Re: Pu of the day
mebbe I *should* have attempted to join that aged sheng OTTO, at least for those two teajournaling samples. I definitely do not mind soil, and I certainly can enjoy thick 'n smooth. I enjoy the Mengku YYX thick papered, but I don't think I would ever prefer it to a thin-papered version, especially since most of those are reasonably wet by western tastes, I gather.
Re: Pu of the day
Well, having never seen the exact cakes/teas you've had in question, it's hard for me to judge, but to just say that traditionally stored teas get "simple" very quickly would say to me that you just haven't had the good ones, which are anything but simple. They may not be your cup of tea, but if it's "simple" then something's wrong.
Stuff stored in Taiwan are all over the place in terms of storage condition -- some Taiwanese vendors know what they're doing, but a lot of others sell things that taste like they've been stored in swimming pools. When buying aged teas from Taiwan, well, buyers beware.
Of the teas you've had here, I know the 99 Dadugang Yiwu and the Changtai are both relatively insipid teas, however stored. In fact, anything made by Dadugang is almost by definition bad.
Of course, it could just be that you prefer the younger, brighter stuff, which is fine. I was just contending with your characterization of traditionally stored teas as "simple".
Stuff stored in Taiwan are all over the place in terms of storage condition -- some Taiwanese vendors know what they're doing, but a lot of others sell things that taste like they've been stored in swimming pools. When buying aged teas from Taiwan, well, buyers beware.
Of the teas you've had here, I know the 99 Dadugang Yiwu and the Changtai are both relatively insipid teas, however stored. In fact, anything made by Dadugang is almost by definition bad.
Of course, it could just be that you prefer the younger, brighter stuff, which is fine. I was just contending with your characterization of traditionally stored teas as "simple".
Re: Pu of the day
Well, today, I had some more '04 Zhai Zhi Po. Way better than a Hall's lozenge.
MarshallN, I don't know...First of all, my trusted suppliers don't really specialize in Hong Kong stored stuff. I mean, Nada sources from Taiwan, how traditional is that?
Here are what aged tea I've had...
1987 Chungcha 8582. It was clean, TCM, but didn't endure and only offered qi, and I didn't really enjoy that.
1980s Shin Ya. Thoroughly dried stored, very little soil, even for a shu. At first, I thought it was too smooth, but I've come to enjoy it, especially the qi.
1993 7542. I enjoyed this a great deal, not least because it was cleanly stored, and the shicang was light.
1996 7532 Dayi and Zhongcha little yellow label. I vastly preferred the Dayi because it was drier stored, and didn't get simple quickly. Both 7532s tended to make me nauseous for some reason.
1997 Henli Chang Bulang. This was definitely fairly traditionally stored. I've enjoyed both session I've had with it, basically as if I'd enjoy an expensive dark chocolate. However, it's far too expensive for what I'd get in personal hedonism points. $150 gets me two or more XZH cakes, and I'd enjoy them more.
1998 Dayi Qiaomu. I really enjoyed this one. It's said to be fairly traditionally stored, and I got more or less endless cups of aromatic complexity. The shicang was very light though.
1999 Dadugang Yunnan Yiwu. Very dried stored, very light tasting, and I botched my expectations and preparations when making this one. Remember a nice light wood taste and good yun.
1999 Changtai Song Charactered. Was somewhat wetter stored than the Dadugang. Lasted forever with good taste, but wasn't the most inspiring of tea.
2000 Kumming Lan Yin Tie Bing. Think this was the most traditional stored cake I've tasted, and I've enjoyed this one very much, with a kind of orange-carrots-soil taste with plenty of vanilla in it. I think this cake was *very* potent when it started out.
None of the Yiwus I've ever had that were old can give me the same number of hedonism points as the '04 YangQingHao Special Reserve, or even the '06 Liudashancha. I think every one of the aged wetter-stored cakes I've enjoyed were originally very muscular, like the Henlichang Bulang. I think I simply can cope with and enjoy younger sheng's roughness and bitterness such that smoothness and other attributes of traditionally stored sheng lacks strong appeal--especially given the costs. Make me choose between HK Henry 7542 and a XZH XiShangMeiShao, and the latter will win every time, even though I *like* that 7542 quite a bit.
MarshallN, I don't know...First of all, my trusted suppliers don't really specialize in Hong Kong stored stuff. I mean, Nada sources from Taiwan, how traditional is that?
Here are what aged tea I've had...
1987 Chungcha 8582. It was clean, TCM, but didn't endure and only offered qi, and I didn't really enjoy that.
1980s Shin Ya. Thoroughly dried stored, very little soil, even for a shu. At first, I thought it was too smooth, but I've come to enjoy it, especially the qi.
1993 7542. I enjoyed this a great deal, not least because it was cleanly stored, and the shicang was light.
1996 7532 Dayi and Zhongcha little yellow label. I vastly preferred the Dayi because it was drier stored, and didn't get simple quickly. Both 7532s tended to make me nauseous for some reason.
1997 Henli Chang Bulang. This was definitely fairly traditionally stored. I've enjoyed both session I've had with it, basically as if I'd enjoy an expensive dark chocolate. However, it's far too expensive for what I'd get in personal hedonism points. $150 gets me two or more XZH cakes, and I'd enjoy them more.
1998 Dayi Qiaomu. I really enjoyed this one. It's said to be fairly traditionally stored, and I got more or less endless cups of aromatic complexity. The shicang was very light though.
1999 Dadugang Yunnan Yiwu. Very dried stored, very light tasting, and I botched my expectations and preparations when making this one. Remember a nice light wood taste and good yun.
1999 Changtai Song Charactered. Was somewhat wetter stored than the Dadugang. Lasted forever with good taste, but wasn't the most inspiring of tea.
2000 Kumming Lan Yin Tie Bing. Think this was the most traditional stored cake I've tasted, and I've enjoyed this one very much, with a kind of orange-carrots-soil taste with plenty of vanilla in it. I think this cake was *very* potent when it started out.
None of the Yiwus I've ever had that were old can give me the same number of hedonism points as the '04 YangQingHao Special Reserve, or even the '06 Liudashancha. I think every one of the aged wetter-stored cakes I've enjoyed were originally very muscular, like the Henlichang Bulang. I think I simply can cope with and enjoy younger sheng's roughness and bitterness such that smoothness and other attributes of traditionally stored sheng lacks strong appeal--especially given the costs. Make me choose between HK Henry 7542 and a XZH XiShangMeiShao, and the latter will win every time, even though I *like* that 7542 quite a bit.
Re: Pu of the day
You really have never tried good traditionally stored teas then.shah82 wrote:I'll have to try a sample of it sometimes, but I'm not really a fan of wetter stored cakes (in large part because they get simple, far too quickly), and I'm especially dubious of wet-stored Yiwu like either the Dingxing or the Manluo. A decent Yiwu is far too nice to need wet-storing. The fact that they were both $40 something is generally a warning in my book. In time, I might have bought the Dingxing, but almost certainly not the Manluo, those dollars can get me a nice bulang or something...Wet-stored bulang or something else that can really take a beating is more my thing...
I don't like Kumming storage either, actually.
Re: Pu of the day
Which blogs do you read?heatwaves wrote:I have a sample of this on the way. Last week, when Tea Goober's blog discovered that Puerhshop had the Dingxing, I wondered how long it would take to sell out. Over the past week, two more blogs wrote about it. Yesterday there were nine cakes... and tonight there are none!nickE wrote:
Bought a cake of the Taobao-famous 2005 Yiwu Manluo that Puershop just stocked. It's really very good, although somewhat simple. Lots of wood, earth, and a very thick mouthfeel. Even had some camphor at the start.
Thankfully, I ordered a second cake that's on it's way with the Yiwu Manluo sample.
Re: Pu of the day
I'll have to try a sample of it sometimes, but I'm not really a fan of wetter stored cakes (in large part because they get simple, far too quickly), and I'm especially dubious of wet-stored Yiwu like either the Dingxing or the Manluo. A decent Yiwu is far too nice to need wet-storing. The fact that they were both $40 something is generally a warning in my book. In time, I might have bought the Dingxing, but almost certainly not the Manluo, those dollars can get me a nice bulang or something...Wet-stored bulang or something else that can really take a beating is more my thing...
I don't like Kumming storage either, actually.
I don't like Kumming storage either, actually.
Re: Pu of the day
I have a sample of this on the way. Last week, when Tea Goober's blog discovered that Puerhshop had the Dingxing, I wondered how long it would take to sell out. Over the past week, two more blogs wrote about it. Yesterday there were nine cakes... and tonight there are none!nickE wrote:
Bought a cake of the Taobao-famous 2005 Yiwu Manluo that Puershop just stocked. It's really very good, although somewhat simple. Lots of wood, earth, and a very thick mouthfeel. Even had some camphor at the start.
Thankfully, I ordered a second cake that's on it's way with the Yiwu Manluo sample.
Re: Pu of the day
Agreed.shah82 wrote:I do know this, on a good day, Nada's Bangwai is criminally good.
Bought a cake of the Taobao-famous 2005 Yiwu Manluo that Puershop just stocked. It's really very good, although somewhat simple. Lots of wood, earth, and a very thick mouthfeel. Even had some camphor at the start.
Re: Pu of the day
I do know this, on a good day, Nada's Bangwai is criminally good. It's a measure of how small the western pu community is, that his tea isn't sold out yet. I'm enjoying every bit of this session, which is winding up to be longer (woohoo).
Re: Pu of the day
Such is the world of tea I suppose.beecrofter wrote:Me too, and when I learn more I will know even less!shah82 wrote:I'm still in the "discovery phase". I still don't know anything...
Anyway, Shah -- I guess you could say that the Dingxing is the more coherent tea. In the end, I thought it was far cleaner where I guess the Jinchanghao was a bit muddled.
Re: Pu of the day
shah82 wrote:I'm still in the "discovery phase". I still don't know anything...
Me too, and when I learn more I will know even less!
Re: Pu of the day
I'm still in the "discovery phase". I still don't know anything...
Re: Pu of the day
Since I've often seen you post three reviews at a clip, I thought it would be more like 21g everday. Or 100g. 
Re: Pu of the day
At least 7g.
It will go down pretty soon as workload goes up. Then it will be assam-time. Also, at some point, I will have to stop buying so much pu, and since I've bought so little cheap pu, I'm almost certain to not have pu every day at some point.
It will go down pretty soon as workload goes up. Then it will be assam-time. Also, at some point, I will have to stop buying so much pu, and since I've bought so little cheap pu, I'm almost certain to not have pu every day at some point.
Re: Pu of the day
Shah,shah82 wrote:I found the Jinchanghao too refined and clean.
However, I did say at the time I tried a sample that I thought there was a pretty wide blend of leaf, including jinggu area in the Jinchanghao. Mebbe we could agree that the Dingxing is more coherent, instead? Not pressing you or anything, just setting common language...
After reading your posts here and on B&B, I have to ask the question... how many grams of puerh do you consume each day? It's definitely more than anyone I know, but I need to know where the bar is set.