Puerh Shop

Sip Down & Backlog – 8/27
This was the most disappointing puerh teas I’ve had in my tea journey. I noted in 2021 (time of purchase) that the tea was flavorless. The dry leaf smelled like the cardboard/plastic bag it was stored inside. I took the dry leaf out of the plastic bag/cardboard box and stuffed it with the other sheng cakes. While the tea began to fuse with the surrounding teas (smelling less of cardboard/plastic, and more of the green/fruity sheng expectations), the tea flavor was muddled. I sipped the remaining tea on Monday, and it lasted 2 infusions! Sure, there were some faint fruity notes, but overall, there may not be too much hope for improving the tea, unless having more time to add a Boveda and age for a long while.

I’ve learned my lesson that Puerh Shop may not be the most reliable vendor when one is looking for Puerh. I’ve only had one solid tea from them, but that was years ago at this point, and my memory of the name of it is lost to time (it was a 2016 sample).

From Michelle a while ago now!  Thanks very much!  I MAY have overleafed this one a bit, but that never hurt me when it’s regarding ripe puerh.  It’s awesome flavored all around.  A slow unraveler.  Nothing negative about it.  Rich and biscuity.  A little bit of wine and mushrooms.  Four fantastic steeps.   I wish I had more to say about this excellent ripe.  It must be aging amazingly!

This one is from Michelle by way of Rich!  Thank you both!  There was a big ol chunk of this that went into the infuser.  By appearance and scent of the leaf it seemed it would be a very dark shou!  However, the first steep was surprisingly weak sauce.  Almost no flavor at all.  Luckily, the second steep was much better — starchy, bready, with the richness I expect from a great shou with no negative qualities.  Same results with the third steep!  But for the amount of leaf I used, I really should have had more flavor here.
Steep #1 // 10 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 2 minute steep
Steep #3 // just boiled // 10+ minute steep

Blind bought a cake of this shou because it was cheap and reviewed favorably by mrmopar. This tea has the darkest flavors of any I’ve tried for sure. Nothing fruity, nutty, or sweet. Just pure, dark, relatively intense richness.

Mouthfeel is thick and nice. No bitterness and trace astringency. 12+ infusions. No noticeable aftertaste.

A blind purchase well done! Glad I followed mrmopar’s opinion on this one :).

Also, if anyone would like to try any of the teas I’ve got, I’d be glad to swap some samples – just DM me!

Second free sample from PS. Bitter and not pleasant to drink. Flavor is mild/absent beyond that. Lots of stems and leaf bits. Not a great tea imo.

Stopped after infusion 6 so as not to waste too much stomach real estate.

One of two free samples sent with my recent order. I definitely like this tea, especially for the price of only $0.05/g. No bad fermentation notes from the get-go. Sweet throughout. Simple fruity, earthy flavor as with many other shous.

Mouthfeel is decently thick. Not much of an aftertaste. Longevity is good at 10+ infusions.

Will need to sit on this one before deciding if I will cake.

A little intermezzo between Advent teas.
I was craving for puerh. I assume because the weather outside. So I did. Picked one I received from Michelle and she got it from Rich and it was just random.

Honestly not sure what was wrong, but, this tea certainly did not amazed me at all, and I do not notice anything of “good notes” in this tea from 2007. It was just classic shu notes, mushroomy and woody, quite earthy as well. But nothing distinctive, rather quite heavy in taste and a little sourness in the end of each sip.

Probably not what I was looking for. But that is fate of teas which were chosen random.

Gongfu; 5 grams per 125 ml gaiwan

Another tea from Michelle, originally from Rich. Thank you both!

I have to agree with her in all points. First steeps were rich in camphor, later ones were rather creamy and lightly earthy. Certainly not fishy and overall it is nice and smooth tea.

Sadly, I am not able to find any other flavor notes.

A tea gifted from Rich.
This one is quite nice, the first few steeps had a camphor after taste, but the last several steeps were creamy and earthy. A good one to share with tea drinkers who are skeptical that all shou is ‘fishy’. I’ll try this one in a clay pot to see if I get any other flavors.

First cake purchase, haha.

200f, 100mL gaiwan, 5.3g

dry leaves like rest of PS order: dried fruit smell

1×5s rinse

wet leaves: strong smoke
5s: slight sweet
10s: astringent and sharp with a cooling aftertaste.

I can’t remember why I stopped on the second infusion with this one either, but I have the rest of the cake still, so I’ll update this if I feel the urge to pick it up in the near future. Not sure how PS stores their cakes, but if I had to hazard a guess, this one didn’t age much at all however they’re storing it.

Brewed in a Nixing 125mm pot with a 5s pour and I used 10g. Flushed once.

First impressions are good, it reminds me of the V93 (also Dayi, so no surprise) which I’ve been drinking. The leaves on this smell of vanilla and autumn leaf pile. There is a thick mouthfeel which is creamy and smooth; reminiscent of oat-milk or rice-milk. Light hints of brown sugar that never really fully appear.

Zero ‘Wo Dui’ smell (or taste) and a very clear/clean broth which starts out copper. It gets darker quick, to a reddish soy-sauce territory on steep 3-4 (I’m still only steeping for 8 secs there).

A ‘starchy’ rich and malty ‘red bean’ (or Asian yam) taste rises up. It’s not quite savoury, but neither is it sweet. The leaf has a woodland smell, still with a distant waft of sweet vanilla. That woodiness is entering the flavour of the tea (steep 5 or so), not camphor or pine, just a pulpy hardwood log in the autumn leaf mulch.

Still, no bitterness and still milky in the mouthfeel.

This now is apparently where it sits and just keeps chugging for a while (still going on steep 10).

A nice shu. Comforting like a warm hug.

4-stars again (would recommend). Notably smooth stuff. With the buttery mouthfeel and hint of vanilla, I can’t help thinking I’d like to add some maple syrup…

I was given a sample of this a few months ago. I’m finally getting through my sample drawer (8 teas remain)! I had a few friends over for board games and food; however, as the night progressed forward, someone requested tea. I pulled the remaining leaf out of the bag, brewed 10g/100ML, and made some tea.

It seemed to go over well with everyone. I got a notes of wood, cocoa, almonds, and earth. I didn’t really spend too much time on the tea, but I was happy that everyone liked it.

I bought this through Moylor. It is undoubtedly a good ripe. Some nice earthy huigan. I taste little that really stands out. For me this is a little on the milky side but I’m sure that’s a personal thing. Also it has little fruitiness. I don’t know but perhaps that can develop with age?

Another very fine tea bargain from Puershop. This is an uncomplicated yet high quality ripe. It is quite smooth, with little fermentation flavor, a medium heavy level of fermentation, and a decent caffeine boost. It doesn’t have too much character, and fades a bit more quickly than I would like, but it is a very good tea. It is $11 for a 200g cake at the moment, making it a great daily drinker.

Drinking this today on my personal day off from work. Haven’t really had a lot of time to drink tea and actually think about it…

A bit bitter/smoky at the start of the session, but that fades after a few steeps. I’m currently sipping through steep # 7 while writing this at the moment—I’m noting stonefruits/straw/leather-y apricots. I’ll have to admit that I wasn’t liking this one off the bat, but it’s growing on me…

I might have to start digging into this cake more often, now that I’m mostly working my way through my stash…I’m curious to see where the notes will go after a few months…

Nice and smooth with a bitterness and a bit of huigan.

The dry leaves smell like super fresh grass with a bit of bitterness in the background. I am brewing this tea in my Yixing pot so some of the bitterness that would normally be in this tea might be cut down. My ratio is also lower then it normally is because I only have a sample of this tea. I did two quick washes and then my first steep was around 5 seconds long.
The first steep brewed up very lightly. This brew is a bit light but still has an abundance of flavor. At the forefront of this tea there is quite a bit of fruityness like cherries. In the middle there is this extremely pleasant bitter metalic taste. I know that this does not seem like the most appealing of descriptions but it tastes extremely bright and light and the tastes dance on your tongue bouncing back and forth between this wonderful fruityness and this light metal taste. On the aftertaste the tea delves into a very pleasant sweetness, not like honey or a sugar sweetness but a very pleasant sweetness nonetheless. Later steeps bring out even more complexities in the flavor. This is a very delicious tea that if you can get your hands on I would highly suggest you do. That being said, I can’t find it anymore on their website so I don’t know if that is a possibility anymore.

At this point I have tried this tea three different times in different brewing vessels. This was one of the teas that I took a gamble on trying because I know hidden gems are still out there in 2016/2017… but I have to say that the cost to find them is quite high (however it is fun)

This tea is apparently 20+ years old? I cannot confirm or deny that, what I can do is affirm that it does not taste like teas that old on an average basis from the multiple ones I have tried. The liquid from the brew is always a bright orange that looks as if it just changed from yellow recently. There’s a nice sweet hay smell that comes off from the tea when it is brewed, yet the taste does no follow. This is an easy drinking tea as if it was apple juice… but that doesn’t offer much of an experience.

More skepticism from me has been added to PuerhShop.com because this seems to be a normal occurrence with what they have; that isn’t to say they don’t have good teas, those ripe dragon eggs are wonderful, what I am saying is their claims on age or region don’t see to match up.

Maybe this tea is dead and needs to be brought to life, I’m not too sure though I know right now it’s like blahh

When I opened this tea today I didn’t realize I already had an open one somewhere and had already reviewed it. Well I still think it is a nice shou. It starts of with a fair amount of fermentation flavor and maybe even some chocolate notes in the mix. It was sweet, not bitter from the beginning. It evolved into an even sweeter tea. Towards the end of ten steeps it evolved into a fruity profile. Can’t really say a specific fruit. It was quite good for an inexpensive puerh.

I brewed this ten times in a 220ml teapot with 17.6g leaf and boiling water. I gave it a 10 second rinse. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, 30 sec, 45 sec, and 1 minute.

This is a very nice ripe puerh from Puerhshop. It seemed very good but not quite spectacular. A very good value for the price at only around $17. To me this one proves you do not have to spend a fortune to get a nice shou. This one was bittersweet at the start witih a fair amount of fermentation. The bitterness and fermentation were gone by about the fifth steep or so. I might describe the sweet note at the end as dates but this is only an opinion. It could well taste like something else to someone else. But my thought is dates. Did not really notice any chocolate notes in this one but I could have missed them.

I brewed this ten times in an 180ml Jian Shui teapot with 14.8g leaf and boiling water. I gave it a 10 second rinse. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, 30 sec, 45 sec, and 1 minute. Judging by the color of the tea there were a few more steeps left in this but ten steeps from a 180ml teapot is a lot of tea.

This was a pretty good ripe puerh. It is also quite cheap. Goes for only $6 or so. It is neither spectacular nor is it bad. It is good but I mean it is average good, not incredible good. There was a fair amount of fermentation flavor to it. I found the taste of it a little unpleasant but not fishy. It was bittersweet at the start and evolved into a nice semi sweet ripe puerh tea.

I steeped this twelve times in a 160ml Solid Silver Teapot with 14.3g leaf and boiling water. I gave it a 10 second rinse. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, 30 sec, 45 sec, 1 min, 1.5 min, and 2 minutes. Could of gotten some more out of the leaves but twelve steeps is a lot of tea.

Today I tasted what I didn’t know what possible: Pu’erh can go stale people and here is a great example of that.

How do you even explain this odd taste/experience…?

Every time I go to brew a puershop.com tea… I think about Marvel tv shows. Then when I go to drinking something from say Bana Tea, I think of DC tv shows. You know what I mean?

This was like a sour sweet mushroom… like, imagine a blueberry decided to mutate into something nasty and it did it well. It’s still part blueberry, regardless of what it is now, but you dislike the new sour aspect; and maybe those weird puss like explosions going on because it’s probably molding and all.

Was an odd session. Went 8 steeps and I gave up.

I tried to add an image to this tea, but Steepster went all wonky on me and wouldn’t let me do it. Whoever put this in the catalog did not include an image. This only got steeped western style this morning because I am about out of time and have to go to work. It is fairly sweet with a fair amount of fermentation flavor. I really don’t remember what I paid for this but I don’t think it was too much. Most of puerhshop’s teas are reasonably priced. That is one of the things I like about Puerhshop. Their teas are often a good value because they don’t generally overcharge.

I breed this one time in a 16oz Teavana Glass Perfect Tea Maker/Gravity Steeper with 3 tsp leaf and boiling water for 30 seconds after a 10 second rinse.