Puerh Shop

This tea came out of the LP Mystery Group Buy – Still behind on drinking through group buys…oops. I used the whole 5.8g in my 100mL gaiwan. The leaf smelled like straw, stonefruits, and a hint of brown sugar.

The flavor, especially early on in the session, was dominated by bitterness. There were notes of straw along with the bitterness, followed up by a sweeter flavor of apricot with a bit of sugary sweetness in there as well. Unfortunately, the bitterness and sweetness were never really balanced out. I enjoy bitterness, but I prefer it to be balanced by sweetness as well – this one wasn’t really. It got slightly less bitter as I steeped it out, but as the bitterness really started to drop off, the sweetness went with it. Not a particularly great tea to me, and I didn’t get much of any qi off of it.

A sample from the Puerh TTB – I almost didn’t take any of this, then decided to take just a small sample because it is Bulang after all. Unfortunately that doesn’t change the fact that it’s a young factory sheng. It’s got quite a strong bitterness to it, and even once you get past that, there’s not a whole lot to back it up. Some sweet huigan and decent thickness in the mouth, but not a lot. I don’t think this would be a particularly worthwhile tea for quite a few years.

Woo! A ripe that I like! This one came out of the LP Mystery Group Buy.

To my tastebuds, this guy was pretty much totally clear of any weird fermentation flavor. The rinsed leaf smelled like wet wood, but not funky. There was also a slight bit of a bready note perhaps. First three steeps I got earthy notes of wood with a slight cherry note as well. I got about 8 steeps from this one. After the initial steeps, the cherry note went away, but it did get a little bit sweeter. The leaves seemed quite small, so I’m not surprised it was rather short-lived. I probably won’t buy any more of this, just because I’d still prefer a good sheng to a good shou. It seems like for me to like a shou, it has to be pretty well cleared of fermentation funk. This is probably the first one I’ve encountered that it.

I ordered this one as part of a small order that I’m using to try out some of Puerhshop.com’s productions. This one is quite affordable, because it is huangpian leaf. I’m not sure whether I like huangpian yet – I believe the only ones I’ve had so far are 2016 Fade from W2T and now this one.

The Dry leaf and the rinsed leaf have a slight sour aroma to me. From the brewed liquid, I get some sourness with fruity notes – maybe slightly citric. The first couple steeps were pretty watery, but after that the texture did pick up a little bit in the next few steeps. I started to also get a bit of a hay note, still with a sour-ish finish. A couple steeps later, the hay flavor turned into more of a corn note, though not too sweet or anything.

This one wasn’t as sour as Fade was, but then again it’s five years older. I will have to try a couple more huangpian puerhs, but so far, I don’t think I’m particularly fond of them. Maybe the sourness ages out after long enough? I don’t know. This was drinkable, but not spectacular.

Broad, course leaves loosely compressed. Strongly mineral and earthy taste with raisin, cocoa, and petrichor notes. No noticeable fermentation flavor left. The taste is thin and clean, not a thick and creamy sort of shou. Slight sweet/tart ginseng/dried cherry note. A really nice pu for the price!

Brewing in my new Crimson Lotus Jian Shui pot!
http://imgur.com/a/OofIm
Spicy and bittersweet , notes of green wood, honey, tobacco, wet earth, and a unique cocoa powder note. It’s not cocoa in a “chocolate” sort of way, but it reminds me distinctly of baking with my mom. Not as green as you would expect for a 2013 tea. The mouthfeel is a bit thin, but I like the strong bitter character and the uniqueness of the flavor.

This one is pretty disappointing. I expected some bitterness and Bulang punch, but all I got was some grass and corn with a little sweetness.

Brews up a medium yellow, mildly bitter and astringent. This tea has flavors of green beans, whiskey, petrichor, herbs, and a fruity bitterness like white grape skins. Nice lingering sweetness and aroma in the mouth. The mouthfeel is a little bit thin, but overall it’s pretty nice and a bargain at it’s current price.

This was a cheap brick. That being said it was a really delicious tasting cheap brick. It started out with a bit of a woody note to it, not sure exactly how to describe the note. It had a fair amount of fermentation taste to it but this was not unpleasant or fishy to me. It developed a nice sweet note to it. To go out on a bit of a limb perhaps a dates note to it. I didn’t pay very much for this brick but it was worth every penny. This is one I would consider stocking up on. It was that good.

I steeped this twelve times in a 150mml gaiwan with 11.2g 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 min. I could have gotten a few more steeps out of this tea but twelve was enough for me.

Drank this today while reading the timeline of Star Trek and now I feel dumb… then again it’s confusing. Enterprise is the earliest of them all but it was made last, why why why!
Anyways, this is a solid tea that has no bitter notes to it and a strong taste of what raw sheng is like when pure and untampered with by elements such as age, humidity, traveling, random hairs stuck in the cake, fast food oil from fingers when it was broken, and anything else.

That being said: All jingmai material I’ve had has been excellent and pure. This is true for this as well, even if I support what Glen is doing and say with a bias; CLT has that good good jingmai.

Here’s a reason to buy this: It’s a 2013 Jingmai cake at only $19 for 200g. I’m being serious when I say that’s a good deal.

From the Pu TTB

Thick and sweet with only slight wuo dui. Date sweetness, a bit of cacao, and somewhat herbaceous like dried basil. A nice damp wood sort of ripe pu.

I was a bit wary of this tea due to the youth and the fact it’s a factory production, so I went a bit light on parameters, using 6g leaf and 200 degree water in my 100mL gaiwan. I was ready to be assaulted by bitterness, but was pleasantly surprised. I definitely got some heavy bitterness in steeps 3-5, and steep 3 did make me shudder a little bit. However, I expected much worse. The flavors were mostly vegetal, though the first two also had a definite spicy note, like pepper. It was reminiscent of peas or maybe asparagus or something like that. Not particularly interesting, as that was the main flavor throughout, though it did acquire a bit of a floral aspect in the last couple steeps.

The leaves were quite chopped up. I actually had to go and clean my strainer mid-session, because it got all gummed up with leaf. Thus, the tea got going pretty quickly, and died off a bit sooner than more whole-leaf puerh might.

I am pleased with this purchase, and might pick up a couple more to hang on to, because I found it enjoyable now, so I’m rather certain I will at least in the near future as well.

The second tea that I’ve tried from the Puerhshop. I bought a TON of tea recently from them (plus some cakes from Crimson Lotus and the Dark Matter from LP) and I’d say I’m good for a long time. On top of that, I have a vendor from China sending some samples for me to try (which I hope isn’t a scam—although he didn’t want anything from me but an address…so….I’ll let you know).

Anyway, back to this tea….https://www.instagram.com/p/BDMiwkQg-0p/?taken-by=sgsanders1

I had a total of 10 brews from this. The first steeping was sweet, slightly astringent, and vegatal. However, as the sessions continued, the astringency wore off, and the vegetal notes grew, and it had a touch of sweet grass. I wasn’t able to get a full set of notes on this, due the inability to focus 100% on the tea because I was playing Star Wars Battlefront online; however, I know that this tea was enjoyable, and will be put on the “to get after I sipdown half of my tea cupboard” list. I loved this session, and that is all I have to say about it.

Not even a hint of pickle … not that I would have expected that except for a reviewer’s comments. This is the largest 250gm cake I’ve ever seen. Very thick cake. Just brewed up 7gm in small yixing gaiwan… about 100gm of water or less, 15 seconds. It’s dark red in color, very smooth but much more savory than sweet. A bit of spice around the edges. I then brewed the next steep in about 10-12 oz of water for about 30 seconds. Very dark, opaque, smooth and soothing but without any particular distinctive flavor sticking out. My experience with shou of this age is that it takes time for the cake to air out and sometimes the flavors open up a bit in subsequent sessions as more of the cake is picked apart. I wouldn’t recommend or not recommend this one. I’ll enjoy this cake but won’t replace it. Would like to try it after a heavy meal. I can picture it as a soothing end to a fine meal.

Short on time today so I brewed this up western style. This is sweet with little bitterness. There is a fair amount of fermentation flavor but not of the unpleasant sort. Also seem to be getting a bit of camphor in this tea. It is pretty good.

I brewed this once 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.

Rich gave me a sample of this and either he was trolling, something went wrong with the sample, or this tea is not meant to be drank.
I brewed this for 10 second with 100c and it taste like someone strained a pickle in maybe a drop of puer. One of the most sour drinks I have drank before and it is not appealing at all. There is no way I can finish drinking this or provide a positive remark unless you’re making candy with this somehow.

I got this one from madametj who first reviewed this tea. It’s pretty bad. I drank maybe 4 ounces of it. I’ll probably just toss it.

So far I’ve been spoiled with tasting only good shou. Good to learn that there is bad stuff out there and to experience them, which makes me appreciate the good stuff even more.

My nose could detect some fermentation on the rinse, but it has been clean tasting from the first steep. Tea brews a dark red-brown and has medium mouth feel. Not oily, but it does linger on the palate and has reasonable strength in the early steeps. Flavors are earthy/leathery, with some grain/cereal additions. This shou isn’t overly sweet, which I like.

Again a revision – drank this yesterday and used 5.4 gm in about 8 – 10oz of water. The tea has really changed. It was deeper, richer, darker and held up nicely under multiple steeps. Putting the rest away again and will try it over the summer to taste how time has worked its magic.

OK; time to revise my impressions of this brick. Tried it again tonight. Used a little over 6gm and about 100ml of water. I can see some potential in this tea. The little bricks are about 11gm each and you probably need to use a whole one for a session. There is still some fermentation flavor but I don’t mind it. I like the direction it’s going in and it might eventually get there. Still reluctant to give it a numerical rating but also not committed enough to “recommend” it; but I want to be fair to the tea ;). I had to push the steep to a whole minute so I think this tea might work as a western brew with half a little brick; although not ruling out gong fu with lots of tea to water ratio.

Just received 2 100gm bricks of this today. I was very excited to brew up a square and experience a rich, sweet, wonderful Dayi shou experience… unfortunately, that’s not what happened. I found it disappointingly flat, cloudy and devoid of flavor. I’ve loved Red Rhyme and V93. Of course those had some years on them (2010 & 2011) but can’t imagine time will rescue these from their blahness. Maybe I’m wrong and time will bring these bricks to their full potential… so back in the cupboard they go. Plenty of other teas to try in the meant time; I’ll refrain from giving this tea a numerical rating for the time being.

Ok… and we’re back. I let this sit over night and then steeped. What a difference. now it’s clearer, deeper in color and thickness and tasting in the right direction, while still not brimming over with flavor. I now have hope this tea will eventually be worthwhile.

I just got a new electric kettle, and this is what I picked to test it out on. This cake is gorgeous. Long chaotic tendrils of dark green, silver, gold, and brown mix wildly together. The cake carries a dry fruit and almost tang scent. I placed a generous chunk with some maocha in my warmed yixing and gave it a shake. These leaves have a smooth and creamy scent. I could almost taste caramel. I began my brewing. My kettle is amazing! I feel as though my tea experience has been upgraded. I now have a reliable and consistent temperature. The warmed leaf has an almost chocolate and cream scent. The taste was spectacular. My mouth was immediately coated with a warm tingling sensation upon sipping. The liquor was sweet and honey like. I detected no bitterness or astringency in this brew. I was getting honey suckle and floral tones throughout steeping. This tea stoop up well for quite some time. It was a very sweet and succulent gong fu session. The qi was uplifting and intense. My body was heady and my eyes were lite up. This was my way of winding down after a very long day. I loved this session, and I cant wait to continue revisiting this cake!

https://instagram.com/p/5su_00TGaT/?taken-by=haveteawilltravel

After a rinse the leaves smell like pear and forest. The rinse infusion tastes very light. The taste starts out a bit like prune and is slightly woody and smokey in the finish.

The first infusion is really tasty. Lightly smokey at first with a mid sip of sweet fruit, orange peel and a bit of honeysuckle. There’s a long lingering taste of orange peel after the sip.

The second infusion is a bit more tart and reminds me of orange again with notes of green olive. The next infusion is even more tart and with a bit of a bitterness in the finish. There is less distinguishable flavor overall and more the sensations of tartness and bitterness. Subsequent infusions taste similar but the flavor continues to pale. The tartness wanes but the light bitterness stays.

This Puer was very tightly compressed, and it took several infusions to really come apart. The first few infusions of this tea were a real delight and what I’ve come to expect from MGH, but I didn’t feel it performed as well in later infusions. The young bitter Puer qualities seem to lurch forward. It isn’t my favorite from that factory but was definitely a nice sample to try.

Had to add this one the database. This was a sample sent to me by Puerh Shop with my last order. I’m up way later than I should be with anticipation for the first ever Midwest Tea Fest in the morning… which starts in 8 hours and I haven’t slept. Haha. Oh well. I’ll sleep when I’m dead.

This tea smells smokey after a rinse, with some forest floor and dried fruit aromas as well. The initial rinse brew tastes a little bit smokey and pretty earthy. I’m going to skip on to the first infusion. Second infusion is also rather smoky tasting with just a hint of dried fruit note. Third infusion is also full of plenty of smokey flavor. There’s a bit of a drying quality on the tongue and a peppery aftertaste. The next infusion is somewhat bitter and vegetal, still very smokey.

I’ll end my review here as I can see that this is going to be a very smokey Puer experience. I am not one to personally go for this type of tea, and the drying feeling on the tongue is a bit of a downer to me too. It’s not a tea I don’t like to drink, but not one I’d seek out.