The Shu Fits - 2016 Ripe Pu'er Blend

Tea type
Pu'erh Tea
Ingredients
Pu Erh Tea
Flavors
Brown Sugar, Cocoa, Cream, Dark Chocolate, Earth, Leather, Milk, Smooth, Berries, Camphor, Chocolate, Mushrooms
Sold in
Loose Leaf
Caffeine
Not available
Certification
Not available
Edit tea info Last updated by derk
Average preparation
Boiling 0 min, 30 sec 7 g 4 oz / 120 ml

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From Our Community

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15 Tasting Notes View all

  • “21 days left until we move! and kiddo decided today was the day to start rolling back to front lol. pulled this one out first thing this mornig as i’ve been dying for some of my puerh. still...” Read full tasting note
    86
  • “It’s been a long day, you know? Last week, I did some tree clearing on a friend’s property for fire prevention. She set up a community event to encourage other denizens of their heavily forested...” Read full tasting note
    81
  • “Thanks so much for a sample of this, Kawaii433! I definitely wanted to try it, especially because the name is too precious. I was in the mood for a shu, so this is what I went with. Note: I...” Read full tasting note
    84
  • “Nice blend. Not fishy, no dirt taste. Leather and earth taste in the opening few steeps. It’s very mellow, warm, comforting mouth/throat feel. It has dark chocolate and bittersweet notes, and on...” Read full tasting note
    85

From Mandala Tea

You want this.

Cleanly grown. Expertly Processed. Lovingly Blended.

Rich. Creamy. Chocolate-y. We are so very pleased to present this to you.

Seriously, just buy this.

You’ll enjoy the transition from dark chocolate flavor early on to milk chocolate in later steepings as brown sugar hangs out the whole time.

About Mandala Tea View company

Company description not available.

15 Tasting Notes

86
15006 tasting notes

21 days left until we move! and kiddo decided today was the day to start rolling back to front lol. pulled this one out first thing this mornig as i’ve been dying for some of my puerh. still can’t really take the time for a good long session, but i can drink a few western brew cups during the day if i start early. Going to make sure i save a little of this one for the new house, but man i am a fan! it’s up there as a western brew with some of my other mandala favourites.

Kittenna

Rolling! Fun! Our little guy started rolling around this time, I believe, but after he figured it out, he decided not to do it again for a month or so… and then, the craziness (crawling) started. Haha.

Sil

we technically should move her to the crib now since she’s rolling but that requires getting our dresser out of the room…which is doable once we make space for it in the “garage” with all the boxes we’ve got packed lol

Kittenna

I don’t think our guy rolled at night until 5 months, but he was swaddled until 4 and couldn’t move around much. He also only rolled front to back, and of course slept on his back anyhow. Once he was rolling at night, though, he started tummy sleeping!

Sil

we stopped swaddling her at like 2 or 3 months ‘cause she preferred it…sleep sacks though even now. she rolls during tummy time but the bassinet isn’t big enough to let her do it at night hah

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81
1557 tasting notes

It’s been a long day, you know? Last week, I did some tree clearing on a friend’s property for fire prevention. She set up a community event to encourage other denizens of their heavily forested community to do the same. I went back today to line up all the brush and limbs and tree trunks along the roadside for a wood chipper staffed by the community fire department to chip and haul all the residents’ debris. I guess word got around what a thorough and clean job I did (it’s nice to know your work is appreciated!) and I ended up clearing a neighbor’s property. This is a nice side gig to pick up pockets of cash and there’s no pressure to cut anything down I’m uncomfortable with…. since it’s just me and my chainsaw.

When I got home, there was a tea package waiting at the front door. Not Mandala Tea, another company, but inside was a teapet, a lovely red pig to commemorate my year. Inspired by tea-sipper’s recent review of The Shu Fits, I figured a shou would be a good way to end an exhausting day and a nice dark ‘mud bath’ of a tea to soak my new buddy in.

I’m rambling. Can you tell I’m relaxed?

I have to say thank you to both Mandala Tea and to Kawaii433; the former included a sample of The Shu Fits in my last order and the latter sent a sample as part of a tea swap. I had this loose puerh a few years ago and remember it being very sweet with a red berry-chocolate-leather feel. Has the tea changed in a few years?

Yes, it has. The berries are now mostly evident in the aroma of the dry leaf, along with brown sugar, chocolate, leather and wood. The chocolate has really mellowed in taste as well as the sweetness. This tea seems to have moved into more savory tastes of chicken broth and cedar, some leather, faint mushroom, and a clean mineral finish. It’s fairly light-bodied and sips easily, depositing a pleasant aftertaste of walnut and faint milk chocolate-red berries at the base of the tongue. There is some astringency, tempered by salivation and a light returning sweetness.

All said, a pleasant evening sipper with some relaxing effect. You will find no funk in this tea. I have enough leftover to do a western steep soon to see if that will bring out some of the remembered berry and chocolate flavors.

EDIT: Mandala has some new teas out including a loose shou, Dark Star, a nod in name to the Grateful Dead.

Preparation
Boiling 7 g 3 OZ / 100 ML

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84
4169 tasting notes

Thanks so much for a sample of this, Kawaii433! I definitely wanted to try it, especially because the name is too precious. I was in the mood for a shu, so this is what I went with. Note: I completely bypassed the rinse. Somehow my brew doesn’t look as lovely dark as the photo. The description might be over-promising… dark chocolate, chocolate, brown sugar? Really any shu can taste like that if you’re stretching your imagination. The flavor is delicious – I do notice a bit of chocolate, but really any shu if brewed dark enough would taste like dark chocolate. I feel like I could never overbrew shu. The darker the better. But there is also a sweetness that I always appreciate in shu. Clean and clear if that makes sense. The leaves of this puerh start out huge, but then it’s odd looking in the infuser and the leaves don’t seem to be expanding. All three steeps were the same… I tried really milking the third steep but nope, the flavor remains the same. It’s certainly a delicious enough puerh, but the description really set a high bar. But maybe I like the tiny leafed puerh so it can be dark dark dark. So I’m not sure if this shu fits me!
Steep #1 // 1 1/3 teaspoons for a full mug // 17 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 // 10 minutes after boiling // 3 minute steep
Steep #3 // just boiled // 10 min
2019 sipdowns: 24 (Steven Smith’s Brahmin which turns out was in my steepster cupboard but I never actually had it? Does that count as a sipdown?)

derk

The Shu Fits was hugely sweet and berry-chocolate-leather for me. It’s been a while since I’ve had it. derk rummages through her shou crock

tea-sipper

I WISH I was tasting those flavors in my sample, derk!

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85
379 tasting notes

Nice blend. Not fishy, no dirt taste. Leather and earth taste in the opening few steeps. It’s very mellow, warm, comforting mouth/throat feel. It has dark chocolate and bittersweet notes, and on the 5th it became more milk chocolate and became more creamy, brown sugar notes throughout, still has leather and earth notes. Nice lightly sweet finish.

I think I’ll try it the way it’s suggested which is 30 secs, then add 30 secs next time and see how it changes it as well. I just wanted to extract little by little to see how complex it was.

Yixing gaiwan, 5g, 212F, 110ml, rinse +10s, 15s,20s,25s,30s (am still in the process of drinking this.)

Flavors: Brown Sugar, Cocoa, Cream, Dark Chocolate, Earth, Leather, Milk, Smooth

Preparation
Boiling 0 min, 15 sec 5 g 4 OZ / 110 ML
derk

I think I’m going to dip into my sample of this soon. The last one I got of it a few years ago tasted full of berries to me plus the notes you mentioned. I don’t remember how I prepared it, though.

Kawaii433

Great. I can’t wait to hear your thoughts on it, derk!

tea-sipper

The name for this is awesome. It tells me I’m pronouncing ‘shu’ correctly. haha

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90
9 tasting notes

This is my first experience with The Shu Fits and so far so good! The dry leaves smell like cocoa powder and make my mouth water when I inhale deeply from the gawain. I rinsed twice with boiling water. The first few steepings were very quick tasted like dark chocolate with hints of tobacco, leather, and a savory fruit. Raisins? Every sip conjures up memories of walking through a quiet forest in the early morning just after a rain.

On the third steeping I started to catch notes of brown sugar followed by a subtle bitter dryness in the finish. During later steepings (#4-6) the dark chocolate mellowed into milk chocolate and i also tasted some mineral notes. The brown sugar sweetness is still hanging out in the shadows only to make its presence felt every now and then.

Overall, I really like this tea and look forward to my next session with it.

Preparation
8 g 5 OZ / 150 ML

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89
1429 tasting notes

This was the second lovely sample I received from Mandala. I was a little sulky when, a couple days after I placed my order, they added this as a tea (that description)! I would’ve ordered it instead of the random puerh I ended up going with (edit: looking for Special Dark replacements- Noble Mark is still around and Noble Dark doesn’t exist… yet).

First and second steeps exceed expectations, with a creamy and silky profile and a touch of high grade dark chocolate (traces of earth, nuts, berries). Mandala description says later steepings have notes of brown sugar but I get hints of that now. The aftertaste reminds me slightly of dark chocolate covered acai/blueberry jellies. These flavours mellow out as it cools, becoming simply milky with an earthy dark chocolate finish.

Third steep was equally perfect.

Fourth steep was ditto (this was from last night so I may have been half asleep and missed the development).

Steep Count: 4 + a rinse

Flavors: Berries, Brown Sugar, Cream, Dark Chocolate, Earth, Milk

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 0 min, 30 sec
Sil

is noble dark gone too?!

Sil

er well noble mark…since i’m guessing you meant special dark + noble mark?

Crowkettle

Oh, dear, no! Noble Mark is still around; I even bought some with this order. Sorry for the heart attack >.>

Crowkettle

Tea typo of the month

Sil

haha way to give me a heart attack thinking i had to horde noble mark too!

mrmopar

Been aiming to brew this one up too. Still airing a bit.

Crowkettle

This tea layperson looks forward to your insight and observations on this one, mrmopar! I love and respect your thoughtful tea notes.

Sil, I’m so envious of your Special Dark horde- I always have the worst luck when I try to stock up. Also, how do you only have 39 teas? Is that for real? (+200 teas is permanently burned into my mental image of a Sil cupboard)

Sil

Yeah. Down to 39….and 2/3 of that is Pu’er. By weight like 3/4 is Pu’er lol

Crowkettle

pu’er layperson: it’s probably my least explored tea type.

That’s impressive (both in cupboard size and pu’er ratios)! If you’re going to horde, why not it be something that takes aging well? I always make the mistake of trying to horde green tea and the results are sad.

Sil

here’s hoping i don’t eff up the tea while they languish in my cupboard.. heh

Crowkettle

I’m sure it will be alright! I have a tea cake (Wild Monk Sheng 2012) that’s been sitting in my cupboard for +6 years, unopened, and I worry when I remember about it too :/

Sil

i have 2 of those and a 2014 version haha. At this point it’s a sunk cost so if i screwed it up…well that’s a learning experience

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