90s Shu

Arranging an autumn tea tableau was the most satisfying part of my tea session.  You might be fooled that this tea was a lovely walk in the woods by this still life alone so read on dear reader.

I tried the aged shu's today from the budget aged pu sampler:
No.1  1990s Zhongcha Red Seal Pu'er Ripe
No.9  1990s Aged Pu'er Brick/7581

I would casually affirm these samples are aged past 15 years comparing against other aged shus I've scrutinized. When you label something 90's, 1999 is technically within bounds.

If you have never seen a mummy  in the dried flesh before, it's still worthwhile to see any example available to you.   If you have already seen the royal line up at the Cairo Museum,  then you need not make an effort to see the only mummy in a 100 mile radius which happens to be a cat mummy that's partially sawn off.  By the way, the Mummies of the Pharaohs exhibit- it's very fine, very fine and not to be missed if you are in Egypt.

The teas are not terrible- it's drinkable although No.9 7581 had an unpleasant musty taste which I associate with wet storage which did not entirely rinse out.   You can see how black, stiff and leathery the structure of the 7581 spent leaves are in the photo which added to my suspicions of wet storage.   (Actually after every tea session, I rub all the leaves with my grubby paws quite vigorously before throwing them in the compost.  You can only get the texture post mortem.)

This tea kit is instructive if you've never had aged teas before. You need anchoring reference points so when you do get a boring dry aged tea from somewhere else for more, then you know the tea should have been better.

I was sent finer examples of aged shu from MarshalN and Su - the Tea Sultana of Malaysia to improve my tea mind. The genre of aged shu must not really be for me as I can tell their examples are superior with a more lively mouth feel and herbal aroma but it's still not for me.