Official Pu of the day

One of the intentionally aged teas, Pu-Erh has a loyal following.


Aug 19th, '17, 00:03
Posts: 239
Joined: Sep 2nd, '10, 12:57

Re: Official Pu of the day

by fdrx » Aug 19th, '17, 00:03

Dahusai '10, sample from mingshan chazhuang:
Pale reddish golden soup. Has smoke for sure, but it also leaves behind some spearmint. Very durable. It produces an unpleasant astringency at the roof of the mouth, but this would be compensated by a long lasting dry houyun with notes of licorice. A cheap tea with flaws & qualities.

User avatar
Aug 21st, '17, 08:26
Posts: 495
Joined: Jul 17th, '14, 05:38
Location: UK

Re: Official Pu of the day

by Rui » Aug 21st, '17, 08:26

2005 Hekai old garden yellow flakes from Farmerleaf. Very smooth and sweet. :D

Aug 21st, '17, 13:09
Posts: 239
Joined: Sep 2nd, '10, 12:57

Re: Official Pu of the day

by fdrx » Aug 21st, '17, 13:09

Dayi '05 Golden Needle White Lotus (grandpa style):
Earthy, not that thick in the mouth. Bold & lively aftertaste, long lasting earthy notes in mouth and houyun; some tinglings in the throat on first round though. Hypnotic energy, does not last so long. Medium durability. Serious shu.

Aug 21st, '17, 21:24
Posts: 239
Joined: Sep 2nd, '10, 12:57

Re: Official Pu of the day

by fdrx » Aug 21st, '17, 21:24

Dayi '05 7542 white label:

After a quick wash the wet leaves smell exquisite: ageness, camphor and butter biscuits. It makes me think immediatly of a lsd. The first cup tastes sweet & delicious too, i can't drink it fast. It tastes like a yuwi to me, blended with other stuff, but who knows. sweetness and freshness stay in the mouth, there is no astingency. after a few minutes some sweetness sets at the top of the throat.

on round 2 the soup is getting more aromatic and agressive. The taste is also changing and more dominant, it's still quite sweet but it tastes like a camphor-ish banzhang more than a yiwu, to give an idea (not than i am used to drink camphor-ish banzhang very often though ^^). The body is full: earthy/soil tones, camphor, plum, caramel... The bitterness transforms into sweetness after a second. Some sweet butter and chenwei set all around the mouth and on the top of the throat along with some slow to come freshness.

Round 3, like round 2, it is a real pleasure to drink, even if i think that the durability should not be fantastic for this kind of teas, but we'll see... after only three cups i am feeling very satisfied, and pretty hungry too. Later i am having a small headache.

round 4, the perfume from the leaves, right after the brew, is still mesmerizing me: wood with ageness, caramel, eucalyptus, a bit of smoke... The taste is still full and bz-ish to me: wood, camphor, ageness... The effect of the bitterness transforming immediatly into sweetness is a real school case : )
The aftertaste is really bold and dynamic, now some licorice is appearing, which is something i love; the sweetness goes and comes, that's impressive. still no astringency and an effective shengjin.

i will go back to that tomorrow, i have to go... my headache is still there but i don't care, i'm in love

I have half a 7542 502 too, i should compare them once. It's also a hit from what i remember, but it has more a church incense taste profile, and less durability from what i am seeing

I got the former in '12 for 350 rmb in promotion... and today, seriously, i'd like to cry in a fetal position to have only one. But thanks to my wine culture I console myself because i know that only drinking grands crus is the saddest and stupidest thing someone can do.

Aug 24th, '17, 17:29
Posts: 239
Joined: Sep 2nd, '10, 12:57

Re: Official Pu of the day

by fdrx » Aug 24th, '17, 17:29

Douji Jingmai brick '09 or '10 :
aromatic and strong. bitterness, vanilla and a hint of apricot marmelade

Aug 25th, '17, 17:44
Posts: 239
Joined: Sep 2nd, '10, 12:57

Re: Official Pu of the day

by fdrx » Aug 25th, '17, 17:44

Zhimingdu '12 bulang shan brick:
it was like 8 usd / 250g brick. It's probably not the healthiest puer ever pressed but it's not that bad actually: it's red and woody with these sort of whisky flavors, like in some aged dayi. The aftertaste is xiaguan-ish; some sweetness appears and some bitterness stays, which is not the best part. There is a a bit of astringency, but again that whisky taste profile is interesting, i hope this can age...

Aug 26th, '17, 18:10
Posts: 239
Joined: Sep 2nd, '10, 12:57

Re: Official Pu of the day

by fdrx » Aug 26th, '17, 18:10

YS cha qi '11:
rather thick and oily in mouth, it has some energy that weakens/calms for sure... It produces some astringency that is more or less hidden by a creamy mouthfeel and the salivation. The bitterness is definitely present and lasts, but is not over potent, what also lasts is the minerality in the mouth, and it's is not very pleasant. Overall the taste is not great: it has spicy/wild notes, bitterness, and some mushrooms with a hint of vanilla.
It's a good quality tea, but the taste is too mineral and bitter. When this fades, some sugarcane & woody notes set at the top of the throat, but not for so long. The shengjin remains good and dynamic. Eventually its name suits him well.

Aug 26th, '17, 23:52
Posts: 239
Joined: Sep 2nd, '10, 12:57

Re: Official Pu of the day

by fdrx » Aug 26th, '17, 23:52

jkteashop '11 Spring Affection for Douyi:
back in '11 i remember this tea tasted good, and was easy to drink.
The broth is clean and oily. Almost no astringency will emerge during the session. Gaiwan lid smells santal, the wet leaves have chalk among others. Body has honey, later dark honey, an herbal element and something like sushi rice. After 2-3 brews the herbal element gets wilder, but this change stays in the background and fades quickly during the session. Aftertaste has ripe banana and sushi rice, but this does not last so long unlike an overall sweet and pleasant yun in the throat and mouth (maybe the tea i had this afternoon is helping on that).
After some brews the golden soup gets a little reddish and some minerality appears, later a discret smoke emerges. The aftertaste will get more of that nice and typical bulang "vinager" and maybe a little something meaty.
It tastes good, nothing is brutal nor dominant. the shengjin is not bad and the yun is satisfactory.
Regarding the energy it warms the body and that's pretty much all i would say.

Aug 28th, '17, 13:11
Posts: 239
Joined: Sep 2nd, '10, 12:57

Re: Official Pu of the day

by fdrx » Aug 28th, '17, 13:11

Douji '06 daye:
rather straightforward: leather, tobacco and citrus. can provide nice tasting cups with gongfu but is deeply boring grandpa-ing

Aug 29th, '17, 22:21
Posts: 239
Joined: Sep 2nd, '10, 12:57

Re: Official Pu of the day

by fdrx » Aug 29th, '17, 22:21

Baopuxuan mahei '12 tuo:

dry leaves: dark chocolate and dark herbal
wet leaves: butter, verbena and a kind of smell of the sea
soup: super transparent and clean, thick and big apetizing bubbles can appear while pouring
1, the rince: what suprises at first sight is how clean, transparent and thick that golden orangy soup is... in the mouth it's a thick and silky water with, far in the background, a sort of honey-like sweetness, some butter, and something oceanic
2: some moderate bitterness shows up at the same time as some typical yiwu mahei taste : here it's not grass it's more a good and savory seaweed or, i don't know, some sophisticated sea component... the aftertaste brings lots of cooling: not spearmint, more a kind of dark mint i am not able to describe
3: each cup is different, and even each sip seems different according to the temperature changes of the liquid: it starts like bitter tree bark, then it truely taste like arab green tea...
it's smooth, some astringency is building, nothing intense...
The aftertaste has some soft bitterness, that nice seaweed component and the dark mint; lots of minty coolness in the mouth
4 then 5: the wet leaves are now smelling aged sheng and butter
the taste is also having cheiwei, and wood
the tip of the tongue is getting creamy and the shengjin starts
6: some wood and perhaps sugarcane is coming (and will not go back), some milk.. there's still some ageness... it's very complex and dynamic...
7: it seems to fade a little (well not really...), vegetal, wood, seaweed... delivering some houyun and cooling in mouth... shengjin is more present
8: wet leaves have no more ageness... the body is becoming more vegetal... it still delivers an active aftertaste and shengjin
9: wet leaves smell grassy and more minty... some leather & tobacco appear
10: oddly the soup is very cloudy, the taste has bitterness, mint, tobacco and that seaweed component.
11: The soup is clean & almost transparent again, wtf... the texture is very silky
already 11 brews and it's far from being dead...

The aftertaste along with the shengjin give lots of depths but its intensity fades quickly, what will last is a distant bitterness, a distant feeling of sweetness & seaweed and a moderate shengjin. bitter-sweet oceanic yun ^^

no need to talk about qi or to focus on that, like for the 7542 the other day i'm feeling exalted

that's really, really, interesting, first it gives me a lesson on how a well processed pu is, because i know how it was and how muted it was in '12, and now how complex, pure & dynamic it is. Secondly because i think it's a rather classic mahei... Perhaps it's not something everyone would love, i suppose the material is not even super crazy good, but to me this is just perfect. it's a tuo, and it's superior in quality to so many things i have... Eventually this makes realize how badly processed many of our (well... my) cakes are...

Sep 1st, '17, 16:41
Posts: 239
Joined: Sep 2nd, '10, 12:57

Re: Official Pu of the day

by fdrx » Sep 1st, '17, 16:41

Baopuxuan luoshuidong '12 tuo:

0/ wet leaves: leather and hay. it tastes absolutely nothing: hot water with a tiny pinch of sugar, and perhaps a little something mineral. The aftertaste has a distant sweet component.
There are strong sweet leather aromas in the room, which constrasts a lot with the mouth experience.

1/ wet leaves: leather and flowers. It tastes nothing, just hot water with tobacco and some very distant bitter cooking oil. The empty cup smells tobacco, candy and something floral, it's pretty attractive. The aftertaste has a distant sweetness and something floral in the background, it is building though. After some minutes the salivation promotion starts and there is some coolness in the mouth, nothing outside the norms.
Stong aromas in the room : leather and candy, but the tea is really tasteless

2/ it tastes more lsd now even if it is still pretty muted... I have to wait for the soup to get colder to be able to spot the sweet butter & grass. The aftertaste is hatching out quickly and makes me think of a sweet bulang actually, it would be hard to make the difference, at this point, with some lbz-like teas. It is sweet, with a noble smoke component, some leather, some past bitterness; and a decent coolness in the mouth. the shengjin is effective.
the aromas in the room are still damned strong and yummy

3/ leather, candy in the room... still delicious for the nose.
the broth is oilier and cleaner, has dark gold color, it smells strong.
The taste is still quite insipid, tobacco is the most obvious component when the soup is warm. When it gets colder i can find butter and some distant candy.
The aftertaste has depth, and that depth lasts, but the aromatic persistency is weak, compared to some lbz, for instance

5/ tobacco is more present and is coming now along with cereals, it's less bland. the aftertaste brings sugarcane and something floral that lasts. Still a very aromatic experience.
cooling is still there but in the average, nothing special

6/ tobacco, leather and some distant bitter citrus. At this point it makes me think of that douji '06 daye, without the red tea processing. The aftertaste has citrus i believe. Some astringency is settling in the mouth but will remain moderate

7/ bitter grass, sweet oil, tobacco. When it's cold the smoke component is more obvious.
Oddly i'm feeling qi and it's very sudden: some confused thoughts in the head and an obvious body stone. The aftertaste has sugarcane which is now staying longer, along with some grapefuit but i'm not sure, can be floral... who cares anyway...

8/ The soup is becoming vegetal and bitter, like a dying sheng, there's smoke and a hint of anise. the aromas are bringing butter, some vanilla in the gaiwan lid.
...

It's been an aromatic delight for my nose... For the rest i am always happy with these typical FTM growing aftertastes, lining the mouth... and like all the lsd i've tried the shengjin is very effective and long lasting. The energy was surprising, the taste pretty weak.

Sep 2nd, '17, 15:38
Posts: 239
Joined: Sep 2nd, '10, 12:57

Re: Official Pu of the day

by fdrx » Sep 2nd, '17, 15:38

chamoting yibi '12:

wet leaves: mainly forest fragrance & something fruity
soup: pale gold color, cloudy.. oily surface: some bubbles settle for good like on a guinness surface
0/ the rince is thrown away, not in a good mood today ^^
1/ tastes very fruity, some honey-like sweetness and almond. In 2012 there were lots of spicy/wild flavours like in the ys chaqi '11, but apparently they are gone for this one. the aftertaste starts slightly mineral, then comes slowly some fruits and sweetness
the leaves start to deliver nice sweet aromas in the room

2/ the soup is not cloudy anymore, gold color, stable bubbles on the thick surface
the fruity taste and the almond are now meeting some sweet spices, some milk is coming, and the whole tastes... yiwu! the classic yiwu flavor has just arrived.
the rooms smells sweets, just like the leaves, the aftertaste is having a bit of anise

3/ i'm pushing this one: there's even more a that classic yiwu area flavor (like for example, in that '06 red cake houde had, museum something, if i remember well... or in some douji yiwu zhenshan too), i'm still surprised, again it was quite "wild" in '12.. well it's very sweet, smooth, sligthly refreshing with the anise in the aftertaste.. and it's not red tea!

4/ more milk, a bit minty this time. pretty delicious if you like this kind of sweet tea.
5/ pushing too much by mistake, the soup is dark orange. There is more anise, and it taste bitter this time, but that vanishs in a seconds. the yiwu flavors appear in the returning sweetness which disappears quickly too. Some astringency is settling in the mouth... ther's maybe a distant soap too

6/ the brews are longer and the soup is dark orange, the taste is fading
there is no much shengjin, but the tip of the tongue and the lips benefit some creamy feelings.
a little head focused energy
...

i regret i didn't buy more of their yiwu collection in '12, it was relatively cheap: i've tried several samples of them but given how different this one now is, it was useless for educational prupose.. i have a small cake of autumn mahei though
Last edited by fdrx on Sep 2nd, '17, 23:31, edited 1 time in total.

Sep 2nd, '17, 23:29
Posts: 239
Joined: Sep 2nd, '10, 12:57

Re: Official Pu of the day

by fdrx » Sep 2nd, '17, 23:29

XZH '11 zhangjiawan mini brick:
compared to the yibi it is less fruity and has more tobacco. This one has also some classic yiwu flavors, they show up faster. It is perhaps very slightly more red, not sure though, but the biggest difference is that this one comes with an elegant and fairly present sourness. The aromas are also much more sour.
The huigan behavior is similar for both, the length is pretty weak here too, but the aftertaste starts with more depth (less than the mahei) and it leads to a lasting and obvious sweet houyun. The mouthfeel is more persistent, there's a little shengjin here.
The soup is slightly oilier in the mouth. It looks less durable, maybe not, i will not check that tonight.
I like its sourness even if maybe it makes it feel less dynamic, but it is also quite unique and nice. This one has more nobility, i like both.

Sep 8th, '17, 00:52
Posts: 239
Joined: Sep 2nd, '10, 12:57

Re: Official Pu of the day

by fdrx » Sep 8th, '17, 00:52

xiaguan baoyan mushroom '08:
quick grandpa session. It's basically red tea and wood, like oak barrel or something like that
decent woody aftertaste that lasts a while and has some fruity notes
it's not bad at all, but in the red tea competition i find some darjeeling second/autumn flush more interesting than that

Sep 8th, '17, 10:56
Posts: 239
Joined: Sep 2nd, '10, 12:57

Re: Official Pu of the day

by fdrx » Sep 8th, '17, 10:56

Quanjihao manzhuan autumn '11 mini-brick:
clean & transparent broth, the wet leaves smell something floral & licorice root
Drinking this tea is like drinking hot water with a floral top taste, a milky mid one, and some herbaceous base. The floral element is not a high floral one, it's subtle like these big flowers that smell almost nothing
After sipping, a sweet aftertaste emerges from nowhere and coats the mouth progressively, and for a long while, that sweetness comes along with some of the floral note. low astringency, low bitterness, little shengjing, pretty flavourless but good huigan.

+ Post Reply