2009 Menghai Dayi "Clouds" High Mountain Ripe

Thanks mrmopar for this Pu-erh sample

It was late afternoon and one of those cloudy warm days where you know there will soon be drops of rain falling.
I was busy doing bills and received my first phone call on the newly installed phone line from the local emergency callback service, informing me that trucks will be spraying for West Nile on my street tonight. Really? We haven’t had rain in ever so long. West Nile?! (In about 8 weeks those critters will freeze to death!)
My second call was an invite to a political luncheon at the home of a local candidate. For free. (Well, in my case they’re not getting any money anyway because I have none).

Oh I do love life in Smallville!
End of Summer is celebrated with an all dog,all human swim at Central Park Lake. (Pretty neat!)

The railroad tracks that run parallel with the main street carries two LONG trains each day that halt traffic straight through downtown. (I’m talking about trains with over 100 cars on them and all you can do is sit in traffic and wait.)

The good people of Fort Collins decided to make use of those train tracks and redesigned the roadway around them, closing the streets downtown (causing a huge detour) for the past few months so that a Trolly Train will be able to run back and forth the whole length of Fort Collins during NON-COMMERCIAL-TRAIN hours. (this is beginning to look more and more like Disneyland. First,the Main Street was modeled after our town and now we’re getting this little train going back and forth…?!)

My oh my?! I needed a Pu-erh latte today!
(Sorry mrmopar, no disrespecting of the Pu!)

30 second steeping of this Pu-erh is plenty of time for a rich dark broth. I drank a 4oz first steep to test the sweetness and salt(which was perfect for my plan).

The second and third steeps I poured together for a big mug of dark
pu-erh which was earthy with no nasty flavor. This was nice and smooth. Like I said, perfect for my plan!

I added CREAM (not milk) and Sweetening and I became “Happy Bonnie”!

I don’t keep ice cream and cake and all those sorts of dangerous to my figure goodies in my house…ha…and I don’t need to with all the tea I’ve accumulated!
But, when I want the richness that comes close to a candy bar, my favorite Black chocolaty tea’s, a sensuous Chai, or caramel Pu-erh Latte satisfies my dessert craving! This did the trick!
http://youtu.be/KlmU6fXSwfk If you like trains, here it is.
My old friend is conductor on this old trolly that runs from town to Central Park…watch it fly! http://youtu.be/gEl2ZDuZQy8

Thank you Bonnie for this fantastic puerh sample!

Dry smell: The dry smell is very woody and, surprise surprise, dry. It doesn’t have a deep wet earth smell but a dry smell resembling bark and cork board. I would describe it as a cooling smell but still very deep. It also has a hint of leafy sweetness, like fall.

Wet smell: It still possesses the leafy sweetness and cooling scents. Nearly all of the cork smell and dryness, however, is gone. There is a fairly large difference between the smell of the dry leaf and wet leaf. It is a nice and light smell.

Taste: The taste is very interesting. It is fairly light but very very sweet compared to other puerhs I’ve tried. The most surprising thing happened on my first sip. The very first flavor that jumped out at me when I tasted this tea is, wait for it, MARSHMALLOW. I don’t know what it is or how else to describe it but every sip I can clearly taste marshmallows. This mixed with the typical puerh flavor makes me think of a night on the beach enjoying smores with my family. I can’t wait for christmas so I can buy some more of this tea!!! :)

My first high altitude grown ripe puerh but not much different as I picked up most on the lighter fermentation levels used in this tea. This one takes a bit more skill to brew with good results than most ripe puerh as it does best with very short infusions otherwise one will find it a bit disappointing for a premium product. It has a nice light taste to the brewed tea and is good for a lot of short infusions. Although in the end it is not a puerh that I would see myself buying again as while it is a good puerh it fell short of my personal preferences.

This tea was good, I enjoyed it immensely. There were a lot of complex notes in this tea. That being said I would have trouble telling you what they were. I wasn’t paying attention to the nuances having dislocated my knee today. I needed a good tea session today and I got it. There was virtually no fermentation flavor left. There was no bitterness or astringency. There was no sour taste. I do detect some chocolate notes to it and sweet notes but I can’t describe it better. I steeped the hell out of this tea and can honestly say I have had enough tea for tonight.

I steeped this nine times in a 207ml Taiwan Clay Teapot with 7.2g leaf and boiling water. I gave it one short rinse and steeped it for 15 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 30 sec, 1 min, 2 min, 5 min, and 10 min. It held its strength well through the first six steeps. It was pretty weak in steep nine. This was the best tea I have had in a while.

This ripe has all that I have come to expect from a quality warming Dayi shu with six or more years of age – appealing aroma, free of most fermentation taste, no real bitterness or astringency, rich flavor profile, and decent longevity. The leaf brews just the way I like my shu puer – smooth and dark. The tea liquor yields an earthy aroma that is warm and rich. Mellow and pleasant taste; smooth and rich in flavor with a mix of light oak, caramel and creamy flavors with traces of dark cocoa. The sip delights the mouth with a smoothness on the tongue and then leaves a sweet aftertaste.