Menghai Wangshuji Shou Pu-erh Fifth Grade 2008

This is so good before bed. I’ve had one of the 1-3 grade shou from this company. It was suggested I would enjoy a higher grade more. So, I got this one to sample. The maocha consists of long crimson leaves and stems. This assortment carries a wet earth and clay scent. I placed a bunch in warmed yixing and shook them up. The leaf gave off a savory scent. It was almost like roasted meat. I washed the leaves once and began my brewing. The soup is thick and red. The steeped leaves give off a wet wood and deep moss scent. The flavor is smooth and silky. This brew gave me a thick mouth-feel and earth flavor. There was an underlying fruity flavor. Altogether, this was a nice Shou. The flavors were consistent and very satisfying.

https://instagram.com/p/6llVRczGX8/?taken-by=haveteawilltravel

this is my puerh for the day…though i may take a second one out. The rest of my tea drinking will be trying to work through some of the tea bag samples that i have so that i can get my cupboard down to a more manageable size again. I’m seriously behind in my sipdowns.

this was a sample from Wymm tea and their only shou offering this time around. I’ve previously had one of their other grades of this tea but it’s hard to recall the specifics of the brew to really do a fair comparison. initial steeps it’s a little woody…some fermentation sort of flavour going on…but a nice smooth delicious shou. will be interesting to see how this plays out the rest of the day

Wymm Tea graciously sent me a few samples, and this is the first of four.

I found this to be a smooth, easy drinking pu-erh. The first couple of steeps I found the dried fruit notes, some woodiness with an earthy finish on the sip.

In the later steeps I found the woodiness became more prominent. The fruit notes diminished. The sweet, clean earthiness remained present.

I enjoyed this pu-erh and would happily drink this again. Thank you so much for the samples Tashi and Sgrodka!

After 2 rinses, there was still significant fermentation taste in the first pot but it was pretty much gone by the second. The taste started out a mix of fruit and earthiness, but the fruit gradually dominated. Good complexity and finish. I’m not usually a shou drinker but I enjoyed this one.

Thanks to Wymm Teas for the sample. Sorry the review took this long.

Finally, my first pu’erh that does not taste like it smells. Th smell of pu’erh tends to always be rather strong to me and somewhat off putting. This loose leaf version of pu’erh is fantastic because it’s quite subtle tasting for the tea that it is. It keeps the integrity of a pu’erh but has a sweetness to it that normally is masked behind bolder flavors when teas are normally brewed. While I like the smoothness of this tea, the flavor itself lacks somewhat because it is subtle- while I like it, it does create a gap in the experiential part of pu’erh tea.

Thank you Wymm Tea for the samples for review!

I was impressed with Wymm’s presentation on the samples. https://instagram.com/p/z8s0NVxhy7/?modal=true It shows how much care they put into curating their teas for sure!

I decided to try the 5th grade shou on this chilly Sunday morning. I rinsed it three times instead of my customary twice for shou. It is a good solid clean tasting tea. Early steeps have a little woody taste. It is rich and a little sweet. https://instagram.com/p/z-J9pMxh7j/?modal=true

Later steeps the wood went away and it developed a dried fruit note. I really like shou with either a cocoa note or a fruit note, so I was quite pleased by this! https://instagram.com/p/z-MXu4xhxY/

Thanks again to Tashi and Sgrodka, I am really looking forward to trying the other three teas!