Official Pu of the day

[Tead Off]

I'm still nursing the 2014 Wangong! 3rd day. It's even better today!!

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[debunix]

Looks delicious.

[Tead Off]

In the mood for some young puerh. 2014 Wan Gong from Teaurchin. In 1 year, the liquor has darkened slightly. There is a sweetness with a hint of smoke. Some fruit and an interesting astringency in the front of my mouth, while at the throat, a wetness with a honey taste in the nice huigan. Overall, a pleasant, clean tasting tea that satisfied my urge for a young drink. Perfect in my Korean gaiwan.

2014 Wan Gong.jpg (44.5 KiB) Viewed 1137 times

[Jaymo]

My sheng for the day was 2006 Yubang Ancient Tree Raw from tuochatea. It was something I added on to an order on a whim since it was under $20. When I first got it I remember there was something pretty off about it. I can't remember exactly, but I think it was either somewhat smokey or harshly vegetal. With that in mind, it got buried in the back of my cabinet. Recently I moved all my tea to a different location in the house which I think may be better storage now that my tea stash is accumulating more bulk little by little. In doing so, I've been going back and trying some of these early tuition teas. I'm glad I did, because whatever it was I didn't like is gone! The first flash-steep after the rinse had a hint of vegetal character, but on a whole the flavor/color was quite light. By the 2nd-3rd steep it had opened up more and the vegetal character was gone, replaced by a pleasant grassy note. There is moderate bitterness, but not as harsh as some younger sheng. There was a mild fruitiness behind that too, probably mostly in the huigan. (My wife said she didn't notice any fruitiness, but she also doesn't drink pu often and admitted that she usually doesn't pick up on most of my tasting notes.) In general, the huigan had a pleasant, but subtle cooling quality to it, although not as pronounced as the camphor character in some older/wet-stored teas. There was also a bit of lingering astringency, but for an almost-10 year old cake that is pretty tightly compressed and starting to show some age (slowly) it isn't unexpected or bad.

All in all, I'm happy I revisited this tea! I wouldn't call it great, but I could see it fitting into the cheap daily-drinker category. I'm certainly not complaining considering it was an under-$20 gamble.

(Apologies for the poor iphone photo. I figured rather than my usual bit of solitary text I'd add a photo for a change.)

[theredbaron]

A single estate Yibang 1999 special production for Purple Cane Tea House in K.L. which they gave out for free in 2004. Now properly aged it tastes heavenly, powerful Cha Qi, and endless aftertaste. I fortunately managed to hold myself back and nibbled only a few times on this cake over the years. Lots of joy left for the future

[dragoran]

The New Amerykah II is pretty great; unfortunately, it sold out during the most recent White 2 Tea sale.

Bummer! I ordered a LOT of samples from all over at some point late last year and the downside has been that as I get around to trying/finishing some of the better ones the cakes are already sold out. Ah well. Lesson learned! I'm sure there will be plenty of good young sheng around to order anytime I want!

For what it's worth, you might want to check out Milk, Cream, and Alcohol from this year's production. It's somewhat similar; if you like straightforward Menghai sort of things (which I do), you might like it. The Colbert Holland 1945 is a noticeable step up in price range and, while good, isn't that similar; it's fairly savory and subtle.

Bummer! I ordered a LOT of samples from all over at some point late last year and the downside has been that as I get around to trying/finishing some of the better ones the cakes are already sold out.

Yeah, I finished the last of my 2014 pu'er samples today (EoT's Long Lan Xu) which was lucky since the first of the 2015 samples are in the mail.

Did I get around to actually buying any of the 2014 teas? Of course not...

I honestly should sample more than I do, probably. I seldom blindly buy, but I do accumulate a decent number of cakes.

[rickardg]

Bummer! I ordered a LOT of samples from all over at some point late last year and the downside has been that as I get around to trying/finishing some of the better ones the cakes are already sold out.

Yeah, I finished the last of my 2014 pu'er samples today (EoT's Long Lan Xu) which was lucky since the first of the 2015 samples are in the mail.

Did I get around to actually buying any of the 2014 teas? Of course not...

[Jaymo]

The New Amerykah II is pretty great; unfortunately, it sold out during the most recent White 2 Tea sale.

Bummer! I ordered a LOT of samples from all over at some point late last year and the downside has been that as I get around to trying/finishing some of the better ones the cakes are already sold out. Ah well. Lesson learned! I'm sure there will be plenty of good young sheng around to order anytime I want!

[dragoran]

The New Amerykah II is pretty great; unfortunately, it sold out during the most recent White 2 Tea sale. I was very tempted to get a second cake, but opted for the Tuhao instead; slight twinge of regret there (mainly about not having quite the money for both).

This morning, I've been drinking a semi-anonymous CNNP shu grandpa-style that I got as a bonus in the aforementioned sale. It's surprisingly decent, with very little storage taste and a slightly chalky, mineral quality that I find pleasant. I'll be giving the afternoon over, again grandpa-style, to a 2012 Bulang, also from White 2 Tea (I do most of my ordering from their lately); sweet and thick, that one makes for a good daily drinker.

[bellmont]

Finishing off a 13 steep session with Yunnan Sourcing's 2012 2012 Wuliang Mountain.

The slightest hint of smoke in the aroma during the first few steeps which matures into a generic green/vegtale for the rest of the session. A strong mineral finish after each sip, overall the flavor is very soft with a hint of earth. No huigan. Even with a reboil at around the 9th steep and added agitation this tea still holds up, presenting its soft flavor experience. Slight chi felt moving upwards in the chest and shoulders after the session was over. Dark mixed with a few light tippy leaves in my 60ml gaiwan, not many whole leaves even though my sample came from a whole cake.

Good value for or a tea under 11 cents a gram, not engaging enough for me to want to pick up 400 grams of it though.

[Jaymo]

Today my wife & I enjoyed the last of our New Amerykah II sample from W2T. I offer her tea everyday, but it's rare she accepts and enjoys it with me. Today she actually *asked* me to make some!

I was impressed by this tea right from the first time I opened the sample envelope. The leaf quality is nice on this.

We've been drinking a lot of aged pu lately, so something young like this was a refreshing change. I enjoy New Amerykah II quite a bit even though I'm normally a fan of more age (and ideally traditional/"wet" storage!) I used one of my smaller, unglazed Petr Novak pots for this one. It has a nice bitterness and is slightly astringent (not in a bad way at all) without being overwhelming or harsh. I asked my wife how she felt about the bitterness after all the aged sheng and shu lately and she said she likes it. I didn't expect that, but it makes sense because she is a big fan of Campari and most cocktails that contain it.

The aroma has some nice, fresh herbal notes to it without being overly "green" in a rough way like some young sheng. I didn't notice any smoke or other off-putting characteristics. The herbal notes are echoed in the flavor and it had a medium-full body that lasted through several steepings before I had to leave the house. By the 3rd or 4th steep the bitterness had taken on a fullness that we both enjoyed. I put a few more steepings into the cha hai for my wife to enjoy since I had to go, but she had finished it before I left the driveway.

I'm hoping I can get the thumbs up to tack on a cake of this to my next order considering my wife found it quite pleasant as well.

[PolyhymnianMuse]

I doubt Panasonic makes waterboilers to the quality that say Zojirushi does.

[Puerlife]

Before that I used a Japanese thing that you push a button on and water comes out.

Zojirushi?

Panasonic, but yeah, same thing. Fully boiling water in it cools to 91C by the time it's in the gaiwan. At my elevation, 300 meters, water boils at 99.6C. Water from a stainless steel kettle will still be over 94C, maybe 95. It may not sound like much of a difference but it is with puer.

[PolyhymnianMuse]

Before that I used a Japanese thing that you push a button on and water comes out.

Zojirushi?

[Puerlife]

Puerlife, you had a memorable tea-drinking day! I think people enjoy drinking w/ you because you have a discerning palate & you get high from tea (=chaqi).

I am surprised that the stainless steel kettle made the water hard & bitter resulting in the same tea not being as good as it was the day before when the water was boiled differently. I taste water from my bonavita kettle about once a month as a test. The stainless steel has not seemed to effect water significantly even when I see that the kettle is due for a cleaning of mineral-buildup.

When you walk into a KL tea shop and the vendor automatically brews you a cup, he/she almost always uses a stainless steel kettle. It's a standard, a friend explained to me. I have only been using ss for a month. Before that I used a Japanese thing that you push a button on and water comes out. I don't know what that material was but it didn't have that aspect, but the mechanism delivering the water cooled it too much. I'm not a super taster but I seem to struggle with ss for some reason. SS is of course incredibly convenient so if it doesn't bother you I'd say go for it. As for the scale on it, I wouldn't worry about that at all as long as it's minerals.