When I visited my parents over the holidays, I was confronted with the box of various puerh samples I had left for them to drink in 2014. Unsurprisingly, none of it was consumed so I flew it back across the country. The desert like conditions of my parent's Virginian heated home in winter is epic, I've gotten a nose bleed from the dry air. Needless to say, I got an unintended 5-year experiment of XXX extreme dry storage for shu.In this motley collection was one of my favorite Menghai ripes- the 2006 San Ji Pu, a special batch produced with mostly grade 3 leaves. Alarmingly, the texture of the extra dry beeng pieces are different than the one stored in Berkeley. It's got a disturbing hollow crunchiness like layers of dry husk. It barely smells. I should condition it in a ceramic jar but I'm curious how it tastes now.
The tea brews up tasty enough with that unmistakable Menghai quality you can trust. I guess it's harder to kill shu with just aridity. Unlike the silky feminine charms of the Golden Needle White Lotus, the San Ji Pu after the initial brews develops a more stately profile like mahogany. The lovely lingering licorice finish of the 5th brew makes me immediately want to procure another cake. I know Scott still sells it so I run to the website. I actually growled. To use a Hobbesian phrase, it's now sporting an eye-watering price tag of $95.
Bagging pretty satisfying shu for $16 a kilo makes you forever an unsufferable shu cheapass. Considering I still have 10 kilos of pretty good shu crammed in the tea closet and my rate of consumption being less than 1/4 pound per year, I'd have to be pathological to want to order more shu at a premium. (I hope my husband appreciates this reformed sensible turn to purchase maturity.) Actually if I had a choice between overpaying for aged sheng vs shu, I would go for sheng every time. I've enjoyed plenty of above-average aged shu, but have yet to encounter aged shu which makes me close my eyes in rapture or have the tea linger on the palate hours after a tea session in a way that aged sheng can. No surprise for a refugee in shulandia, I'm here until I can start drinking my aged shengs.
I got my original San Ji Pu from YS in early 2007 for $28 during the '07 run up. Considering HLH Lao Banzhang was $40 in 2006, $28 was a stinging crazy price for shu. This was one of my last puerh orders for many many years. Do the elevated prices of even my ripes make me behave differently as a shu drinker?
I also had brought back a 2009 Menghai Dayi 99 Square still unopened. I was going to just let my husband take it to work as the chocolate bar form of individual squares would be convenient for him to brew. Out of curiosity I looked it up and was shocked, just shocked to find it selling for $380HKD or USD$49. It mentions being a lucky collectible for numerology reasons. I got it for $6.50 from China Cha Dao but now I'm definitely going to store it away. As my husband grumbled, "What, I'm not worth it." I gamely insist we must enjoy it Sept 9, 4719(2022 in the Chinese calendar) to obtain heightened numerology benefits.
 |
| Was going to let husband take this little guy to work for casual convenient drinking... |
related posts:
- Remember when I gave away kilo of my gross shus.
- 06 De Hong High Pleateau $16 a kilo
- all shu posts
