The ever generous Ira sent me two mystery samples which were both from a 7262 recipe - a classic Menghai shu recipe. When I brewed up one of the samples last week expecting shu, I was surprised by an aged sheng taste.
Ira says the 1990 version is a lightly fermented shu which has the familiar green neifei of Langhe. But how lightly fermented was this cake? YS sells a 2003 Langhe which mentions the Langhe style of light fermentation employing "less heat and shorter times". I definitely will give the 2003 sample a go out of sheer curiosity. I'm all for light fermentation if this is the result.
In 2008, Ira bought two 7262's in a San Francisco Chinatown dried seafood/misc ingredients shop on Grant Street. Ira eventually swept away everything on their top shelf - 5 in total with only 3 beengs with known dates. The 1999 7262 had a sticker notating they were packaged in 2007 by an outfit called "cao xiang min (taste) cha (tea)" .
That's the trouble with buying beengs from small stores who don't specialize in pu-erh. They rarely know too much about their wares and so it becomes kind of a crapshoot. Oakland Chinatown has a few stores carrying beengs with the ubiquitous beat up CNNP zhongcha wrapper. Who knows what's lurking behind the wrapper and the store owners often have no clue.
Ira says the 1990 version is a lightly fermented shu which has the familiar green neifei of Langhe. But how lightly fermented was this cake? YS sells a 2003 Langhe which mentions the Langhe style of light fermentation employing "less heat and shorter times". I definitely will give the 2003 sample a go out of sheer curiosity. I'm all for light fermentation if this is the result.
When I tasted Ira's younger 1999 7262 version, it's mostly sheng and in a
blind test, I probably could not taste any shu in it. I could detect a
slight wet storage like taste. Ira found one pliable leaf that looked like shu. Ira sent photos and we are asking the readers
for any information on these two beengs.
In 2008, Ira bought two 7262's in a San Francisco Chinatown dried seafood/misc ingredients shop on Grant Street. Ira eventually swept away everything on their top shelf - 5 in total with only 3 beengs with known dates. The 1999 7262 had a sticker notating they were packaged in 2007 by an outfit called "cao xiang min (taste) cha (tea)" .
That's the trouble with buying beengs from small stores who don't specialize in pu-erh. They rarely know too much about their wares and so it becomes kind of a crapshoot. Oakland Chinatown has a few stores carrying beengs with the ubiquitous beat up CNNP zhongcha wrapper. Who knows what's lurking behind the wrapper and the store owners often have no clue.
But in Ira's case, it worked out to a most happy ending because the 1990 is a lovely tea. (This is a total aside but I really like pictures of two beengs side by side for some reason...)
The thing on the left doesn't look like shu to me. The picture is rather blurry though. Got anything better?
ReplyDeleteAs requested, Ira sent more tonight. I'll try to do a leaf brew some time soon. (I kick myself for not taking the photos last week.)
DeleteSame opinion here--the leaves are way too intact-looking and the buds too gold for decade+ tea. Moar pics!
ReplyDeleteDoesn't the tightness have to do with original compression??? Stone pressed cakes relax a lot but I've seen iron cakes and tuos 10 years old and tight as ever.
DeleteOne of those is a sheng, not a shu. The other might be a sheng, but could be a well done shu (and Langhe is specifically known for light fermentated well done shu). Leaf grade doesn't really look like my dayi 7262--more coarse.
ReplyDeleteSo, Ira, congrats, you won a chinese shop lotto pu.
The left one is very unlikely to be a shu unless lighting is playing tricks on us. The right one is probably a shu.
ReplyDeleteThe more complete cake looks Menghai-ish. Definitely raw.
ReplyDeleteSo even a "lightly" fermented version would not look this raw? I guess if someone had sold this 1999 to me as sheng, I'n not sure I'd even have the slightest suspicion at all something was any different.
DeleteSome of my shu is of the lightly and carefully composted variety. So I'd know what that looks like. The fastest way to tell is that the buds are not gold, but copper.
DeleteNo, lightly fermented shu doesn't look like this, at all. The leaves just look different, this is sheng all right.
Delete