Official Pu of the day

[puerhking]

2008 CNNP Special Blue Mark -

I haven't brewed this one much. Too smokey. When I opened the bing the aroma was quite nice....giving me hope...until the first brew that is. Threw out the first three brews and then found it tolerable. There is smoke but also some sweetness. It does have some guts to it....and is somehow kind of enjoyable for what it is.

[gasninja]

Bonescwa;
Sponges tend to breed mold (not the friendly white stuff either)Most of the stories I have heard of severe mold outbreaks had a sponge some where in them. I personally use a large jar and a fish tank heater. I have to add water once a week and I disinfect it ever couple months. Seems to work great I can control the humidity fairly well by adjusting the temp on the heater.


SOTD 2004 Chang Yu Hao Yi Wu 7 grams in 120 'll gaiwan (lite brewing for me) At first I thought this was going be one of those extremely pure gu shu teas. That is all about aftertaste mouthfeel and qi. But having llittle in the way of flavor Other than an extremely pure taste that is more feeling than taste. Cakes like the 1996 Truly Simply Elegant and certain Yan Qing Haos come to mind. While I love teas of this style I have a hard time shelling out the outrageous sumsof money Teas command. If I spend that much I want the tea to have flavor too.
So the first three infusions had little in the way of flavor. But they had everthing else. A nice lubricating mouthfeel , huigan Cooling sensation, and a healthy qi. I was also treated to the most beautiful eun moo (tea clouds) on nearly every infusion. The flavor did pick up after infusion. Apparently this tea needed time to wake up. It is a great tea but I have quite a,few cakes that are very similar for me,to want to get one. Even if the price wasn't so high. But I imagine teas this age and quality are actually bargains if you consider the outrageous price of new gu shu. That is most likely now from over picked trees that may or may not have chem fertilizer or pesticide.

Can't wait to try the 2005

[mr mopu]

Balthazar
You should consider buying a plastic tote of some sort and adding humidity to it with something for a cigar humidor. Just don't use a sponge. Almost every pumidor horror story involves a sponge.

My sheng of the day is EOTs 2009 wild Wuliang. I was not sure that I wanted to buy a cake of this tea as I was not sure if it would age well. It is far from your typical sheng. But every time I placed an order with EOT I would order another sample of it. I came to the conclusion that it doesn't matter how this cake ages as it won't survive long enough for it to matter. I took advantage of there recent sale a grabbed one.

Agreed and I only use distilled water in mine. Scared of sponges as well.

[bonescwa]

kitty litter crystals (the kind that looks like quartz not the brown...) keeps humidity in enclosures (plastic bins or wood) at about 62. spray it w/ water until half of it is wet & re-do as necessary. be sure to get the non-scented. it does not need to be boiled & lasts for years

I tried that, but I found it wouldn't keep the humidity levels high enough. I had to use so much that the kitty litter containers started taking up too much space.

[ethan]

kitty litter crystals (the kind that looks like quartz not the brown...) keeps humidity in enclosures (plastic bins or wood) at about 62. spray it w/ water until half of it is wet & re-do as necessary. be sure to get the non-scented. it does not need to be boiled & lasts for years

[bonescwa]

I don't see what is so bad about using a sponge. I used to use the cigar humidor things but I don't see why it's worth spending ridiculously more on them than sponges. It's adding humidity to the air. I keep it wrapped up in plastic and wring it out, so the moisture doesn't actually come into contact with the tea. I'm just not the type of guy who likes to spend more money than I need to for no apparent reason.

Edit: I should qualify this. Of course, I open the crock daily and let air circulate, I boil the sponge weekly, and replace it. It's worked fine for about a year now.

[gasninja]

Balthazar
You should consider buying a plastic tote of some sort and adding humidity to it with something for a cigar humidor. Just don't use a sponge. Almost every pumidor horror story involves a sponge.

My sheng of the day is EOTs 2009 wild Wuliang. I was not sure that I wanted to buy a cake of this tea as I was not sure if it would age well. It is far from your typical sheng. But every time I placed an order with EOT I would order another sample of it. I came to the conclusion that it doesn't matter how this cake ages as it won't survive long enough for it to matter. I took advantage of there recent sale a grabbed one.

[Balthazar]

I would not say that one winter of low humidity is death to a tea. I heat my home mainly with wood. That means virtually no humidity in the winter months. Do to a frozen pipe and fear of a pipe bursting ending with the tea in my pumidor being ruined. My tea spent 2 monthhs in desert type dryness. Yes my tea became pretty horrible. But with, a week or two of my preciouses being back in there home, they started to taste like they should. I don't think a couple of months will ruin a tea. I think longer periods of dryness may do some serious damage but a winter Will should be fine, especially if precautions are taken. Just like overly wet teas can be dryed out and made more vibrant teas that where dryed. Out can bounce back as long as it is not taken to the extreme.

I think "especially if precautions are taken" is key here.

I'm not going to toss my tea just yet, and I'll make sure to try them out once in a while throughout the summer months, to see whether a few months under milder and (relatively) more humid conditions will lead to a noticeable recovery or not. I'm not getting my hopes up, though.

[mr mopu]

My tea spent 2 monthhs in desert type dryness. Yes my tea became pretty horrible. But with, a week or two of my preciouses being back in there home, they started to taste like they should. I don't think a couple of months will ruin a tea. I think longer periods of dryness may do some serious damage but a winter Will should be fine,

Where do you live? Some places can have ~6 months of rh below 30% not including the extra dryness from home heaters.
The first year I had a stack of puerh cakes I thought they would be fine for one winter... But they never recovered, even with me trying to store them in more ideal conditions for a few months after I realized they had gone bad

If you want to send me small amounts of what you have I will put it in the "pumidor" for a while and send it back to you to see if you notice any difference. I might sneak a little out to try so it may come back a touch lighter in weight.

[BW85]

My tea spent 2 monthhs in desert type dryness. Yes my tea became pretty horrible. But with, a week or two of my preciouses being back in there home, they started to taste like they should. I don't think a couple of months will ruin a tea. I think longer periods of dryness may do some serious damage but a winter Will should be fine,

Where do you live? Some places can have ~6 months of rh below 30% not including the extra dryness from home heaters.
The first year I had a stack of puerh cakes I thought they would be fine for one winter... But they never recovered, even with me trying to store them in more ideal conditions for a few months after I realized they had gone bad

[Rdeitz]

From my experience as a home brewer, sourness is the result of undesirable bacteria. I wonder if low humidity surpresses the growth of desirable microbes, and favors sour producing ones. If that is true, it would be consistent with seeing a tea come back to life after spending some time in a favorable environment which could reverse the process.

Anyway, I suppose I owe a pu erh of the day post so as to get back on topic. Enjoying a very nice shu, 2014 Top Yunnan Yellow Dragon Golden Needle from Streetshop88 on eBay. A really nice one. Very thick and dark, but no off flavors. Somewhat bitter, but very tasty, and only $10 for a 100g cake.

[gasninja]

I would not say that one winter of low humidity is death to a tea. I heat my home mainly with wood. That means virtually no humidity in the winter months. Do to a frozen pipe and fear of a pipe bursting ending with the tea in my pumidor being ruined. My tea spent 2 monthhs in desert type dryness. Yes my tea became pretty horrible. But with, a week or two of my preciouses being back in there home, they started to taste like they should. I don't think a couple of months will ruin a tea. I think longer periods of dryness may do some serious damage but a winter Will should be fine, especially if precautions are taken. Just like overly wet teas can be dryed out and made more vibrant teas that where dryed. Out can bounce back as long as it is not taken to the extreme.

This morning I am having a great session with Wisteria's 2003 Zi Pin Hao in my last remaining zhuni pot. i I have found this tea to be very touchy. But when its works it really works well.

[BW85]

Conditions like that will definitely turn sheng thin, sharp and sour. One winter is enough. I learned the same lesson in the past. RH of 50-65 would be more likely to slow or halt aging, but that low of humidity as described is death for tea. The cakes need babied in the dry western winters

[Rdeitz]

I'm no expert by any means, but this seems an extreme reaction if it were just a low humidity problem for one winter. I thought low humidity would basically retard development for the most part. Is it possible there are other issues? I wonder if undersirable microbes took hold? Maybe from your environment? I think there are probably lots of people who have dry winter conditions who don't see their teas turn sour. But I'd be curious what others think.

[Balthazar]

Around 20 degrees Celsius, fluctuating between 18 and 23 in winter time. Air humidity as low as 20% on bad days, usually around 30%. (In summer it's usually in the range of 35-50%, sometimes a bit higher.)

So it's no great puzzle, especially as I did not go to any great lengths to make the best out of these sub-par conditions but rather haphazardly stored the teas in cardboard boxes on a top shelf. The only surprise for me was how fast they deteriorated. I would have expected the teas to retain a bit of what made them pleasant for a year. Live and learn. The oolongs are all doing great, though