin' new sheng or are you purchasing it to start drinking it a few years later after it acquires a little age?

I've got plenty of sheng and shu in my tea trunk, so am not buying much at present, but without any experience or coherent plan for aging puerh, I've tried to buy only puerh I like now (or think I will like now--the budget has enough slack to take chances on some moderately priced beengs without sampling every single one), and hope I will continue to enjoy. I've gotten quite a few samples of young shengs 0-2 years old and enjoyed them, and sometimes then picked up a whole cake. I enjoy different aspects of the young and old teas and would be sad to only have one or the other available.

Tead Off wrote:

MrEffendi wrote:Odd that as long as I've been into puerh I've never really had a young one. Mainly, I'm just too scared that it's going to be too bitter, sharp and generally offensive to the palette. Also, I'm too impatient to buy one and just let it age; though it has happened before but not intentionally (see my other thread). Maybe I'll experiment with a young sheng on a night that I don't have to go to sleep at all.

Good, young sheng is required drinking to understand what the interest is in Puerh tea in general. There are many good tasting, young sheng teas that can be drunk in the early stages. The flavor will necessarily be different than aged Puerh but they can have a sweeter, fruitier character than their aged counterparts. Buy samples and experience something new.

Fruit is good. I love my fruity Taiwanese wulongs. I think I shall do some research on this fruity young sheng you speak of as I've been stuck on the dankier aged shengs for quite a while now. I feel like I'm asking you guys to do too much research for me as of lately and I really don't want to wear out my welcome so just tell me if I'm using bad for etiquette... but do you have any recommendations in particular as to what a good young fruity sheng might be?

http://www.marshaln.com/2013/07/a-clear ... nt-danger/

A good post to be careful in buying new sheung.

TIM wrote:http://www.marshaln.com/2013/07/a-clear ... nt-danger/

A good post to be careful in buying new sheung.

Auch! That is terrifying and unfortunate! One reason to always sample before purchasing a whole beeng. So if I see a tea that is say ~5 years old but the leaves still look jade green would that be an indication of bad firing?

Sorry for being vague, it's very difficult to describe what green tea pu taste like before it is aged. But if you have drunk a lot of different pu, including different ages and both sheng and shu, you would have a better idea what pu should be like and if you encounter something which is deviated from the 'norm', you would notice it. I know this might not sound very helpful, but it's true, samples, samples and samples, but your stomach might complaint for all those young sheng samples ...

TIM wrote:http://www.marshaln.com/2013/07/a-clear ... nt-danger/

A good post to be careful in buying new sheung.

I always read these things with a bit of skepticism, sort of like those who hold conspiracy theories. Let me tell you my recent experience with aging green tea.

Everyone always talks about drinking green teas quickly because of the aging problem. Last year, I was given gifts of a lot of Long Jing and a Chongqing green tea I never had before. Both were already from the previous year's harvest. Both now more than 2 years old. I have been drinking both of these teas quite a bit. The Long Jing has become even better than it was when I first got it and the Chongqing tea is seemingly holding its flavor and aroma perhaps just a bit less than last year. I could not say that for any Japanese green tea that I've had for an extended period of time. Some Korean green teas have and some have not. It is very difficult for me to believe in generalizations.

With young sheng, there are some fantastic tasting and expensive cakes like Guafengzhai. They are delicious now. Who is to say that they won't be delicious in 5 years, 10 years, or more? Many of the suppliers will not be able to answer the question as to what temp the tea was fired at. Does this mean that all good tasting young sheng has been fired at too high a temp? I doubt it. It's good to be cautious but reading the future is usually an inaccurate science.

Tead Off wrote: Everyone always talks about drinking green teas quickly because of the aging problem. Last year, I was given gifts of a lot of Long Jing and a Chongqing green tea I never had before. Both were already from the previous year's harvest. Both now more than 2 years old. I have been drinking both of these teas quite a bit. The Long Jing has become even better than it was when I first got it and the Chongqing tea is seemingly holding its flavor and aroma perhaps just a bit less than last year. I could not say that for any Japanese green tea that I've had for an extended period of time. Some Korean green teas have and some have not. It is very difficult for me to believe in generalizations.

With young sheng, there are some fantastic tasting and expensive cakes like Guafengzhai. They are delicious now. Who is to say that they won't be delicious in 5 years, 10 years, or more? Many of the suppliers will not be able to answer the question as to what temp the tea was fired at. Does this mean that all good tasting young sheng has been fired at too high a temp? I doubt it. It's good to be cautious but reading the future is usually an inaccurate science.

I don't share the same taste about "aged" green tea as yours. I suspect that has to do with the different brewing method we used.

I agree with you that young sheng being tasty don't necessarily mean they were made in a problematic way. But I guess that's not what the blog originally means either (I haven't read it yet). Meantime, it's indeed a big on-going trend that many producers do their best to make young sheng taste good. They may not use green tea processing to achieve the goal, but I do have some suspicion that sometimes there are different choices involved in the trade-off between instant gratification and the delayed one.

But overall I agree that there are teas that are tasty from the beginning to the end. I have some newer sheng that everybody says they are good. But I don't have a heart to break them yet, especially if I only have few of them. I feel there are a lot of hassles that somebody presses the cake in the spring and somebody else breaks the cake in the fall of the same year or the following year. In that case, it would have been more economic to sell and buy loose tea.