Official Pu of the day

[minor_glitch]

Tried a sample of 2010 Yunnan Sourcing "Yi Wu Purple Tea" today. I'm still trying to figure out what makes this one so enjoyable for me. There's something uniquely rich and thick in the taste that really attracts me to it. Further investigation is certainly required!


Big: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8076/8296 ... 66f9_b.jpg

[blairswhitaker]

had a mid to late 90's bamboo tube sheng today. It was a gift from my GF. An interesting cup, sort of like a moody teenager in it's brewing temperament, the taste was lively and bitter at the front with a nice sweet hui gon, also most of the smoke had faded at this point. one of the things that strikes me about this tea is the thick mouthfeel, a real nice thickness to it. it has a very heady and sleepy chaqi. quite nice indeed.

[blairswhitaker]

2003 CNNP Hong Yin Ye Sheng Toucha.

Astringency -mild but present
Smoke - a decent amount of smoke on the palate I quite like it. clearly has mellowed with it's age, was most likely at one time quite smoky.
Dryness- very mild
Mouthfeel - medium, neither really thick or really thin. quite nice not rough at all, very pleasing on the throat
Hui gan - very nice sweet Hui gan.
Flavor - smokey and woody. early infusions are mild with a touch of bitter in the front of the palate and sweet and the finish. very soft, sweet, lingering taste of hard wood smoke in later infusions. decently rich in taste with something that reminds me of sweet, smoked and salted red meat.
chaqi- a very uplifting chi, strong and vibrant, this was quite surprising to me.
Overall value - free sample
Purchase again - yes

This was a surprising little tea for me. wasn't expecting much out of this toucha but it really delivered for me. Great taste and very approachable. What really stood out the most was it's invigorating chaqi. a feeling of energy that radiated from the stomach outward. the Hui gan on this tea is particularly nice. would be very nice to revisit in about five more years.

[ChengduCha]

For the holiday occasion I had some 1996 CNNP "Green Mark Te Ji".

Clean, well aged shu with some sweetness and a good mouthfeel. The taste is nothing extraordinary when compared to younger well done shus that cost 1/10th of it, however it has a very pleasant meditative kind of cha qi of an aged shu that I like a lot. If it's worth $100 for a cake highly depends on the drinker I suppose, but the qi is something I haven't had in younger shu pus.

I also had some 2012 Yunnan Sourcing "Silver Needle Cake" Raw Pu-erh tea. While it's not really a pu tea, but marketed as such, I'll put my review in here.

It's a nice tea that a sheng drinker should try. I brew it like shengs and it develops over the first couple infusions. The smell is a bit like a black tea (assam, darjeeling or so) and the brew has a slightly buttery / oily consistency with an orange / citrus note to it. Caffeine wise it's rather strong. I prefer it over shengs in the morning right now and will surely buy a couple more of these to see if they age well.

I also tried some 2012 Yunnan Sourcing "Yi Dian Hong" Ripe Pu-erh tea mini cake 1 cake (100 grams) which tasted rather musty even after 3 infusions so I discarded it. I didn't expect much from a $3.50 mini cake, but it's not really drinkable to me and mini shu pu cakes aren't all that safe to break up with a pu erh knife.

I'll just stock it for a year or two and hope it gets better, but that probably won't be the case.

[debunix]

Enjoying a nice session with what is nearly, but not quite, the last of the 2009 Lao Ban Zhang loose sheng from Norbu. Very pleasant through the evening in a cooking-warmed kitchen, still needing a delicate touch--flash infusion after flash infusion--to bring out the herbs, anise, and sweetness.

[debunix]

A nice daylong session with 2007 Rui Cao Xiang 'Wu Liang Wild Arbor' Sheng from Yunnan Sourcing. It's a very mellow pleasant sheng that shines despite being bulk brewed for a thermos, and then giving plenty of nice infusions afterwards, very gradual change to sweetwater, some 20 infusions along. Good stuff.

[TwoDog2]

Tried a sample of 2010 Yunnan Sourcing "Yi Wu Purple Tea" today. I'm still trying to figure out what makes this one so enjoyable for me. There's something uniquely rich and thick in the taste that really attracts me to it. Further investigation is certainly required!

I just had this recently - really nice example of a purple yiwu for an affordable price. Hope the more recent productions are as good

[debunix]

2007 Yiwu bamboo-aged puerh from Norbu: put a 1-inch chunk into the gaiwan, which expanded to completely pack the gaiwan. Still going strong with flash infusions some 20+ into the session--this one is ready to keep going into the new year.

[Hannah]

Happy New Year all!!!

Bada Mountain Shu - 1999 Autumn Harvest - sample from Bana tea

Having just come home from holidays and dreading the fact I'm back at work tomorrow, I decided to treat myself to some of this tea.

While it certainly did the trick taking away the holidays-are-over blues, I had mixed feelings because the flavour seemed a little bland - the colour and aroma was lovely, and then when tasted... not much happening there it seems, both with a gaiwan and an undedicated yixing (although that could just be my untrained palate )..

One thing I loved though was that the tea had a subtle sweetness and barely any of the earthy taste I try and avoid most of the time, little to no after-taste though which is a pity.

I would happily drink this again, but I wouldn't go spending any big money on it.

[ChengduCha]

A happy new year to ya'll too.

I had some 2011 Yunnan Sourcing "San He Zhai" Raw Pu-erh today. It's a solid tea for the money and comes quite close to the 2011 YUNNAN SOURCING "CHA QI" if I remember right - just with a lack of a grassy taste that I remember from the tea. It's priced at the same level too.

It offers a solid, balanced flavor profile without too much bitterness and does well for drinking it now with a good potential for solid aging. Caffeine wise it's pretty strong.

If you like the 2011 Cha Qi you should try this one.

[TIM]

Kick started 2013 with a 1950's Lu An raw.
http://www.themandarinstea.blogspot.com ... g-liu.html


With my favorite old lu an Qing Dynasty Zhuni pot.


Qi out with stages of change, an Italian opera with high and low drama.


Of course, a pairing with a 2000 Monte Edicion Limitada. Sweet beets, bamboo and kiss of green tea character enhanced by spice, pepper corn, caramelized cane sugar and vanilla. HNY!

[debunix]

Day 2 with 2011 Lao Ban Pen loose sheng from Norbu-- herbaceous, sweet, earthy.

[debunix]

Day 5 with the LBP. Finally gave up on the sweetwater, some 30 or 40 infusions in. Still was tasty, very light though still clearly puerh, but time to move on.

[jayinhk]

Picked up this cake from a store that only had a handful of cakes--decided to stop and look at them and this was their only sheng. For $12 US I decided to take a chance. It's an '07 and tastes somewhat like my '05 CNNP 7542, but less bitter and with a different aroma. I quite like it for the money and may pick up the other one (they only had two cakes of sheng).

http://mojoimage.com/free-image-hosting ... 7332pu.JPG

I realize the pic is upside down: looked fine until I uploaded it?

[ChengduCha]

If you don't want to use the image attachment option (upload attachment below preview/submit and then clicking on place inline) I recommend imgur.com as you can resize the image there etc.

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