Stone-Pressed 2004 Yiwu Wild Arbor Sheng

This is my first Puerh that isn’t flavoured or a tuocha, and my first sheng.

I’m in-between refilling kettles to re-steep this right now, and the lingering taste is of a pungent fruity sweetness. It’s also woodsy. I’ve been slowly drinking this tea for the last hour. I enjoy it, although I haven’t built up a palate for puerh’s.

Ok, new cup ready to go! It reminded me of mushrooms in the first few steeps but it has now evolved into something quite citric and tart tasting. It actually reminds me of my intense yuzu tea with a heavy dose of citrus rinds. It’s pungent and drying, yet at the same time also vegetal and refreshing.

In Delta and Surrey, River Road is a bit of an industrial area; if you want to go to Richmond, Burnaby, or Vancouver you can drive across Alex Fraser Bridge which goes right over River Road. It’s an impressive bridge, especially when the sun sets and all the lights flicker on; then it’s like that bit on the Peter Pan ride in Disneyland. The only downside is the smell of sewage that sometimes drifts over from the treatment center on Annacis Island. When the wind is just right however, and the lumber and paper mills are running, that awful smell is replaced by something quite delightful- cedar so sharp and woodsy that clears out all the senses.

This tea has a little of that cedar quality, right down to the sweet and rough woody texture that lingers in the throat. I don’t think I would find myself drinking this all the time but it gets huge points for making me think of that and feel the need to write it down (sorry!). There’s some articles drifting around that say smell may be the biggest memory trigger? Neat!

I don’t know how many times I’ve steeped this, I must be near around ten, and new flavours are still coming out.

Smell Of wet leaves Woodsy. Earthy, cedary notes

Flavor/Aroma Smooth. Woodsy. Balsa/cedar-wood taste. Leathery notes on the finish. Warming Cha-Qi

This is one of my first sheng/pure Pu-Erh teas. It was very smooth tasting, with a silky mouth feel. It was really hard to pick out the nuances (since i’m new to tea drinking and pu-erhs in general..I find it VERY HARD to describe the tastes i’m experiencing and put it into words..it’s difficult to TASTE tea ;) of the tea and compare it to something. Describing tea is very similar to expressing how you feel when you listen to your favorite song/music.!! Sometimes it’s an inner experience that’s hard to bring to the surface!! The Earthy /woodsy (very mild) quality of this tea was very comforting and warming!! Besides the fact that it had a very discernible “Cha Qi” ( I have been reading alot about Cha Qi..does anyone have anymore information about it??)…warming , then energizing, then relaxing,, intriguing indeed ;) This is a tea that is probably very good for beginners into the Pu-erh Path…it wasn’t overly “Earthy” and it had a very silky quality that is quite pleasurable and comforting!!

I used up all of my sample, brewed rather nonchalantly in my 12.85 oz travel tea mug—“Western-style”. But quickly “rinsed” once in boiling water.

Soothing, soft, “veggie” aroma overlaid with holly berries.

First sip when piping hot = stewed, buttery green beans and ivy.

Further sips = woodsy, mushrooms. Pleasant and smooth. Reminiscent of the comforting aroma of the inside of a vintage applewood wardrobe ala “The Chronicles of Narnia”. I’m not sure how I’m envisioning this, but I am.

More sips = mulch, bark and sweet clover. Still very soothing. Calming.

Upon cooldown: Button mushrooms, brisk, tannic, vines, earth. Hints of walnuts, soy sauce and vinegar. Slight echoes of a sandalwood fan. Wet limestone. Emerging bitterness.

Overall: Aromatic, savory, flavorful, astringent.

I was inspired by recent comments on this tea to pull it out from my pu’er box and give it a real rating on Steepster. Yiwu is the Verdant Tea sheng that I always forget that I have. Perhaps I’m distracted by the tempting Artisan Revival, the crazy Xingyang or the Yohoho Farmer’s Coop? When I do finally have it again, it’s like a revelation. Oh yes! I remember you now! Hello again, and thanks for welcoming me back…

The first tastes of this are always difficult for me to describe. Imagine a powdered sugar donut. When it touches your tongue, there is a cooling sensation that brings you back for more. That cooling texture is here in the first sips (though not sugary sweet). Instead, I imagine extremely dark and pure cocoa powder mixed with the dark bark or skin of a woody branch. The branch bark is ground to dust, and leaves this dark, cooling woody texture and taste on the tip of my tongue. (my husband tells me this is camphor; I can never pinpoint that flavor, but that I know academically is there, and so I struggle absurdly with comparisons to cooling-woody-donuts; how can one be so unable to taste one specific flavor?).

In the rest of the opening steepings, this feeling of sweet, dark woodiness spreads and unfolds into something warm and bright. It reminds me of walking along a path in college: piney trees and leafy greens of the Hudson river valley are on one side; the sun is setting over the hill, and everything turns orange and glowing green. The path is covered with wood chips and fallen pine needles, and because the pine needles have turned golden orange, too, it looks as though the light has splintered and covered the ground in a soft carpet of fragrant light. That smell is the woody taste the opens up in this sheng. It is lovely, but also very mysterious to me. It keeps me coming back for more steepings.

The cocoa/wood flavors continue all the way through the steepings. I think this is also that camphor flavor. The taste is also full and sweet, and in the aftertaste, there’s something that reminds me both of a good, ripe melon and of chewing on grape or apple skins. I do not really ever eat cherries (too bitter for me), but I think this may be what some other tasters have referenced.

This tea is also really really juicy in a way that reminds me of good baking apples or the aftertaste of cider. It is a different kind of thickness than the smooth, comforting linen of the Artisan Revival. If I’m not paying attention, the juicy, fruity afters slide into mintiness, too.

This is a complex sheng, that I feel is closer to what long-time drinkers might expect out of this style of pu’er. It fits more with the traditional flavor profile, but it is not at all bitter or drying, and its interesting complexity goes down as many layers as you might care to explore. It tastes young, but in only the most delicious ways. This will be another great sheng to watch grow with interest.

Another really old tea I found burried in my stash, this was actually something like my fourth tea purchase ever way back in the day when Verdant ran off Wordpress. Good time…

Anyway, the first cup was prepared in my gaiwan with 205 degree water for 20 seconds. The result is surprisingly bright, almost juicy yet at the same time buttery. The taste is dominated by some indistinct fruit (reminds me a bit of grapes, probably because of how juicy the flavor is), but with cedar occasionally showing through. This tea is also incredibly thirst-quenching, and is well suited for the wonderful weather we’re having in Virginia today, and I intend to savor every minute of it.

This one took me by surprise. Maybe a bit unheralded, but from the heady camphor scent of the dry leaf to the sweet cherry flavor that establishes itself at the deepest levels, this tea might be my favorite Verdant Sheng of the three I’ve tried. I would really like to see how this sheng develops in the next few years, because right now it is delicious.

This tea is incredibly complex. It seems as though the layers of superb flavors never fully unfold.

The aroma alone seems rich, smoky even. Then, all of the sudden these random notes of fresh wild berries emerge. The sent alone is a perfect balance of contrasting yet merging flavors.

Drinking it could even be thought of as an experience it is so good. There is an immediate spicy kick which is almost instantly subdued by a sweet thick pinewood taste. After a few steepings a creamy yet fruity taste collides with spice forming a perfect harmony.

This tea is a great experience tea and something that no taster will ever forget. It was very fun to try because it wasn’t typical pu’er and really let me experience every morsel of goodness from its perfect, long leafs.
I tried this tea from Verdant Tea which was a fantastic decision that I would recommend to every tea drinker out there.

The 2004 Single Mountain Yiwu is up there in the top 5 best Sheng Pu’ers I’ve tried. The initial tea color is a beautiful golden that only the best of Sheng’s of this age possess. The aroma of the tea after first contact with boiling water is the refined scent of a damp forest which immediately brings back memories of camping in northern Wisconsin. The initial flavor is that of spiced nutmeg and a prevalent and cooling camphor which lingers and builds throughout steepings. Notes of sweet grapes begin to build on the sides of the tongue in later steepings as well as a warm apple sweetness which is present in the chest and complements the cooling camphor mouthfeel.

Some of the best Sheng available anywhere. Period.

Found this in my sample box, thought I’d brew it up (at almost 4 AM… my sleep schedule is a bit broken right now).

Really wish I had more than just a sample, this is quite wonderful and has an interesting cooling/sparkling taste that I’m enjoying. Will have to give this some extra appreciation as I sip!

This is part of the Pu-Er sipdowns samples That I am slowly, but surly getting threw.

Ok, to be short and sweet I love almost everything about this tea. The smokey cedar notes combined with sweet and savory berry notes is good. However, the strong floral aspect of it is throwing me for a loop. It is that kinda of perfume floral, the kind that has a bite to it.

The later steepings and a long 1 minuet leaf drain steep I found to me be more pleasant. The floral bite isn’t as strong and it is more vaporous.

Overall I can tell this is a very nice and complex sheng, but I am having a hard time getting into it. It’s floralness is just so odd to me.