Official Pu of the day

[Tead Off]

It took me awhile to begin noticing smoke in Puerh. At first, I couldn't differentiate it from the taste. My wife, who is more sensitive to it than I, began telling me this tea or that tea tasted smoky. I began to take notice and started to realize that several cakes I had bought were indeed smoky.

The question of how smoky a tea is, doesn't matter to me. If there is smoke, it taints the flavor and colors it. It does lessen after several brews, but who wants to sit there for 6-10 brews before the tea begins to reveal itself?

With this particular cake of Bingdao, I took it out of its ziplock to see if the smoke can somehow diffuse. No such luck with this one or any of the other smoky cakes I have. I guess it's called tuition.

Also, maocha will not taste the same as a cake. It is usually weaker tasting. I think this is a mistake that some vendors make in sending maocha as samples. My .02cents.

[Puerlife]

2014 Spring Bingdao maocha from Teadezhang 4 grams in 60 to 70 ml ceramic gaiwan from White2tea. Stored since July on a living room shelf in the thick paper sample envelope and it survived the rainy season. Wow, this is better than the Bang Dong! That should be obvious from the price difference but till now I’ve compared material from Bing Dao and Bang Dong cakes and have always preferred the latter.

I have both Bingdao and Bangdong tea from TDZ, 2013 harvest. In this case, the Bingdao is too smoky and ruins the tea for me. Maybe after half a dozen brews, it lets up, but not enough for my taste or money. The Bangdong is far better and a good value. No smoke, tasty, and a good drinker from first to last brew.

It's also impossible, IMO, to lump all Bingdao into the same category. There are different levels, grades, areas of harvest, that will give different results. I could never compare the above Bingdao to the 2009 Bingdao that I have put away. I don't know why I bought that 2013 cake. For me, it was a mistake that I don't wish to make any longer. So important to taste what you buy very carefully and not be influenced by other drinkers. What do they know?

Interesting. I have both the TDZ Bing Dao and Bang Dong of 2013, too and I have found the Bang Dong to be tasty and fairly accessible both to me and when I serve it to newcomers to puer. But I haven’t even bothered to serve the Bing Dao to anyone because it just does not have as much taste. That's why I was so happy with the 20114 mao cha session I posted about above. I did brew some up the day before yesterday and got more flavor out of it than usual (I’m more careful with my grams to ml ratio lately) but not enough to make it worth more than the Bang Dong, which is a good value. Where we differ is that I haven’t noticed much smoke, just a little in the wet leaf aroma. I know how much you hate smoke. Maybe I’m really tolerant of it because I have some very smoky tea. A few times people have mentioned smoke in a tea and I was surprised because I hadn’t even noticed it. Perhaps if I were drinking exquisite Japanese greens sometimes as you do I would notice the smoke more? I wonder how much the smoke level varies from tong to tong.

[Tead Off]

2014 Spring Bingdao maocha from Teadezhang 4 grams in 60 to 70 ml ceramic gaiwan from White2tea. Stored since July on a living room shelf in the thick paper sample envelope and it survived the rainy season. Wow, this is better than the Bang Dong! That should be obvious from the price difference but till now I’ve compared material from Bing Dao and Bang Dong cakes and have always preferred the latter.

I have both Bingdao and Bangdong tea from TDZ, 2013 harvest. In this case, the Bingdao is too smoky and ruins the tea for me. Maybe after half a dozen brews, it lets up, but not enough for my taste or money. The Bangdong is far better and a good value. No smoke, tasty, and a good drinker from first to last brew.

It's also impossible, IMO, to lump all Bingdao into the same category. There are different levels, grades, areas of harvest, that will give different results. I could never compare the above Bingdao to the 2009 Bingdao that I have put away. I don't know why I bought that 2013 cake. For me, it was a mistake that I don't wish to make any longer. So important to taste what you buy very carefully and not be influenced by other drinkers. What do they know?

[Rui]

2014 Yunnan Sourcing Impression raw pu'erh. Despite its young age I find it a pleansant tea to sip away.

[Puerlife]

2014 Spring Bingdao maocha from Teadezhang 4 grams in 60 to 70 ml ceramic gaiwan from White2tea. Stored since July on a living room shelf in the thick paper sample envelope and it survived the rainy season. Wow, this is better than the Bang Dong! That should be obvious from the price difference but till now I’ve compared material from Bing Dao and Bang Dong cakes and have always preferred the latter. Perhaps that says more about my immature puer palate than the tea itself? I’ve had five infusions so far. It has a depth I can’t describe, a well-balanced cocktail of mineral and gushu taste with a smooth, thick body that leaves mouth, lip and body sensations and chaqi changing dynamically. Ten to 15 minutes after the fifth infusion my throat opened up and a rich huigan filled my mouth, and my lower lip has been extremely minty and cooled and is still getting stronger. 6) 15s tongue dry and wet at the same time? Loads of minty cooling. My head is feeling overwhelmed by qi. I think I should stop but I worry that the wet leaves will deteriorate. 7) 20s 25s 9) 30s tongue coating getting thicker. Flavor thinner, broth thinner, but qi, wow, it’s great but I feel it’s too much. Feel like meditating. 10) 35s mostly mineral taste, thin broth, very slow huigan that’s very nice, accompanied soon after by minty cooling. 11) 60s some off taste but also some thick broth and mellowness 12) 35s good plain taste 13) same, certainly not that interesting anymore but plenty drinkable 14) 40s mineral taste is back and slight cooling. Oh wait, now off taste. Great session and a good example of why Bingdao is becoming a famous terroir.

[PurplePotato]

2002 Jianshen tuo from w2t today. Used the last chunk off of the 100g tuo. I remember my first session of the tuo, where the tea left a complex changing aftertaste for a good hour after the session. I also remember a middle session that was basically all smoke, that got dumped. Today the qi is rather something.

[the_economist]

Thanks!

[TwoDog2]

Mangzhi, Autumn 2011, from TU
Now a pretty pleasant/mellow drink

Lovely setup

[the_economist]

Mangzhi, Autumn 2011, from TU
Now a pretty pleasant/mellow drink

[debunix]

Enjoying a very lovely soft of accidental puerh session, which started out with some Lao Cha Tou from Norbu in the thermos, and a day later the leftover was still too nice to toss out for a fresh batch, so I added a fresh nugget, and more water. I had a bit of an old 7542 (might have that wrong) sample from EOT that I had started in a small shibo the day before, and hadn't gotten back to, and I was worried about the leaves sitting over the weekend in the office, so I added them to the thermos, topped it up with hot water, and and this morning, that's what I'm drinking. Old sheng, young shu, and lots of time gently steeping in unorthodox combinations of teas and vessels, and it's lovely: sweet, earthy, just a hint of plummy fruit. Mmm.

[PuerhCollector]

Drinking the EOT 2009 Bulang brings back memories.

Looking at some highlights of 2009 - Barack Obama becomes US President - Abhisit Vejjajiva is Thailand Prime Minister - Sri Lankan Civil War ends after 26 years of fighting - Michael Jackson passes away - H1N1 swine flu causes international concern - the puerh market continues to recover from the bursting of the 2007 bubble - and of course the highlight, the EOT 2009 Bulang was released to puerh enthusiasts worldwide.

The tea itself is still full on. The dark floral like aromas are intense followed by a background of sweetness. The taste has slightly darken and mellow with time but is still powerful and potent. The brew is nicely textured and feels filling in the mouth. It is my impression that Bulang teas don’t quite have the complexity of Banzhang but I can see this aging really well. My problem is I have 1 ½ teacakes remaining, so when it finally matures into a classic age tea in maybe a few decades in the future I may have only 10g left for a final pot

A toast to 2009 and a big thank you to EOT!
VP

I think 2009 was a very good year for Puerhcha. Luckily, I bought a tong of Bingdao.

Can't comment on the other events.

IMO, 2009 and 2013 are among the best puerh vintages so far.

Hello Gentlemen,

We live and learn. For me a tong has become the minimum quantity I now buy for a tea I like provided I can afford it. Otherwise it’s like a stick up – empty your wallet and start counting

My favorite years are 2004, 2005, 2009, 2011.

VP

[bankung]

Drinking the EOT 2009 Bulang brings back memories.

Looking at some highlights of 2009 - Barack Obama becomes US President - Abhisit Vejjajiva is Thailand Prime Minister - Sri Lankan Civil War ends after 26 years of fighting - Michael Jackson passes away - H1N1 swine flu causes international concern - the puerh market continues to recover from the bursting of the 2007 bubble - and of course the highlight, the EOT 2009 Bulang was released to puerh enthusiasts worldwide.

The tea itself is still full on. The dark floral like aromas are intense followed by a background of sweetness. The taste has slightly darken and mellow with time but is still powerful and potent. The brew is nicely textured and feels filling in the mouth. It is my impression that Bulang teas don’t quite have the complexity of Banzhang but I can see this aging really well. My problem is I have 1 ½ teacakes remaining, so when it finally matures into a classic age tea in maybe a few decades in the future I may have only 10g left for a final pot

A toast to 2009 and a big thank you to EOT!
VP

I think 2009 was a very good year for Puerhcha. Luckily, I bought a tong of Bingdao.

Can't comment on the other events.

IMO, 2009 and 2013 are among the best puerh vintages so far.

[quikstep]

Just reposting from Chen Yuan Hao Pu-erh Tea

2005 Chen Yuan Hao (陈远号) Shan Zhong Chuan Qi (山中传奇)

Summary: Loved by blend/pinpei (拼配) drinkers, adored by single mountain/danyi (单一) connoisseur.

Shan Zhong Chuan Qi is an interesting name. It translates into "Tales of the Mountain" or "Legend of the Mountain". Legend has it too that a book was planned to be launched along with this tea in 2005/6

The wrapper itself deserves a special mention because the artwork seems to suggest that this is a journey cake; perhaps the Cha Ma Gu Dao (茶马古道). Beneath the wrapper, whole tea leaves are packed in the cake has browned from post-fermentation considerably in 10 years. Each of these cakes are uniquely numbered as there is only 10,000 copies in total. The signature of Mr Chen Huaiyuan is printed on the neifei (内飞). Dry leaves are void of any smoke smell.

What it does in the mouth makes this a personal favourite Chen Yuan Hao product of mine. The soup is now deep amber in color. Perhaps on par with 2003 Yiwu Zhengshan. The fragrance and taste of this tea reminds me of Tong Qing Hao (同庆号); sweet and strong huigan (回甜). At the same time it's also like the Fu Yuan Chang (福元昌); fast dispersing slight bitterness, strong tea base (茶底) and mouthfeel (口感). Overall Yiwu's "slowly-slowly gently-gently" characters take a back seat. A very balanced tea that does not gets boring even over 10 brews. The mellowness will only get better with more age. When cold, it does not taste anymore bitterness than when the soup is warm.

[Tead Off]

Drinking the EOT 2009 Bulang brings back memories.

Looking at some highlights of 2009 - Barack Obama becomes US President - Abhisit Vejjajiva is Thailand Prime Minister - Sri Lankan Civil War ends after 26 years of fighting - Michael Jackson passes away - H1N1 swine flu causes international concern - the puerh market continues to recover from the bursting of the 2007 bubble - and of course the highlight, the EOT 2009 Bulang was released to puerh enthusiasts worldwide.

The tea itself is still full on. The dark floral like aromas are intense followed by a background of sweetness. The taste has slightly darken and mellow with time but is still powerful and potent. The brew is nicely textured and feels filling in the mouth. It is my impression that Bulang teas don’t quite have the complexity of Banzhang but I can see this aging really well. My problem is I have 1 ½ teacakes remaining, so when it finally matures into a classic age tea in maybe a few decades in the future I may have only 10g left for a final pot

A toast to 2009 and a big thank you to EOT!
VP

I think 2009 was a very good year for Puerhcha. Luckily, I bought a tong of Bingdao.

Can't comment on the other events.

[wert]

Change of pace with some loose sheng. I don't know anything about this one(gift), but it can't be more than a few years old.

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