SOTD- sheng of the day

[kreigle]

This thread started a long time ago. Five years, to be exact. It's had a remarkable life.

I think I'll have some 7542 to celebrate later.

It's hard to believe that it has been over 4 years since I last posted in here.

A forced hiatus due to financial issues and having to move out of our house, everything still a jumble of boxes 3 years later.

I recently happened upon my box of samples beck then, and am now sitting at work trying out a sample of 2000 Long Yuan Hao Yi Wu

 

[StillShaving]

It's hard to believe that it has been over 4 years since I last posted in here....

Welcome Back!

 

[TwoDog2]

Today a revisit of the 2005 S.Mengku DXS spring cake. Enjoyable session with plenty to hold my attention. This cake seems better than I remember it

 

[GN?]

Yesterday I had an amazing session with the 03 Zi pin. wow this stuff is really amazing . I am also impressed by how active it is. I n the short time that I have owned this cake it has gone from just starting to turn to maturity to tasting like a cake with some age to it. The soup has turned a couple shades darker as well. I have to see about getting another one of these. I also tried the 02 Jingu white dragon courtesy of Grasshopper which was much better than I expected it to be.

Today I am in the middle of a ho hum session with Bangwei 33. The flavor is pretty subdued. I feel like this tea might have been rolled enough. The leaves have incredible strength and thickness and are not easily ripped apart. The tea is very thick itself excellent mouthfeel very pure tasting. But this session is not up to par with some of the excellent session I have had with this tea.

 

[Aschecte]

fyi I had my first real Puerh today..... wow it was different than I expected very earthy, loamy and oxidized like a Oolong on steroids..... kind of on the fence if I like it or not.. also it was not cheap I bought a ounce to try I could not imagine buying the whole puck at this point.

 

[TwoDog2]

Yesterday I had an amazing session with the 03 Zi pin. wow this stuff is really amazing . I am also impressed by how active it is. I n the short time that I have owned this cake it has gone from just starting to turn to maturity to tasting like a cake with some age to it. The soup has turned a couple shades darker as well. I have to see about getting another one of these. I also tried the 02 Jingu white dragon courtesy of Grasshopper which was much better than I expected it to be.

How do you store your tea GN? I bought a cake of this earlier this year, but shipped it to the states, so I haven't had a chance to try it. I still have 10 grams or so here. I was nice tea.

Today I have been dabbling in some other S.Mengku cakes and older Xiaguan tuos. Some are good and some bad. Takes some effort to sort through them. I would love to see the recipe/processing differences for some of the Xiaguan tuos from the mid 2000's

 

[GN?]

I have two cabinets one I keep between 60-67 rh the other stays around 75 %rh. I believe the zi pin was in the dry storage cabinet for most of the summer only spending the past two months in my more humid cabinet.

Sotd 97 CNNP yi wu wild Camphor cake and 2001 commissioned purple dayi from origin tea

 

[Tofu Miso]

I have two cabinets one I keep between 60-67 rh the other stays around 75 %rh. I believe the zi pin was in the dry storage cabinet for most of the summer only spending the past two months in my more humid cabinet.

Sotd 97 CNNP yi wu wild Camphor cake and 2001 commissioned purple dayi from origin tea

What are your cabinets made from GN ?

 

[shah8]

Alright, a new round of samples are in:

First up is the 2005 Chen Guanghe Tang Menghai Yieh Sheng.

This is primarily a blend of high quality Mengsong (probably from the northern side like Manlushan and Naka rather than the south side of Baotang, Manxinlong etc, etc, deduced from characteristic aroma and slight cream taste tendencies) and a bit less of Lao Man'E. There might be Nannuo or Pasha in it, but not too much, and there is no real hint of the banzhang/banpen/guangbienlaozhai area.

This tea was stored quite humidly, if cleanly, and has dried out. Unlike the 2008 Bulang offered by Essence of Tea, this tea is slightly on the wrong side of proper amount of humidity, and has lost some complexity in the taste and is slightly hollow. This tea consistently offers a good aroma. Early infusions gives my mouth quite a bit of electric pizazz. The taste is generally pretty good, if placid. Generally pretty mengsong without any fruit, with a bit of the foodie sweet grains of Lao Man'E with a bit of age to it. Manages only one huigan in the session, but it was a nice one. Consistently provides a good and complex finish, much as good mengsong will do, and does have help from the Man'E bitterness (not too bothersome, and not particularly medicinal bitterness that Man'E can get, and productive to a small extent) after it subsides. This is a very durable tea, and the finished leaves are really strong. It's not all that different from the 2005 CGHT Banzhang Tea King, except that tea has Banzhang instead of Mengsong that's blended with Lao Man'E. I'd say it's inferior on account of the Banzhang version having a much more dynamic early tea performance, but this tea lasts longer. Anyways, saving the best and worst for last...The best thing about this tea is clearly the body and texture of the soup. Very thick and a nicely stiff and sticky feel to it, which definitely helps with coating the mouth with flavor. The biggest issue with this tea is that it has no, or residual old tea, qi. Overall, I *think* I'd still prefer the 2005 Dayi Mengsong Peacock on account of more dynamic flavor in general and more qi. Definitely weaker in terms of body, and the taste profile is probably a bit more narrow and tinny compared to the Menghai Yieh Sheng. Same logic goes for the 2008 EoT Bulang, I think. I was also influence by memory lane and old reviews of this tea, and I was reminded just how expensive CGHT was back then, particularly for the quality. $120/357. There was a lot of better tea cheaper back in 2010! Of course, this tea has gone up in price relatively slowly, and many people have gotten a good bargain (relative to peers after 2011).

 

[shah8]

A note: the GGHT '05 was sourced from Houde of recent controversy. Again, not funky, just a bit hollow from too much wet.

Now, today I did the Wistaria '07 Lan Yin. This is about the same quality of tea as the best Dayi, and essentially behaves much like the '06 Dayi JinSeYunXiang with a bit of the floral woods you find in the Anxiang or Jin Dayi. Dark, almost cocoa taste, a Menghai base, early brews have citric quality that bites the base of the tongue, consistently bitter while being durable. The body is generally good, a little drying in early brews. Not too much to the aroma, especially past the initial brews. There are some decent finishes and aftertastes, but no huigans. There may be a teeny bit of calming qi. Not really something to chase after, moreover, something that is meanted to be stored for awhile. Better than the '07 Cloud blend, more solid and not quite so edgy, but something like the '06 Taipei stuff would blow this away, so long as you're indifferent to the specific taste. Not too many big leaves, and the finished leaves are fairly whole.

 

[GN?]

2000 Kai yuan purple stamp. I accidently brewed this stronger than normal. I still did not have any issues with astringency that Nada warned about. Great aftertaste cooling in the mouth then warms your chest. This is exactly the type of cake I look for just starting to be aged and very tasty.

 

[shah8]

Today was the Wistaria Hong Yin. Same dark flavor profile, bending more towards coffee rather than cocoa. Has some citric tartness as well, but less of it, and is a bit less bitter. There is decent body, not too distinct texture. Has a little bit of qi. Aroma is good and solid, but doesn't rise high from the pitcher, see... Best thing about it is the liveliness in the length of taste for this tea. Lots of things happen as it goes from the tongue to the gullet. Good aftertastes with no huigans, and has a good feel in the top of the throat. Not very durable, starts hollowing out at about five brews, and while flavor is there in brew eight plus, it's very flat and not particularly interesting. I can probably revive this later for a few more, but...poor durability. I like this, and I think it's roughly about the quality of the Taipei jincha. Much darker in flavor, with a bit more energy and liveliness in the mouth, while the Taipei offers more qi, stronger aroma, and more pungent aftertastes (huigans). It would also be a nice contrast with the 2005 First Southeast Puerh Memorial cake as well, which is about the same quality.

 

[shah8]

2004 Shi Kun Mu Everlasting Yibang. It's pretty meh, since the flavor is pretty tinny--couldn't have been all that high quality a maocha. Tastes like aged first stage Yibang generally does, though, with a high pitched tar taste on the high end, and a bit of honey for the base. I didn't find it very fruity aside from a couple of moments in the length. The body is okay. I liked the aroma, with a pleasant slightly stale sweetened peanut butter element to it. There is some aftertaste, and some old tea qi. While it's not bad (an experience not unlike that '03 Yiwu Arbor from PuerhShop, only Yibangish), it's not really all that good--I'd much rather drink my '05 MYH Yiwu Yieh Sheng.

 

[shah8]

2012 TeaUrchin GFZ. It has some old tree qi, but has some serious issues with bitterness and drying astringency. Body is only "not thin". The taste is not all that representative of GFZ, though there are hints of it. There wasn't the sort of syrup/fruit flavors like EoT/YQH, nor was there the classical heaviness like TIM's Guoyan. There was a little too much similarity with the Yishanmo in its floral grain in the early going. The aroma was okay, with hints of interesting things. Late infusions were pretty nice, but can have an odd finish. No huigans, some lingering flavor in the mouth. It's not a bad tea, but it's a very long ways away from $200/cake good.


I guess it probably needs to be said. There is no point in buying tea from famous areas unless you are *very* sure that your seller has genuine access to the good trees.

 

[shah8]

Last sample, 2013 Baohongyinji ZhenRenYuFeng:

This is one of those teas from "State Forests" areas of Mengla, and the pressing was supervised by Zhou Yu. This had a bit of the darker tastes of the Guoyan GFZ, but the taste isn't as strong or as complex. While the taste is not too complex, the session was dynamic from brew to brew, and kept being interesting. The aroma is nice and with reasonable loudness (wet leaves can have a litchi aroma). The body is a bit better than decent and, as many teas do, gets better body/texture in late brews. The mouthfeel is what's excellent about this tea--it has a bit of that electric energy, which leaves behind an zig-zag evaporative coolness all around the mouth and the top of the throat. It ain't your normal factory cake "high mountain" coolness. This isn't *that* durable a tea, and the tea doesn't have a remarkable qi. Sporadic drying astringency and bitterness, but usually not an issue. I'd say that this is roughly the same value as Essence of Tea's 2013 Guafenzhai, and to my tastes, I think I'd go with the 2013 GFZ, because I like GFZ alot, and it's not a bad example, if not great. Sweeter, sweeter flavors, more delicate flavors, and more qi.


Ranking of teas:

Surprisingly, I liked the first tea I tried best, GGHT Menghai Yieh Sheng. Clearly made with premium leaves, and has the broad taste, energy, body/texture to prove it. Don't know why it didn't have much qi, but I'd be pretty sure it will develop *some* in the future if that lack today is typical.

Next best tea was the 2013 ZhenRenYuFeng, on account of being a good Yiwu experience. Remember, there are plenty of expensive and crappy experiences on offer. This one try won't hold a candle to, say, 2007 XZH Yiwu Chawang on its best day (hey, it was mentioned on that teabbs site, and among the usual comments, were a lot of takes on the wrapper, either remarking about festive or gauche).

Then comes the Wisteria Hongyin.

Then TeaUrchin GFZ. Not totally bad, just not a true GFZ experience. Has qi, and a few charms. Needs to be stored for a long time for the bitterness and astringency.

Wistaria Lanyin. Needs long term storage, and only as remarkable as good Dayi from the same time period.

ShikunMu Everlasting Yibang. Ultimately not all that interesting. Very drinkable with some sweet character, but one can tell it's a Yibang that's aged abit, and then, well, decent tea.

 

[ouch]

The only good thing about the colder weather is being able to enjoy sheng more.

 

[EdoB]

Yesterday SOTD was 2006 XZH Yiwu Chawang (from a sample) - like many Yiwu area teas, this was somewhat understated. It reminded me of the 2004 YQH Yiwu Chawang. I wish the 2007 XZH Yiwu Chawang I have was more like this. This tea showed a bit of age.

Since I am trying to reduce my sample stocks, today I had another HouDe sample - 1998 Menghai Yieh Shen Chiao Mu (wild arbor). This was a decent clean, aged sheng with some complexity. Body was thin though. Durability was decent. Qi was noticeable but not overpowering, similar to yesterday's tea.

 

[oldtree]

here is the way i store my tea at home

 

[Hinano_Paul]

So tonight was an 80's Liu Bao Guangxi. Since I am new to the whole tea thing I assume my descriptions will be a little lacking. But here are my imperessions on this tea: To me it has a great balance, not pondy, nice earthiness, very smooth mouth feel and taste with what I would describe as a slightly tannic aftertaste that lingers a while.

Here is the web description:

XXXXXX is delighted to be able to offer you this Liu Bao Pu Erh Guangxi, which really is something special! Grown and harvested during the 1980’s, a full 30 years ago, the leaves have been aged to perfection while carefully stored and monitored.
Matured in bamboo baskets in the usual manner of post-oxidizing Pu Erh teas, 1980’s Liu Bao Pu Erh Guangxi is as unique and distinctive a tea as you can imagine, and is famed and much sought after for its medicinal properties, unmistakable aroma and of course, its venerable age!
Liu Bao Pu Erh Guangxi is renowned for its medicinal and curative properties, and is said to energise the body, increase stamina and aid in digestion. It can also help with the breakdown of fat enzymes and help to combat water retention.
When steeped in hot water, 1980’s Liu Bao Pu Erh Guangxi produces a rich, intensely earthy flavor with notes of spice, leather and bark and a clear, silky fullness. It can be steeped five times or more without bitterness, to unlock the full depth, complexity and age of the leaves. Truly a must-have tea for any genuine tea connoisseur!

I can honestly say I could drink this tea daily for me it's almost perfect for me.

 

[TwoDog2]

Good timing, I went to Liubao two days ago.