Official Pu of the day

[Rui]

2013 Fengqing Old Tree Raw Pu-erh from Teavivre

[AdmiralKelvinator]

Admiral,

I'd be interested to know how this tea is when brewed using a porcelain pot. Instead of taking the tea down with a porous pot, try taking it up with a porcelain one and see what the difference is.

closest thing I have to a porcelain pot at hand is my trusty gaiwan, but yes it would be worth checking in a truly neutral vessel. It may be that my tastes have simply changed to be more accomodating to bitterness.

What the novak pot takes away from the top end it gives back as strength of overall flavor. The kyusu gives a more complex and yet less "intense" brew, the novak a more powerful and less subtle expression. Neither one is better than the other, really, but the effect is quite noticeable.

[Tead Off]

Admiral,

I'd be interested to know how this tea is when brewed using a porcelain pot. Instead of taking the tea down with a porous pot, try taking it up with a porcelain one and see what the difference is.

[AdmiralKelvinator]

Today's Pu: the 2003 青藤 (qing teng), courtesy of Taiwan's Wisteria house.




Today's experiment was a comparison between an unglazed Novak I've been breaking in lately and a small, high-fired tokoname kyusu. This tea had been sitting on the backburner for a while since It becomes bitter and unpalatable very quickly when brewed my usual yixing. However, using a very porous clay like the Novak (you can see how 'groggy' the inside is the second photo) tames this bitterness admirably, and now the tea is quite a winner. Fills my entire head and hits hard on the bottom end. The kyusu preserves some of the higher flavors and gives the tea a more complex and balanced flavor profile, but also brings through that original bitterness which can easily overwhelm the other flavors.

Had been worried about pairing this Novak pot, since it is so incredibly porous (and crackles quite audibly when filled with hot water), but this seems to be a good match. For every pot there is a tea, it seems. I can see now why some members here were quite taken with this tea back when Origin offered its Wisteria flight, I can also see how others might have had it once or twice and written it off. Lends credence to the concept of "cake as sample" I think.

[puerhking]

2006 Gupuer Gold Mark half ripe cake from YS. This seems like it doesn't know what it wants to be. No surprise there I guess. Brews light so you need more leaf than usual. Flavor is good but a little nondescript.

[Exempt]

70's Lio fu san cha korean border tea. Very earthy with a thick mouthfeel and deep, lasting sweetness. Always a great tea

[kiwi303]

I'm drinking some Hong Kong stored tea in a "Yee Hop Fung Tea Co" bag. Mixed sheng and shou Puerh that a HK forum member shipped me from his local store.

It took a while for the funky musty taste to dissapate about 6 or 7 short steeps, it wasn't bad, but it wasn't good while it lasted, but now on day three up to 8 minute steeps and it is quite nice.

[Rui]

Sipping some yummy 1999 CNNP Old Tree cooked puerh brick tea from Canton Tea Company.

[puerhking]

Enjoying the 2014 Autumn Bing Dao from Yunnan Sourcing today. Great aroma and flavor with a nice long finish. Definitely rising in the ranks.

[Rui]

Today I have gone back to Teavivre's Fengqing Old Tree Raw Pu-erh Cake Tea 2013 while waiting for some raw pu'er samples from China.

[TwoDog2]

2011 EOT Nannou. I am very happy that this tea is brewing up too something nice again.
I was originally impressed with this tea and ordered three cakes. A while back though it became very bland and just uninteresting. Also losing much of its initial qi. I Feared that it was not going to age well. I am now happy that I have a few of these. It is still a bit awkward. But it seemed to be waking up and coming out of its dormancy. There is a potent cha so and a vibrant mouthfeel. Good signs for the future.

This is an interesting piece of information for Puer drinkers to keep in mind. Tea's will sometimes go through a dormant period, or good/bad phases. As long as your aren't short of storage space, keep the teas around. Some teas that I have given up on have come back around. Others that used to be favorites are going through a less desirable phase.

Glad to hear this one is back on track.

[gasninja]

2011 EOT Nannou. I am very happy that this tea is brewing up too something nice again.
I was originally impressed with this tea and ordered three cakes. A while back though it became very bland and just uninteresting. Also losing much of its initial qi. I Feared that it was not going to age well. I am now happy that I have a few of these. It is still a bit awkward. But it seemed to be waking up and coming out of its dormancy. There is a potent cha qi and a vibrant mouthfeel. Good signs for the future.

[gasninja]

2011 EOT Nannou. I am very happy that this tea is brewing up too something nice again.
I was originally impressed with this tea and ordered three cakes. A while back though it became very bland and just uninteresting. Also losing much of its initial qi. I Feared that it was not going to age well. I am now happy that I have a few of these. It is still a bit awkward. But it seemed to be waking up and coming out of its dormancy. There is a potent cha so and a vibrant mouthfeel. Good signs for the future.

[kiwi303]

I arrived at the farm yesterday and found my JKTeashop order and the tea from JayinHK here for me. The JiHK tea is open and airing and smelling quite musty, I can see the comments about musty HK storage teas.

I'm now drinking the second day of 2011 Menghai " Lao Cha Tou" Ripe Pu Er Tea from JKTeashop

[puerhking]

Second day on the 2014 Autumn Mang Zhi from YS. Fair amount of bitterness today but with a lot of aroma coming through. Reminiscent of the 2012 Man Zhuan in flavor profile...but its own unique thing.