+1brandon wrote:What you're describing is the reason why blending exists.
Jul 14th, '14, 13:27
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Re: Official Pu of the day
Re:
I did 3 days steeping on 10 grams. I think you will find the White Whale interesting.bonescwa wrote:Just got my order of white whale bricks from white2tea... just from smelling the outside of the wrappers I can tell it has some substance to it. we'll see if I get some time to brew it today or tomorrow. P.s. super fast, 15 dollar shipping and nice 10 g samples, so far so good.
Re: Official Pu of the day
Had a marathon tea session yesterday until 2am with some high calibre tea friends. We had 2012 Youle,2009 Yiwu Mahei, 2007 LBZ, 2005 DXS, 2002Yiwu,1998 Yiwu, 1993 Ta Kou Zhong, 1980s Liu Bao, and 1950s Liu Ann and top up with DHP. A really wonderful and memorable session with peace and tranquility.
Yummy!
Cheers!
Yummy!
Cheers!
Re: Official Pu of the day
After much excitement, today I tried the 2002 White2tea White Whale.
OK, I guess I’m going to be the one to disagree with all the hype about this tea. It is smokey. Really smokey, and stays that way through at least several infusions, after that I couldn’t take anymore. It is certainly a hearty tea, but the smoke is overwhelming. I personally don’t consider this quality good for a Pu erh tea. I did not enjoy this at all. If you like smoke, I’m sure you will.
OK, I guess I’m going to be the one to disagree with all the hype about this tea. It is smokey. Really smokey, and stays that way through at least several infusions, after that I couldn’t take anymore. It is certainly a hearty tea, but the smoke is overwhelming. I personally don’t consider this quality good for a Pu erh tea. I did not enjoy this at all. If you like smoke, I’m sure you will.
Re: Official Pu of the day
Finished my sample of 2003 7542 from teaclassico yesterday. 3.5g in a 40ml teapot gave me about 14 or 15 steepings. I agree with shah8's notion on the "deep taste with plenty of body" and that "this tea doesn't change too much from cup to cup other than slowly get weaker". Also, there is a distant rough note in early infusions that indeed might indicate a certain smokiness present in this tea in the past - I generally hate smoke in tea, but I kind of liked this note: it just gives the tea some character, IMO. That said, I find other shah8' notes, especially those from his 2nd session with this tea, rather confused and confusing, and I do not understand this confusion. All my 3 sessions with it were rather consistent, while my appreciation of the tea only grew. This tea certainly does have qi (apart from its caffeine effect, which is definitely present, as well). I cannot judge on the quality of its qi, though, because I do not understand, what kind of qi should be called a low quality one (BTW, I also do not understand the plural case of "huigan", the word "huigans" sounds like "blurps" to me). This tea's previous storage was perfect (for my current taste), and while it is still in transition and may need 10 more years to finish aging, I like to feel and compare its present features indicating both how aggressive it must have been, when new, and how smooth, yet full, it may become in the future. So, I actually rather enjoy it, as it is now.
Re: Official Pu of the day
My first impression is along these lines as well. Going to break it down and give it some time to air out. Perhaps that will help.Rdeitz wrote:After much excitement, today I tried the 2002 White2tea White Whale.
OK, I guess I’m going to be the one to disagree with all the hype about this tea. It is smokey. Really smokey, and stays that way through at least several infusions, after that I couldn’t take anymore. It is certainly a hearty tea, but the smoke is overwhelming. I personally don’t consider this quality good for a Pu erh tea. I did not enjoy this at all. If you like smoke, I’m sure you will.
I didn't actually drink it yet, but it didn't smell smokey to me, like xiaguan does. Is it normal to be able to smell the smoke from the dry leaves? And I'm sure this has already been asked but what contributes to smokiness? Actual smoke during processing or are there other things that can exacerbate it?
Re:
Often, you can smell the smoke from the dry leaves, but sometimes it is too subtle and only comes through after brewing.bonescwa wrote:I didn't actually drink it yet, but it didn't smell smokey to me, like xiaguan does. Is it normal to be able to smell the smoke from the dry leaves? And I'm sure this has already been asked but what contributes to smokiness? Actual smoke during processing or are there other things that can exacerbate it?
When the tea is being processed, sometimes the smoke from the wood fire that is used for the pan drying overwhelms a room and permeates the tea. Even if a farmer stores their cakes in a room that is used for wood burning while cooking, the cakes can absorb the smokiness. It's a kind of carelessness, IMO.
In my experience, many teas which are smoky will not become 'clean'. Teaism introduced me to a method to help dissipate the brewed tea. It works to an extent depending on how bad the tea is smoked. While brewing the first brew, shake the pot fairly vigorously for 30sec. Pour out. I like to do this twice. It definitely helps but may not get rid of it completely. This is another reason to buy samples as many vendors do not list smoky in their descriptions. I always ask a vendor straight away if either a tea is smoky or wet stored. These are the two most bothersome qualities for me.
Re: Official Pu of the day
Sipping at the moment a 2009 Lincang cooked Puerh from Jiu Wan factory. Very nice but I think I am going to let it mature a bit longer.
Re: Official Pu of the day
Concerning the White Whale, I'm not sure there was a hype to start with... I guess it's appealing because it is a bit agend and cheap (though not necessarily super-cheap for what it is, but that's a matter of opinion, I guess), rather than anybody saying that it is generally awesome.
I think its smokiness tends to depend on the exact piece of the brick and probably a couple other factors (e.g., filtered water gave me less smoke, yixing clay has cleaned up a lot of smoke too). I got consistently inconsistent amount of smoke in my sessions with it.
For myself, in a $60-per-400g 2002, there could me much worse faults, e.g., due to poor storage, than a bit of occasional smoke. Then again, some (including me) would rather pay more for a tea without smoke.
I think its smokiness tends to depend on the exact piece of the brick and probably a couple other factors (e.g., filtered water gave me less smoke, yixing clay has cleaned up a lot of smoke too). I got consistently inconsistent amount of smoke in my sessions with it.
For myself, in a $60-per-400g 2002, there could me much worse faults, e.g., due to poor storage, than a bit of occasional smoke. Then again, some (including me) would rather pay more for a tea without smoke.
Jul 22nd, '14, 20:24
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Re: Official Pu of the day
Had a long session with some wild DXS from 2004, stored without any contact with air or moisture for its (albeit short) life. Amazing tea.
Regards.
Regards.
Re: Official Pu of the day
Do you mean it has been under vacuum seal all this time?William wrote:Had a long session with some wild DXS from 2004, stored without any contact with air or moisture for its (albeit short) life. Amazing tea.
Regards.
Jul 23rd, '14, 04:15
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Re: Official Pu of the day
No. Ii was sealed with oxygen absorber and silica bag, but not vacuum sealed. Seems to be the same, but actually I am not sure if it is the same. Different quantity of nitrogen inside the bag, due to the lack of oxygen, can lead to different results. I am not sure of all this, still at an early stage of experimentation.Tead Off wrote:Do you mean it has been under vacuum seal all this time?William wrote:Had a long session with some wild DXS from 2004, stored without any contact with air or moisture for its (albeit short) life. Amazing tea.
Regards.
The tea was wonderful, this is ultimately what matters.
Regards.
Re: Official Pu of the day
wow.. non commercial i suppose, i havent come across anyone sealing tea with both sillica and oxygen absorber. will be impressed to know if a tea shop does thatWilliam wrote: No. Ii was sealed with oxygen absorber and silica bag, but not vacuum sealed. Seems to be the same, but actually I am not sure if it is the same. Different quantity of nitrogen inside the bag, due to the lack of oxygen, can lead to different results. I am not sure of all this, still at an early stage of experimentation.
The tea was wonderful, this is ultimately what matters.
Regards.