2012 Huron Gold Needle Shou Pu-erh Cake

Tea type
Pu'erh Tea
Ingredients
Pu Erh Tea
Flavors
Alcohol, Anise, Apple, Apple Candy, Apple Skins, Apricot, Artichoke, Brandy, Cacao, Cherry, Cocoa, Cream, Creamy, Earth, Roast Nuts, Roasted, Roasted Nuts, Smooth, Coffee, Mineral, Mushrooms, Petrichor, Bitter, Wood, Chocolate, Dates, Clay, Decayed Wood, Flowers, Irish Cream, Coconut, Vegetal, Spices, Moss, Berries, Dark Chocolate
Sold in
Not available
Caffeine
Medium
Certification
Not available
Edit tea info Last updated by Jason
Average preparation
Boiling 0 min, 15 sec 6 g 21 oz / 616 ml

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25 Tasting Notes View all

From Whispering Pines Tea Company

The first private-label pu-erh pressing under the Great Lakes Label! These 100 gram cakes were pressed in October 2014 from Spring 2012 Xishuangbanna material, and are composed of 100% Gold Needle grade pu-erh, tested clean for pesticides and contaminants!

A beautiful pu-erh that was produced in Xishuangbanna province but stored away from the intense aging conditions there after production. All of the rough earthyness has faded already and this shou shows great potential for further aging. This high-grade shou pu-erh was an exciting find. Gold needle grade generally accounts for less than 0.5% of a fermentation batch, and is usually used sparingly to smooth out blends before pressing. Finding gold needle grade shou pu-erh is exceedingly difficult because of this.

Our Huron Gold Needle is the silkiest tea we have ever tasted. It feels at though there isn’t even tea in your mouth, and the flavors are being magically transported by a thick, weightless warm air. It floats across the tongue and down the throat on a carpet of moss, cocoa, and sweet fruit with a lasting creamy warmth in the aftertaste.

These cakes come packaged individually in 100% recycled heavy-weight envelopes, which are ideal for storing to age. These cakes have amazing aging potential, and will only get better!

There were 300 cakes produced, and only 30 available for the initial release. The rest will be available in February 2015.

http://whisperingpinestea.com/2012-huron-gold-needle-cake.html

About Whispering Pines Tea Company View company

Whispering Pines Tea Company is dedicated to bringing you the most original, pure, beautiful tea blends. We use only the highest quality ingredients available to create additive-free teas teas inspired by the pristine wilderness of Northern Michigan. Our main focus is on customer satisfaction and quality.

25 Tasting Notes

95
526 tasting notes

First, let me start with that I am a sucker for aesthetic looks. I love a good tea presentation, and this cake achieved that. The wrapper is something beautiful, and it comes with an intersting cake bag. This is some good ’Shou’manship….hahah. Anyways, onward to the review.

The cake is beautiful! This shining golden disk is nicely compressed of black and gold maocha. This “Golden Needle” is fluffy and dusty with bronze colored powder, so it slightly stains the wrapper around it. The cake emits a smooth scent of earth and almost meaty. I broke a decent sized chunk off and prepared for brewing. I placed this inside my warmed gaiwan and gave it a shake. The tea began to awaken, and I could smell the amazing aromas. This brew carries a very sweet and smooth scent. This was a very nice blend. As a side note, I find it interesting the material that was used in making this cake. The fact that it was practically all golden needle just makes this tea seem luxurious. I digress, I washed the leaves and prepared for brewing. The steeped leaves give off a creamy and meaty aroma. The brew was almost pitch black and full of scents. The brew is incredible! The flavor is heavy and full bodied. The description reads “It doesn’t even feel like tea”, and that would be correct. The liquor is fully encapsulating and fills the mouth powerfully. The flavor is silky and slightly floral. There is a slight wildflower aftertaste that gives a drying effect. The brew remains consistently dark and brews at least 9 times. I was able to take in a mushroom flavor mixed well with Irish cream, brandy, and clay. This brew carries a lot of heavy tones. The qi was only slight, but it was still quite prominent. I was given a uplifted feeling that followed me through out my session. I am most grateful to have plenty of this cake to drink and share. I am usually not a great fan of Shu, but this may change my standpoint…

https://instagram.com/p/8QV6kNTGc5/?taken-by=haveteawilltravel

https://instagram.com/p/8UMbaxTGYk/?taken-by=haveteawilltravel

Flavors: Brandy, Clay, Creamy, Decayed Wood, Flowers, Irish Cream, Mushrooms, Smooth

Preparation
Boiling 0 min, 15 sec 7 g 3 OZ / 100 ML

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100
14 tasting notes

When I said 10 oz of water, I did do that, but I steeped it for 5-10 seconds FOUR times with 2.5oz f water each. Gravity steeped it into one cup! Now, I have had Puehr…BAD puehr that tasted like wet hay and was pretty terrible. I almost didn’t want to try any more of the stuff. Then I got to reading a thread here on Steepster about it being sweet, and nutty, and silky, and it made me WANT to like it! Then, I started asking about it and lo and hold, a sample pkg from Whispering Pines showed up today and I was surprised to see this tea in it. I couldn’t boil my water fast enough. The smell of the dry leaves were NOT what I had smelled in the other Puehr’s (the bad ones)…This one was earthy, and nutty and just invited me to sit and have a cup. So I did.

Sweet, creamy, silky with hints of roasted nuts and coconut. My Lord, this stuff is good. Imsipping on it as I type this and the flavors change as the tea cools…more sweet and more coconut with less roasted nuts.

My first REAL Puehr and Im HOOKED!

Flavors: Coconut, Roasted Nuts, Vegetal

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 0 min, 15 sec 1 tsp 10 OZ / 295 ML
mrmopar

Welcome to the pu side young apprentice….

buddha-mom

you and me both, brother! same puerh turned my head!

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85
199 tasting notes

Wonderfully thick and rich.. Notes of earth and spice, a nice little kick. Smooth and creamy textured shou, mostly clear of unwanted fermentation flavors. I think this one would get better with even more age.
Thank you Brenden for this delicious sample :)

Flavors: Earth, Spices

Preparation
6 g 100 OZ / 2957 ML

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92
1186 tasting notes

It’s finally slightly feeling like winter here today as in its snowing, tempo are still above zeto at least but it looks like winter at least. So I can take a break from my white teas and all spring like things and have a shou session! This is my first shou session since cutting back on caffeine back in December, so we will see how it goes. This tea is soothing, rich, delicious goodness, so smooth, so hoping the caffeine doesn’t cause problems. I’m finally using my little Crimson Lotus teapot to make this too, nice to keep my pots in use! I will enjoy a few cups of this and maybe read my book or just watch the snow fall. :D see previous notes on this tea!

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89
289 tasting notes

This is a delightful shu. It reminds me of Mandala’s Special Dark. It is silky smooth and very rich. Small plantation leaves hold up to a good number of infusions. I look forward to aging some of this, and to buying more when it becomes available again.

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85
2 tasting notes

Packaging for this tea is great looking. Smooth Taste, not overly earthy as with some Pu-erh’s. The tea opened up to a very balanced flavor after a few steepings. Definitely look forward to continuing to steep this tea.

Flavors: Cocoa, Moss, Smooth

Preparation
Boiling 0 min, 15 sec 7 g 5 OZ / 147 ML

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557 tasting notes

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99
1758 tasting notes

They say that the date 12/13/14 is a lucky number. Well it is for me. While I am still grieving over the loss of my cat Pandora, tonight I am celebrating. For over a year I have been involved in a legal dispute with the insurance company for my employer. I have been suing over occupational asthma. Over a year ago I won my initial case. The slimebags, represented by slimebags, appealed the case. While the case was in appeals they paid none of my medical bills. Today I got a letter in the mail saying the case had been decided in my favor. The insurance company has lost their appeal. Hopefully they will not appeal again. In any case, today I celebrate with the best tea I have enjoyed in ages.

This tea is sweet with a mild amount of fermentation flavor. It is incredibly delicious. I would venture to say notes of chocolate and berries. Dark chocolate in the early steeps, berries in the later steeps. This is the best tea I have had in ages, on par with the best shou I have enjoyed.

I steeped this eight times in a 207ml Taiwan Clay Teapot with 8.6g leaf and boiling water. I steeped it for 10 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 30 sec, 1 min, 2 min, and 4 min. Judging by the strength of the eighth steep I would say that there were 2 to 4 more steeps in this tea. I hope he doesn’t run out of this soon, because I want to buy more. It is not cheap but it is worth it.

Flavors: Berries, Dark Chocolate

Preparation
Boiling 0 min, 15 sec 8 g 7 OZ / 207 ML
MzPriss

I need to bust into one of mine. I do think $18 for a 100 gram cake is reasonable for a good tea though

Whispering Pines Tea Company

So glad you enjoyed this! There’s 5 more cakes available now and 270 more arriving in Feb/March :-)

Whispering Pines Tea Company

And congrats on winning your case!

MzPriss

Yes! Congrats! Im drinking this now

cookies

Oh, looks like another WP shou I need to order.
Congrats on your case. Insurance companies are absolutely awful.

AllanK

I just hope they don’t appeal again. Hopefully the insurance company will realize it is cheaper to pay me than to keep paying the lawyers. Plus, hopefully by now they realize they have no case.

caile

Yay – that’s great news about winning the case!

AllanK

How many cakes are in a tong? I might be interested in a tong when you get the 270 cakes in stock.

Whispering Pines Tea Company

There’s 10 cakes in a tong, and i do a 15% discount on a tong :-)

Anlina

Congrats!

AllanK

Now I just hope that the slimebag insurance company does not appeal. They had no case before and would have no case again. Hopefully they realize they have no legal case and don’t want to spend thousands.

TheTeaFairy

Congrats Allan…

And I’m glad you liked the cake, I do too!!

TeaBrat

Sounds like good news! Do they also have to pay your attorney’s fees?

AllanK

I don’t pay the attorney unless I win, then he takes 15% of any award. If they keep appealing and this goes to the NYS Court of Appeals I may have to pay an attorney.

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95
359 tasting notes

Breaking a puerh cake is always exciting…breaking one from the first series of cakes in the history of Whispering Pines is beyond exciting!!!

Yes, Huron Gold is the first cake pressed under the Great Lakes Label, awesome concept from WP.

First, those little 100g goodies were filled with love and it shows. Brenden the owner made sure we would notice. They come in those very practical and cute rustic envelopes, made of 100% recycled brown paper, perfect for storage, allowing proper breathability. How cool is that? Very innovative.

The cake’s artwork is beautiful…a map of the five Great Lakes.

Love the golden color of the dry leaf. Smells almost like sweet caramel. The pressing is pretty loose, making it very easy to break into.

The taste is remarkably smooth and silky. No sign of heavy earthiness or leather here.

Think light moss with rich cocoa notes.

There’s a faint sweetness to it, reminiscent of ripe figs. It feels syrupy and round in the mouth.

It’s very accessible and mellow. It provides a nice warming feeling, it’s such a cozy tea.

Another excellent product from WP. No wonder I’m such a fan, they never disappoint me!

And I’m so happy I got two of those babies :-)

Pics:

http://instagram.com/p/whmkn1whxx/

http://instagram.com/p/whnWt-Qhy9/

http://instagram.com/p/whsI7swh5q/

Veronica

Talk about craftsmanship… it looks beautiful. Sounds like it taste beautiful, too!

mrs.stenhouse12

I need to try some of WP’s pu’erhs! Haha if I can ever get my cupboard to a manageable level…this is on the list!

looseTman

I purchased this shou. It’s my very first puerh cake!

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42 tasting notes

Firstly, Cyber Monday is on! 20% off sitewide at www.whisperingpinestea.com

Secondly, I believe an introduction is in order! :-)

The first private-label pu-erh pressing under the Great Lakes Label! These 100 gram cakes were pressed in October 2014 from Spring 2012 Xishuangbanna material, and are composed of 100% Gold Needle grade pu-erh, tested clean for pesticides and contaminants!

A beautiful pu-erh that was produced in Xishuangbanna province but stored away from the intense aging conditions there after production. All of the rough earthyness has faded already and this shou shows great potential for further aging. This high-grade shou pu-erh was an exciting find. Gold needle grade generally accounts for less than 0.5% of a fermentation batch, and is usually used sparingly to smooth out blends before pressing. Finding gold needle grade shou pu-erh is exceedingly difficult because of this.

Our Huron Gold Needle is the silkiest tea we have ever tasted. It feels at though there isn’t even tea in your mouth, and the flavors are being magically transported by a thick, weightless warm air. It floats across the tongue and down the throat on a carpet of moss, cocoa, and sweet fruit with a lasting creamy warmth in the aftertaste.

These cakes come packaged individually in 100% recycled heavy-weight envelopes, which are ideal for storing to age. These cakes have amazing aging potential, and will only get better!

There were 300 cakes produced, and only 30 available for the initial release. The rest will be available in February 2015.

looseTman

How does your current 2016 Wild Ontario Gold Needle compare to the 2012 Huron Gold Needle Shou? Thanks!
https://steepster.com/teas/whispering-pines-tea-company/100189-2016-wild-ontario-gold-needle-shou-pu-erh-100g-cake

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