Master Han’s 2013 Sheng Pu’er

Tea type
Pu'erh Tea
Ingredients
Not available
Flavors
Apricot, Bitter, Black Pepper, Creamy, Peach, Camphor, Grain, Pepper, Peppercorn, White Grapes, Forest Floor, Honey, Orange Blossom, Smooth, Tobacco, Citrus, Pine, Smoke, Sweet, Orchids, Wood
Sold in
Not available
Caffeine
Not available
Certification
Not available
Edit tea info Last updated by lteg
Average preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 0 min, 15 sec 6 g 4 oz / 116 ml

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24 Tasting Notes View all

  • “Ugh I’m sick! I woke up with a bad cold today. So no tasting new teas until my palate recovers. I’ve been drinking this gongfu style from my new adorable tea pot all morning. Amazingly enough I can...” Read full tasting note
  • “I’ve been drinking this all evening. I didn’t read the suggested steeping parameters, so I only used 4G, instead of the recommended 5G. After letting the leaf relax in a prewarmed yixing, it...” Read full tasting note
  • “the mail-dude just dropped this off along with a bing/beeng(however its spelled) of the Tian Di Ren,which I will try later…this is good stuff(like all of the other Master Han creations I’ve...” Read full tasting note
  • “dry leaves smell like dried persimmon. gaiwan quick rinse, 5 sec steeps. im afraid if it will go bitter. it does develop orchid notes, creamy. so far its delicious,smooth and sweet. im on my...” Read full tasting note
    87

From Verdant Tea

Master Han picks wild tea trees in the Qianjiazhai region of the Mount Ailao National Forest Preserve, Yunnan. He takes the utmost care to “let the leaves speak,” pressing each batch of leaves differently to bring out their best, either as a looseleaf sheng, a black tea or a pressed cake or ball of tea.

He works his own land, but is part of the Dongsa farmers cooperative. The cooperative does not pool tea for bulk selling, but rather invests in equipment together so that each farmer can produce their own distinct products with a greater degree of ownership.

Master Han is excited to share his fresh 2013 harvest pu’er. This 500g brick is a unique opportunity to taste the pure, bright flavor notes of a young tea that is clean, smooth and absolutely ready to drink.

The aroma is that of grape, orchid and honey- almost more similar to an oolong than a pu’er. The first steepings are astoundingly sweet. The cakey and buttery quality of the tea evokes a red velvet cupcake with buttercream frosting. The crisp florals that come through in the aftertaste are more like Bai Mudan white tea than pu’er.

Later steepings open up immensely, with the initial sweetness transforming into a full-bodied woody brew with tingling textural notes of licorice root, and star anise. Fruity apricot flavor engages the sides of the palate, while nutty creamy amaretto flavor dominates the aftertaste.

About Verdant Tea View company

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24 Tasting Notes

1113 tasting notes

Damn, this is some good raw.

I was expecting some astringency to wake me up a bit since I’m exhausted from frisbee golf today… but no, there is no astringency. In fact, as weird as this sounds, I am eating chocolate along with it because the texture has a bit of silk/cream to it which is making me one happy happy person.
The leaf is ugly though which made me already think negatively of it, but again… looks are deceiving.

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92
526 tasting notes

I love surprise sheng from tea friends! I thought I had tried all of this company’s Sheng, but I must have missed this one. I opened up my present and reveled long Maocha consisting of a light pale green with brass and silver streams. The dry leaf carried a strong pipe tobacco scent. I placed these beauties in my warmed yixing and gave them a shake. The aroma became more distinct and a wet forest floor scent mixed in with the tobacco. I brewed up a few cups. The steeped dark leaves gave off a strong tobacco smoke aroma. The flavor was astounding. The initial sip was perfectly smooth and creamy. This reminded me rather of a fresh Ti Guan Yin, rather than that of a Sheng. This unbelievably smooth raw puerh had a slight floral hint of orange blossoms, and this brew gave a tingling astringent tongue feel in the aftertaste. This brew grew deeper with each steeping until about the eighth whereas it went sugary honey sweet. This was a perfect brew for a sunny spring evening. I wasnt able to get more than eleven steepings out of this brew, but it was a delactable treat :)

https://instagram.com/p/3KXHjnTGW4/?taken-by=haveteawilltravel

Flavors: Creamy, Forest Floor, Honey, Orange Blossom, Smooth, Tobacco

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 0 min, 15 sec 7 g 3 OZ / 100 ML

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88
41 tasting notes

Finally got around to prying a chunk off this brick. Brewed gongfu style. Got some faint smoke in the first three steeps but then it subsided. Camphor, pine, citrus, pepper, and a nice underlying sweetness dominated the first six steeps, yielding to sweetness, slight pepper and a pleasant tartness in the next six. The liquor was a beautiful, clear amber color. Overall a very nice sheng which I’ll drink it sparingly to see how it ages over the coming years.

Flavors: Camphor, Citrus, Pepper, Pine, Smoke, Sweet

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 0 min, 15 sec 5 g 3 OZ / 100 ML

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1186 tasting notes

I haven’t been writing many tea notes lately..I have been drinking tea, but just haven’t felt like logging. Mostly some sipdowns too. But today I feel like I should log this yummy sheng, as it is making my Saturday a good one. The bf got called to work unexpectedly at 6 am, so that kind of threw a wrench in the day/weekend. So I have been brewing this tea with a killer headache (it seems to be helping) and working away outside cleaning up the raspberry patch. A messy, scratchy job but I’m happy it’s done!

Anyways, this tea is light, fresh, fruity, and a bit of a grape flavor today. It could still be the apricot, my allergies are running rampant so I had a pill today and my sinuses are dried up now haha. But this tea is still delicious as always, I see it is now archived on Verdant’s site so probably won’t have a chance to order again once I finish this bag. I should try Master Han’s 2014 to see how it compares one day :) see previous notes on this tea!

Oh, and in entirely unrelated news that I want to share because it makes me happy – we have a robin nesting under our deck right outside the kitchen window! They are in the process of building the nest and have been sitting in it a bit already! I will try to get pictures at some point and post on IG :)

ETA – I found the apricot flavor :) about the 4th or 5th steeping. Sooooo delicious.

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93
359 tasting notes

So I don’t drink Sheng often enough.

And when I do, I keep telling myself, jeez, why don’t you, silly?

Maybe cause it requires more commitment than some other teas? Like, I can’t have this while cleaning up the house or doing chores. No, that would be disrespectful. If I have it, it has to be at a moment when I know I can dedicate time to it.

I think Terri said it propels her into a cosmic state of mind. I agree, this is legal drugs.

This being so “young” feels almost like a white tea, it has that White Peony apricot-y peachy taste, with very sweet honey notes.

3rd and 4th steep bring something very floral with soft woody notes. The wet leaves smell spectacular, wet wood and eucalyptus.

I find zero astringency in this, very smooth and soothing.

Then, something unexpected happens…it morphs into a fuller bodied tea, stronger bark notes and assertive spicy sweet taste. It reminds me of Ginseng Oolong. I also get some roasted almond. The colour of the brew intensifies as well.

I’m just starting to play with it, my afternoon will be peaceful I can already tell.

Doctor prescribed new anxiety pills yesterday…I think I should just keep drinking this instead :-)

Cheri

I really need to start trying sheng. It all sounds so delicious. But that whole time commitment…..

TheTeaFairy

Cheri, this is only me though…maybe others do drink it while doing chores and it’s just fine :-)

Ysaurella

tea is definitively a better companion than pills. But you can have your pills with a cup of tea, I’m sure your doc would prefer that.

TheTeaFairy

Lol, you are probably right Ysaurella ;-)

yyz

Drinking tea in a ritualized way can be very calming. I’m a little weird in that when I’ve suffered through periods of anxiety, the best thing for me to do is to travel somewhere completely new alone. There is something about the stimulus of new things, new languages, and new knowledge that settles me in some way. If I’m at home all I will do is sleep. In Myers-Brigg I am half way between an INFP and ENFP, it makes for a strange set of circumstances where people turn to me for leadership that I usually just fall into, and conversation, but I like long stretches of time alone as well.

TheTeaFairy

Lol “new and alone” would not be good for me right now, but I totally dig what you just wrote, thanks for that. I work in a high performance environment as a leader, I’m off work right now. Alone time as always been a priority in my life as well, something I need as much as I need air to breathe!

SWApilot

Master Han makes some great Shengs. His 2004 Shou was really good.

Terri HarpLady

Master Han (Solo) is the Jedi Master of Tea :)

MzPriss

I love sheng so much (and shu too) but with the exception of Special Dark which I steep western style pretty much every day, I don’t have it often enough. And the time commitment is exactly why. I have some really nice puers and I don’t feel like I do justice to them if I don’t sit down and carve out time dedicated to just tasting them. So I don’t have them often enough and I need to find a way to do that because shengs hit my re-set button and whenever I make the time for them like I did yesterday, I always tell myself that it needs to happen more often.

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694 tasting notes

I have been drinking up the odds and ends of tea sitting around my place since Sunday. I am getting twitchy. Even though I have teas I have yet to sample for some reason I really have been wanting to place an order:) Oh the addiction, you know so i can try EVERYTHING!

Besides drinking down bits of tea I have also been playing with my new qaiwan. This is the tea I tried last night, and my first official pu’er. I tried the pu’er from the TTB, but really what I did was drink the rinse water so I will not count that.

Last night was all about the process and the exploration. I don’t remember much about the taste, but I do remember enjoying the tea. I have found that as I am brewing with the qaiwan I really enjoy the teas more in the middle set of infusions. This was the same for the pu’er. (This could be me still getting the parameters right? ) This tea started out a bit scary, and the middle infusions were full of life and flavor. I found myself craving this as I went to bed. I won’t say I am hooked just yet, but I will say last night experience just added to my want to try more tea, in this case more pu’er!

boychik

You will be!

TeaTiff

Haha. I am slightly afraid of that!

Dexter

Agreed – I see a pu’erh addict in the making… :))

boychik

You shouldn’t be afraid. Just jump. Seriously we are here to guide you. Haha I’m still a beginner even though I had a few. Have you tried any ripe( shou)?

TeaTiff

You guys have already been such great guidance! I haven’t had a chance to try shou, although shortly after this tasting note I jumped! I hit submit on a Mandala order with special dark. The curiosity got the better of me and I have been really wanting to try the milk oolong:)

boychik

Excellent choice. You won’t be disappointed. I can send you some samples to expand your horizons;)

TeaTiff

Thank you for the offer boychik, I will have to take a rain check on the samples. I am still working my way through your awesome darj explorer sample pack!

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77
127 tasting notes

I am a little confused …. I have honed my sheng brewing skills (6-7g/100 ml, rinse then 25 sec steep +10sec subsequent) but this tea tasted polar opposites from what I remember. This was my first sheng and being so Im sure I over brewed it the first two times. I remember a smokiness, bitter, petrol-like barely tolerable cup. This time maybe 1-2 months later I got minimal, if any, smokiness from the first cup (infusion 1&2) and zero astringency the whole way through. This scares my a little because I have switched it to a few different tins and my kitchen where all my tea is kept has been rather humid at times due to cooking/showering/opening window on nice days. Hopefully I just learned to tame sheng and I am not speed aging all my teas.

Preparation
Boiling 0 min, 30 sec 6 g 3 OZ / 100 ML

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86
125 tasting notes

Mmm… my second time drinking this and I’m loving it more than the first. There is woodiness/smokiness to it that just drives me crazy… I love it! For a second I swear I smelled bacon! What is this? I so intrigued by this tea… It’s floral, it’s fruity, it’s woody and smoky with delicious notes of honey coming through.

I steeped 7 grams in 6 ounces of 95C water for 5/10/10. I’m on the third steep right now and the astringency picked up a bit once the tea cooled but it’s a well balanced astringency, something that I enjoy.

This is some quality sheng. I really want to age this but I’m not sure how long this brick will last.

Flavors: Apricot, Honey, Orchids, Wood

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 7 g 6 OZ / 177 ML
Stephanie

Shengs are so fascinating :) They’re my new obsession!

Kamyria

Yes, mine too!

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