This weekend I'm popping down south to see my girlfriends. We're going to have a rigorous weekend of pu-erh drinking and tablet game playing. Ahem ahem. Actually only the latter might be partly true as I'm taking down four tablets to introduce my friends to the joys of touch interface through Infinity Blade I and II. (This is a total aside but it blows my mind that a Tegra 3 quad cored Nexus 7 is five bucks cheaper than a 2010 Hai Lang Hao "Cha Wang". Well you know which choice I made...)
I ordered some natural Jin Xuan milk oolong for the gals in preparation for our get together. I know I know. Milk oolong. But that's totally the kind of tea giggling girls like- not some crusty CNNP shu brick or some masochistic Lao Man 'E (although I'm packing some just in case). Anyway the caramel mouth coating of this milk oolong is pretty good if you are into that kind of thing. This tea can be quite merry fun I assure you. I brewed it up for two male collegues at work who really enjoyed it in a giddy kind of way. I relish how others can enjoy the first time novelty of such teas.
I bought the milk oolong from a Minnesota outfit called Mandala Teas. I think the owner Garret must be a Buddhist. When I opened his package, wave after wave of overwhelmingly positive vibes flowed out of the box forcing me to smile all day. Actually I found Mandala Teas on the web simply because they had the best price for Menghai "Adorned in Red" in the Western Hemisphere. But he really has a thoughtful selection of shu all very well priced for the budget-minded likes of me. I finally got the 06 Mengku Mini. You can tell from his shu selection alone that he loves to drink shu. I'll have to give MT a proper vendor write-up this month as he has the most excellent service of any Internet vendor I've done business with. I'll be ordering more from him as soon as I find some space. (Not only do I have a tea queue backup of about 50+ right now but a blog post backup as well.)
Switching gears- I walked home quite late from work to find this waiting for me on the porch. This heavy box from tuochatea finally arrived after 7+ weeks from the slow boat from Kunming.
You may be wondering what I am doing with so much cheap shu?!?? For those of you willing to wait 2 months, nobody does cheap shu better than tuochatea. I bought it for an experiment. I'm split over the shu pricing conundrum. I feel like shu should be a moderately priced tasty drink. Expensive shu just seems wrong but that's my old school way of thinking. My plan was to buy a wide range of shu from moderately expensive to dirt cheap. I was going to take a few months to do a blind shu taste test after acquainting myself a few times with each shu. If I can't tell the difference or enjoy cheap shu just as much as high end shu, then I shouldn't bother too much with high-end shus.
The long brick in the back is one of the cheapest shu of the bunch- 2006 De Hong High Plateau for $16.80 for a kilo. (I almost bought this same cake back in 2007 for ~$11 but I wussed out. I was plain afraid of cheap shu back then and bought gongting-y Menghai's and such...) I can't help myself but brew it up tonight although I should really be packing. Expecting the worst of my 3 cent brew, I rinse it quickly three times.
It's gnarly with a distinctive medicinal herbal finish and my first thought is that I must put this bad boy away for a few more years to mellow. The sips at first bitter and pondy reveal an unexpected sweet and pretty undertone that emerges until it overtakes the brew. It feels completely out of place- like a hirsute neanderthal who speaks in a high sweet voice. Then even weirder- I start getting a faint wet-stored fuzzy talcum powder taste. I think this cake was dry stored in Kunming for six years. With this shu, the fuzzy taste is not unlike the record static which accompanies the early Coleman Hawkins LP I'm playing right now- just charming enough to add to the nostalgia. So my initial disgust turns into curiosity and finally I've enjoyably quaffed 4 cups of it. Victory for cheap shu tonight! Lot's of drama in this shu unlike the rather predictable storyline of Menghai's, Haiwans, and their ilk. Maybe I'll drink it again tomorrow and shake my head at my sensory lapse or maybe I'll buy up a few kilos.
Many years ago, I used to frequent the ABC Chinese Bakery. The first time my eyes were coldly assessing every treat behind the counter, I zeroed in on a bun shaped like a danish with a delicious cream center. The girl behind the counter told me it was cooked mayonnaise with canned corn kernels on top. The whole idea was simply so disgusting and I resisted having one for months. One day they were out of my coconut cream bun so I ordered the mayo bun. It wasn't as bad as I thought, plus there were treasures of chopped mystery ham hiding in the mayo crater. The next week I craved one. Then I started having one regularly. And then the bakery went out of business and I was regretful I would never treat myself to their mayo corn crater bun ever again.
I ordered some natural Jin Xuan milk oolong for the gals in preparation for our get together. I know I know. Milk oolong. But that's totally the kind of tea giggling girls like- not some crusty CNNP shu brick or some masochistic Lao Man 'E (although I'm packing some just in case). Anyway the caramel mouth coating of this milk oolong is pretty good if you are into that kind of thing. This tea can be quite merry fun I assure you. I brewed it up for two male collegues at work who really enjoyed it in a giddy kind of way. I relish how others can enjoy the first time novelty of such teas.
I bought the milk oolong from a Minnesota outfit called Mandala Teas. I think the owner Garret must be a Buddhist. When I opened his package, wave after wave of overwhelmingly positive vibes flowed out of the box forcing me to smile all day. Actually I found Mandala Teas on the web simply because they had the best price for Menghai "Adorned in Red" in the Western Hemisphere. But he really has a thoughtful selection of shu all very well priced for the budget-minded likes of me. I finally got the 06 Mengku Mini. You can tell from his shu selection alone that he loves to drink shu. I'll have to give MT a proper vendor write-up this month as he has the most excellent service of any Internet vendor I've done business with. I'll be ordering more from him as soon as I find some space. (Not only do I have a tea queue backup of about 50+ right now but a blog post backup as well.)
Switching gears- I walked home quite late from work to find this waiting for me on the porch. This heavy box from tuochatea finally arrived after 7+ weeks from the slow boat from Kunming.
You may be wondering what I am doing with so much cheap shu?!?? For those of you willing to wait 2 months, nobody does cheap shu better than tuochatea. I bought it for an experiment. I'm split over the shu pricing conundrum. I feel like shu should be a moderately priced tasty drink. Expensive shu just seems wrong but that's my old school way of thinking. My plan was to buy a wide range of shu from moderately expensive to dirt cheap. I was going to take a few months to do a blind shu taste test after acquainting myself a few times with each shu. If I can't tell the difference or enjoy cheap shu just as much as high end shu, then I shouldn't bother too much with high-end shus.
The long brick in the back is one of the cheapest shu of the bunch- 2006 De Hong High Plateau for $16.80 for a kilo. (I almost bought this same cake back in 2007 for ~$11 but I wussed out. I was plain afraid of cheap shu back then and bought gongting-y Menghai's and such...) I can't help myself but brew it up tonight although I should really be packing. Expecting the worst of my 3 cent brew, I rinse it quickly three times.
It's gnarly with a distinctive medicinal herbal finish and my first thought is that I must put this bad boy away for a few more years to mellow. The sips at first bitter and pondy reveal an unexpected sweet and pretty undertone that emerges until it overtakes the brew. It feels completely out of place- like a hirsute neanderthal who speaks in a high sweet voice. Then even weirder- I start getting a faint wet-stored fuzzy talcum powder taste. I think this cake was dry stored in Kunming for six years. With this shu, the fuzzy taste is not unlike the record static which accompanies the early Coleman Hawkins LP I'm playing right now- just charming enough to add to the nostalgia. So my initial disgust turns into curiosity and finally I've enjoyably quaffed 4 cups of it. Victory for cheap shu tonight! Lot's of drama in this shu unlike the rather predictable storyline of Menghai's, Haiwans, and their ilk. Maybe I'll drink it again tomorrow and shake my head at my sensory lapse or maybe I'll buy up a few kilos.
Many years ago, I used to frequent the ABC Chinese Bakery. The first time my eyes were coldly assessing every treat behind the counter, I zeroed in on a bun shaped like a danish with a delicious cream center. The girl behind the counter told me it was cooked mayonnaise with canned corn kernels on top. The whole idea was simply so disgusting and I resisted having one for months. One day they were out of my coconut cream bun so I ordered the mayo bun. It wasn't as bad as I thought, plus there were treasures of chopped mystery ham hiding in the mayo crater. The next week I craved one. Then I started having one regularly. And then the bakery went out of business and I was regretful I would never treat myself to their mayo corn crater bun ever again.
Thank you for promoting Mandala teas. Not so interested in their sheng, but they have a range of *very* good shu at great prices. 2007 Yongde Organic at $27? Makes me wish I had money! And so on...
ReplyDeleteOh yes, I'm surprised there aren't more blog posts mentioning them as MT would be one of the best U.S. vendors for shu.
DeleteOn account of money- aren't you the one always drinking all sorts of hard to find sheng on SOTD. (Is money for shu vs. sheng a separate bucket?)
Well, I don't like cheap shu, first of all. When not offensive, they can be very boring. The majority of my first experiences with shu left me cold, until, of course, I tasted XZH shu. I really liked their shu, and that caused me to go back and re-evaluate shu. I tend to like Dayi shu, and am more picky about non-bana shu. However, I liked the 2009 Yongde Organic shu, but never got around to buying that tong, like I did the Dayi Secret Fragrance. I did go like a laser onto the XZH XiShangJiaXi shu and got a pair at what is, today, a very reasonable price of $49 each. I got a bunch of very good Dayi shu, like SoM, ZiYun, '08 V93, '07 7262, '09 Longzhu, but only essentially one cake of each, so I'm not inclined to drink them heavily. I also like sheng much much more than any shu excepting SF shu and the XZH shu. I drink for entertainment, and don't really drink with any food other than toast. Therefore, boring tea doesn't get drunk. If I wasn't chronically un/underemployed, I'd probably be drinking more shu, and buying tongs of 7262 and 8592 for rushed drinking 5 years down the road.
DeleteAs for hard to find sheng, the only sheng I've ever had in quantity that is/was hard to find would be the 2003 Wistaria tuo. The rest were from primarily Houde, EoT and YS. I got expensive tea, because at the time I started, in 2010, expensive teas were much, much cheaper than they ought to be. For example, the XZH '06 LBZ tasted as good to me as a good yancha, and I was like, $145 is very cheap for 400g of good yancha! Better get two! Now I have lots of hideously expensive teas that I dare not drink casually, and not enough daily drink tea! Doesn't mean I don't want to try all the interesting teas from Mengku, as all the Bingdao fakes are being sold under their own names now...
Dear shah8,
DeleteI'm hopeful there is interesting cheap shu out there that doesn't offend. What is your notion of cheap? Under $20? Incidentally, my records show I bought the 2006 Dayi Caravan to Tibet for $15 which would definitely fall under cheap and tasty. But just like you, I only have one of various Dayi shus so I sample them for reference time to time.
Still I'm not a fan of Dayi shu's- not enough excitement, predictable formulas. But shu for me is often a pork partner more than a separate brew so I don't need too much complexity. I'm still working hard to find reasonable shu I can like and I'll definitely look into Yong De.
hster
Newborn Yongde Organic is about it. I've tried cheap Guanzizai and more expensive Hai Lang Hao. I've tried things like 2007 Jiu Wan TongQingHao, which is characteristics of grade nine leaves shu. I've also tried things like the Tan Mei 7581 from 2006, but that is not a cheap shu at about $25+/250g. Cheap shu is essentially under $20 in my book, and definitely under $15, which usually happens for newborn shu that should be tonged and put up for five years. Good shu that can stand on its own is expensive these days, and even back then, when you bought CTT for $15, that was, what, five years ago? $15 for shu was not cheap then. Great deal now, though. I'd suggest you try the newer lincang shu from YS, lord knows we need reviews of those Mang tang whatevers. An "old trees" lincang shu from 2011 is available at Bannacha, for about $36 or so, which also looks interesting.
DeleteI had the Star of Menghai '07 yesterday, prompted by seeing that perhaps I have a chance of buying another cake, but I wasn't really happy with it. Good, but still more or less just dead flavored water. Right now, my cake of '07 7262 is generally outperforming its costs very nicely...
On the SoM- I'm curious what you mean by dead flavored water? Was it livelier even a year ago and it's not aging well compared to the 7262?
DeleteI bought the'06 CTT back in 2006 and $15 was high for shu in mid 2006. But by early 2007, decent Dayi shu prices shot up to $30+. I try not to buy any more Menghai but got a '07 Dayi Gao Shan Yun Xiang($17.60) in my tuochatea order which I haven't tried yet.
h
Shu isn't dynamic in the mouth, and they don't have much in the way of taste intensity or a dynamic session, or much in the way of qi. Shu that does more than that, I like very much, but pretty much all of that kind of shu is fairly expensive.
DeleteThe Star of Menghai, around when I first got it, eventually developed a propensity for interesting and lengthy-for-shu aftertaste after 5 or so brews. I never get that these days. Now, it just delivers a reasonably strong taste that could be taken as sorta tasty and a thick soup. It will get the job done, but it certainly cannot take the place of a sheng the way a Dayi Secret Fragrance could in terms of layers of flavor, a sorta rock aftertaste, qi, and sheer dynamic endurance with lots of good smelling, good tasting, sweetwater brews.
I think I like high mountain shu, especially with some age on them. The Yun Xiang, I think is a sorta cousin to SF, and people generally do like that shu.
You can find those kind of mayo-ham bums, or something similar, at most dim sum-counter places. Strangely enough, I've found minor variations in SF vs Oakland Chinatown; most of the dim sum/bakery places in Oakland's appear to sell this sweet pumpkin pancake, which I've never seen in any SF Chinatown bakery, or anywhere else for that matter..
ReplyDeleteDo you know Sam Rivers? His sound was like a truly wild tea, some deep and chaotic from the Yunnan forests!
Nick,
DeleteI associate jazz of Sam Rivers with the city and the loneliness of the human condition. I can't seem to superimpose his soundtrack to Yunnan.
hster
Ha ha..didn't he live near Orland, for a long time? That's basically urban sprawl superimposed over a big swamp, not so different. You should visit some places in Yunnan if you ever have the chance, I'm curious what you'd think, tea and all.
DeleteI'm not that familiar with him, I was just thinking of him the other day. I saw him play once about 10 years ago when I had no idea who he was, just this really old black guy with two band members who were much younger. It was the craziest concert I've ever seen. There was a part where they all played horns, then they all switched and they were all playing drums, then they switched again to another configuration. Bright star of the forest, his roots went deep!
Nick,
DeleteYou are quite lucky to have seen Sam Rivers live as he passed away last year. Even if I don't prefer his style of jazz, such performances are something to behold. Very very few musicians can create such new music on the spot. The improvisation of jazz to me is one of the most amazing human achievement- performance wise.
Yunnan- have you gone? Yunnan is not one of my top travel destinations. The last 10 places I want to set my eyes on doesn't include China.
As an amateur jazz musician myself, you're absolutely right--having some inkling of what it takes to improvise well (even if just a small one), makes you appreciate how stupendous and beautiful it can be. Personally, I find it kind of sad when I meet people who have been playing piano since the age of 4 but can only play what's written in front of them, no concept of expressing personal feeling on the spot--that's where music comes from, the written stuff came later, much later..
DeleteIn dtown Oakland on Fridays there used to be this guy, Vince Wallace, with his band, they would play every Friday afternoon in front of the Blue Sky cafe next to a bunch of unappreciative stoners (around the corner from Oaksterdam U, that beloved institution of higher learning). He is super ancient, can barely walk, seems like he must be blind too, from the way he dresses himself, but when he plays the sax...wow! Anyways, they're great. I'm not sure if they're still out there. I was out there the other Friday for Oakland Art Murmur and didn't see them.
Yes, I spent a few weeks in Yunnan. Kunming, Dali, Linjiang, Zhongdian, some other small places in wild mountains of the north, mostly Tibetans and yaks. Sadly I knew much less about tea then than I do now, so I bought a cake, but it didn't turn out to be a very good one.
He he..it's an interesting place to visit. So is China; but not for the faint of heart. Yunnan is more interesting than much of China to me, for different reasons--lots of minorities, mixing of cultures and people, some amazing landscapes--but you can probably achieve some similar effects by visiting some of the neighboring southeast Asian countries in the region without getting some of the less pleasant "China effects."
P.S. Look who's coming to town: http://www.sfjazz.org/events/f12/sonny-rollins
DeleteNick,
DeleteEven though I've had my fill of hairy adventure travel, the thought of venturing into China fills me with dread. Even the little taste I get in the Oakland Chinatown or at the Ranch 99 market (constant shoving, jostling, spitting, line-cutting, overall lack of courtesy) is enough to make me think I should really strive to relax on my vacations. Yunnan is less Han and so it may be more laid back but still one cannot avoid "China effects" even in the furthest corners of China.
h
I thought Rollins had passed away so it might be my last chance to see him.
China: Yep, you're right about that..
ReplyDeleteRollins: My thoughts exactly! If you decide to go, let me know. Maybe we could meet up and share some tea beforehand.
Thanks for the link to Mandala Tea shop I had never heard of the place before, it looks like you've found a real gem with a great selection of ripe puerhs from an American vendor.
ReplyDeleteThe earthy mixed with sweetness cheap ripe puerh cakes are what I consider that good earthy puerh and the best of the cheap stuff. I had a similar reaction as you did with that type at first but it quickly grew on me and I have to say that I find some of those cheap earthy bricks to be just as enjoyable if not more than some of the more expensive cleaner cakes which can seem boring at times if one drinks them too often.