TeaChat

I got some sheng from Puerh Shop that I like a lot. I also got a sample of Aged Premium...that's all it says on the little bag. This is the second time I'm trying it and I'm having about as much luck with it as I did when I first started on Silver Needle.

It's tight and difficult to break up without breaking the leaves to bits and seemed to take more time than the other pu's I've tried for the tea to wake up. Beautiful color in the cup, tastes faintly to me like of copal incense smells (whatever it is I like what little I could taste). The first few infusions were not big on taste but were mostly like dry wine feels on my tongue. 5th infusion was the the most flavorful but still faint. No infusion time over 30 sec.

I used about 2/3rd tablespoon, I don't have a scale, and the re-hydrated leaves take up almost half the tea pot. Do I really need to load in the leaf with Aged pu?

If you are sold on the idea of judging weight the US 5 cent coin weighs a fairly accurate 5 grams.
And yes the ratio of tea leaves to water is important.
By my guess 2/3 of a teaspoon is barely 3 grams.
All of this said, do not despair because the infusions to come may be what you are waiting for, #'s 6-12 might be the best!

I also have that sample but haven't tried it yet. What was the sheng that you liked?

taitea wrote: I also have that sample but haven't tried it yet. What was the sheng that you liked?

+ 1

In my experience, good aged sheng is not usually difficult to brew. If you have a half full pot of wet leaves, that sounds like plenty. It's not impossible that this tea is just not very good. I'll try to get to my sample this weekend and post a note. Thanks for sharing.

Well, I'm tasting it now and for the most part I like it. It definitely tastes like a more tame and mature version of the other <5 year old sheng samples I had. That typical dry apricot smell is still there in the dry leaves, but more subdued. It's even more subdued in the taste of the tea, which is a good thing for me because I find it too abrupt in most young shengs.

My first two infusions made my mouth sort of dry, which is not something I really enjoy. I'm also getting hints of a soapy taste, which I also don't enjoy. Other than that, I like it. (Why is it so easy to point out what I don't like but so hard to say what I like about it? Pessimist perhaps?)

I used ~5.5g in a 150ml pot, boiling water. Slightly longer than flash infusions so far. The liquid is certainly darker than the younger sheng samples I had.

It would be nice to have more info of this tea. How aged is aged?



Edit: After several more infusions I can no longer ignore the soapiness or the dry mouth. These two things combine to pretty much ruin what would be a very enjoyable tea for me. Perhaps I should try less leaf or cooler water? I'm very interested to hear your notes, Sal.

Just for the record, I checked my order and the Aged Premium I got was: Model: Tasting Sample - 4018.

taitea wrote:I also have that sample but haven't tried it yet. What was the sheng that you liked?

2007 Jingmai Mountain Spring Pu-erh Tea Cake.

Just for the record, I checked my order and the Aged Premium I got was: Model: Tasting Sample - 4018.

Same here.

I just checked the site again and saw this: Vintage: 2004 unfermented or raw. I guess that settles that question.

Ti wrote:

taitea wrote:I also have that sample but haven't tried it yet. What was the sheng that you liked?

2007 Jingmai Mountain Spring Pu-erh Tea Cake.

I really liked this Jingmai also. I asked Jim what else from Jingmai he would suggest and he pointed me to the 2005 Jingmai Ancient Arbor Pu-erh Tea Cake, due to be available in the next week or so.

I expect to try the Aged Premium tonight. 2004 is hardly aged.

I have a Jingmai wild arbor early spring 2006 that is good.

raw 2004 isn't 'aged', geese, puershop is smoking something as usual.

For me, I consider this as part of the learning curve but even I know that 4 yrs old isn't really considered aged.

Salsero wrote:
I expect to try the Aged Premium tonight. 2004 is hardly aged.

I really liked this Jingmai also.

I think I bought the Jingmai from reading one of your posts.

I will be looking forward to your analysis of the Aged Premium as well as trying the 2005 Jingmai Ancient Arbor Pu-erh Tea Cake.

"Aged Premium" is very, very wet stored. It is the worst sheng pu-erh i've ever had.

If I understand the characteristics of a wet stored tea at all, I would say this cake is not nearly as wet stored as the 2003 Dayi Yiwu Arbor Pu-erh Tea Cake at puerhshop. I prefer this one so far.

However, 2004 being "aged" and no mention of the wet storage (if it actually was wet stored... well I guess it would have to be considering it's 2004) certainly is a little unsettling.