Mengku Palace Ripened Golden Buds Loose Pu-erh Tea 2007

My son, my godson, and my son’s girlfriend all came to stay for the weekend, and my son asked if he could grill and invite a friend he knew from church. The friend asked to bring several family members and it ended up being a really fun day with some really nice folks.

Hubby does not eat cow because he doesn’t like the texture of beef, so I was pretty happy that my son was grilling portobello mushrooms to serve like burgers. They were delicious!

While we were waiting for the food to be ready, I started talking to the two young ladies, who turned out to be very curious about TEA! Yay! We talked and talked and talked about tea, and when they said they were adventurous and had never heard of puerh, I decided we had time for a gong fu session with this lovely tea.

The first steeps were inky black, because I like my puerh strong! I did not rinse and we started with one minute steeps or perhaps a little longer. They said they could detect the aroma of mushrooms, and had a lot of fun experiencing the changes in color and taste of the tea. We got seven good steeps before the color and flavor had weakened too much to enjoy.

I have invited them back since they were interested in lots of different types of tea. I hope they will take me up on the offer!

I had three steeps of this tea yesterday, but I have been wondering if I could pull out a fourth steep out of this tea. So, I decided to try it with my tea leaves from last night.

I steeped these leaves for an hour until the liquid is a nice amber color like I just brewed a lighter tea. The smell is still wonderful. A light dusty smell that is combined with the scent of fresh rainfall. The tea is still warm even though it has been steeping for the past hour. My french press keeps the tea nice and warm.

The flavor is slightly different from the other steeps. It is still silky smooth and I am getting a creamy mouthfeel that is just divine. It isn’t as dark as the other steeps and is slightly more astringent.

I am glad that I managed to wrangle a fourth steep out of this tea. I’m not sure if I would brew it up often, but I am happy I have the option.

I was drinking this Pu-erh for my morning tea because I was feeling very sad and a really good cup of tea couldn’t help but cheer me up!

My car is up for sale, I had a buyer and we were to meet at the Bank today to complete the transaction but this morning they pulled out of the deal.

WAH! BOO HOO! (There…OK,done!)

Drowning my sorrows with tea was a pretty safe way to get over a disappointment. I know I’m usually cheerful, or I try to be unless I’m sick or there’s a disaster.
Tea has been seen as something offered for comfort. Just look at old movies.
“Here dearie, your whole family was lost at sea, have a cup of tea.” “Oh my Reginald, Lady Margarite has fainted, fetch some tea.”

Maybe it wasn’t quite that bad but almost! Funny and charming.

There’s some truth in the comfort aspect of tea drinking and that’s why I chose a Pu-erh (and a very good one) for my morning tea.

Pu-erh’s are calming and good for the stomach and blood pressure. (Just what Bonnie needs for maintaining a level head.)

It’s important for me to trust that all things will work for good and worry won’t gain me anything.

I made a lovely creamy latte. (Not all Pu-erh’s make excellent latte’s but this one is really good)
Savory turn’s caramel, the rich creamy sweetness soon taking my sad self to a more positive place where everything was sure to turn out fine in the end.

I took a deep breath. I sat thinking…
“Remember what you said just yesterday Bonnie about being grateful (you even wrote about it in a review you ninny). Were you really serious about gratitude only when things are going your way, or can you be grateful when disappointment or hardship is knocking at the door? Oh?!”
That’s not something I wanted to think about but it was true. It’s easy to be thankful when things go my way. I have to work harder on being thankful when they don’t.

See now how taking a break with tea can help settle the mind.
My tasty Pu-erh latte was what I needed to create the right mood and had perked me up!

This is a mug of comfort, and that’s exactly what I need right now. Something has been going on with me lately that is very unpleasant, it started when I was in Boston and it’s been getting progressively worse with each day that goes by. They are headaches but the word “headache” doesn’t come close to describing how horrific they are. It starts when I get up out of bed in the morning, beginning with a feeling of extreme pressure in the front of my head that turns into throbbing, extreme pain. It gets so intense that I can do nothing but lay in bed because with each movement I make, every time I stand up straight or perform any task, I get jolts of crippling pain all throughout my head. Every noise, every little bit of light, every time I move my head or TOUCH anything, I’m hit with pain that hurts so bad it causes me to scream, it got so bad at one point that I was lying in my bed crying and I felt like my skull was simultaneously on fire and about to explode. I’m sorry to whine, it’s just that this is really worrying me. I looked up my symptoms and I’m not finding anything, does anybody have any insight that they could give me?

I’ve been sipping this one for the last couple days. It is just so smooth. There are all the good things I like about ripe pu-erh with none of the bad. The taste is very much horse tack leather. It has an old dustiness about it without seeming musty. There is a kind of fruity note, not exactly raisin but that is the best I can come up with. Also a certain amount of woodsy without being dirt or mushroom. Here is the only issue I have with this one , it is so easy to drink I have to stop myself from chugging the cup.

Thanks to Teavivre for this sample and I’m sorry I’m getting around to trying it just now.

I am steeping this in my infuser mug since I’m trapped at work on this beautiful day – we finally got some sun.

Steep #1 – approx. 1.5 minutes yielded me a dark, sweet and mellow pu-erh. Mmm, this is nice. I’ve gotten a few hints of bittersweet chocolate in the flavor here along with a slight fruitiness. I like it!

Steep #2 – also very nice and earthy. This has a definite clean taste with no fishiness or off odors like you can experience in other pu-erhs. The flavor here is reminding me a bit of pumpernickel bread. Definitely a nice after lunch tea.

Steep #3 – I accidentally let this steep for a really long time – 4 minutes? 5 minutes? Who knows. The longer steep has brought out a creamy element in this tea that I’m really enjoying. I think I could steep this a few more times but that needs to be end of caffeine for me today.

And onto other news… I have noticed today that my equanimity is back and I’m enjoying life — what could be more important than this? Huzzah!

Last night there were too many margaritas, too much mexican food, and too much ice cream, and now they are all having a war in my stomach. I have heard numerous times that puerh is supposed to be good for upset stomachs, so I decided to give this a go, finally. I’ve had this sample for quite a while now, and must apologize to Teavivre for only now getting around to sampling it. The truth is, I’m still a little afraid of shu puerh. But onward!

I remembered why as soon as the water hit the leaves and I got a kind of slightly seaweedy smell. Just now I am realizing I should have rinsed them once, but I didn’t. Ah well. Fortunately any fishiness has gone away after a full steep, and the liquor is opaque and dark as night. It smells like sawdust, pretty much spot on.

The flavor is amazingly smooth. Not a hint of bitterness or astringency, and a thick, luscious texture. It is, also, lightly sweet. The main part of the flavor is earthy, saw-dusty (though without the feeling of ‘dust’), woody. As far as I can tell, its a very nice example of this type of puerh. Not fishy or off-tasting, just smooth and relatively pleasant. I just am not super into drinking earthy sawdust, heh. It may be settling my stomach (hard to tell), but hopefully so!

This sample came to me by way of LibeTEAS, thank you so very much for it and the generous amount as well.

I will start by saying use caution if you intend to abbreviate pu’erh as pu .Twice today I stated that “I could do pu everyday”. I need not explain the ramifications of such a statement.

So here I am loving some pu (easy) and I wanna tell ya all about it. The dry leaf smells too sweet for hay but not enough to be called floral. Another sweet plant… After doing a 30 sec rinse I steeped for 1 min to start. Wet the leaves take on a strong aquatic/earthy smell (as wife says “it’s fish,Dave”). I must note that it’s not unpleasant for those not yet exposed to pu’s.

The flavor of this pu is so rich and wonderful and silky smooth. There’s predominantly a leathery sweetness accompanied by mint. I must pause and say here that I’m either gonna have to find a new word or rethink what I’m tasting because this is the third pu I wanna say taste kinda like toothpaste! After cooling more vegeative notes are apparent.

Second steep 2 minutes with a little less water as well. Even after opting for a stronger cup this time to explore the parameters of the drink I can honestly say it’s still smooth and sweet with almost no astringency. I feel a nice buttery richness that maybe I’ve overlooked in past taste notes of teas due to my young palate. What a drink! This may make it on the ‘gotta have it’ list.

I ended up with 4 steepings before I decided to quit drinking tea for the night.

tunes-Bill Withers=Use Me Up,Geuss Who-She’s Come Undone,Harry Nilson-Everbody’s Talking At Me

This tea has a strong earthy scent which I noticed particularly after brewing. Reminiscent of peat and leather and wood. I like that even though it has the earthy scent, it doesn’t taste as earthy as it smells. It is really quite sweet and smooth. A very rich taste, almost buttery, but not in a green tea or oolong “buttery” kind of way, but more like melted butter with freshly baked bread. Very mellow and nice. I like this one.

Thanks to Teavivre for this sample!

I’m still a pu-erh novice, although I’m fascinated by them and am trying to branch out. This is the first one I’ve tasted that has a date attached to it. I’m locking myself in my room with the A/C (not strong enough to actually make the room cool, but at least I’m not sweating… I hate summer.)

The scent of the dry leaves is definitely dark and earthy. There’s a hint of the “fishiness” associated with pu-erh, but it’s no more than a passing whiff. Beyond that, it just smells old. Like smoke and leather and oak trees. There’s a lighter sweetness to the scent of the wet leaf.

First steep – 10 s

It’s a very dark brown color. It reminds me of the barn I used to ride at, down the street from my house. It was built into a hill and was very long and narrow, dusty and dirty and dim. When I look at the liquor it reminds me of the color of a well-used saddle, dark and leathery and deep.

I’d definitely describe this tea as “woodsy.” It’s not heavy, but it’s dark, and there’s a surprising coolness of mint here.

Second steep – 20s

Still dark, flavor a bit stronger than the first steep. Unremarkable.

Third steep – 30s.

Oh, God, yes. I let this cool to drinkable temperature before I attempted a sip. Oh my goodness. The first thing that hits my tongue is caramel. Sweet, light, a hint of chocolate with just the tiniest bit of astringency at the finish. Lighter, golden caramel colored liquor.

I’ll post this now, since I don’t want it getting longer than it already is (oops), but Teavivre, you’re killing me. You’re killing me! I can’t wait till school starts so I have money to go tea shopping.