2011 Four Peaks Lao Man E Summer Raw

March 2022 Sipdown Challenge — A discontinued/otherwise unavailable-for-purchase tea

The strength of this sheng pu’er lies initially in its oily, coating mouthfeel and its energy. Sweet and peaty taste with the apricot of youth now only a bright background tone. Tonuge-numbing bitterness and peatiness increase as the steeps progress but then the throat is greeted by a moderate returning sweetness.

The overall experience, while somewhat deep, is also flat. However, the tea does feel very good in my body and is quite relaxing where I always need it the most in my shoulders and neck. Kind of a dulling of the mind.

The leaf glows and shimmers in shades of brown velvet and the pick is surprisingly robust leaf and bud sets. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately for those that like short sessions, the ife is gone after 6 or 7 infusions.

Thank you Mr Mopar for this sample. This is another good raw. It was fairly bitter at the start with as I would describe it two bitter taste. One up front and in your face, another behind it. That stronger bitterness was gone in about four steeps. The second bitterness continued. there were some sweet notes in there too, but no longer the apricots of a young sheng. This tea has in that sense started to age I think. I enjoyed this tea and gave it twelve steeps in a small gaiwan.

I steeped this tea twelve times in a 50ml gaiwan with 3.7g 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. The leaves were not done. If I wanted to I’m sure I could get another few steeps out of them.

I’ve had the Tea Urchin order in my pumidor for about a week, and decided it was time to start sampling. If this tea is any indication I’m going to be happy with the order. Though this is a 2011, it is tasting middle-aged: the flavors were more wood than straw, and the color was more orange than yellow. There is still quite a bit of astringency and acid, so I’ll enjoy watching it age.

The really strong first steep has lots of fruit, and hints of straw and veggie. Long, powerful finish. Somewhat chewy texture. Strong cha qi. 2nd steep is soft and sweet and bursting with flavor and cha qi. I really like this tea. Started noticing a bit of molasses, and less fruit or veggie in the 3rd steep. Turned astringent at the end of the cup. 4th steep is quite astringent, slightly bitter, but I still taste a bit of fruit underneath. I haven’t had this for an hour, but the cha qi is hitting me after less than an ounce. The next few steeps were still potent, with a bit of fruit poking out from underneath an astringent woody flavor. Around the 7th steep the fruit began to dominate the wood, though there is still some astringency at the end of the cup. At this point my steeps were lasting about a minute. Still good texture.

Just received my second Tea Urchin order, what a great company. They put their cakes into individual little boxes. Everything was packed with care. This tea is a blend. It was pretty good, as usual from Tea Urchin. It had some interesting flavors, a moderate amount of bitterness for a Lao Man E, and strong cha qi. My wife and I got a little tea drunk. It lacked somewhat in zip and strength, which are my top preferences. But it was very nice nonetheless.