Official Pu of the day

[jayinhk]

Getting the last out of some cha tou while talking to a friend in Vietnam who works at a tea store. She's drinking pu erh too. They use a name that sounds a lot like the Cantonese name for pu erh. She's using a cup she was gifted by a tea loving Mahayana Buddhist monk who we drank tea with in Saigon. He's the guy that got us talking in the first place. Great girl and I hope to see her soon!

[Zacherywolf7]

White2Tea's 2016 Bosch. Finally I am sipping again one of my favourite teas.

p.s. - Already a gorgeous deep yellow colour just like last year's tea. This is first class stuff, still a bit bitter and it only landed on my desk yesterday all the way from China. I just could not wait a week or two on this tea to recover from the long flight.

does it differ, and if so how, from last years?

[Rui]

White2Tea's 2016 Bosch. Finally I am sipping again one of my favourite teas.

p.s. - Already a gorgeous deep yellow colour just like last year's tea. This is first class stuff, still a bit bitter and it only landed on my desk yesterday all the way from China. I just could not wait a week or two on this tea to recover from the long flight.

does it differ, and if so how, from last years?

Just tried it in the office where the tea making facilities have much to be desired and the tea has just arrived from China the day before so it would be unfair to compare to last year's tea right now. So far the colour of the steep was the same beautiful yellow as last year's tea and being a bit bitter was probably due to the fact that I used water that had been boiled few minutes earlier unlike last year's tea which I sipped with water at 80 and 90 degrees C. Also the great aroma of the wet leaves lasted a very long time and too many steeps to count.

[Rui]

Today I am sipping another very nice tea from White2Tea: 2016 teadontlie. So far a tea with a very delicate taste but with an 'oily' viscosity like my colleague just said which coats the mouth lightly.

p.s. I probably have under steeped the tea a little bit to avoid the astringency mentioned in the website.

[dragoran]

I'm currently drinking a sample of White2Tea's Diving Duck grandpa style at work; my order arrived yesterday, and I didn't want to wait until the weekend to break into it. It's a good tea, reminding me quite a bit of last year's Poundcake, albeit with more sharpness, and perhaps a bit more complexity. There seems to be some noticeable qi on it, which is a plus.

[daidokorocha]

I'm currently drinking a sample of White2Tea's Diving Duck grandpa style at work; my order arrived yesterday, and I didn't want to wait until the weekend to break into it. It's a good tea, reminding me quite a bit of last year's Poundcake, albeit with more sharpness, and perhaps a bit more complexity. There seems to be some noticeable qi on it, which is a plus.

How do you grandpa your pu erh? Is the Diving Duck a shou or a sheng? Sounds like sheng, but. Looking for general tips to grandpa sheng and shou.

[jayinhk]

Drinking an absolutely exceptional maocha from Myanmar via Tea Side (thanks johnb). From a massive 1,000 year old tree, and I've seen pictures the vendor took. The taste and quality alone tell me that this is the real deal. Powerful aroma and flavor, huigan and cha qi. Probably the best maocha I've had to date! I can't describe the flavor exactly, but there is something dominant that I can't describe. The flavor lingers on the palate for over an hour, too. Peach, osmanthus, black tea and chrysanthemum at different stages (and with different infusions), and that mystery flavor I can't identify. The vendor says most of the production from this tree goes to Taiwan, and he had a hard time persuading the locals to sell him any of this tea. I'm glad they did, as it is really exceptional stuff. He sells it in a pressed cake too:

http://tea-side.com/puer-tea-thailand-t ... ent-trees/

I'm going to buy more maocha while it's still fresh as I LOVE old tree maocha...if I haven't slept enough, the real deal will fill me with calm and put me right to sleep. It seems the ancient tree leaves have this effect on me. I don't know why, exactly, but maocha from younger trees doesn't ever put me to sleep.

[Rui]

Drinking an absolutely exceptional maocha from Myanmar via Tea Side (thanks johnb). From a massive 1,000 year old tree, and I've seen pictures the vendor took. The taste and quality alone tell me that this is the real deal. Powerful aroma and flavor, huigan and cha qi. Probably the best maocha I've had to date! I can't describe the flavor exactly, but there is something dominant that I can't describe. The flavor lingers on the palate for over an hour, too. Peach, osmanthus, black tea and chrysanthemum at different stages (and with different infusions), and that mystery flavor I can't identify. The vendor says most of the production from this tree goes to Taiwan, and he had a hard time persuading the locals to sell him any of this tea. I'm glad they did, as it is really exceptional stuff. He sells it in a pressed cake too:

http://tea-side.com/puer-tea-thailand-t ... ent-trees/

I'm going to buy more maocha while it's still fresh as I LOVE old tree maocha...if I haven't slept enough, the real deal will fill me with calm and put me right to sleep. It seems the ancient tree leaves have this effect on me. I don't know why, exactly, but maocha from younger trees doesn't ever put me to sleep.

Many thanks for the review. It is very helpful as Tea Side was also introduced to me by Johnb last year.

Somehow I get the feeling I need to pay Tea Side a visit. Previously I tasted most of their older teas via samples and I particularly liked the HongTaiChang 0801/0802 Sheng (Raw) Pu-erh tea 2006 of which I then bought a cake.

[Rui]

Today I am sipping White2Tea's 2016 Poundcake. Very little astringency and bitterness just yummy. Sweetness is there. Great introductory tea for new pu'er drinkers.

[jayinhk]

Drinking an absolutely exceptional maocha from Myanmar via Tea Side (thanks johnb). From a massive 1,000 year old tree, and I've seen pictures the vendor took. The taste and quality alone tell me that this is the real deal. Powerful aroma and flavor, huigan and cha qi. Probably the best maocha I've had to date! I can't describe the flavor exactly, but there is something dominant that I can't describe. The flavor lingers on the palate for over an hour, too. Peach, osmanthus, black tea and chrysanthemum at different stages (and with different infusions), and that mystery flavor I can't identify. The vendor says most of the production from this tree goes to Taiwan, and he had a hard time persuading the locals to sell him any of this tea. I'm glad they did, as it is really exceptional stuff. He sells it in a pressed cake too:

http://tea-side.com/puer-tea-thailand-t ... ent-trees/

I'm going to buy more maocha while it's still fresh as I LOVE old tree maocha...if I haven't slept enough, the real deal will fill me with calm and put me right to sleep. It seems the ancient tree leaves have this effect on me. I don't know why, exactly, but maocha from younger trees doesn't ever put me to sleep.

Many thanks for the review. It is very helpful as Tea Side was also introduced to me by Johnb last year.

Somehow I get the feeling I need to pay Tea Side a visit. Previously I tasted most of their older teas via samples and I particularly liked the HongTaiChang 0801/0802 Sheng (Raw) Pu-erh tea 2006 of which I then bought a cake.

I liked the 0801/0802 too--very well aged and very tasty. I bought the aged chin shin as I found it to be exceptionally good value, but the 801/802 are definitely cakeworthy too IMO. I have a whole pile of samples from them, which I'm reviewing as I get to them.

[Alucard]

Drinking an absolutely exceptional maocha from Myanmar via Tea Side (thanks johnb). From a massive 1,000 year old tree, and I've seen pictures the vendor took. The taste and quality alone tell me that this is the real deal. Powerful aroma and flavor, huigan and cha qi. Probably the best maocha I've had to date! I can't describe the flavor exactly, but there is something dominant that I can't describe. The flavor lingers on the palate for over an hour, too. Peach, osmanthus, black tea and chrysanthemum at different stages (and with different infusions), and that mystery flavor I can't identify. The vendor says most of the production from this tree goes to Taiwan, and he had a hard time persuading the locals to sell him any of this tea. I'm glad they did, as it is really exceptional stuff. He sells it in a pressed cake too:

http://tea-side.com/puer-tea-thailand-t ... ent-trees/

I'm going to buy more maocha while it's still fresh as I LOVE old tree maocha...if I haven't slept enough, the real deal will fill me with calm and put me right to sleep. It seems the ancient tree leaves have this effect on me. I don't know why, exactly, but maocha from younger trees doesn't ever put me to sleep.

Many thanks for the review. It is very helpful as Tea Side was also introduced to me by Johnb last year.

Somehow I get the feeling I need to pay Tea Side a visit. Previously I tasted most of their older teas via samples and I particularly liked the HongTaiChang 0801/0802 Sheng (Raw) Pu-erh tea 2006 of which I then bought a cake.

I liked the 0801/0802 too--very well aged and very tasty. I bought the aged jinxuan as I found it to be exceptionally good value, but the 801/802 are definitely cakeworthy too IMO. I have a whole pile of samples from them, which I'm reviewing as I get to them.

Thai Puerh...interesting. How is it compared to Chinese counterpart? Other than 0801/0802 and 1000 what do you recommend?

[jayinhk]

Drinking an absolutely exceptional maocha from Myanmar via Tea Side (thanks johnb). From a massive 1,000 year old tree, and I've seen pictures the vendor took. The taste and quality alone tell me that this is the real deal. Powerful aroma and flavor, huigan and cha qi. Probably the best maocha I've had to date! I can't describe the flavor exactly, but there is something dominant that I can't describe. The flavor lingers on the palate for over an hour, too. Peach, osmanthus, black tea and chrysanthemum at different stages (and with different infusions), and that mystery flavor I can't identify. The vendor says most of the production from this tree goes to Taiwan, and he had a hard time persuading the locals to sell him any of this tea. I'm glad they did, as it is really exceptional stuff. He sells it in a pressed cake too:

http://tea-side.com/puer-tea-thailand-t ... ent-trees/

I'm going to buy more maocha while it's still fresh as I LOVE old tree maocha...if I haven't slept enough, the real deal will fill me with calm and put me right to sleep. It seems the ancient tree leaves have this effect on me. I don't know why, exactly, but maocha from younger trees doesn't ever put me to sleep.

Many thanks for the review. It is very helpful as Tea Side was also introduced to me by Johnb last year.

Somehow I get the feeling I need to pay Tea Side a visit. Previously I tasted most of their older teas via samples and I particularly liked the HongTaiChang 0801/0802 Sheng (Raw) Pu-erh tea 2006 of which I then bought a cake.

I liked the 0801/0802 too--very well aged and very tasty. I bought the aged jinxuan as I found it to be exceptionally good value, but the 801/802 are definitely cakeworthy too IMO. I have a whole pile of samples from them, which I'm reviewing as I get to them.

Thai Puerh...interesting. How is it compared to Chinese counterpart? Other than 0801/0802 and 1000 what do you recommend?

Haven't gotten to the other pu yet, but I'll post when I do! Tried his 2016 spring dongding today. Not going to review it yet as I believe I could have brewed it better.

[Rui]

Today is the turn of another great tea from White2Tea's 2016 raw pu'er stable: 2016 Tuhao as F*uck. Smooth with some initial sweetness.

[Rui]

Kudos to Tea Urchin.

This is the second time I received a refund from them for a tea that did not require shipping costs and the duly refund gets promptly done without any communication from my side.

[Haddemall]

2015 Man Song Gong from Chen Yuan Hao. I am not a veteran sheng expert but this one just screamed class from the cup. Fruity, sweet, mouth coating, thick and went 20+ infusions. The kind of tea that you just know its special from the first sip. The tea is sold out and I was very lucky to get a sample. Kudos to KL Wong at Teapals.