TeaChat

woah.

well, I'm with you in spirit, and lap up some of the atmosphere before the ghosts get to it.

Sessions of the last few days.

2011 EoT Manhai Puerh Tea
2012 EoT QiShengGu Puerh Tea
2012 YS San He Zhai
2012 YS Shang Chun
2013 YS Mang Fei
2012 YS Autumn Yi Wu purple tea

Jiangchen from Wistaria. Easy drinking!

the_economist wrote:Jiangchen from Wistaria. Easy drinking!

A bit smoky, no? Is this the tuocha?

Not tuocha. Don't think its smokey. Nothing too exciting but smooth and easy to down.

the_economist wrote:Not tuocha. Don't think its smokey. Nothing too exciting but smooth and easy to down.

I have the 2003 Tuocha and it is smoky but smooth.

Tead Off wrote:

the_economist wrote:Jiangchen from Wistaria. Easy drinking!

A bit smoky, no? Is this the tuocha?

I thought it was very slightly smokey in the beginning

2006 Meng Ku Rong Shi. Very smooth, ever so slightly smoky in early infusions. Water in water out first 3 brewings. Increasing about 5 seconds on subsequent brewings. I'm on my 7th pot and up to 25 seconds. Subtle, yet noticeable hui gan. Still very active and should continue to age well. Only comes in cakes of 145 grams. Glad I bought a tong when I did. In June 2013 a tong ran $92.00 USD. Now up to $29 a cake on royalpuer. They must have quite a bit as they are still selling 7 cake tongs. That said, you get a little over a kilo per tong at $172.60 today. Quite a mark up, nearly doubling over the past 6 months. Considering the quality and age it's still a good price.

2006 Feng Hua "Qi Cha" sheng, a sample from Norbu, brewed up in my new treebark pot from Petr Novak, a pot now dedicated to puerh, and after several infusions, the pot is starting to give off a sweet scent of raisins--but the infused liquor is earthy and mellow, hints of sweetness to round the flavor. Nice.

A very nice wild old tree cake from Qian Jia Zhai village. Considering a tong of this, so sitting with the tea and comparing to similar stuff my own stash. So far it's a winner! It's getting rarer and rarer for me to buy a puerh. I sample vs my own stash and it's got to be better that what I already have at a reasonable price point. I take that as a sign my stash is getting better, but it could be the new teas are getting worse or more expensive.

I remember some of what you have, tenuki. That'd be pretty unfair to new teas!

Day 3. Qing Dynasty brick.

Wow that is dark for three days of brewing. What are infusion times up to?
That must be a very special experience drinking something so old.

It was a cold, crisp morning today so a friend and I did a session on the front porch to enjoy the warmth of the indirect sun. We alternated infusions of Lang He Yu pin 2010 and Lang He Golden Buds 2006, both from Tea Urchin. The former was the clear winner for the first three infusions, giving the same flavor it would till the end, but then the Golden Buds improved and proved to have more complexity and got quite nice. When they got to the multi-minute stage, the Yu pin soon ran out of good flavor while the Golden Buds gave up two extra very pleasing more light colored infusions and probably could have given another one. Next time I'll push it more from the start to get past the slightly sour, muted phase quickly.
I had already tried both individually and thought I liked the Yu pin more, but today we drank much more slowly and that gave the Golden Buds the chance to shine.

gasninja wrote:Wow that is dark for three days of brewing. What are infusion times up to?
That must be a very special experience drinking something so old.

The photo is from the first three brews. Drank the rinse.