Sampling pu-erh.sk: Shu Tuocha 2003

Here we get back to another sample from the generous parcel sent by Peter.
It is Winter time, so either aged sheng or shu are the teas of choice according to ancient Chinese lore (or what is considered such in the western bloggosphere). Well, here I've got in one sample both aged tea and shu: Shu Tuocha 2003
Hier nun die Besprechung einer weiteren Teeprobe aus dem großzügigen Päckchen von Peter. Es ist Winter, also sind alter Sheng oder Shu die Tees, welche überlieferte chinesische Weisheit (oder das, was die westliche Bloggosphäre dafür hält) für die Jahreszeit empfiehlt. Nun, jetzt geht es an eine Probe, die sowohl alt als auch Shu ist: Shu Tuocha 2003

The leaves in my chunk of a tuo are a mix of dark brown and russet leaves which look rather intact and are clearly discernible as individual leaves. Do you know (and dread) those shu teas which look like pulp compressed into one homogenous tuo/bing/zhuan? Thank heaven this tea looks like it has been produced to higher standards. My nose doesn't detect the typical smell of shu - no trace of fish pond, compost heap or other smells which accompany poorly made shu. Seems the years of storage (apparently not too wet) have aired out the tea sufficiently. There is just a hint of old leather - but from time to time I find that in aged sheng too.
Die Blätter in meinem Brocken des Tuo sind eine Mischung aus dunkelbraunen und rostfarbenen Blättern, die sehr gut erhalten wirken und klar voneinander abgegrenzt sind. Kennt (und verabscheut) auch Ihr diese Shu Tees, die wirken als sei irgendein weichgekochter Brei zu einem homogenen Block gepresst worden? Zum Glück sieht dieser Tee so aus, als sei er deutlich besser produziert worden. Meine Nase stellt nicht den üblichen Shu-Geruch fest: weder Fischteich Mief noch Kompostgestank, wie man sie bei Billigshu oft findet. Es scheint, dass die Jahre der Lagerung (vermutlich nicht zu feucht) dem Tee genug Zeit zum Auslüften gegeben haben. Da ist nur so eine Ahnung von altem Leder - aber den Geruch finde ich auch oft bei altem Sheng.

With the tea being both aged and shu, I rinsed it twice just to be on the safe side. Still, when I poured the first "real" infusion, it ended up quite light in the cup and absolutely clear. Sometimes I have shu which is so strongly fermented that it is cloudy during the first infusions. Not this one! During subsequent infusions it got darker as the nuggets of the tuo loosened up in my gaiwan.
Weil ich hier sowohl "gealtert" als auch "Shu" habe, wurde der Tee zweimal gespült, um auf Nummer Sicher zu gehen. Der erste Trinkaufguss landete völlig klar und erstaunlich hell in der Tasse. Manche Shu kommen so trübe in die Tasse, dass ich annehme, zu starke Fermentation habe die Blätter so geschwächt, dass sich kleine Feststoffe vom Blatt abtrennen. Nicht bei diesem Tee! Im Lauf folgender Aufgüsse wird der Tee dann zunächst dunkler, während sich die Nuggets des Tuo im Gaiwan lösen.

What about the taste? There is the warm impression of aged leather. And a chalkiness which I find in shu of the smooth and mellow type. But behind both of these typical attributes of shu I find something else: a taste of spinach - the way my mother cooks it. There is a very earthy vegetable flavour with a pronounced sweetness (my mother adds breadcrumbs to spinach which makes it sweeter) and a fine spiciness (spinach is only good spinach if you add nutmeg). Just like dishes from a happy childhood, this tea warms me. Not just the warmth sliding down my throat into the belly but also a warmth in my chest, radiating to my limbs and mind.
Was ist mit dem Geschmack? Da ist der warme Eindruck von gealtertem Leder. Und eine Kreidigkeit, die ich gelegentlich in weichen und geschmeidigen Shu finde. Aber hinter diesen Shu-typischen Eigenschaften ist mehr: ein Geschmack von Spinat, wie meine Mutter ihn kocht. Dieser sehr erdige Gemüsegeschmack mit einer deutlichen Süße (meine Mutter reibt immer Zwieback in den Spinat, was eine sehr harmonische Süße gibt) und eine feine Gewürznote (Spinat ist nur wirklich Spinat, wenn man ihm Muskat gönnt!). So wie die Gerichte einer glücklichen Kindheit wärmt mich dieser Tee von innen. Nicht nur die physische Wärme, welche durch den hals in den Magen rinnt, sondern auch ein warmes Gefühl, das aus der Brust in die Gliedmaßen und das Bewusstsein strahlt.

Poor photography of a great tea

If you have read my previous ramblings, you might have found out that I like teas which dig up childhood memories. So it will not come as a surprise to you that I really like this tea. The spinach trait is something I find some aged sheng which I really love. On top of the presence of something I love there is the absence of a shu trait I detest: no fish pond.
Wer sich schon öfter durch meine Ergüsse gequält hat, weiß wie ich mich für Tees begeistere, die Kindheitserinnerungen ausgraben. Somit wird es keine totale Überraschung sein, dass mir dieser Tee ausgesprochen gut gefällt. Diese Spinatanmutung finde ich auch in alten Sheng, die ich sehr mag. Zusätzlich zu dem Vorhandensein einer geliebten Eigenschaft kommt noch die Abwesenheit einer Shu-Eigenschaften, die mir zuwider ist: umgekippter Fischteich.

This might not mean much, as I don't drink a lot of shu, but I have to say: this is the best I've ever tried! Or to phrase it in a more emotional and direct way:
I love it!
Angesichts meines sehr seltenen Shu-Konsums mag die Aussage wenig Kraft haben, aber ich muss festhalten: Dies ist der beste Shu, den ich jemals hatte. Oder um es ungewohnt kurz und bündig zu sagen:
Ich liebe ihn!

Up to trying this tea I didnt really see the point in ageing shu for many years. Okay, it takes some time to air out the unpleasant smells of wodui fermentation. But once those smells are gone, why age it any further? Hasn't accellerated fermentation exhausted the tea?
At least this one shows that it is possible to age shu in a way which yields benefits similar to good sheng.
Bevor ich diesen Tee probiert habe, sah ich nicht richtig den Sinn darin, Shu über Jahre hinweg reifen zu lassen. Okay, es dauert einige Zeit, bis die unangenehmen Gerüche der Wodui-Fermentation ausgelüftet sind, aber warum dann noch weiter reifen? Hat die beschleunigte Fermentation den Tee nicht schon ausgelaugt?
Zumindest dieser Tee zeigt, dass es möglich ist, Shu ähnlich günstig wie Sheng reifen zu lassen.

Another piece of music at the end of my review - unrelated to the tea except for the similarity in how it makes me feel.

Wieder zum Ende einer Teerezension ein Lied, das nicht das geringste mit dem Tee zu tun hat - außer dem Gefühl, das es mir gibt.

Late 1990s Jin Gua Gong Cha

Aged sheng comes at a price. You might get lucky to find a ten year old bing for 50€ (about 68US$) as described here. But usually prices in Europe are way higher. 150€ for an unspecified bing of Menghai tea from the late 1990s seems like a bargain when searching through European shops. So at long last I mustered up all my courage and ordered directly in China at Chawangshop.

An meine deutschsprachigen Leser: ein muttersprachlicher Bericht ist auf TeeTalk.de erscheinen. Dies ist der Link.

Browsing through their selection of aged sheng, I stumbled upon an unbelievable offer: 500g of sheng from the late 1990s for just 78US$ (about 57€). Too good to be true? Well, they offer a sample of 25g, so I decided to give it a try and included a sample in an order which was budgeted as my wife's Christmas present to me (yep - I'm the luckiest husband!).

Photograph borrowed from www.chawangshop.com

The ordered goods arrived several weeks before christmas. Of course I had to check the contents of the parcel straightaway ("No sipping, just sniffing" my wife admonished) and opened all the sample bags and the bing (more reviews coming up). When I got the first whiff from the Jin Gua sample bag, I was hooked. I just had to write something about it on TeeTalk (internet forum on tea in German, link found in the side bar). But when I published my first lines of euphoria, horrible premonitions started paining me: What if TeeTalk readers start buying up all the stock of Jin Gua? What if nothing would be left after christmas when I could try the sample?

These horrors caused me to utter sounds like an injured dog. Must have been quite a severe case of whimpering, as it caused my wife to say "Okay, okay, stop whining and order a lump of that old tea." If I truly were a dog, I would have licked her face!

Two weeks after that incident (still well before Christmas) a complete 500g melon of that tea arrived. So now I feel secure with a pound of aged tea waiting for March. Secure enough to write about this tea.

Lets start with the dry leaves: Dark brown with hints of copper. Compression is tuocha-like: bordering on the density of diamonds. Some slender stalks are included. The dry sample omits a fragrance of antique furniture and loads of camphor. Just what I go for in aged sheng.

What can be found in the cup? Quite a dark tea, but not as deep brown as I expected. Still, the  russet brown speaks of Age, not mere storage. Inhaling the steam rising in lazy clouds from the cup, my nose gets the full load of 'antique drawer in which a chinese herbalist use to store his camphor' with a good dose of old leather on top. Sipping the tea, the impression of leather is much more pronounced than antique wood. But the focus of attention is unfailingly gripped by the mint. That's funny: my nose tells me that this tea must be the mold after which Tiger Balm is  produced, but my tongue tells me I'm having a mouth full of fresh spearmint. At least when I brew this tea in my Zisha pot, it is mainly leather + mint ... but when I brew it in a porcellain gaiwan, my tastebuds tell me that I am drinking an infusion of antique wood and camphor.

But fragrance and flavour are only part of the experience. The aftertaste and mouthfeel are even better: Right after swallowing the impression of wood or leather is gone instantly, leaving the mouth awash with mint and the cooling sensation of mint. I've never tried a mint chewing gum which gave me such a minty cooling as this tea! The cooling effect slowly seeps down my throat and seems to clear my lungs. After following that sensation for a while, a sweetness starts do develop in my mouth. But it is not easy to concentrate on that sweetness as I am distracted by a tingling feeling starting in my hands and feet then rising up. A brew such as this is just the right stuff to serve to someone who doubts you can get drunk on tea.

Final infusion

As the tea is quite strong, I use a very light leaf/water ratio: only 3g for 100ml. When I first tried the tea I brewed it a bit stronger at perhaps 5g / 100ml. But it was way too strong - I had to dillute the brew with hot water, still it made me feel giddy and even slightly drugged. Brewing this aged tea with only 3g still yields a strong tea, if you increase steeping times accordingly. The drawback is that increased steeping times make for a reduced number of infusions. After ten infusions the leaves feel spent.

Let's take a look at the spent leaves. What strikes you is the clear distinction of tea types of maocha that went into the blend: the usual look of leaves which have been rolled into needle shape - and ball shaped leaves which have not yet unfurled fully and look several shades darker. This is the first time I encounter ball shaped maocha.

How to evaluate this tea? On one hand there is a powerful tea exhibiting flavours and sensations I look for in aged sheng at an amazing price. On the other hand there is the fact that the leaves don't last for long, being exhausted rather early. The fact that leaves in a melon are compressed at leat as tightly as in a tuocha might explain something: high compression damages a leaf's structure, so it is easier for the water to extract flavour, coffein and other ingredients during infusion. Thus the brew gets stronger but you sooner reach the point where everything has been extracted from the leaf and the brew feels hollow.

My personal conclusion is: at 57€ for 500g (which equals about 41€ or 56US$ per standard bing of 357g) this is still a great deal! Even if I can only get 10 infusions out of it, I have to consider that I use only 3g per session. You can do your own math to decide if this tea is ridiculously underpriced ... or you can just add a 25g sample of this tea to your next order at Chawangshop and find out for yourself.

No - I don't get any benefits from Chawangshop for writing this review. To my knowledge they are as yet not even aware of the fact that I write this little blog. Our e-mails concerning my orders (not all tea drinkers are patient, so I can be a real nuisance while waiting for my order to arrive) were really friendly and I got the impression I was writing to new friends, not just a business acquaintance.
Call me romantic, but somehow I believe that the love of tea can be a unifying factor, creating something like a fellowship of people who have never met but share the enthusiasm for watery infusion of camellia sinensis.

Let me finish this entry by encouraging you to use the comments function:
Have you ever found ballshaped maocha?
What are your experiences with melon shaped puer tea?
Anything I forgot to mention?