Black Friday Puerh Purchases: The Hunter and the Hunted

 I find the Black Friday/ Cyber Monday marketing of Western facing puerh vendors rather interesting.  I had written about it for a few years in a row a few years back.  The last time I really paid attention to Black Friday puerh sales was probably the last time I actually purchased something from Black Friday which I believe was a cake of 2020 Tea Encounter Guafengzhai Chaping Gushu.  The real reason is for the lack of attention is that I have actually purchased less puerh (good job!) and almost no fresh puerh over the last two years.  The exception being this interesting 2023 Tea Encounter DuoYiShu there is only 2 cakes left, and it’s even on sale now and I can’t believe this is not sold out yet… for those interested in fresh puerh Black Friday Cyber Monday sales!

Another reason I’ve not paid too much attention to Black Friday puerh sales is because the vendors I purchase the most from don’t even have Black Friday /Cyber Monday sales!  I mentioned that TeasWeLike is my hands down favourite purerh vendor - they don’t entertain sales at all and are pretty straightforward in their marketing for which I put 100% trust in them.  

It might be surprising to some that Puerh.uk has increasingly and incrementally gained my trust since re-launching over two years.  I now openly consider them my second favourite puerh vendor.  It shouldn’t be too much of a surprise considering it’s been the vendor I have frequented the second most in the past two years.  Just like I’ve said before I have not tried a puerh from them that I have not enjoyed on some level- I have never received a bad puerh from them, they have all been good.  In fact, quite the opposite,  some of the best cakes I own have come from Puerh.uk.  When I purchased these favourite puerh cakes years ago they were just languishing on his poor site for weeks.  Paolo owner of Puerh.uk had to build some trust and he has.

A few years ago, right away, there were a few things I really liked about Puerh.uk.  The first is that it shook up the English facing puerh market and offered some aggressive competition (mainly to TeasWeLike).  Competition is usually a good thing and I think Puerh.uk has proven this by now.  Another cool thing I liked about Puerh.uk is that they were bringing in single acquired tongs from collectors and selling them off by the cake, quarter cake, 25g and 7g samples.  The other vendors out there are really not focused on hunting down puerh on such a small scale for market due to a variety of factors.  Over the last few years Paolo has forged a closer relationship with some of these collectors.  One such collector, I have referred to him here on the blog as “old man” has particularly satisfying puerh storage conditions with his hot dry Taiwanese stored puerh.  As such I have acquired a decent amount of puerh from said “Old Man”.  

As part of a promotion this week, Puerh.uk is offering a two tier buy-in to be the first to purchase some limited supplies of cakes that won’t be immediately offered to the public.  It’s marketed as TCE2 and as the site states:

Why this mechanism? We like to reward loyalty and although we will continue to do public releases for some teas, the TCE² teas would likely sell out immediately (because they’re both limited quantity and exceptionally high price/quality), so we prefer for these to go to our most loyal customers, the ones that are happy to trust us the most.

My first reaction to this whole thing is that it really reeks of marketing.  I despise the idea that access is only offered to those with money to get in the gate.  It goes against the competitive argument for Puerh.uk.  But they do have a point because old man storage 2004 ChenYuan Son Pin Hao sat on the site for weeks so did the rare 2003 ChenYuan Hao Yibang now some things sell out really fast these days.  But aren’t I one of Paolo’s most loyal customers???!

There is one cake (and people who have been into puerh for a long time will know it) it’s that 2006 Chen-He Guang Tang Yiwu Chawang.  It hooked me… but wait I’m not buying that stupid membership selling out my soul thing… then Paolo tells me the three cakes in the hunter tier are all from no other than old man’s storage…. I picked up some of that famous 2006 Chen-He Guang Tang Yiwu Chawang and the 2014 ChengShunHao Xigui… (looks like there is still one left) … I guess the hunter has become the hunted? Hahahaha

Peace

2003 CNNP Yellow Mark: Red Rose Tea Puerh!

This 2003 CNNP Yellow Mark was the first to be released as an individual cake from the Colours of Malaysia Quarter Cake Set at TeasWeLike.  The 357g cake goes for $ 225.00 for or $0.63/g.  I’m wondering if it was my favourite from the set…

Dry leaves have a very faint floral woody.

First infusion has a grains cereal sweet watery taste with a sweet corn finish.  The is a dry roof feeling in the mouth.  

Second has a roasted almost black tea note with very faint floral and cereal, almost raisin sweetness.  The mouthfeel is a bit fine sandy and vacuous with an open throat feeling.  Has an almost melon juicy fruity taste that is not really there.  

Third infusion has a floral black tea raisin taste tastes like Red Rose brand tea that you find at any grocery store here.  Bland vacuous sandy mouthfeel.  Floral finish on the breath.  

The fourth is a woody teak sort of black tea note rose floral.  Nice roasty rich body but really does taste a bit like black tea or maybe Mengku area blend? Nice calming slowness to the qi. 

The fifth is a woody teak rich black tea Red Rose.  Nice woods richness.  The Qi is this really nice quiet calm slows the mind a bit and a bit spacy calm it’s nice the combo of the classic throwback Red arose tea makes it a comforting afternoon delight for my soul.

The sixth is put into an overnight thermos.  I try some from the thermos a few hours later and it’s this black tea slight floral rich tasting puerh.  The floral tastes really builds and has this rich almost black tea woody background which feels real full and satisfying.

The next day the liquor is woody resinous slight oily sweet.

I put all four of the spent leaves from the Colours of Malaysia Quarter Cake set in a long overnight steeping (wet leaves top left clockwise in order they appear on the blog)… The Red label is still quite juicy oily and thickly sweet with smoke balance.  The Blue Label was maybe the most balanced of the four offering woody, sweet, slight incense taste.  The FuYuanChang offered a relatively light sweet taste with charcoal and incense balance.  The Yellow label had a sweet woody resin taste.   It’s hard to pick favourites here instead of ordering a single cake I’d probably just buy another quarter cake set.  In fact, I recommend it!

Peace

2004 Yao’an FuYuanChang Yiwu: Malaysian Factory Smoker

 I actually sampled this 2004 FuYuanChang Yiwu in a blind sampling from Marco last year.  I understood it well even as a blind sampling but it also piqued my curiosity as to what the other cakes in the Colours of Malaysia Sample Set might be like?  So I finally ended up purchasing a set!  After finishing these notes I went back and read my blind notes from last year on this same puerh and they are much better!  Haha!  Part of it simply speaks to how my evaluative sessions at work have gone downhill a bit but mainly it also speaks to the superiority of blind sampling.  There is something about blind sampling that really dials you into a session…

Dry leaves have a woody faint odour.

First infusion has a watery sweet talc cherry with a faint woody body.  Watery mouthfeeling with faint incense smoke in the distance.  Long sweet candy is left on the breath.

Second infusion has a rich woody oily almost bitter coco taste there are some resin woody notes in there. The mouthfeel has tightened up.  There is significant incense ash smoke.  Some throat simulations with slight drying mouthfeel.  Strong alerting energy.

Third infusion is left to cool and gives off a rich woody bitter-sweet incense smoke.  Silty a bit dry coating.  Strong energetic feeling. Some almost cinnamon spice in the woody not that sweet finish.   There is that talc powdery sweetness lingering throughout.

4th is left to cool and gives off a sweet woody incense taste not as bitter but woody incense. It has a creamy cherry talc powdery faintly underneath.  Qi is a bit spacy in the mind but mainly moderatly energetic.

5th is left to cool and gives off watery sweet woody almost floral sweet taste.  Smoke incense is substantial. Subtle mind spacy and mildly energetic.  Silty almost sandy feeling in the mouth.

6th is put into an overnight thermos and sipping from it a few hours later there is lots of smoky char with slight dry gripping mouthfeel.  Some sweetness tries to push through but can’t push past the smoke.

So far, early on here, this is one is winning the speed test out of the tasting set.

Marco’s (Late Steeps) Tasting notes

Peace 

2004 CNNP Red Mark: Rustic Sweat Heat Mesquite

 

This 2004 CNNP Red Label is a part of the Colours of Malaysia Quarter Cake Set from TeasWeLike.  I sampled the 2005 CNNP Blue Mark yesterday and it was a pretty satisfying easy to drink puerh and very different from this…


Dry leaves smell of dry woody almost roasted aroma.

Wet leaves have a sweet mesquite smoky odour.

First infusion has a Smokey woody incense- pretty strong smoke with a light plum sweetness to counterbalance the smoke.  Overall moistening mouthfeel with fine sand silt.

Second has a sweet mouthwatering plum taste with mesquite BBQ smoky background.  Smoke but not charred.  Warming Qi makes me sweat.  Mouthwatering with warm chest feeling some head beats but lots of heat making me sweat it out!  Armpits face and chest strong heat.

3rd is a balance of mesquite BBQ smoke and plum sweetness with the smoke starting to take over the sweet now.  Lubricating mouthfeel with fine silty sandy feeling.  Warming strong sweats.  

4th is left to cool and has a sweet plum onset with a strong smoke background.  Strong warming qi especially targets the face and chest.  You will sweat.  Smooth silty fine sandy mouthfeeling.

5th is left to cool and has a plum sweet onset that is quickly overtaken by smoke.  Warming break into a sweat Qi with some energetic feeling.  Mouthfeel is getting more sandy in the mouth.  This is classic rustic puerh stuff.

6th cooled is a smooth plum with mouthwatering sweet taste and feel with some fine grain sand.  Warming qi nature with nice uplifting feeling.  

7th was put into an overnight thermos steeping.  It comes out very sweet viscus creamy plum almost candy which fills the mouth with the thick viscus mouthwatering mouthfeeling.  The smoke is gone and there is a subtle background incense now at the end of the long sweet thick taste.  The sweet taste in this overnight thermos reminds me of a candy apple very delicious here.

Overall, this is a nice example of a smoky but very sweet rustic puerh.  The session progresses with smoke dominating the first few steeps then the sweetness builds up as the session goes on before completely overtaking the smoky rustic taste leaving us with a sweet end to the session with longing for childhood candy apples.  Most old school rustic puerh end to Smokey or not enough sweet to counterbalance puerh with the smoke wining at the end of the session.  This one sweet wins!  It should also be noted the powerful hot warming Qi that really makes you sweat!

Vs2006 Rustic Zhongcha from TeasWeLike- (wet leaves bottom) I sampled this one the next day as it is somewhat similar both are Rustic blends both Zhongcha generic brand both dry Mayalsian stored.  The rustic Zhongcha seems drier stored (Malaysian dry storage vs Malaysian dry Natural storage) with the leaves lighter and dry leaves smell more cherry sweet.  The liquid is much lighter as well.  There is more of a delicate higher quality to the material of the Rustic Zhongcha with more separate taste.  The Rustic Zhongcha has a more pronounced coolness camphor with more seporate sweet cherry plum taste.  The mouthfeel has a mild astringent gripping whereas the Red Label has more silty fullness.  The Rustic is more complex overall but has much more delicate flavours.  Where as the Red Label has much stronger and forward tastes, dense, rich tastes, more cohesive tastes and mainly stronger tastes.  The sweetness of the Red Mark is so strong and overtakes the smoke at the end of the session whereas the Rustic Zhongcha shows its complex dry storage at the end!  The strong warming Qi of the red Label is notable and stronger than the Rustic whereas the Rustic has more complex subtle Qi comparatively.  They are quite different afterall Rustic with better quality materials and dry storage subtly and Red label with more dense strong power…. But mainly sweetness!

Peace

Single Gongfu Cha Session Lasts A Week

 I was recently asked exactly the specifics of how I am stretching my puerh sessions across a week. So I thought I would just elaborate in a post.  I suppose it is quite unusual and, I believe, a product of my own invention.  The basis of the week long session is that I am using some basic concepts of gongfu cha brewing ,which I’ve been doing for decades now, and applying it to my novel life situation…

Why exactly would you want to steep a puerh across an entire week rather than just drink it in one sitting?  The short answer is really you would not want to do this.  I would much prefer sitting cross legged on the floor at my charcoal fired hearth and drinking an hours long session in ceremony while meditating and taking in the full vibe of the tea.  If you go far enough back in this blog that’s exactly what I am doing there.  Having young children pretty much wrecks this vibe.  If you only have one child it’s still kind of possible to do proper gongfu cha when they are at certain ages.  I used to wake up early and do so years back.  Having as many children like I have here now, it’s impossible.

For years now I have had my tea table set up right in the heart of the kitchen counter so I can brew facing out to everyone.  The kids sort of interact with my session today my toddler wanted to sniff my puerh mug which she undoubtedly learned from watching me gongfu brew.  Anyways, the mornings when I drink tea have just gotten progressively crazier and crazier with each passing year and I have found my self gravitating to larger and larger Yixing pots.  I don’t measure them exactly but first it was 275ML, then I got one a few years ago that is probably 400ML, the last one I got a few months back is maybe 600 ML? Playing around trying to steep many times in a super small pot is just too distracting and more work.  When you have a bunch of kids you have really hacked it if you mainly just keep it simple.  A year or so my large glass fair cup that I had for over a decade broke (any suggestions wear I can find a replacement?) so I just started to pour directly from my yixing pots directly into the mug.  I usually choose the colour I’m in the mood for and pour into these Classic Le Creuset mugs which really hold the heat in nicely.  I still pour into some small ceramic cups on the tea table at anytime during the week long sessions if I want to do shots to get a better concentrated read on a tea anytime throughout the session.  

The tea table setup is basically a front row of these 3 Larger yixing pots, back row of a large mug and smaller gongfu ceramic cups.  I snapped this picture of the display case in the kitchen and you can see it a bit.  I used an extra large white ceramic cappuccino mug for the largest pot and Classic Creuset mugs for the other two pots.  The mugs often sitting off the bamboo tea table and I use a handy tea shammy to wipe away any spillage.  Often I will have two weekly sessions going at once.

The xtra large yixing I might use 40g of puerh leaves.  Again I’m not sure because I don’t measure but when they open up they often fill the pot.  You can imagine these larger pots have a slower pour so they really push the dry leaf pretty hard.  They also will loose less heat than a smaller pot as well.  First I'm just doing flash steeping directly into the mug.  I often use a technique called “keeping the root” whereby you always leave a 1/5 of the liquid in the mug before pouring another flash steeping into the mug.  If I want I increase the steeping time as needed.

You can imagine that I’m not having too many steepings each morning - sometimes just one others a handful.  Then I just simply put my bamboo table back up into the display case there with the pots and cups and with the mugs if they are still holding the root.  This keeps the kids from playing around with my hundred dollar pots… haha.  The next day I just pull the bamboo table down from the display case and step the leaves that were left in the pot without water on them overnight.  Ideally the pots would go in a fridge but again it would be too easy for someone to accidentally break a pot in the fridge.  This goes on for days until the tea leaves are sufficiently spent then I leave the boiling water on them in the pot overnight to push the last of it out.  I find that this style of brewing let’s you really reflect on the steepings of the week long session that you had that particular day and how it compared to the days before.  It’s like a full on slow motion style of gongfu cha.  It’s also a pretty heavy handed way of brewing which usually does aged tea well.

Peace

2005 CNNP Blue Mark: Interesting Enough Complexities

 


This 2005 CNNP Blue Mark is from the a Malaysian Dry Natural Storage Colours of Malaysia Quarter Cake Set from TeasWeLike.  It also is being

offered as a stand alone 357g cakes for $188.00 or $0.52/g.  I found it a bit unique, complex, and interesting.



Dry leaf has a dry distant woody odour and seems to be cover in a fine white dust I’m not sure if it’s the wrapper or mould?  Either way doesn’t stop me…

First infusion has a creamy sweet watery almost woody taste in a wet mouthfeel.  There is a faint powdery talc creamy sweetness throughout.  The mouthfeel is wet but has a bit of fine silty dryness.

Second has a woody teak woody onset with a creamy sweet layer underneath.  The sweetness is the talc creamy almost cherry.  The sweetness returns  almost grape and the mouthfeel has a bit of pucker but very faintly.  Nice grape sweetness into the throat.  There is a silty mouthfeel and open throat.  With a stick roof and gums.  Nice slowing Qi.

Third infusion has a woody creamy talc sweetness with a silty gripping mouthfeel.  There are subtle almost trap sweet notes when swallowing in the throat.  Senses are a touch more sensitive with a bit of slow motion Qi.

Fourth infusion has a bit of a smoky woody watery onset with less talc sweetness hardly any now.  There is a bit of bitterness and a flatter slight gripping mouthfeel.  Teeth, gums, roof feel squeaky dry. A bit sense enhancing. 

5th has a water woody slight talc creamy sweetness.  There is a silty dry mouthfeel with a bit gripping.  I take a sigh with subtle soft sense enhancements.

6th is a watery talc woody creamy sweet.  Dry woody slight sweet finish.  Dry silty finish.  Deep sighs with visual acuity heightened.  

7th is a good 30 min steeping.  It comes out woody and silty not sweet not bitter but smooth with a faint incense finish.

8th is an overnight Thermos steeping and is oily slippery with a viscous sweetness and subtle woody taste.  The sweetness has a sugary almost pastry taste to it.  Nice an oily feeling.

This is pretty easy to drink with a nice smoothness to it and Qi that is much better than standard factory fare.  It has a bit of mind slowing and sense enhancements Qi.  The mouthfeel is really good with four different stimulations playing out in the mouth- squeaky gums and roof, silty texture, and nice mouthwatering oily viscus and some mild throat gripping stimulating.  The sweetness is similarly complex with a talc creamy sweetness, grape like returning sweetness and a pastry sugar sweetness in the overnight steepings.  The thickness and pastry taste reminds me of ManZhuan.  For the price this interesting blend has lots to offer and I had a great time with it!  Thinking about testing out a full cake in the speed test.

Edit Nov27/23: I had this one a few weeks later and it has this nice bitter coco and lubricating feeling.  It reminds me lots of 7542 504… I should compare these.

Peace

2001 Red Ribbon (First Release Storage Option) vs Natural Malaysian Storage (Second Release Storage Option)

  

There is a bit of confusion coming from TeasWeLike about the storage options on this solid 2001 Red Ribbon.  So I’m going to give it a try here…

I believe this is the first storage option offered on this 2001 Red Ribbon ($188.00 for 357g cake or $0.53/g) from TeasWeLike.  This first 2001 Red Ribbon storage offering sold out reasonably fast when it was first offered, I believe, after a favourable review on TeaDB.  It took a long while to restock.

I purchased and reviewed the second storage option of this cake two years ago.  Initially it was described on the site as a Natural Malaysian stored cake and it’s really did mainly have this vibe.  However, later it was revealed that it was stored in Hongkong the first 5 years the same as the first storage option/offering but was then stored in more dry stored Malaysian conditions for 15 years vs the first option which was more humidly stored.  I am a bit surprised that the “2001 Red Ribbon Natural Malaysian Storage” had Hongkong storage on it as well.  I think this cake had this very present teak woody resin taste to it that I define as very strong Natural Malaysian character.  Looking back at my notes there are also nutty notes that are often found in HongKong storage.  Interestingly the wetter cake is quite different…

First infusion has a woody dirt almond nut taste.  Nutty almost metallic taste with a slippery slight drying mouthfeeling and faint coolness in the breath.  

Second infusion has a woody but mainly nutty taste of almonds.  There is some lesser dirt taste but nice strong rich nutty taste.  Some faint cooling with a slight dry mouthfeel.  

Third infusion is left to cool and has a rich woody nutty dirt taste with an almost slippery but mainly sticky dry mouthfeeling.  Full mouthfeel.  Deep chesty feeling with alertness and heart beats.  Overall rich aged feeling.

Fouth infusion has a woody nutty dirt taste.  Nice mouth watering feeling with a slight dry gripping slippery feel with very faint cool breath.

5th is a nutty woody dirt.  There is some sweet returning taste.  Stick dry mouthfeeling.  Strong mind alerting and warming qi.

6th has a watery woody sweet taste less nutty now and less dirt the mouthfeel is at first watery/slippery but becomes dry gripping.  Faint cool breath. Warming face qi with some deep heart beats and energetic feeling.  

7th is put into a long thermos steeping and gives off a sweet slightly syrupy woody dirt rich taste with a subtle talc sweet cherry returning sweetness.  There is a bit of bitter gripping feeling but not overwhelming which gives it presence in the mouth.  Chest beats with energetic feeling.

8th is an overnight thermos and gives off a mainly sweet slightly woody dirt with a mild mouthwatering feeling.

Vs 2001 Red Ribbon Natural Malaysian Storage- is more teal woody resin with almost candy finish where the wetter storage bings out a lot of dirt tastes, nuttier tastes, not as woody, but more plum cherry talc sweetness.  They are both pretty satisfying aged puerh and I don’t know which I would prefer… but I do know that the purity and straightforwardness of the woody teak flavour resin is something that I don’t have in the puerhs I have so I finished that cake in about a year … haha 

James and Denny’s (TeaDB) Tasting Notes

Peace

2006 Dragon Tea House Yiwu: Heartburn!

This 2006 Dragon Tea House Yiwu goes for $480 for 400g cake or $1.20/g.  It’s billed as a favourite of Dragon Tea House productions…

Dry leaves have a smokey with a sweet odour underneath.

First infusion has a creamy oily rich expanding cooling sweetness. Nice oily creamy viscus taste. There is a bit of creamy sweetness that exapands in the returning taste then a finish of smoke.  Nice relaxing focusing feeling.

The second infusion has a creamy oily viscus sweetness with subtel hint of floral that expands as the cooling throat sensation takes hold.  Nice smooth creamy buttery sweet taste with overall rich and deeply satisfying rich oily taste.  Finish is a bit smoky but still creamy oily sweet.  Very oily and rich presentation with smooth mouthfeeling and deep thoat opening and deep trapped saliva gob.  Strong Wave of Qi wraps around me and makes my heart expand and vibrate.  I feel very spacy and out of body with mind floating sensations. 

The third infusion has a rich woody resin smokey onset with some mouth and throat gripping a strong saliva producing feeling.  Strong Qi pushes me into a sweat with face and head numb and spaced out feeling.  The cooled down infusion has an almost melon floral creamy sweet onset with a touch of astringency and smoke.  Nice saliva producing in the mouth and strong Qi.

The fourth infusion has a milky chocolate that is more milk chocolate than dark chocolate.  Nice rich chocolate milk taste with chalky creamy full mouthfeeling.  Very nice full creamy sweet taste.  Nice mouth salivating astringency from last few infusions is gone now. 

5^th has a rich woody almost salty sweetness that has a creamy sweet backbone.  Nice fully chalky creamy feeling in the mouth with deep throat opening and cooling with returning chocolate taste with subtle not really floral fruity almost tobacco subtle suggestions as well.  Nice chest opening feeling and mind floating feeling.

6^th has a smoke woody onset with incense- resin taste initially with a subtle coolness and some creamy sweetness returns.  Overall lots of smokey taste, char more than incense.  Nice mouth salivating and strong mind freeing Qi feeling. 

7^th is left to cool in the cup and gives off a sweet fruity taste with a smoke char finish.  Nice pop of fresh melon fruity taste fades into a more dry gripping smoke that is a bit dry and gritty but mainly full oily in the mouth.  Nice mind floating Qi.  You can really feel it in the face too with a numbing feeling and arms are really light and airy.

8^th has a rich almost coffee like taste with a bland-bitter-woody-roasty-smoke onset.  Nice roasted nut sort of lingering sweetness in the mouth.  Nice floating body Qi feeling.  Oily saliva producing even minutes later.  Strong Heart opening feelng.

9^th is left to cool and gives off a sweet melon rich bitter woody coffee sweet creamy onset.  There is some smoke in there and an overall resin sweet base taste.  Nice pop of sweet taste and dense layered tastes.  Strong Heart opening, floating head/limbs Qi.

10^th is left to cool and gives off a bitter woody melon fresh fruity roasted coffee taste.  Really nice condensed taste with a resin roasted coffee base taste with faint smoke.  Nice dry silty mouthfeeling now.  Long coffee and sweet melon aftertaste with saliva producing effect. 

11^th has a roasted nut and melon onset with a coffee-like bitter roast base taste.  Lots of condensed strong taste initially with a returning milky creamy sweet-bitter coffee aftertaste.  There is still a splash of melon taste initially.  The mouthfeeling is getting more silty-dry and full with lots of saliva producing.   It doesn’t finish as sweet as is a bitter-bland coffee.  Heart opening chest opening feeling with floating head and limbs that are a bit heavy now.

13^th infusion has a smoke woody resin onset with a smothered sweetness that can’t quite break through.  There is a stronger gripping dry mouthfeeling and more of a bitter-dry-coffee taste to it.  Not any saliva producing so this infusion comes off a bit rougher.  Nice mind floating…

Overall this is a pretty awesome example of Yiwu!  Unfortunately it’s acidity was maybe actually and truly acidic and this puerh gave me heartburn every time I consumed it.  No puerh has ever did this to me.  I know acidity in puerh can be quite a positive attribute, even for me, but this one is something else.  The 2001 Menghai Tea Factory 7542 Simplified Yun, 2003 Hongkong Henry Serious Prescription, and 1997 Menghai Tea Factoy ShuiLanYin are examples of acidic puerh which I find to be excellent but none ever actually give me acid reflux (of course the ones I’ve caked have Traditional HongKong Storage on them and this Dragon Tea House is dry stored)!  The strange thing is, I never get heartburn… damn it but I really like this puerh! 

I think I would really like to try the 2004 Dragon Tea House Yiwu with the site bragging it’s power and tight compression.  I was pretty much offline over the last few weeks so missed the preorder.  Once I track it down there will be a good comparison tasting…

Marco’s (Late Steeps) Tasting Notes

James and Denny’s (Tea DB) Tasting Notes

Shah8’s Tasting Notes

Peace

When the Autumn Cold Comes, Drink Aged Puerh

 I had a really wonderful month or so of fresh puerh reviews in early- to mid-Autumn from Tea Encounter, ChenYuan Hao and Puerist!  The last few years here in the Canadian prairies have had warm early- and mid-Autumns.  This weather makes it tolerable to even drink fresh puerh.  The last few years have also had early Winters with snow arriving before the end of October and staying until the melt off in Spring.  The intensity of the shift from warm to cold in a few weeks really shocks the system and sends you gravitating towards aged and semi aged puerh almost immediately.  This year was very much the same.

The last few years I had consumed no fresh puerh from this time until Spring.  This year the snow and cold came even a few weeks earlier and really gave the body a jolt.  As it were, I still had a few more fresh 2023 Chenyuan Hao samples left so I uncomfortably pushed through.  If they weren’t so damn good I surely would have waited for next year.  After finishing those off I have been really enjoying some aged puerh over the last few weeks here.  

I have been using my Large and XL Yixing pots and steeping out some satisfying aged puerh into a mug.  Typically I am steeping the same leaves out over 3-7 days.  It’s a really slow way of unraveling a puerh over a really long time and I’m quite enjoying it.  Many days I have spent sitting by the wood burning fireplace sipping at these comforting puerhs as the picturesque snow coats the world.  Some 90s stuff, Traditional Hongkong storage stuff,  some iron bings and even some Yang Qing Hao have been given the weeks long strong hand big pot treatment. Haha

I have, as I always have done for years now, been drinking lots of puerh from my favourite puerh vendor TeasWeLike.  The big size quarter cakes and full cakes leave me in no rush to evaluate and I catch myself lost in my enjoyment of drinking them as I think to myself “ I should really write something about this sometime.”  I made a few purchases over the last few months stocking some of my favourites to consume as it gets cold out.  They have such satisfying puerhs.  I am to post a bunch of it in the next month or so.

Until then…

Peace