How to develop a taste for sheng (again)?

[mosshorn]

Well, here's the story. My first adventure into Pu was through some bamboo roasted sheng, produced in 2008 if I remember correctly. I loved it at the time, yet every other sheng I ordered (mind you, all of it was young) I could barely drink due to the pure bitter power of it. So I delved into my first shu, the 2008 Panchan Lama mushroom from Puerhshop.

Ever since then I've been drinking almost exclusively shu, yet I want to open the world of sheng back up to my tastebuds. Would 7-10 years of aging bring the deep flavor of shu, but with the complexities of sheng? Maybe more? Thank you for any and all help!

P.S.- Apologies in advance if I rambled, about to go to bed

[gingkoseto]

Maybe you can make a list of production regions of the tea you've tasted before, and see if there is a pattern.
Where is the 2008 bamboo tea from? I wonder if it's the Guan Zi Zai bamboo tea, which used leaf materials from Yi Wu, and therefore has more "friendly" taste than a lot of others from, for example, Meng Hai.

[mosshorn]

I believe it was. It had a sweeter quality to it, but after drinking shu for a while the sweet note was just a weird touch to the bitter note.

[nickE]

<snip> yet every other sheng I ordered (mind you, all of it was young) I could barely drink due to the pure bitter power of it.

Just curious, what other Shengpu have you tried?

BTW, nothing wrong with just drinking Shu.

[mosshorn]

I've only had a couple others, namely a 2009 Menghai 7542 and a 2006 Arbor Yinhao Tuocha.

[nickE]

I've only had a couple others, namely a 2009 Menghai 7542 and a 2006 Arbor Yinhao Tuocha.

I see, your reaction isn't exactly unexpected. I don't really enjoy young Dayi either, especially 7542.

I would suggest trying something that isn't so "factory/plantation." There are many choices, here are a few if you want to try decent young Shengpu.

• Manmai or Bangwai from Essence of Tea
  Most of the American Hao line from PuerhShop
  Pretty much any of the Yunnan Sourcing 2009 or 2010 stuff

Ian had some nice choices in his recent order, I'd suggest sampling instead of buying cakes.
http://www.teachat.com/viewtopic.php?f= ... 15#p181490

There are other decent young Shengs but they are harder to find; this is a good place to start.

[mosshorn]

Thank you very much nick! Would it be worth sampling an older sheng to see if I enjoy that flavor more?

[nickE]

Thank you very much nick! Would it be worth sampling an older sheng to see if I enjoy that flavor more?

Yeah, definitely!

You really can't go wrong with Essence of Tea for aged Sheng. Nada has a great selection and you can order anything by the gram.

[mosshorn]

That was actually one of the stores that made me want to try aged sheng more, I think after my Christmas broke session I might pick up 5 gram samples of a few there.

[shah82]

Get the 1993 7542. It's the bomb.