Puerhshop Tasting Group's "Year of Green Pu-erh"

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


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Apr 16th, '08, 21:31
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Puerhshop Tasting Group's "Year of Green Pu-erh"

by Wesli » Apr 16th, '08, 21:31

Here it is, people. The thread where we begin our little adventure through the ups and downs of teas available at Puerhshop.

Up first round is the Year of Green Puerh tasting set.

Once you get your teas, log in to TeaChat, and let your fellow tasters know what you think! Stories of love and hate are sure to follow!


Edit by Chip: Stickied per Wesli's request.

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Apr 17th, '08, 02:40
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2006 Yinhao Tuocha

by Salsero » Apr 17th, '08, 02:40

This "sampler" is over half a pound of tea for $12!

I brewed up the 2006 Arbor Yinhao Tuocha tonight. I came close to following the vendor's suggested brewing at http://www.puerhshop.com/index.php?main ... cts_id=380

Breaking Tuo
I used the cute tiny tuocha pick III that I also ordered to break a little of this tea off from the darling tuocha. This is a docile tuo easily broken up, although I enjoyed using the pick. It it succumbed helplessly to my urgings (I only wish I got this reponse more often outside the world of tea!)
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Parameters
5.00 grams in a 120 ml pot, off boil: no rinse, infusions: 30 s, 25 s, 30 s, 60 s, 60 s, 1:15 m, 1:30 m.
I got started late and so I didn't really exhaust the tea before I became exhausted. For those who do not have all the benefits of modern drug technology (i.e., a gram scale), I measured this to be about 1 rounded tablespoon.
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Process
Usually I start infusing sheng (raw) puerh at around 15 s including pour time, but the vendor site recommends 30s after a rinse. As I usually do, I skipped the rinse, but went with the 30 s first infusion. It was light, smooth, none too powerful in flavor. Maybe tending a bit to watery, but also a delicate and pleasant aroma and taste. It seemed to taste somehow different from other sheng I have had, maybe I have not had Lincang before. The honey color was inviting and it had a mushroomy kind of flavor throughout, but I also notice hints of mint and fishy tastes especially later in the brewing. At these parameters it was flirting with astringency, had modest viscosity, but was a pleasing drink. The spent leaves were green in color and pretty chopped up.
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Evaluation
I am pleased with this inexpensive tea (5¢ per gram) mostly because of the price. It is not very strong flavored, but it is inoffensive and pleasant. A person would probably not buy it for long term storage, but who knows. It would be a nice everyday tea, say to have at work or drink with friends who were not TeaBuddies enough to give them the "good stuff." On a Netflix scale I would call it a solid 3 stars, "I liked it."
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*Notice the little sunflower seed I found in mine.

*** My rating "I liked it"
*** Dizzwave's rating
Last edited by Salsero on Apr 26th, '08, 14:11, edited 6 times in total.

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by Wesli » Apr 17th, '08, 02:53

I thought of the 2oz sizes as a big plus when I saw them. What I'm hoping is that they'll allow our tasting to endure longer, by adding another dimension of "getting to know the tea." Sometimes, you think you understand a tea at first taste, just to realize a few sessions or weeks later that the tea has gained a whole new dimension. Sometimes this is a grand feeling, while sometimes it is very minuscule. Nonetheless, I thank Jim of Puerhshop much for this opportunity.

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by Salsero » Apr 17th, '08, 03:05

Drat, I guess I can't delete a post if it has a quote.
Last edited by Salsero on Apr 17th, '08, 19:37, edited 2 times in total.

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by Wesli » Apr 17th, '08, 19:24

Yeah? Well, I'll knock you out with my samplebag, teaWUSS.

Seriously, check the amount of tea you get in this sample bag...
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Apr 17th, '08, 19:29
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by RussianSoul » Apr 17th, '08, 19:29

OMG!

:shock:

~faints~

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by trent » Apr 17th, '08, 19:31

ok... I NEED to get one of those

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by Salsero » Apr 17th, '08, 19:40

trent wrote:ok... I NEED to get one of those
RussianSoul wrote:OMG!
:shock:
~faints~
OK these are the moments that make me love you big lugs!

And Wesli, you did indeed knock me out: it looks like you are really full of pu. Congrats! There's gonna be a lot of fainting in Puville tonight.

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by silverneedles » Apr 17th, '08, 21:40

mmmm....giant bag of green pu!

OMG ! indeed

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by Salsero » Apr 17th, '08, 21:41

OK I've actually posted a review in second place above where yesterday I was just trying to beat out Wesli in getting to the button. LOOK UP

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Apr 19th, '08, 08:53
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by augie » Apr 19th, '08, 08:53

Wesli wrote:Yeah? Well, I'll knock you out with my samplebag, teaWUSS.

Seriously, check the amount of tea you get in this sample bag...
Whoa! :shock: That stuff is dope! 4 ziplocs in a brown paper bag. I get a buzz jus looking at it.

This offering is on their website? I just started a new job on their side of town. Might have to order some . . . :lol:

Keep posting those pictures, guys!!!

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by Salsero » Apr 19th, '08, 10:51

augie wrote:
Wesli wrote: I just started a new job on their side of town.
Mmm, augie, you are in Indianapolis, Puershop is in Indianapolis, Mary is near Indianapolis, Chip is not too far away, nor is Yeah_Tea/Andy, Trioxin is in Indiana ... mmm. The world is starting to sound a little smaller than I thought.

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by hop_goblin » Apr 20th, '08, 10:38

Wesli, I think you have now confirmed yourself as a pu-nut! :D

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by Ron Gilmour » Apr 20th, '08, 13:56

I've now tried three of the "Year of Green" teas.

I started out with the 2007 Menghai Feet of Crab. This was my very first sheng, although I did once try shou, and I guess I was unprepared, though pleasantly surprised, by the vast difference. This tea reminded me of an oolong in its delicacy and complexity, but is very un-oolongish in flavor. Where oolongs tend to have floral and fruity tastes, this is more in the umami range. In both smell and taste, I detected a fishy quality. At first I thought that this was just power of suggestion from the name of the tea, but reading salsero's post on the tuocha made me trust my senses more. After reading the description of the tea on puerhshop's site, I realized that the tea's name comes from a non-tea herb that is mixed with the tea. I am trying to track down the Latin name of this plant, but no luck so far. So I guess I started my journey with a very unusual tea.

My second tea was the 2007 Old Banzhang Arbor. I expected this to be significantly different from "feet of crab" due to the absence of the non-tea element, but the embarrassing truth is that at this point in my pu-erh tasting experience, I can't tell much difference between this tea and the previous one. I like them both, although I could do with a little less of the fishy taste.

Tea number three (which I am drinking as I write this) is the 2004 CNNP Old Tree Green. This is definitely my favorite so far. This stuff is REALLY good. Nice body with a pleasantly woody taste and aroma. Maybe just a touch of smoke. Little or none of the fishy element that bothered me in the other teas. I can't wait to share this with some of my local tea friends.

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by Salsero » Apr 20th, '08, 14:10

Ron Gilmour wrote:I've now tried three of the "Year of Green" teas..
Thanks for the exquisite, personal, revealing, and succinct reviews. I so want to be able to do such good drive-by reviews. I would say the fishy taste is not a good thing, but may well disappear in a year or two. A little of it is interesting, but then tropical infections are also interesting if viewed from the right perspective.

I would like to know something of your brewing parameters.

Again, thanks for making such a personal and honest statement of your experience. This is the kind of stuff I was hoping to get in here.

w00t!

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