Haiwan Dragon's Spirit Ripe Pu’er Tea 2012

Courtesy of a very kind Steepster friend, my wife & I were able to experience this 5-yr old shou.

Fragrance – faint cocoa
Color – Chocolate brown with some gold tips throughout.
Rinsed leaf aroma – rich leaf compost
Brewed aroma – mild typical pu-erh aroma
Liqueur – Amber brown

Taste – Full-bodied, round, rich, & creamy smooth w/o bitterness, astringency, acidity, fishiness or funk.

Flavor profile – This shou brought to mind the flavor of an exceptional, freshly-baked, wholesome, multigrain-bread.

Impression – Of the few Haiwan shou I’ve tasted to date, this is clearly my favorite. Ufortunately, this ebay supplier now wants $85/cake. Too bad – at this price I’ll pass.

14.5g / 6 oz / 205° / 60s preheat / 60s warm leaves / 5s rinse / 20 min rest / 5s / 5 / 5 / 5 / 15 / 30 / 60 /120

I have a fairly generous sample of this with decent dry storage. Heavy fermentation so leaf is rather dark. Still a bit of fermentation left in the flavor. I enjoyed the first four cups which were creamy and smooth, but the tea petered out, a struggle to squeeze out even eight steeps.

WHAT UP PARTY PEOPLE! Ok so anyway..i’m celebrating because while it’s not my goal… ONE HUNDRED! it’s like race that i’ve been running for a few months now so yay for finally getting this far! 5 more teas to go…only the 5th one should prove challenging as far as my cupboard goes. The other 4 are all lined up (literally on my table) for the next 2 days haha I picked this one as my 100th tea, well because it has the word dragon in it. I’ve been sipping on this all afternoon and while there is nothing crazy exciting about this puer, it’s been a relaxing afternoon full of a calm sort of tea. this one is on the earthy/mushroom side but not “stick your head in compost” sort of level of intensity lol Really happy to have a chance to explore more puerhs. I really need to take more time to get through my other samples – i could probably survive on my puerh alone for over a year lol.

Thanks to Boychik for sharing this one with me. it made for a lovely afternoon!

Thank you for the sample boychik

I shouldn’t probably even bother writing a note on this yet. I’m numb and not really paying much attention as I drink. I had the last 4 days off work and they were mostly good- I had a very successful art show on Saturday and everything, but my terminally ill parrot took a turn for the worse, and I’m leaving work early today to have her euthanized. I know she is in pain and it isn’t going to get any better.

Anyway, its weird but I am actually happy to be at work today even though I’ve been weepy off and on, it is nice to have something to distract me until later. I’m not really tasting the shu but it is warm and comforting anyway.

Steeped in 150 ml gaiwan 2 tsp
Rinse 5/5 /10/10/15/20
First couple steeps didn’t impress me. Earthy, mushrooms, bold shu
Then it became lighter. Very smooth and pleasant. I think it’s still young shu but has a potential .