Official Pu of the day

[drinking_teas]

2005 Mengku Gong Ting mini cake, yesterday evening. My first Mengku ripe, which delivered all I could hope for (and a bit more) for that price. Actually reminds me quite a bit of V93. I have no idea how it tasted back in '05, but nine years later there's definitely no traces of off-flavors. Only 4-5 great infusions, but I rarely have shus that deliver more than that anyways.

Shouldn't have started as late as I did, though, another night with problems falling asleep.

I see YS sells a 2007 version (400g cake) for $26, if that's that the same thing (only a bigger cake and two years younger) I might have to pick some up in the future. Although the 2005 version would only be ~$30 per 400g, so I might just stick to that. In any case, a new favorite for me as far as affordable recipe shupu goes.

I have this one and I like it as well. Very deep flavor with no funkiness.

[BioHorn]

Special day yesterday.
We had a HouDe sample of 80's Menghai Snow Mark (7532). It is still so nice now on day two. Looking forward to seeing how long it will go.
Pics are up on my Instagram feed at TeaZap.
Chip, any easy way to link those photos directly to the forum? (Thanks for the response.)

[bonescwa]

Special day yesterday.
We had a HouDe sample of 80's Menghai Snow Mark (7532). It is still so nice now on day two. Looking forward to seeing how long it will go.
Pics are up on my Instagram feed at TeaZap.
Chip, any easy way to link those photos directly to the forum? (Thanks for the response.)

How do you feel about the effect of that pot?

[BioHorn]

Special day yesterday.
We had a HouDe sample of 80's Menghai Snow Mark (7532). It is still so nice now on day two. Looking forward to seeing how long it will go.
Pics are up on my Instagram feed at TeaZap.
Chip, any easy way to link those photos directly to the forum? (Thanks for the response.)

How do you feel about the effect of that pot?

To stay on topic...
Day three and this tea is still holding up nicely. It has a nice balance and is not too smoothed out. The effect on the breathe after many rounds is nice. It makes me want to sit and drink tea for a long time!


To answer your question:
(Petr Novak 80ml treebark pot)
The clay seems pretty neutral. I did some water tests. After leaving water in it overnight, it came out changed very little. Not nearly as much change as in other pots.

The nice pour seems to have a bigger effect. This one dumps right out in a matter of seconds. Likewise, the hear retention seems pretty good. Am still getting to know the details. I like pots that I can really heat up and that hold the heat. It is a beautiful pot. I am very thankful to Petr for putting so much care and effort into his work!

[bonescwa]

Thanks for answering, even though it was off topic.
My minor contribution: some strange egg-shaped shu. I can't remember where I got it. It's not bad. Do any major shu factories make the egg shape?

[Drax]

Is it like this "dragon egg" from the Puerh Shop? If so, it's a 2006 Jinggu.

[debunix]

Enjoying my first session with a gift tea that arrived with some teaware: Luo Shui Dong 2012 from Tea Urchin. It's a lovely light sheng, sweet and mellow even in its youth, right up my alley. Might buy a cake or three.

[ChaShiFu]

The rinse to wash and awaken the tea fill the air with floral and slightly forest fragrances while the soup colour is already mature orange tones. Since we are nine thirsty aspirants, each tasting round consists of two pouring and not longer than 10 seconds each rinse. My first several cups let experience two dominating tastes, a fruity one, direction raspberry and a gentle rather complex tone of not fully faded bitterness and sweet camphor after taste.
The quite stable sensation and rich mouth feelings lasts and after the fourth round some nutty honey hints can be recognized as well as a bit earthy, less camphor after taste.

[paxl13]

Hi,

So today was to me a big treat day since I won't be drinking pu'erh for the next couple of day. So I started my morning wiht the White Tuo from White2Tea and then I'm on a round of New Amerikah 2. Good lord that this tea is good. It's is just insane. A 2014 sheng production from White2Tea.
I couldn't probably describe anything properly so I will pass and recommend
anyone to grab a tong of this thing I love it soo deeply. That's my first
Sheng I've ever loved.



On that, Merry Xmas to everyone!

[jayinhk]

Drinking some older sheng I picked up on Taobao after Marshal recommended it...side by side with the last of an organic Zhejiang green I've just run out of. Should make for an interesting combination.

[mam2431]

This afternoon I pulled out my 2000 CNNP Lincang Ripe cake sold by Yunnan Sourcing (still available on both sites, by the way). This one has slowly become a reliable favorite. I didn’t take to it at first but now I really look forward to drinking it. Enjoying a nice large cup on a rather cold day – seems to hit the spot. When I drink this one, I typically use the same leaves over a three day period – the quality and maturation of the leaves allows me to do this. Gotta love the sparkling clear burgundy tea liquor! The first day (phase) offers a woody, mushroomy tea which is also quite smooth and mellow with the complexity slowly revealing itself. Good choice for this afternoon with even more promise for tomorrow's session.

[Rui]

2011 Yi Wu Mountain Pu Erh Beeng Cha - Ripe

A very sweet and great value for money Pu'erh tea.

[shah82]

1998 white wrapper tuo from white2tea.

Most other bloggers have gotten a good take on this, but...

1) This was relatively high in caffeine, and some that + qi shows up.
2) Fairly thick soup
3) Has a theme for flavor/aroma, a sweet flavor. First couple of brew has dried out warehousing taste in it.

Not so much on the plus side
1) Definitely isn't particularly clean wrt hairs. Geez
2) The taste is relatively thin, and very constant, not much complexity.
3) There is a lot of suspension of microparticles in the soup, making for a gritty experience at times.

I like the 2002 zhongcha 7572 sold at white2tea better, as an all around tea. Also think that this tea is best dealt with english style and not gongfu, for max thick taste and max pork fat cleansing.

[AdmiralKelvinator]

Today's pu was a 2006 Banzhang I picked up from Wisteria on my last trip through Taipei. Previously sampled this tea on two separate occasions and decided to pick up a cake tho it wasn't cheap (not that people go to Wisteria for bargains in the first place). While I was impressed with this tea when I sampled it (it had an unmistakable body response both times that left me feeling quite tea drunk) taking it back home and brewing it now leaves me very underwhelmed. Feels thin and fades into bitterness without any of the good vibes it had previously. The cake was presented to me wrapped in plastic, so I might air it out for a little while and try again. I'm loath to break it up, but I wonder if it will improve much in cake form. Maybe just a bad session?

[TwoDog2]

Today's pu was a 2006 Banzhang I picked up from Wisteria on my last trip through Taipei. Previously sampled this tea on two separate occasions and decided to pick up a cake tho it wasn't cheap (not that people go to Wisteria for bargains in the first place). While I was impressed with this tea when I sampled it (it had an unmistakable body response both times that left me feeling quite tea drunk) taking it back home and brewing it now leaves me very underwhelmed. Feels thin and fades into bitterness without any of the good vibes it had previously. The cake was presented to me wrapped in plastic, so I might air it out for a little while and try again. I'm loath to break it up, but I wonder if it will improve much in cake form. Maybe just a bad session?

If you had good experiences with a cake in the past, don't be too quick to worry after a bad session. Even throughout a single cake sessions won't always be uniform. Some teas I really like can fluctuate quite a lot, not to mention all the other factors involved, an important one being my own mood and attention.

Give it another session or two and report back. Curious to see what you find