pu-erh of the day. Sheng or Shou

Yesterday I finally finished off my old sample of Tea Urchin’s 2014 Bulang Beauty, leafing heavier than I usually do (6g:60ml). I would buy a cake of this if they weren’t sold out! With flash steeps, I get that bitter leather and apple juice combo I love.

I wish I knew where else to get that leather/apple juice combo. I tasted it strongly in a 2006 LBZ from YS, but a full cake of that one is more expensive than I can quite bring myself to think about. My sample of New Amerykah 2 had a bit of it too, but it also had more cigarette-ish smoke than I like, and it’s sold out now anyways. Any suggestions?

In the meantime I’ve ordered a sample of the 2018 Bulang Beauty. I hope it’s similarly tasty!

fidgetiest, I know what you’re talking about with the leather-apple juice combo and I’ve had New Amerykah 2. Something similar I tried in the past few months is the 2010 Gu Ming Xiang Ban Pen Gu Shu from Yunnan Sourcing. I think it’s in an awkward stage and needs more age to be fully enjoyable but it might be in your range at $160 for a 400g cake. You can get a 10g sample for $5.50

For mrmopar: Today I pulled out my cake of 2008 Menghai 8562 ripe puerh, and brewed up a pot (8g in a yixing clay pot) with 208 degree water for 30 seconds. I was pleasantly surprised at how delicious the tea was, and how gentle the feeling was that it seemed to produce in me. I saw that you reviewed this cake about 5 years ago – have you delved into it lately? If so, how has it changed? All the best, Jim

2000 Blue Mark, Global Teahut. As luck would have it, I friend sent me a sample of this, 18yo Taiwan stored production— on the second floor no less! My last missive had mentioned the confounding Zen qualities of the Blue Mark. I was curious to see whether something this old under Taiwan conditions would in anyway change the profile. Unless you’re considering that smell as part of the profile, no. The write-up says it’s clean. I shudder at what they consider dirty. It’s not super wet stored, not dank, more that dry dirt taste. The liquor is beautiful, crystal clear, shimmering amber. The qi is expansive on even the first pot of 60ml. Beneath the dirt there is positively zero taste. It hasn’t thickened or sweetened up either. Someone totally new to puerh was over and among four offerings, he liked this best. He said it tasted like water.

I pulled my ‘13 down and liked it more than I ever had, tasted sweeter than the 2000. Maybe a shade thicker. Now I know not to hold my breath. I’ve definitely had better Yiwus but winter isn’t really the best time for them imho anyway.

2017 Bulang from farmerleaf/bannacha. Interesting mixture of potency and softness. Typicalish bulang flavor profile, on the darker side methinks. Long aftertaste. I like it.

A very nice tea friend sent me a sample of Naked Yiwu 001 to try, and oh man I love it. Seems to be out of stock now or I’d buy a cake for sure, sigh! Very resinous, just a bit of charcoal, some sweetness, and the good kind of sticky astringency that just keeps the flavor lingering without totally drying me out. YUM.

Amazing taste, and I didn’t know it was that popular until I red this article: https://bit.ly/2GD5kqL

Having the 2006 Changtai Group Yichanghao Dragon Seal.
Got this from a buy from a friend with a Taiwan hookup.
I got about 10 grams of this one out to brew with. The cake as I got it was fairly dry in appearance. The leaf on the cake showed the signs of the humid storage. They seemed to be a bit older than the cake stated for its age. I would guess some humidity early on and then a lighter storage.
I gave a rinse of about 5 seconds and let it sit a while. The rinse showed color so I knew a bit about the age. I had the old book scent with some of that camphor mixed in. First steep about 5 seconds and color was nice. It has the notes of the storage early in the sip but the sweetness and smoothness of the aging of the tea. It has the camphor cooling and the sweetness on the tongue that seems to linger a while at the back of the tongue.
The cooling and the sweetness with some of the aged date notes are what stand out to me. This would be an easy choice when you wanted a no fuss tea to have every day. Pretty nice.

I am going to list another thing. I am going to be in the Santa Clara/ San Fran area March 7th through March 9th with the better half. I am wondering how to get my tea on the airplane so any tips? Also I know a few of you live in the area and I am fairly free after 1630 on Thursday , about all day Friday and most o=f the day till about 1700 on Friday. I am going to try and visit Alcatraz, ride the trolley car, visit Chinatown and see the Golden Gate bridge. Anyone around and maybe we can do a tea session while I am there. Would like to meet a few of you if we can do it.

Cold day in the DMV, I got the last bit of my 2001 7542 P.O. from W2T about 7-8 grams in a Jianshui gaiwan. This is very aromatic, mostly woody notes but not limited by any means, from the usual aged woody notes that I’d expect from a tea like this, to several spice notes that threw me off for a bit, cinnamon, anise, pepper, with a nice sweetness and thick body that still offers astringency and overall strength in each steep. Why didn’t I get more of this before!? Hindsight is 20/20 for sure.

Today I’m having a sample of 2005 6FTM ‘Bulang’ a friend sent me a while ago. This tea has all the hallmark traits I’d expect from a traditional tea factory cake. From the get-go dry it has a lot of medicinal notes in the scent and aging wood notes. Those notes get even more apparent once you introduce water to the leaves, I can smell aged spices and herbs that seem like a combination of old ginger, peony root, ginseng, licorice and even some sandalwood. The liquor is equally aromatic and the taste reflects all the notes captured in the scent, I’d add a mushroom-y and old tobacco note to it and you pretty much got the taste. It has a nice huigan and the aged herb/spices notes linger through it.