Official Pu of the day

[kuánglóng]

2010 Jingmai - Manjing village raw pu'er from Terre de Ciel in France.

How did you like it, Rui? I'll probably shoot them a test order this week.

This particular tea is sold out and I managed to get only the last 50-100 grams of leaves. It is well matured with the colour of old gold, no wet notes and slightly sweet after the second steep but with a strong sweet aroma throughout the session. My colleague here also liked it.

As far as I can recall (my diary is not here with me), of the Jingmai teas still in stock, I particularly liked the years 2010 and 2012.

Of course all these are personal opinions and other people could think differently.

Actually, have you tried their 2011 Kunlu tea? I have been curious about that one but wow have I got enough tea in my hands!

Thanks for sharing your impressions, Rui.
I haven't tried their 2011 Kunlu but it sure caught my attention and I have a sample and the 2016 Spring Kunlu (100g) in the shopping cart among some other tea - I'll report back.

[jayinhk]

2016 YS San Ke Shu (Three Tree) sheng sample. I like this tea--dry leaf has gushu-like wildflower aromas, but different. In the cup, I get a touch of date along with the wildflowers, and even a touch of green gaoshan cantaloupe. Relaxing cha qi. Clean tea, as Scott describes it, and the bitterness and mouthfeel are definitely present. I would like more intensity of flavor, but the flavor this tea has is lovely and persists on the palate. Perhaps it will be more flavorful now that the bag is open and breathing in warmer, moister air. I'll give it another whirl in a few weeks.

[Rui]

2007 Mengku organic sheng--a beeng I bought from Wing Hop Fung recently. It is powerful stuff, and I'm drinking a lot of very dilute infusions, but they go down so pleasantly, with sweet/herbs/earth and lovely golden liquor inviting long gazing in a snowflake cup by Shawn McGuire. I started a series of photos of this one, from the unwrapped beeng to the liquor, and just need to save the leaves this time for post-infusion spreading out, then will come back to share.

Shuangjiang Mengku is my favorite of the larger factories; I have a nice collection of their bings and keep adding more.
Last night I've sipped some of their 2011 spring tips and twelve hours later there's still some captivating perfumy scent left in my sniffing cup. Nice bang for the buck - looking forward to your images, Deb.

Another tea factory I also like is Chen Sheng Hao. I think I have a couple of their raw pu'er cakes.

[Rui]

2010 Jingmai - Manjing village raw pu'er from Terre de Ciel in France.

How did you like it, Rui? I'll probably shoot them a test order this week.

This particular tea is sold out and I managed to get only the last 50-100 grams of leaves. It is well matured with the colour of old gold, no wet notes and slightly sweet after the second steep but with a strong sweet aroma throughout the session. My colleague here also liked it.

As far as I can recall (my diary is not here with me), of the Jingmai teas still in stock, I particularly liked the years 2010 and 2012.

Of course all these are personal opinions and other people could think differently.

Actually, have you tried their 2011 Kunlu tea? I have been curious about that one but wow have I got enough tea in my hands!

[kuánglóng]

2010 Jingmai - Manjing village raw pu'er from Terre de Ciel in France.

How did you like it, Rui? I'll probably shoot them a test order this week.

[kuánglóng]

2007 Mengku organic sheng--a beeng I bought from Wing Hop Fung recently. It is powerful stuff, and I'm drinking a lot of very dilute infusions, but they go down so pleasantly, with sweet/herbs/earth and lovely golden liquor inviting long gazing in a snowflake cup by Shawn McGuire. I started a series of photos of this one, from the unwrapped beeng to the liquor, and just need to save the leaves this time for post-infusion spreading out, then will come back to share.

Shuangjiang Mengku is my favorite of the larger factories; I have a nice collection of their bings and keep adding more.
Last night I've sipped some of their 2011 spring tips and twelve hours later there's still some captivating perfumy scent left in my sniffing cup. Nice bang for the buck - looking forward to your images, Deb.

[Rui]

2010 Jingmai - Manjing village raw pu'er from Terre de Ciel in France.

[debunix]

2007 Mengku organic sheng--a beeng I bought from Wing Hop Fung recently. It is powerful stuff, and I'm drinking a lot of very dilute infusions, but they go down so pleasantly, with sweet/herbs/earth and lovely golden liquor inviting long gazing in a snowflake cup by Shawn McGuire. I started a series of photos of this one, from the unwrapped beeng to the liquor, and just need to save the leaves this time for post-infusion spreading out, then will come back to share.

[stevorama]

2014 Qing Mei Shan

I really like the 2015 Qing Mei Shan. Haven't tried the other years.

Drinking 2013 Theosophie Bulang Ancient Tree shou this morning. Excellent quality in a ripe tea.

[Rui]

Today I am revisiting 2015 Yunnan Sourcing LAO SHU BAI CHA sheng.

[Rui]

Unfortunately not. Very seldom I get two's but maybe I should have got this one by the sounds of it.

As to 7542's when you have a chance get yourself a sample of GTG's traditionally stored 2005 Menghai 7542. It is good with very little wet storage characteristics except that it is now pretty well matured.

I've had a 50g sample of this one [green Dayi] and posted some lines about my experiences a couple days ago. Like you've said, Rui, a nice example with clean storage and no funky notes. Whatever I've tried though it fell a bit too short in the aftertaste department; I got some slightly better results in the gaiwan.

Great. I must have forgotten your comments or it was while I was away for few days.

[kuánglóng]

Unfortunately not. Very seldom I get two's but maybe I should have got this one by the sounds of it.

As to 7542's when you have a chance get yourself a sample of GTG's traditionally stored 2005 Menghai 7542. It is good with very little wet storage characteristics except that it is now pretty well matured.

I've had a 50g sample of this one [green Dayi] and posted some lines about my experiences a couple days ago. Like you've said, Rui, a nice example with clean storage and no funky notes. Whatever I've tried though it fell a bit too short in the aftertaste department; I got some slightly better results in the gaiwan.

[Rui]

Yes it is a very yummy tea and I also use water temperature around 90 degrees C while the 2016 version I steep it at the even lower temperature of 80 degress C for exactly the same reason.

Nice to hear about that, Rui; I haven't tried the 2016 version though. Have you tried any of this stuff by chance ?

2012 Yin Hao tuo cha [greenteaguru - sold out] - 5g in 80ml zhuni pot

These tightly compressed sheng tuos must have gone through some accelerated Guangdong express composting in those few years - there's not much green left anywhere. I've been keeping one of them carefully loosened up in a caddy for the last two months and it has changed quite a bit in there. There's some ever so slight, rather complementing sourness and not much left of the storage flavors I remember from my first session with this tea and as usual my trusty little zhuni pot does a great job on the texture. Smooth drinking with lubricating mouthfeel and nice, long aftertaste; nothing overly complex going on but nothing harsh either. A simple, pleasant tea, easy on the tummy - a welcome break from all those younger, wilder shengs I've had lately. I like this more than most aged 7542s I've had (YMMV) and I'm glad my first impression didn't prevent me from getting a couple more of these tuos.

Unfortunately not. Very seldom I get two's but maybe I should have got this one by the sounds of it.

As to 7542's when you have a chance get yourself a sample of GTG's traditionally stored 2005 Menghai 7542. It is good with very little wet storage characteristics except that it is now pretty well matured.

[kuánglóng]

Yes it is a very yummy tea and I also use water temperature around 90 degrees C while the 2016 version I steep it at the even lower temperature of 80 degress C for exactly the same reason.

Nice to hear about that, Rui; I haven't tried the 2016 version though. Have you tried any of this stuff by chance ?

2012 Yin Hao tuo cha [greenteaguru - sold out] - 5g in 80ml zhuni pot

These tightly compressed sheng tuos must have gone through some accelerated Guangdong express composting in those few years - there's not much green left anywhere. I've been keeping one of them carefully loosened up in a caddy for the last two months and it has changed quite a bit in there. There's some ever so slight, rather complementing sourness and not much left of the storage flavors I remember from my first session with this tea and as usual my trusty little zhuni pot does a great job on the texture. Smooth drinking with lubricating mouthfeel and nice, long aftertaste; nothing overly complex going on but nothing harsh either. A simple, pleasant tea, easy on the tummy - a welcome break from all those younger, wilder shengs I've had lately. I like this more than most aged 7542s I've had (YMMV) and I'm glad my first impression didn't prevent me from getting a couple more of these tuos.

[Rui]

2014 Qing Mei Shan [YS] - 5g/80ml in a celadon gaiwan

I've taken to brewing this sheng at around 90°C to get a more balanced front end and to enhance the unique, dew like character of this tea. This has a gentle, but pretty powerful vitalizing energy and some unique, fresh mouthfeel along with a lovely, long aftertaste I find hard to describe; juicy apple skin comes fairly close. Since it's one of those shengs that I primarily like for their freshness and I'm somewhat afraid that it won't age well I will probably vacuum seal some of it 20g wise and put some of those bags in the freezer for future comparisons.

Yes it is a very yummy tea and I also use water temperature around 90 degrees C while the 2016 version I steep it at the even lower temperature of 80 degress C for exactly the same reason.