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Hey everybody,

I received a 50g bag of 1998 Xiaguan free with an order. This is the only Pu-erh I've ever tried so I was wondering what I should be looking for as far as tasting notes go. I used 5g in a 175ml gong fu cha. First a rinse, then a 10s infusion as per the website's recommendation. So far I've gotten a woody/earthy taste from it. I'm not sure how I feel about it so far. Thanks for any advice. Pu-erh seems quite intimidating to get started in with all the stuff to know.

David

I'm by no means an expert, but that sounds like a nice sample! Is it shu or sheng? It sounds like shu, as those are the words I used to describe my infrequent sheng tastings.

M.

It's a shu.

DavidM wrote:It's a shu.

I would agree with David on it being a shou from your description. Would you happen to have any pictures of this tuo?

Here's a picture of the dry leaves.

Is this from Camellia Sinensis? If so, wow. This tea has been my top 5 favorite teas since the day I first tried it. Hard to say what my impression would be if I had never tasted a puer before. For me that would be like being a 15 year old drinking for the first time and having a 40 year old scotch. Without the context I'm not sure it would taste "special" I encourage you to try other puer, sheng and shou, to gain that context. I think you'll come back to this tea and realize how good it is. Or maybe I don't have enough context yet and this tea is actually pretty middle of the road.

Yes, it is from CS. I've been looking into other pu-erh as well. I've tried some bamboo roasted Yi-Wu mountain pu-erh from Norbu and some Yi-Wu Mahei, both of which have been quite enjoyable.