Official Pu of the day

[kuánglóng]

2005 Yun Hai - 5g/80ml

Pretty sweet with decent kuwei and huigan during the first couple seconds but there's some less than desirable adstringency left and the texture and aftertaste leave a lot to be desired. I tried my best to make those leaves sing but this time I felt pretty sick after three cups; can't remember the last time a tea made me feel this way - I'll have to re-check this.

[Rui]

Today I am going to sip 2014 Yiwu sheng from Terre de Ciel. A 100gms cake I received yesterday and took the liberty of separating the leaves last night.

[kuánglóng]

Today I am going to sip 2014 Yiwu sheng from Terre de Ciel. A 100gms cake I received yesterday and took the liberty of separating the leaves last night.

Enjoy your Yiwu, Rui.
I received my Terre de Ciel shipment two days ago, couldn't wait and brewed up 5g of the 2011 Kunlu sample last night - a bit too early to say anything conclusive but all I got so far was a rather mono-dimensional experience with little aftertaste to speak of. Before I try anything else I'll let those teas rest for a couple more days.
Once I'm at it, our parcels from Honza have arrived and we've been 'invited' to pick them up at the customs office - a 50km trip - one-way.

[Rui]

Today I am going to sip 2014 Yiwu sheng from Terre de Ciel. A 100gms cake I received yesterday and took the liberty of separating the leaves last night.

Enjoy your Yiwu, Rui.
I received my Terre de Ciel shipment two days ago, couldn't wait and brewed up 5g of the 2011 Kunlu sample last night - maybe a bit too early. Before I try anything else I'll let the other teas rest for a couple more days.
Once I'm at it, our parcels from Honza have arrived and we've been 'invited' to pick them up at the customs office - a 50km trip one-way - WTF???

Compared to the two Yiwu teas of the last couple of days this one is not as smooth as the others. It is a great tea, deep yellow colour, big leaves with a good aroma but it needs to rest a couple of years in my opinion.

I also got the 2011 Kunlu which I'll try sometime next week. I also got the small 2016 Kunlu cake.

What did you get from Honza? I have been waiting for their new 2016 shengs which should be coming out hopefully soon.

In UK tea attracts no import or sales tax as tea is considered an essential item just like bread, milk, etc. The only time I have to pay sales tax is when the vendors forget to say the package contains is 'tea' and even that I can ask for a refund after I provide evidence of the package contents. Also in UK one gets a customs advice through the post which we can pay online or even add enough postage for the duty amount in lieu of a payment so the service is pretty good. Unfortunately the same does not apply to teaware.

[kuánglóng]

Compared to the two Yiwu teas of the last couple of days this one is not as smooth as the others. It is a great tea, deep yellow colour, big leaves with a good aroma but it needs to rest a couple of years in my opinion.

I also got the 2011 Kunlu which I'll try sometime next week. I also got the small 2016 Kunlu cake.

This leaves some hope for the next sessions (I got the 2016 Kunlu as well.)

What did you get from Honza? I have been waiting for their new 2016 shengs which should be coming out hopefully soon.

Two big parcels - one with all sorts of teaware, 40 or so cups (I love that mass produced stuff from the 70s - sweet memories and excellent for shengs IMO), pots, gaiwans and whatnot, most of it for a friend of mine and one parcel stuffed with tea, too much to mention, but I have no doubt that there's some great stuff in there - Honza is the man

In UK tea attracts no import or sales tax as tea is considered an essential item just like bread, milk, etc. The only time I have to pay sales tax is when the vendors forget to say the package contains is 'tea' and even that I can ask for a refund after I provide evidence of the package contents. Also in UK one gets a customs advice through the post which we can pay online or even add enough postage for the duty amount in lieu of a payment so the service is pretty good. Unfortunately the same does not apply to teaware.

Sounds like 2016 to me - good for you guys. Back in the day when I was still running my ex-business I used to deal with those folks on a regular basis and from what it looks like their business hasn't evolved that much in the meantime. Let's see how it turns out today, most likely they want us to pay 7% VAT on the tea and 19% for the rest - no big deal but I'd rather get it all delivered to my door, pay them online and be done with it. I guess this was my last order from China before I fly back home. Back on the island it's all a piece of cake, got the customs office right around the corner - just in case.

[debunix]

Having a lovely thermos session with the 2007 Organic Mengku sheng today: it is well behaved after a flash rinse, then sitting in the thermos with just off the boil water for several hours. Rich, earthy, sweet, mellow. It reminds me a lot of the 2008 bamboo-aged YiWu sheng from Norbu, with that almost caramel-like sweetness along with the earthiness. Very very nice. Loving this tea.

[Rui]

Today I am going to sip 2014 Yiwu sheng from Terre de Ciel. A 100gms cake I received yesterday and took the liberty of separating the leaves last night.

Re-sipping this one again with more tea leaves as it is a bit too 'mild' for me.

[kuánglóng]

Today I am going to sip 2014 Yiwu sheng from Terre de Ciel. A 100gms cake I received yesterday and took the liberty of separating the leaves last night.

Re-sipping this one again with more tea leaves as it is a bit too 'mild' for me.

I'm giving my TdC cakes a couple more days to acclimatize but this doesn't sound too promising to me, Rui. Have you tried their Bulang Bakalong? That's probably the first cake I'm going to try on Saturday.

[Rui]

Today I am going to sip 2014 Yiwu sheng from Terre de Ciel. A 100gms cake I received yesterday and took the liberty of separating the leaves last night.

Re-sipping this one again with more tea leaves as it is a bit too 'mild' for me.

I'm giving my TdC cakes a couple more days to acclimatize but this doesn't sound too promising to me, Rui. Have you tried their Bulang Bakalong? That's probably the first cake I'm going to try on Saturday.

It really depends on an individual taste and the water one uses of course. Here in the office it is hardly the water I could classify as excellent. Also usually I only use around 5gms of leaves for my glass pot of around 110ml which probably it is too little for more seasoned pu'er drinkers. Today I am using 6.5gms.

Unfortunately I am quite a bit wimpish and I very seldom taste teas from Bulang specially younger teas due to their higher level of bitterness and/or astrigency. Having said that I have a couple of cakes from Lao Ban Zhang but they are middle aged already. That includes the 2008 that I bought from Wilson which is hardly a Yiwu type tea (check Cwyn's blog about her review on this one or was it in Steepster?). My opinion about this 2008 tea: it kicks, it really kicks but it is a great tea.

[kuánglóng]

It really depends on an individual taste and the water one uses of course. Here in the office it is hardly the water I could classify as excellent. Also usually I only use around 5gms of leaves for my glass pot of around 110ml which probably it is too little for more seasoned pu'er drinkers. Today I am using 6.5gms.
Unfortunately I am quite a bit wimpish and I very seldom taste teas from Bulang specially younger teas due to their higher level of bitterness and/or astrigency. Having said that I have a couple of cakes from Lao Ban Zhang but they are middle aged already. That includes the 2008 that I bought from Wilson which is hardly a Yiwu type tea (check Cwyn's blog about her review on this one or was it in Steepster?). My opinion about this 2008 tea: it kicks, it really kicks but it is a great tea.

When it comes to water consider me spoiled. I used to live in the eastern alps for some years with easy access to dozens of springs within a few km radius and had tons of fun trying individual teas with different fresh spring waters. Luckily my (filtered) tap water here is just fine but I loathe the day when I get back to my new home and have to revert to bottled H2O since what runs from the tap there is desalinated sea water with some nice extras thrown in for free.
As to individual taste and preferences I don't mind strong or downright bold teas or a healthy dose of bitterness and some adstringency as long as it's well integrated and the overall experience stays somewhat balanced.
Regarding LBZ, I've tried some samples over the years but afair wasn't exactly blown away by any of them and these days don't feel any need at all to burn serious €€€ on stuff that's most likely well past its prime days or not even the real thing at all.
Can't have or try it all anyway and don't lose a second of sleep over it but I'll sure have a look at the 2008 you've mentioned - thanks, Rui.

[Rui]

Today I am sipping of the latest teas from the YS club: 2016 Yunnan Sourcing "Han Gu Di" Old Arbor Raw Pu-erh. The leaves are something for anyone to admire. The tea starts very smooth but they acquire a slight bitterness typical of young shengs which develop later into a excellent tea. The aroma of either dry or wet leaves is typical of gushu leaves. At the moment I am contemplating if I should get a cake of this tea or not. Most probably I will for further storage.

[jayinhk]

Drinking 1000-year-old tree maocha from Tea-Side.com . This stuff has a lovely taste of peaches and osmanthus and a powerful calming effect. I bought 100g. Good gushu like this has a balancing effect on the body, I'm sure of it. I have enough for a few weeks of daily drinking and it's fresh and tasty enough to knock all my other teas off their pedestal until I'm out. I absolutely love this tea!

[Rui]

Drinking 1000-year-old tree maocha from Tea-Side.com . This stuff has a lovely taste of peaches and osmanthus and a powerful calming effect. I bought 100g. Good gushu like this has a balancing effect on the body, I'm sure of it. I have enough for a few weeks of daily drinking and it's fresh and tasty enough to knock all my other teas off their pedestal until I'm out. I absolutely love this tea!

I better pay another visit to Tea Side in the next credit card cycle...

[jayinhk]

Drinking 1000-year-old tree maocha from Tea-Side.com . This stuff has a lovely taste of peaches and osmanthus and a powerful calming effect. I bought 100g. Good gushu like this has a balancing effect on the body, I'm sure of it. I have enough for a few weeks of daily drinking and it's fresh and tasty enough to knock all my other teas off their pedestal until I'm out. I absolutely love this tea!

I better pay another visit to Tea Side in the next credit card cycle...

AFAIK he doesn't sell the maocha anymore, just pressed cakes and samples. He says there's a good red wine character from the pressed tea. I haven't tried it yet. Shoulda bought a cake!

[Rui]

Drinking 1000-year-old tree maocha from Tea-Side.com . This stuff has a lovely taste of peaches and osmanthus and a powerful calming effect. I bought 100g. Good gushu like this has a balancing effect on the body, I'm sure of it. I have enough for a few weeks of daily drinking and it's fresh and tasty enough to knock all my other teas off their pedestal until I'm out. I absolutely love this tea!

I better pay another visit to Tea Side in the next credit card cycle...

AFAIK he doesn't sell the maocha anymore, just pressed cakes and samples. He says there's a good red wine character from the pressed tea. I haven't tried it yet. Shoulda bought a cake!

Thanks Jay.

Earlier I noticed that but that is OK. I'll probably get one cake next month as I have spent quite a bit of money on tea lately.