2003 Changtai "Ji Nian / Memorial" Sheng / Raw Tuo from Crimson Lotus Tea

2003 Changtai "Ji Nian / Memorial" Sheng / Raw Tuo

Tea type
Pu'erh Tea
Ingredients
Pu Erh Tea
Flavors
Cardboard, Forest Floor, Hay, Leather, Mineral, Mushrooms, Musk, Plum, Smooth, Spices, Stonefruit, Wet Rocks, Earth, Sweet, Thick, Vanilla, Vegetal, Wood, Smoke, Bamboo, Dates, Musty, Wet Earth, Peat, Wet Moss
Sold in
Bulk, Loose Leaf
Caffeine
Medium
Certification
Not available
Edit tea info Last updated by TeaExplorer
Average preparation
Boiling 0 min, 30 sec 6 g 4 oz / 132 ml

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13 Tasting Notes View all

  • “A nice aged puerh, but it just doesn’t do enough for me. I got this tea from my recent CLT order, and it just feels like there’s too many things missing in this tea to really give it a stamp of...” Read full tasting note
    70
  • “An amazing example of what heavy storage can do to sheng puerh. I’m very averse to “dank” notes but brewing 8g in a 240ml nixing pot seems to mute these entirely. Thick and oily liquor, sweet,...” Read full tasting note
    90
  • “OK well… this is a weird tea. Remember, I’m new to different types of pu. This tea is one of the best shous that I’ve ever drank except that its a sheng!! Here’s the story. I am a shou lover and...” Read full tasting note
    90
  • “First tasting of the day is 2003 Changtai sheng. I got this as part of the “what is pu’erh” set. I started by getting my little yixing pot and giving it a quick rinse. The rinse came back fairly...” Read full tasting note
    80

From Crimson Lotus Tea

This aged sheng puerh comes from the Yunnan Changtai Tea Industry Group. They have been in the puerh business since the late 90’s. We had the chance to visit with them in Kunming this year. We blogged about that here: http://crimsonlotustea.com/blogs/puerh/12480085-sampling-aged-puerh-with-chang-tai

This 100 gram mini tuo is called “Ji Nian” which means “Memorial”. Changtai chose this name and blend to memorialize their history.

Changtai is well known for the quality of their early 2000’s puerh. Their master blenders created this blend from Menghai area Da Shu (Big Tree) puerh tea trees in 2003. It has been stored in hot, humid Xishuangbanna until this year. This blend is ungraded and contains both large leaves and tiny buds. The leaves are darker in color than the similar 2003 Changtai “Yuan Nian Shu / Ancient SouthWest” Sheng / Raw Tuo Cha and seemingly contains more large leaves.

This has all the emotion of a well aged sheng puerh. The warming leaves reveal an inviting, deep, dark musty aroma of age. As water washes the leaves a refreshing aroma of earthiness with a rich sweetness comes out. The liquor is a hue of dark amber. The flavor is smooth and thick with a strong mustiness. It is sweet and heavy without bitterness or astringency. It’s a very comforting experience that feels familiar.

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13 Tasting Notes

5 tasting notes

Um, wow. I think maybe nope. It’s definitely musty, wet smelling and tasting. On the second steep it’s musty with a touch of fresh string beans when you string them. Or maybe fresh Lima beans. Some bitterness, a beautiful amber liquor—like a light bourbon.
I don’t think this is my thing, but…it’s honestly not totally unpleasant after it loses that “wet rag” smell and taste with additional steepings. Drying to my mouth though.
Probably I wouldn’t choose to drink this again.
Definitely interesting! No clue how to rate this, as it’s my first aged sheng.
1 comments
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mrmopar
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The mustiness is usually from humid hot storage. Try to air it out a few weeks and see if it changes. Sometimes a double rinse can help in a little way.

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107 tasting notes

Purchased as part of an “Intro to Pu’er” set, along with one other sheng and one other shou. This is the first one I am trying. About 7g of tea, boiling water, two rinses, starting with 5 to 10 second steeps. Interesting. Reminds me a lot of the shou I had last night (2002 Gu Fo Aged), maybe not as sweet though. It’s really dark, definitely the darkest sheng I’ve ever seen. Grassy, but also a bit peppery in the back of the throat. Interesting, I’m about 9 or 10, or maybe 100 steeps in, and my mouth is getting reaaaally dry. So bizarre. It’s like drinking grass, and then suddenly hey, I taste hay. HEY! Is this what tea drunk is? The brew is so, so pretty. Hay, I bet I will not be sleeping tonight. Changtai: 1, Curly: 0. BOOM.
2 comments
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Crimson Lotus Tea
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So how did you sleep?

curlygc
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I did not. Not much, anyway!

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199 tasting notes

Thanks to Crimson Lotus Tea for sending me a generous sample :)

Unfortunately, I really didn’t like this tea.. I tried brewing at different temperatures for different times and the tea always seemed kind of weak to me, like it was on the brink of greatness, but didn’t finish. The overall taste was indicative of wet storage, slightly musty. My initial reaction was that it tastes the way that a leaf compost pile smells. Not a huge fan, but I tend to like more middle aged sheng instead of the older stuff.
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