Official Pu of the day

[mr mopu]

Having a 2009 Douji “Fragrant Brick” tonight.
Breaking this out after about a year and a half in the “pumidor”. I remember this smelled nice and had a very light color to it.
I am back sometime later for a proper review.
First noticeable thing is this has become a bit more loose and easier to chip off. The color hasn’t seemed to vary that much on the dry leaf from what I remember.
I got about 10 grams off the brick to brew in the easy steeper that I have. I gave about a 10 second rinse due to the fact that bricks are more tightly pressed and take a bit longer for the water to get in there.
The rinse water actually looked a bit more amber than the green I recall. It is a 5 year old so it is still “teething and growing”.
I gave two 5 second steeps with about 5 ounces each. The brew is giving a scent of warm wet hay and a whisper of smoke. The tastes are of pine and some bitter that fades into a caramel touch of sweetness very quickly. A bit of astringency that leaves quickly. Swirling the tea in the mouth gives you that thick feel across the tongue.
A very nice brick from them and I think it is progressing along nicely.

Flavors: Bitter, Caramel, Pine, Smoke, Sweet

[rickardg]

80's Bamboo Wrapped Tuocha from EoT

I'm just a pu'er noob, and haven't quite acquired the taste for the earthy pu flavors yet (I do like the (over)ripe fruit flavors though). Infusions 2-5 had an interesting thick mouthfeel, some saliva-stimulation and hints of a nice bitterness. The soup was almost coffee-dark with about 20 sec infusions (~7gr in a ~90 ml taiwan).

[kyarazen]

80's Bamboo Wrapped Tuocha from EoT

I'm just a pu'er noob, and haven't quite acquired the taste for the earthy pu flavors yet (I do like the (over)ripe fruit flavors though). Infusions 2-5 had an interesting thick mouthfeel, some saliva-stimulation and hints of a nice bitterness. The soup was almost coffee-dark with about 20 sec infusions (~7gr in a ~90 ml taiwan).

nice yellow gaiwan!....

[rickardg]

nice yellow gaiwan!....

Yep, it always cheers me up! Good taste only makes you depressed…

[debunix]

Drinking a 2006 Yi Wu sheng tuo from my local tea shop: it does remind me of the 2008 bamboo-aged Yi Wu from Norbu that I've enjoyed so much--the more bitter/herbal/astringent aspects especially--but too casually brewed this AM (tossed a flake into a thermos, added hot water, and ran out the door) to say if there are some of the same carmelicious notes that dominate some of the sessions with the 2008.

Nice enough, regardless.

[gasninja]

1992 Xiaguan shu fu lu xi brick. Even though it is snowing in right now in April. I don't seem to mind

[gasninja]

I am brewing my last chunk of a 94 Menghai 8582. This tea was perfectly stored ( a little more humid than 88 qing bing). Should be drinking younger sheng right now an celebrating spring. Unfortunately there is still snow on the ground so I need something older to help me cope.

[kyarazen]

anyone having a mansong right now?

dark horse of 2015... price said to have surged past lbz this year

[Drax]

anyone having a mansong right now?

dark horse of 2015... price said to have surged past lbz this year

Does that mean that previous years will also increase in price....?

[kyarazen]

anyone having a mansong right now?

dark horse of 2015... price said to have surged past lbz this year

Does that mean that previous years will also increase in price....?

if this spike stays.. then it could be a possibility for the quick appreciation of recent mansongs.. if well made.

[debunix]

This past week I finished my 2009 Lao Ban Zhang from Norbu, milking it out to a 2 day infusion at the end. Still tasty, but the leaves let me know they were done at that. I also had a concurrent session with the last of the Tea Urchin sample of 2012 Luo Shui Dong, another fine young pu. Sad to see those go...

[ethan]

hey gasninja, I had not seen you posting in a while. Hope all is well.
Glad to see you post. Cheers

[shah82]

1) To the extent that Mansong is more expensive than LBZ, it's because the production of gushu is relatively small.

2) To say that Mansong is more expensive than LBZ is also a relative apples to oranges situation. Most of the time, the prices reported are for medium and low quality LBZ. The best LBZ is pretty expensive and limited, though I do not know whether it's more than comparable Mansong.

3) As an all-around tea, very few teas will beat LBZ that does what inspires its fame. The expense of Mansong has a great deal to do with legend, aura of exclusiveness, and the general appeal of what makes Yibang tea in general popular.

4) Mind that there is a spin cycle that tries to promote the fame and price of what people have. Bingdao, for example, is a good tea that's spectacularly overrated, and covers three distinct races, now. There's the probably true Bingdao, with a bland top taste and floral hints until you hit its stride with ever stronger orchid, fruit, and rock sugar notes, particularly in the finish. There's the honey thick Bingdao, with a very thick soup and a wood-juniper-spice top taste, like that Mengdai from TU. Lastly, there's the musk/nuts and melon Bingdao, which is (my guess), what most people get. Even considering Bingdao's overratedness, the best (most truly genuine) stuff is between $2k and $3k a kilo. Such teas generally cannot genuinely be part of any conversation about teas ordinary people experience. More than that, just as there are obviously three distinct good quality teas in the Bingdao area, there are other Northern teas about as good, perhaps not exactly in the same way a good Bingdao is, but on the same level.

To bring this conversation to a note...Teas of roughly the same quality grade roughly costs the same; Most yammering about how some exclusive area is so expensive is about one thing--making you pay more for a mediocre tea.

[bankung]

anyone having a mansong right now?

dark horse of 2015... price said to have surged past lbz this year

Does that mean that previous years will also increase in price....?

I think its more expensive than LBZ for a few years now.

This year tea is speculated to be 10-15% cheaper than previous, with the exception of some areas. LBZ should stay the same or even get down a bit. Yiwu in general should be cheaper.

[Peacock]

Some 2014 xiao hu sai autumnal puerh cha from yunnan sourcing.