Official Pu of the day

[jayinhk]

I no longer use Brita-filtered water for tea, but we have relatively soft, balanced tap water here in HK, so it's no biggie. Carbon filtration seems to affect results when brewing tea, as many here have noted. I do drink the Brita water though.

[stevorama]

Back to tea. And Guandong storage. 2005 Mengku Zheng Shan Da Ye. I like this one. But it's been hit and miss for me as well.

[stevorama]

Couldn't agree more on the hit and miss. This tea has the potential to leave the most intense and lasting scents in my aroma cup of all my shengs - up to some days, but I've had sessions where there was nothing left but a faint, ephemeral whiff. Same with the texture/mouthfeel but not too that extent. Interestingly there are times when other teas, like my Darjeelings misbehave as well, sometimes just for half an hour, sometimes for a couple hours and I suspect our tapwater - noticeable pressure changes during the day plus old corroded iron tubing (1960's) could be the answer here. I'd have to dig out the spec sheet but FWIK the industrial-grade carbon-block filter I'm using doesn't have any regulative effect on mineral concentration shifts of the base minerals. Anyway, some teas perform more reliably than others no matter what and I guess I'll use some Volvic for the next couple sessions with this tea and see how they match up.

I've noticed that higher quality teas come through well in most situations. Other teas require more finesse!

Indeed carbon block filters don't remove minerals, but do remove particulate.

I notice changes with weather. My guess is that changes in temp and humidity of my storage area impact the tea. It's been 65-70% RH and 65-80'F in there, and most teas are tasting great. Of course water really impacts things too. And teaware. And my mood.

[kuánglóng]

Got one too, Guangdong express composting and the rest. Impressive energy and lovely musky/balsamic aroma in the sniffing cup but a bit thin and dry in the mouth.
Nice job from the bugs on my cake too

Ha!! That's how mine looks. My tastings of this have been hit and miss. I agree with your description. This most recent brewing was the best yet. Perhaps due to a few months of mild summer weather.

Couldn't agree more on the hit and miss. This tea has the potential to leave the most intense and lasting scents in my aroma cup of all my shengs - up to some days, but I've had sessions where there was nothing left but a faint, ephemeral whiff. Same with the texture/mouthfeel but not too that extent. Interestingly there are times when other teas, like my Darjeelings misbehave as well, sometimes just for half an hour, sometimes for a couple hours and I suspect our tapwater - noticeable pressure changes during the day plus old corroded iron tubing (1960's) could be the answer here. I'd have to dig out the spec sheet but FWIK the industrial-grade carbon-block filter I'm using doesn't have any regulative effect on mineral concentration shifts of the base minerals. Anyway, some teas perform more reliably than others no matter what and I guess I'll use some Volvic for the next couple sessions with this tea and see how they match up.

[stevorama]

Got one too, Guangdong express composting and the rest. Impressive energy and lovely musky/balsamic aroma in the sniffing cup but a bit thin and dry in the mouth.
Nice job from the bugs on my cake too

Ha!! That's how mine looks. My tastings of this have been hit and miss. I agree with your description. This most recent brewing was the best yet. Perhaps due to a few months of mild summer weather.

[kuánglóng]

Got some 2008 Hai Lang Hao Jingmai in the gaiwan but only slightly more than 100g left in the caddy. Nothing too fancy but a gentle, pretty enduring daily drinker with a thick texture and sweet long aftertaste - easy on the long suffering stomach and one of the more interesting and grounded Jingmais I've had in a while. From what I remember the price almost doubled some weeks ago but I'll probably get some more anyway.

[kuánglóng]

2003 Feng Qing Jia Ji Er Deng sheng puer. Guangdong storage. In keeping with the theme! Vanilla. Tamed bitter. Body sweating. Smoothed out considerably over the past year. Wrapper was completely tattered with bug bites. Little tiny white bug droppings all over. Easy enough to brush off!

Got one too, Guangdong express composting and the rest. Impressive energy and lovely musky/balsamic aroma in the sniffing cup but a bit thin and dry in the mouth.
Nice job from the bugs on my cake too

[jayinhk]

90s Taipei dry storage 7581 brick...so good. The smell from this brick when I bought it got me excited to get it home and try it. I've been chipping away at it over the year and about 1/3 is gone now.

A few months ago, I put a cup of water in my glass pu cabinet for a few days and the humidity quickly climbed to 100%. That made the tea taste off--weak and unpleasant. Letting the humidity climb back down has made the tea lovely again, possibly even better than before, but with a tiny bit of added camphor note. It's sweet smelling, kind of like baby powder, but this is a natural aroma from years of natural decomposition in Taiwan. Really lovely example of 7581 and the best I've had to date. The next time I get back to Taipei, I'm buying the other 2-3 bricks of 7581 the vendor had left (I hope they're still there)! HK/Taiwan dry storage is really where it's at for me as far as pu storage goes. It really must be the annual cooler/dryer season that makes all the difference to how tea ages here. Then again, I haven't had any Southeast Asian dry storage pu yet...would love to try some!

[jayinhk]

Gotcha, I get bugs that eat tea, but not paper eaters!

[stevorama]

Very nice! I picked up a 2005 HK traditional storage Fengqing tuo a few weeks ago and I really like the stuff. No bug holes, just a light frosting of mold. Lots of camphor and almost no bitterness. Just smoooooth.

Never seen visible white bug droppings, though...sounds like they were only eating the paper?

This is my first tea from that company. Good to hear you enjoyed yours as well.

These look like tiny termite droppings....minuscule dry pellets. On the outside of the bing. I've seen them before. Assume they are from whatever ate the wrapper. Blowing on the cake or brushing it gets rid of them. Tea looks uneaten and no bug activity!!!

[jayinhk]

2003 Feng Qing Jia Ji Er Deng sheng puer. Guangdong storage. In keeping with the theme! Vanilla. Tamed bitter. Body sweating. Smoothed out considerably over the past year. Wrapper was completely tattered with bug bites. Little tiny white bug droppings all over. Easy enough to brush off!

Very nice! I picked up a 2005 HK traditional storage Fengqing tuo a few weeks ago and I really like the stuff. No bug holes, just a light frosting of mold. Lots of camphor and almost no bitterness. Just smoooooth.

Never seen visible white bug droppings, though...sounds like they were only eating the paper?

[stevorama]

2003 Feng Qing Jia Ji Er Deng sheng puer. Guangdong storage. In keeping with the theme! Vanilla. Tamed bitter. Body sweating. Smoothed out considerably over the past year. Wrapper was completely tattered with bug bites. Little tiny white bug droppings all over. Easy enough to brush off!

[kuánglóng]

Ah, I drink traditional storage sheng and shu all the time, and I sell the stuff too!

I know, Jay. It's just that for some reason my old body has developed a preference for younger, less oxidised teas, especially over the last two years; it doesn't even accept second flush Darjeelings, darker oolongs and hong cha anymore. I'm surprised how positively it reacted to the Nan Qiao yesterday, couldn't get enough.

Just curious as to what the offerings in GZ would be like. I have a cake that was stored in Guangdong, but the storage was wetter than I normally like and I prefer the HK storage (much more balanced than that cake). I'm sure there is well stored tea available in Guangzhou too (only an hour or so away from here)!

Man, I wish I could just jump into a well sorted tea store and chose from a nice variety of sheng pu - no such thing over here, just the WWW - Enjoy your trip!

Back OT. Having some of William's (bannacha) 2014 Spring Mangfei in the Gaiwan. More dynamic and less adstringent than the 2008 he sold some years ago. Fairly herbal, slighly brothy and perfumy flavor with strong notes of vetiver in the cup and nose and a similar calming effect after some initial caffeine buzz. Slightly dry mouthfeel but a lasting warmth deep down in the throat, long aftertaste and good for 10+ interesting steeps (5g/60ml).

[jayinhk]

Ah, I drink traditional storage sheng and shu all the time, and I sell the stuff too! Just curious as to what the offerings in GZ would be like. I have a cake that was stored in Guangdong, but the storage was wetter than I normally like and I prefer the HK storage (much more balanced than that cake). I'm sure there is well stored tea available in Guangzhou too (only an hour or so away from here)!

[kuánglóng]

Sounds like good traditional storage followed by appropriate airing out. I haven't had any good traditional storage teas from Guangdong, but it sounds like a trip up to Fangcun is in order to see what the score is up there!

They're usually not among my favorite teas either but a trip to Fangcun/Guangzhou sounds great anyway, Jay.
Can't wait to get back to China myself but that'll take another year; time to study some more Mandarin.