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First tasting of today is Crimson Lotus 2013 lucky cloud. This is a very dark medium sized cake, rather tightly compressed. This is one of the first full cakes Ive gotten instead of samples, so the first order of business was breaking into the cake. Since I dont have a puerh pick, I found a small thin cheese knife instead and worked it around the edge. Breaking off a about a 3 1/3 gram piece, then I scraped up a few of the broken pieces that fell off and in the yixing they all go, it was a bit over 4 grams total.

Giving it a quick wash that was all it needed, a single wash. It produced a clear very light brown liquor, giving it a good smell, a tiny sip and then tossing the rest of the wash, I decided it was ready to infuse.

The first infusion produced a very dark brown liquor as the leaves opened up, an aroma of peat, plums and caramel greeted me. And though it had a very slight fermentation aroma it wasnt at all unpleasant, it came out smooth and clean. The broth was sweet, smooth and with a nice pleasant aftertaste.

The second infusion was much darker producing a nearly black liquor that was dark,creamy, smooth and sweet. The flavor was a little more intense and actually made my tongue tingle a little. This is a very nice tea with a good mouth feel and a smooth sweetness. Dont let the dark color fool you, this is a wonderful afternoon sipping tea.

The third infusion was about the same darkness, showing this tea was going to have alot of staying power, the taste and aroma might be even a bit stronger. The slight tingle got a bit more pronounced. I really like this tea alot.. it would go well with strong foods, ones that you might think would overpower the tea.

The fourth was the same as the third, again showing the staying power of a good shou puerh. The flavors and aromas are staying pretty consistent at this point, the umami might be getting a bit more pronounced though, as well as the mouthfeel getting a bit more intense as well.

Im going to go finish up this tea, but I have a feeling Ill be steeping this for a while.

I highly recomend this to anyone who likes shou puerh! This is going up there with my favorite tea!

Last up for this month from Yunnan sourcing tea of the month club for raw. We have Monkey Mini tuo. I started by pre heating my yixing. After doing a single wash which was sufficient since there was very little particulate. I did my first brew which produced a surprisingly golden liquor, it almost looks like it has a couple years of age on it. Tasting it gave me a honey, vegetal and astringent taste and aroma. A little more tasting and I got some actual bitter notes as well as asparagus.

THe second steeping was even stronger as the leaves opened up a bit more, producing a bit darker liquor, the bitterness also came out a bit more in this steeping as well as the honey and vegetal notes. Its surprisingly strong for a raw with no age on it, and the bitterness is fairly controlled.

The third steeping came out very close to the second showing this tea is going to have some staying power brewing it over the evening, I expect to get about 10 steeping from this. Its really surprisingly sweet, and a few years is going to do wonders for this tea, as well as possibly some wet storing.

I do recommend trying this tea if you like strong but sweet raws, with a controlled amount of bitterness. Very nice job this month Yunnan sourcing

First tasting of the day is Fu Yuan Chang Raw cake from Yunnan sourcing and the third item from the monthly raw puerh club. This tea is lightly aged at about 8 years old. I really like tea at this point, age has taken off some of the rough bitter edges, but it hasnt quite gone all the way into deep earthy tones yet.

I started this by doing a wash, there was a tiny bit of particulate but it seemed a single wash enough to clean the leaves and then get them to open up. I tasted and smelled the wash and it was vegetal, astringent and gave off a strong green tea aroma. The liquor was a pale golden color, not at all surprising, showing a bit of age but still keeping the young raw characteristics.

The first infusion darkened slightly and mellowed as well, bringing out some honey, grass, hay, umami and sweet flavors and aroma. There was a slight bitterness and astringency as well, but it was very subdued. It smoothed out alot in the first infusion.

The second infusion got some more vegetal and hay aromas as well as a bit more honey and sweetness. It has a nice mouthfeel as well now as the leaves are opening up a bit more. The grass and hay are still there as well, it seems to be blending a bit better now with the flavors mixing more completely.

The third infusion was the best, a bit more bitter, but the rest of the flavors popping out more strongly. It was also the most complex, with some of the flavors and aroma’s subtle and I couldnt quite get them all.

The tea seems to have some staying power and I figure I will get at least 10 infusions from it. As is normal with pu’erh it seems to peak around 3rd or 4th infusion and then slowly come down from there. The leaves are now fully opened up and the tea was at its darkest in the third infusion. A medium golden color. The fourth was almost but not quite as dark , even though I steeped it a bit longer.

I highly recommend this tea if you like the in between stages, the place between a young and an aged raw. I happen to love it at this point, as the tea still has some bite, but has lost some of that young bitter astringency.

My first tasting of the day is Yunnan sourcing Ye Zhu Tang raw pu’erh cake. THis was the second offering in the raw puerh tea of the month club. I started with using 110 ml of water in a my Yixing pot. I started with a quick rinse of the tea leaves to open them up, there was almost no dust, but the leaves were a little stubborn in opening up so I did a second wash. I did sip the second wash to see what I would be getting, and was surprised it had nice honey and sweet notes and the bitterness was really mild.

The first proper infusion I got a clear pale yellow liquor that was sweet, astringent, with floral, vegetal and bitter notes. It has a wonderful mouth feel and is a bit sweeter than might be expected for a young raw. I really liked this.

The second proper infusion the leaves started to open up proper now, again giving a clear yellow liquor with a bit more of the bitterness coming out now, but not overpowering it. And the honey flavor also became more pronounced, this was my favorite infusion.

The third infusion the bitterness creeped up on it a bit more. It was still sweet, but it had citrus notes at this point, sweet, astringent and bitter, it also lost some of the honey flavors. I have a feeling those will come back in the later infusions.

The fourth infusion was spectacular, the bitterness mostly vanished and the honey notes came back much stronger now. It also darkened slightly looking more apple juice color than before. I havent started increasing the time yet either, this is 1 , 2, 3, pour and let the yixing steep as it pours.

Im going to go steep out the rest of this wonderful tea. I have a feeling I will get 10 from this easy. A very nice young raw with a bit more sweetness.

Highly recomended.

PS First to post again, Im on a roll!

Second sampling of the day is 2007 huang zhi shou. I was in the mood for another strong tea today and picked this one. I started with giving the tea a wash to clear the dust and a bit of the ripe puerh dank from it. After looking at the leaves, and they were still packed pretty darn tightly, I decided to give it a second wash. I did sip the second wash and was surprised to find it was actually decent, though a bit watery since I flash washed.

The first proper infusion gave me a dark chocolate looking liquor that had scents of earth, peat, oak, and caramel. I also got a hint of cacao in it and a slightly lingering aftertaste that was quite pleasant. This was done with like a 1, 2, 3, start pouring and using the about 5-6 second pour of the yixing as most of the steep.

The second infusion gave a darker liquor and a tiny bit of cloudiness, probably as the leaves really opened now and started giving their all. This infusion was wonderful, sweet, dark, oak, earth, maybe berries or something as well. Basically everything you want in a dark ripe.

The third infusion is always the most fun when it comes to a shou puerh. Basically I poured the water in, and then right out again as fast as possible and I still got a liquor that was nearly black. This is the most intense infusion and it was quite dark, and earthy and sweet. The third usually isnt my favorite, it something gets to be a bit too much and this was similar. It was still good but its a bit much.

The fourth infusion is almost always my favorite, the leaves have poured their heart out in the third and now you get that beautiful slow slide. All the flavors are coming out, the notes are high and you get a chance to give it a moment to steep. Yup this was my favorite, dark sweet and delightful and not overpowering at all. This is what I wait for when I break open a shou!

The fifth and on infusions I slowly increase the time to maintain as much as the delight as I had in that fourth. I got about 3-4 more good steeps out of this before it started to wear down, but its got quite a bit of power and got nearly 10 steeps from it. Very nice tea, plenty of staying power.

I only got a slight bit of dankness in the first wash, and by the first infusion all hints of it are gone. I probably could have skipped the second wash, but it all worked out good.

Highly recommended if you like dark shou tea. I got this as part of my what is puerh from crimson lotus.

First tasting of the day, Russian caravan by the tea spot. This one has been a bit of an adventure. First of all the tea is incredibly strong tasting even with very quick steeps, and is very smokey.

I started this by giving it an incredibly quick rinse, since it has pu and oolong and I want to open the leaves up a little. I usually dont wash blacks. The first infusion was about a 5 second flash steep, then using the pour time of the yixing to steep the leaves. I got a dark brown liquor that smelled of smoke, caramel, burnt sugar and wood. A very earthy strong tea.

This is where it gets interesting, the first infusion is heavily influenced by the lapsang souchong, because the pu and oolong havent fully opened up yet, but the black tea is in full party mode already.

The second infusion was probably the best as I got a good mix of all the flavors here, sweetness, earthiness, smoke, wood and a bit of cacao. Slightly darker brown as the oolong and puerh are starting to open up.

On the third infusion the blacks are starting to lose a little ground here and the oolong and puerh are just coming into their own here. The tea gets very dark at this point, as the ripe puerh basically explodes with color, anyone who has ever brewed a ripe knows what I mean. Earth, wood, cacao are really predominant at this point.

The fourth and later infusions started to slightly tone down, the black teas kinda half calling it quits, but the puerh and oolong still chugging along as is the way with both of those tea’s.

Im not 100% sure of this tea, its a powerful morning caffeine kick thats for sure, and the strong flavor will wake you up in a hurry. And the flavor changes more than most over steepings as the different tea’s infuse differently. But sometimes it feels like its slightly working against itself.

I do recommend it, but realize you are in for an unusual ride.

Today we have Yunnan Sourcing tea from the raw pu’erh club. I let this rest for 4 or 5 days first before sampling. I started by lightly breaking up the sample into smaller pieces, heating up my yixing. Then adding the leaf and a quick rinse. It was so clean only one rinse was needed.

The first steeping which was barely more than a flash steeping produced a light pale liquor looking much like a green tea. I got strong grassy note aroma right off the bat. The taste was grassy, vegetal, clean and astringent and a teeny bit too bitter.

The second steeping again flash steeped produced a similar liquor almost exactly the same. Though all the flavors and aroma’s were a tiny bit stronger. The third steeping again produced much the same result, telling me this tea has a bit of staying power. The fourth steeping was actually slightly stronger, bringing in a tiny bit of citrus taste to it. The fifth was also a bit citrus as well.

Im not getting much of the sweet flavors mentioned in the description. I do like this tea, its quite refreshing and though bitter isnt overpoweringly so. I think even a few years on this tea will make it in something exceptional.

I recommend this tea to people who like greens and young raws. Its quite nice , grassy and vegetal with a good mouthfeel and nice staying power.

Ps! First post!

Today’s tasting is white peony by Teavivre. I started by taking out the glass pot for this one, as I want to bleed off the heat as quickly as possible since this is such a delicate tea. Heating up the pot first, but skipping a rinse with this one. I went right to the brew and went for about 30-40 seconds at 175. Then removing the basket from the glass teapot. I got scents of wheat, sugar, grass and possibly something else, hay maybe.

The tasting produced many of the same flavors and aromas and they are very subtle, which is the way with good white tea. The steeping produced a clear very pale yellow liquor with a very nice mouth feel to it, and it has just the hint of aftertaste. A second steeping produced many of the same flavors and aroma’s but slightly stronger which is again fairly normal for a white, the tea intensifies a bit on the second steeping which is usually the best.

I like this tea a lot, its a good relaxing tea which wont overpower you with strong flavors or aromas. I recommend this to any fans of white tea or peony, or silver needle if you are just looking for a nice relaxing tea to treat yourself.

February tea of the month club has sent me this tea, and for my second tasting of the day we have the big red robe tienguanyin. I started by doing a quick rinse to open up the tea leaves. I decided to sip the wash to see what I was in for, and even at this stage it was interesting, smokey, caramel, and a slight bit of astringency.

I brewed this in my yixing pot and steeped it for a bit over 30 seconds, to let it get a good proper infusion. I got a clear medium brown liquor, very similiar to what you would see with a big red robe tea. A smokey sweet aroma was the first thing I noticed when lifting and taking in a bit of aroma on the lid. The taste was just absolutely stunning, sweet, smokey, astringent and just this powerful sensation of caramel. I was incredibly impressed by this tea.

The second infusion was just slightly stronger but not overly so, and also produced a clear medium brown liquor and in none of these steepings, even the wash was there much dust coming out of it. There was also no bitterness just that light mouth watering astringency on the back of the tongue along with a slight sensation of coolness which Ive only ever gotten on really good big red robe tea.

In conclusion this reminds me more of big red robe than tieguanyin though I havent had a lot of experience with either, but I do know that I like it, now you will have to excuse me while I go steep another helping.

Ps Im getting more of the fruity flavors mentioned in the description in later steepings, but my inexperience with both TGY and BRR is showing, and I cant quite place it.

Highly recommended for fans of big red robe!

First tea of today is a green tea. China dragon with chrysanthemum, this tea is interesting and I struggled a little brewing it. It requires a very delicate brew with 175 and a short steep with alot of leaf to really bring out its flavor.

This time using a glass teapot to bleed off the heat, 175 water and 45 second steep. I used a bit more leaf this time as previously when I used hotter water, I got very intense bitterness and astringency, the same with longer steep times.

This time however I got a wonderful clear just barely yellow tea, that was light sweet, with citrus and lemon flavors and aroma’s and just a hint of astringency and vegetal notes. There was almost no bitterness.

There is a nice mouthfeel and you can almost feel the floral scents coming off it, but its not overpowering. I like this tea, its sweet , citrus and floral, but you still taste the astringent vegetal tones through it all.

I recommend this to anyone who likes a little sweet, citrus and floral notes to their green tea.