7.5g/120mL, just off boil

Wash (10s) - gentle aroma, slight fruity/vinous with light florals, light woody funk on gaiwan lid

Steep 1 (flash) - light steep, instant potent sugary note, sugar cookies, some juicy salivation, hints of light stemmy/grassy notes

Steep 2 (flash) - some oily floral bitterness hits up front masking the immediate sweetness, oiliness clings, slurps open up florals and nectarine skins in the open mouth, eventually some vanilla sweetness starts to develop very late

Steep 3 (5s) - bitterness slightly softer, a bit of fruit up front moves floral, floral sweetness develops late but relatively low, not really sure where this wants to go right now flavor-wise, sweetness starting to coat the gums late in finish, grounding feeling

Steep 4 (10s) - florals riding that saccharine note and light bitterness and coming across sickly sweet, tongue starting to tingle

Steep 5 (15s, reboil) - can't shake that clash between that oiliness and the sweetness here, its not super bitter but the two flavors are fighting and im stuck in the middle, some fruit notes mixing in along with some peppery arugula

Steep 6 (20s) - 🫤

Steep 7+ (30s+) - same

Overall Impression - this is by far one of the priciest teas I've had in recent memory, and it's just not doing it for me. It could certainly solely be a matter of personal tastes, as it is a clash of flavor components that is turning me off from this. The material seems solid, and I could see that immediate sweetness being a draw for some. It would be interesting to see how this brews up at a lower ratio.

I've tried a couple of aged shengs recently for the first time and the older it was the more sour it was, especially when pushed. Is this normal?

I actually started this order unrelated last week when I saw a post about sticky rice ripe, and someone mentioned they really liked yunnan sourcings pink wrapper ones. ordered those, couldn’t resist throwing in a few tuos of 7663 and some dayi 7452 . couldn’t find a good price on my beloved v93 so decided to try the 7452. havent brewwd the 7452 yet. The teas arrived Monday and since I was taking today off anyways I took it as a sign for a little midnight brewin while I binge

the sticky rice ripe is mind blowing. It really tastes like sticky rice and gives that deliciously good warm feeling of eating fresh sticky rice. Absolutely coming back to this, even if it’s not too woody or camphorous but who cares!

the 7663 is good. I gotta sit with this one because to be honest I was so enthralled with the sticky rice I didn’t focus on the 7663, and may have been lazy with the brewing as well. but it is very good for a cheap tuo. Certainly worth checking if youre looking for a potential cheap daily ripe. It’s woody, not too bold. Not too Camphorous or medicinal. Can’t say much else tbh.

cyberpunk is excellent. From first watch, at least first impression it didn’t quite surpass the first season but the story is still great. Didn’t quite find a character as emotionally attaching as David and Lucy, but it’s still very good and worth a binge watch if that’s your thing (and you liked the first season)

Hello! I’m getting started with puer tea and it’s been recommended I keep a tea journal. For those of you who keep one, how have you formatted it, and what have you found most helpful over time? I’m mostly keeping rough notes on tasting notes coming through, whether I like it, what tea it is, where it’s from, the price, and other observations. Really loving it so far!

The Setup: Started with 3 teaspoons of Milk Oolong, followed right after by 4 heaped teaspoons of heavy Shu Puerh.

The Progression: The infusion hit fast and clean. Almost immediately, there was a sharp surge in focus and physical energy, completely cutting through any fatigue.

The Shift: That energy instantly translated into an intense craving for active music.

The Result: The momentum rolled straight into dancing and a spontaneous need to move. A short, perfectly direct trajectory from a tea session straight to the dance floor.

Edit: I think it might be a placebo effect. Do you think this is a real effect?

I’m almost at the end of this bag 😫

I unwrapped an aged pu-erh cake that I bought recently. First, I noticed holes in it, as if insects had bored through the tea. Second, there’s some kind of orange-colored dust inside.
Has anyone experienced anything like this?

8g/120mL, just off boil

Wash (10s) - resinous aroma of cut flower stems and rose petals, gaiwan lids adds a funky/leathery bass note

Steep 1 (flash) - lots to unpack right in the first sip, sweet and resinous with rose notes, bitterness linked to that bright resinous/oily note, sweetness pops in and out before finding lightly sitting on the gums, some stemmy and mossy notes in the soup itself, tingle developing on the lips, hints of aromatic berries join in late

Steep 2 (flash) - more of that cut flower stems bright note early on, floral aromatics fill the open mouth, oiliness and florals hinting at bitterness without biting particularly hard, floral notes rising from the throat after a swallow and combine with a late sweetness to hint at strawberries

Steep 3 (5s) - firm oily flower stem note never quite crosses to bitterness but provides a firm backbone, tongue coating not quite dry but borderline, warmth and energized feeling rising from the chest

Steep 4 (10s) - that flower stem brightness bringing in hints of pine needles with it, huigan sweetness really starting to stretch out more, ripe strawberry notes in the finish are joined by lemon zest after several minutes of waiting, salivation starting to increase

Steep 5 (15s, reboil) - hotter water gives a big mouthful of flower petals initially, sweetness has built to the point where it rises up to meet those floral notes,

Steep 6 (20s) - sweetness becoming a bigger and bigger part as the steeps progress with those big floral notes overlaid on top

Steep 7+ (30s+) - keeps going and going, greenness fades with time but florals and sweetness remain

Overall Impression - For me, good young Nannuo always has a nice brightness to it, and this is a shining example of what I expect. This takes you through the whole flower shop as you get the brightness and resinous note of fresh cut flower stems to open, followed by a mouth full of floral notes as sweetness builds underneath, this gets topped off with ripe strawberry notes (which I will argue are more of a floral aroma than fruity). The gushu mouthfeel and huigan are in full display, but are overshadowed by the flavor here.

Hi all! Looking for your opinion on what would be a very solid supplier for sourcing old material. I would am able to source directly in china if you know a good vendor only shipping there.
I’d like to find someone offering good price per quality, but every once in a while I am fine with paying up for some exceptional stuff.
I already know the big names such as KTM, but ideally I’d like to find someone selecting a bit more.
Let me know your thoughts!

Would love to branch into puer more but I'm not sure where to really start. Feeling a bit overwhelmed tbh. I tried a few from a very limited selection at a local tea shop with mixed results, but puer is definitely not their expertise at all and I'm not really sure what I had and where to go from there. Both were pretty dark in color.

I liked one that was just called "Aged Yunnan". Reminded me of wet forest floor. I would not mind finding something similar.

I also tried a sticky rice puer. It was very different from the one above and I really disliked it. I'm not sure how I'd describe the flavor but it was just gross to me.

edit: I am located in the U.S./soon to be in Australia

Heya folks

I don’t know a ton about puer, sorry. I’ve recently bought a sample of a Shou labeled “Lao Bao Zhan 2014/2021” from a pretty reputable vendor. Still, even with the markup of the place I bought it the price I presume is already a strong indicator that it isn’t authentic, or at least not fully. That doesn’t really matter to me. But I’m curious to learn a bit. For a point of reference if I translate this shops prices into Europe/US prices it would have probably been 0,30-0,40 / gram in Europe or US. The tea was quite tightly compressed / quite a stone hard piece I got.

But I’m curious, w/ the fake LBZ teas out there, I assume that shou is generally as suspect as sheng? I read about blended teas that contain a bit of LBZ mixed with Bulang or similar tea, and about Bulang or others that are straight up mislabeled. Is this generally the case? Any other comments on this group of teas or thoughts in general? Are the myriad fake ones still generally viewed as pretty good?

This tea is pleasant, almost no funk, dark, rich, tending towards woodsy and maybe a little yeasty/bready sweetness but not too much into the caramel / brown sugar flavors.

This seems like the best value sampler on the market, how much did it cost last year(us dollars)? Thank you!

Just got into puer tea, have a modest set up and a full cake of old comrad I got from a friend who visits family in China. Looking for different teas to expand my horizons as I chip away at my daily drinker. Thanks!

Maybe a stupid question, but as I understand the processing for sheng and green tea is quite similar, the main difference being that sheng is cooked slightly cooler so that not all of the enzymes denature.

If this is the case why does very young sheng taste so different from green tea? Am I missing something?

8g/120mL, just off boil

Wash (10s) - light aroma - sweet and mossy, woody/mossy funk on the gaiwan lid

Steep 1 (flash) - light steep, mossiness in soup, initial sweet fruit turning candy like, hints of spearmint, cooling in the mouth and on lips developing

Steep 2 (flash) - a little fuller, but still quite soft, hint of funk quickly passes by initially, bright sweet herbs continue giving a spearmint/mojito impression, cooling and salivation develop as the steep develops, light cooling sweetness on roof of mouth

Steep 3 (5s) - mossy funk holding a bit deeper into the sip now, sweetness still quite low, stemmy note moves in as flavor into the finish, buoyant feeling with deep relaxation and occasional snippets of synesthesia, very late low development of huigan sweetness, creaminess in the mouthfeel

Steep 4 (10s) - waiting patiently for the huigan to develop from the prior steep is allowing it to wrap over to the start of the sips on this steep, light lemon cream

At this point I accidentally turned on talk-to-text and it paused my radio:

no, no, no, come on, dude. I am like in the f****** zone. That's my favorite tune

Thought I'd keep that in 😆

Huigan picking up now, green saplings coated in lemon cream, hints of hop/cannabis terpenes

Steep 5 (15s, reboil) - reheating brings back more of that stemmy/mossy funk but not at the expense of the lingering huigan notes, creamy mouthfeel continues and cooling sensation is picking back up, some winy/boozy notes mixing in, feeling loose and comfortable all over

Steep 6 (20s) - mojito vibes in full swing with cooling herbal notes pairing with a lightly sweet creamy citrus note

Steep 7+ (40s+) - creamy lemon paired with green herbs and lingering terpene top notes

Overall Impression - I don't generally drink tea looking for somatic effects; I typically prioritize flavor and mouthfeel. But there is something about this session that has put me in a nice mind and body feel. I came into this session tense and tired, but now I am loose and relaxed.

Flavor-wise, I was a little worried early on that this was going to be dominated by that mossy funk without developing any balance. Thankfully my patience was rewarded with a nice creamy lemon note, and that moss moving more to fresh mint and cooling herbs. This is another excellent tea from Rivers & Lakes, and it was exactly the session I needed tonight.

Got this based on some comment someone made on some thread about puers that hit above their price.

This is a really cheap cake, got it from eBay for 25$ including shipping taxes and all the EU stuff. For a 400g cake, this is at the absolute cheapest end you can basically get shipped & taxed. Until some Chinese comes and ruins my day commenting how they can get this for 50cents :)

Its clearly lower end material, some sticks and stuff. But the overall tea is nice and smooth. Nothing to really complain, and it does compare to some bit more expensive cakes perfectly well.

A solid daily drinker factory cake.

Got it from this seller : TuLin Phoenix 2019 Chinese PuEr Tea Ripe 8504 (701) Gongting Shu Pu Er Cake 400g | eBay

Got few bucks off by haggling a bit with the offer. Cant resist that.

8g/120mL, just off boil

Wash (10s) - aroma brothy and woody, gaiwan lid adds a depth of woodiness and s I me funk

Steep 1 (flash) - quick candy note with some hints of campfire, sweetness quick to move to gums, green vegetables, brothiness - almost meaty

Steep 2 (flash) - brothy/meaty character continues, not sure if the hints of smoke and salinity are real or just the power of suggestion based on that brothy richness, lemon zest already creeping into the huigan, but of a brothy green tea vibe with gushu sheng mouthfeel and finish, hints of leathery funk moving in but without a big bite to it, sweetness and lemon zest climbing the back of the throat and across the palate and gums

Steep 3 (5s) - huigan sweetness coming earlier, still savory and brothy up front and mid sip, but that morphs to sweetness as the thickness in the mouthfeel remains deep into the finish

Steep 4 (15s) - meatiness moving to sweet while retaining a nice thickness in the mouth, some cooling developing

Steep 5 (20s, reboil) - added heat brings a touch of a leathery bite and some grassy bitterness vegetables along with the brothiness, a touch of minerality seems to be building up underneath as the huigan rolls in

Steep 6 (30s) - thickness to the broth starting to die down a bit, but a minerality has started to move in and provide more of the backbone

Steep 7+ (45s+) - evolution from brothy to mineral continuea under that rich citrus-sweet huigan

Overall Impression - This tea is a bit of an enigma for me. I'll start with the end - the finish and huigan are exactly what I'd expect from gushu Banzhang material. Big huigan erupting from the back of the throat and coating the mouth with a lingering lemony sweetness. But the start is hard to pin down. It is on one hand reminiscent of green tea and on the other hand reminiscent of factory puer. The brothy and meaty character isn't something I love, but it isn't exactly off-putting here. This is pleasant to drink now, but I won't be stashing a cake away once I finish my sample on this one.

The packaging just said “Menghai Sheng 2004”