Official Pu of the day

[stevorama]

2003 Feng Qing Jia Ji Er Deng sheng puer. Guangdong storage. In keeping with the theme! Vanilla. Tamed bitter. Body sweating. Smoothed out considerably over the past year. Wrapper was completely tattered with bug bites. Little tiny white bug droppings all over. Easy enough to brush off!

[jayinhk]

2003 Feng Qing Jia Ji Er Deng sheng puer. Guangdong storage. In keeping with the theme! Vanilla. Tamed bitter. Body sweating. Smoothed out considerably over the past year. Wrapper was completely tattered with bug bites. Little tiny white bug droppings all over. Easy enough to brush off!

Very nice! I picked up a 2005 HK traditional storage Fengqing tuo a few weeks ago and I really like the stuff. No bug holes, just a light frosting of mold. Lots of camphor and almost no bitterness. Just smoooooth.

Never seen visible white bug droppings, though...sounds like they were only eating the paper?

[stevorama]

Very nice! I picked up a 2005 HK traditional storage Fengqing tuo a few weeks ago and I really like the stuff. No bug holes, just a light frosting of mold. Lots of camphor and almost no bitterness. Just smoooooth.

Never seen visible white bug droppings, though...sounds like they were only eating the paper?

This is my first tea from that company. Good to hear you enjoyed yours as well.

These look like tiny termite droppings....minuscule dry pellets. On the outside of the bing. I've seen them before. Assume they are from whatever ate the wrapper. Blowing on the cake or brushing it gets rid of them. Tea looks uneaten and no bug activity!!!

[jayinhk]

Gotcha, I get bugs that eat tea, but not paper eaters!

[jayinhk]

90s Taipei dry storage 7581 brick...so good. The smell from this brick when I bought it got me excited to get it home and try it. I've been chipping away at it over the year and about 1/3 is gone now.

A few months ago, I put a cup of water in my glass pu cabinet for a few days and the humidity quickly climbed to 100%. That made the tea taste off--weak and unpleasant. Letting the humidity climb back down has made the tea lovely again, possibly even better than before, but with a tiny bit of added camphor note. It's sweet smelling, kind of like baby powder, but this is a natural aroma from years of natural decomposition in Taiwan. Really lovely example of 7581 and the best I've had to date. The next time I get back to Taipei, I'm buying the other 2-3 bricks of 7581 the vendor had left (I hope they're still there)! HK/Taiwan dry storage is really where it's at for me as far as pu storage goes. It really must be the annual cooler/dryer season that makes all the difference to how tea ages here. Then again, I haven't had any Southeast Asian dry storage pu yet...would love to try some!

[kuánglóng]

2003 Feng Qing Jia Ji Er Deng sheng puer. Guangdong storage. In keeping with the theme! Vanilla. Tamed bitter. Body sweating. Smoothed out considerably over the past year. Wrapper was completely tattered with bug bites. Little tiny white bug droppings all over. Easy enough to brush off!

Got one too, Guangdong express composting and the rest. Impressive energy and lovely musky/balsamic aroma in the sniffing cup but a bit thin and dry in the mouth.
Nice job from the bugs on my cake too

[kuánglóng]

Got some 2008 Hai Lang Hao Jingmai in the gaiwan but only slightly more than 100g left in the caddy. Nothing too fancy but a gentle, pretty enduring daily drinker with a thick texture and sweet long aftertaste - easy on the long suffering stomach and one of the more interesting and grounded Jingmais I've had in a while. From what I remember the price almost doubled some weeks ago but I'll probably get some more anyway.

[stevorama]

Got one too, Guangdong express composting and the rest. Impressive energy and lovely musky/balsamic aroma in the sniffing cup but a bit thin and dry in the mouth.
Nice job from the bugs on my cake too

Ha!! That's how mine looks. My tastings of this have been hit and miss. I agree with your description. This most recent brewing was the best yet. Perhaps due to a few months of mild summer weather.

[kuánglóng]

Got one too, Guangdong express composting and the rest. Impressive energy and lovely musky/balsamic aroma in the sniffing cup but a bit thin and dry in the mouth.
Nice job from the bugs on my cake too

Ha!! That's how mine looks. My tastings of this have been hit and miss. I agree with your description. This most recent brewing was the best yet. Perhaps due to a few months of mild summer weather.

Couldn't agree more on the hit and miss. This tea has the potential to leave the most intense and lasting scents in my aroma cup of all my shengs - up to some days, but I've had sessions where there was nothing left but a faint, ephemeral whiff. Same with the texture/mouthfeel but not too that extent. Interestingly there are times when other teas, like my Darjeelings misbehave as well, sometimes just for half an hour, sometimes for a couple hours and I suspect our tapwater - noticeable pressure changes during the day plus old corroded iron tubing (1960's) could be the answer here. I'd have to dig out the spec sheet but FWIK the industrial-grade carbon-block filter I'm using doesn't have any regulative effect on mineral concentration shifts of the base minerals. Anyway, some teas perform more reliably than others no matter what and I guess I'll use some Volvic for the next couple sessions with this tea and see how they match up.

[stevorama]

Couldn't agree more on the hit and miss. This tea has the potential to leave the most intense and lasting scents in my aroma cup of all my shengs - up to some days, but I've had sessions where there was nothing left but a faint, ephemeral whiff. Same with the texture/mouthfeel but not too that extent. Interestingly there are times when other teas, like my Darjeelings misbehave as well, sometimes just for half an hour, sometimes for a couple hours and I suspect our tapwater - noticeable pressure changes during the day plus old corroded iron tubing (1960's) could be the answer here. I'd have to dig out the spec sheet but FWIK the industrial-grade carbon-block filter I'm using doesn't have any regulative effect on mineral concentration shifts of the base minerals. Anyway, some teas perform more reliably than others no matter what and I guess I'll use some Volvic for the next couple sessions with this tea and see how they match up.

I've noticed that higher quality teas come through well in most situations. Other teas require more finesse!

Indeed carbon block filters don't remove minerals, but do remove particulate.

I notice changes with weather. My guess is that changes in temp and humidity of my storage area impact the tea. It's been 65-70% RH and 65-80'F in there, and most teas are tasting great. Of course water really impacts things too. And teaware. And my mood.

[stevorama]

Back to tea. And Guandong storage. 2005 Mengku Zheng Shan Da Ye. I like this one. But it's been hit and miss for me as well.

[jayinhk]

I no longer use Brita-filtered water for tea, but we have relatively soft, balanced tap water here in HK, so it's no biggie. Carbon filtration seems to affect results when brewing tea, as many here have noted. I do drink the Brita water though.

[kuánglóng]

I longer use Brita-filtered water for tea, but we have relatively soft, balanced tap water here in HK, so it's no biggie. Carbon filtration seems to affect results when brewing tea, as many here have noted. I do drink the Brita water though.

I've been using this filter system for almost 20 years and ran a few tests against unfiltered water. Most of my guests, including myself preferred the filtered water and the teas prepared with it. Apart from those weird phases I've mentioned I'm pretty happy with that solution, especially with some more picky teas. Some friends, who live just a couple km away are not that lucky with their tap water, including the filtered version and at some point switched to Volvic for their tea.

[jayinhk]

Very interesting! Thanks for sharing your experience.

As with anything, trying something will tell you the truth.

[kuánglóng]

2005 Green Dayi 7542 - HK dry storage

I'm on the 5th steep now, 5g/80ml in a zhuni pot for a change. Seems to be the real thing, including the strange caffeine buzz I usually get from this stuff. No surprises taste wise, except for the fresh cucumbers from the first steep, a nice intro. The aftertaste leaves me wanting; in that regard I usually get some better results in the gaiwan. There's more sweetness in the 4th and 5th steep, the texture gets a little thicker, the mouthfeel fresher and the cooling moves deeper into the throat. Anyway, I've never cared too much for this recipe, there are ....loads more interesting and satisfying teas out there for less €€€ IMO. I'll stop the session at this point and move on with something else.

Edit: I left the tea in the pot in order to come back later and the 6th steep I had a minute ago had been my favorite so far - sweeter, some huigan and warmth in the throat that's slowly rising upwards into the head. Still no aftertaste to speak of but I got some hot ears now - unfortunately there's nothing left of this tea to last me through the coming winter.
Back to Gaiwan #2 with the jungle kryptonite ... happy tea hopping these days.