This tastes fine. Gets a bit spicy a bit too fast if youre not careful, but thats not too bad either. I cant detect anything negative in its ageing. Nice aroma that becomes very sugary smelling, with a good mouthfeel on later steeps.
Its a lot better than ripe, any Liu Bao is better than ripe (most things are).
Chapo & Chapo Mid 2021 from W2T Liu Bao Heicha. Really crunky shit fungal compacted to near pointlessness. Has urotium cristatum, some of which i have attempted to harvest and propogate.
I started drinking kinda compact when i wanted more tea at work and it be my tea and good tea. Im pretty sure I could gongfu at work but I respect my collegues.
I always gongfu a new tea, its a good thing to do something like that first and get an idea of what youre working with.
I find this style works to get more nuance out of teas I know, and is great for daily drinkers or breaking down a bitter or older tea. Roasted Oolongs are great this way as a lover of them and boricha/barley tea and that roasty flavour, its something that can really shine here.
This isnt about recreating a 70ml gongfu sip into 400mls. Its about enjoying a tea in a more casual and extended format, both in time and in taste.
I dont think many teas would be lessened by this style, but I would still maybe go daily drinkers at least at first. It kinda puts the tea in a different spectrum. It can draw out a tea that becomes too bitter fast, or as mentioned above open up roasted and raw teas.
IMPORTANT: Water Quantity and steep time is most important here. Less steeps, shorter steeps, in higher water volume.
Items needed 1x Tea I use maybe 10 grams in ~350ml, I eye ball it, but have a vague idea from colour, smell, and its very tea specific. but its per tea and per taste in the end. A daily drinker should be more casual. 2x thermos or 1x large hot-water safe container and 1x other heat maintaining container. One should have a filter of some kind – but not IN a cage thing, the tea needs to be in the water lose in the thermos, or use a hand held filter. You just need a thing to make 3-400ml of tea and a thing to pour it into and keep it warm. I do this at a desk so two thermos is very safe and tidy. 1x cup that holds a decent amount, 200ml or as much as you want. I use a random coffee mug.
Its kind of about experimenting with your daily drinkers, but any teas really, and getting as much out of the tea, having a longer easier “session”, with repeated size steeps, and keeping it within your preferred tastes for as long as possible.
Instructions 1 – Add the tea to the first container with the “filter” . Go with a daily drinker tea. 2 – Pour tea-appropriate temperature water onto the tea. 3 – Put on the lid and wait X or so seconds. See timing notes above/below. 4 – Give it a light shake, or not. 5 – Maybe pour a bit out into your cup. Check colour and taste. 7 – Pour it all into the other container – Same as gongfu get all the water you can off the tea when you pour it out. 8 – Keep the the lid and filter off the container with the tea in it so steam can release. 9 – Put the lid on the thermos with the liquid in it so it stays hot. 10 – Pour and Drink.
The time is really personal taste, its a small amount of tea.
Timing This is all personal taste. 5 seconds, 10 seconds, 20… I find 10 secs for steep one is 1 OK, aim low because you cant unsteep things. This is also per-tea and guided by “experience” and doing it a few times. I’ll often re-steep for the same amount of time the whole session (eg: 3 – 4 hot re-steeps at 10secs) .
Cold or cooler water (not really tea specific at this point) is great as well if you get into the later steeps.
I do maybe 3 or 4 boiling/hot as above steeps, and the last 4 and 5 with cold water…OR
Just put cold water in the container with the tea leaves and the filter.
THERMOS / BIG TEA BREWING is a great way to get a lot out of lighter teas. Also to experience a bit more depth over a longer time, particularly with ripes that might feel too dense or old/worn out, and teas that that can blow out early and get bitter fast.
Prosbloom is a mild smooth ripe, has some stank to it though its been broken up and stored in a jar for a few weeks. There is a mild vanila taste deep in there, the usual forest mulch, a very mild bitterness along with a very light sourness. Camphornaught is much like the above but smoother, milder, less variation, with a broader forest floor base note. they both stay pretty similar over multiple steeps, and dont get crazy or overbearing.
A Flash and then the Quiet vol 2 is a big raw bitter blast. Short steeps work, but a bigger brew works really well to get more out of it and not be punished by over steeping. Its actually quite nice if kept in control. A few grams in 300ml, steeped for 10secs or so, decanted off into a thermos for pouring.
These are all really good, all really different, with some very interesting flavours and aromas. The Kuzhu Shan white 2021 is very mild and hard to overbrew, staying enjoyable for amny steeps. The Shan 2022 is similar with some more bitterness to it, but still quite mild and brews long. The Nar Yar was a sample and was also very good with a great aroma.
The mildness makes them great for bigger brews, I do 300ml or so with 7g or so, short steep of 5 to 10 seconds based on smell and colour. Pour this into a thermos and sip away. repeat a few times.
Nice interesting floral note, a light sweetness, flavour becomes mild herbal wheatgrass, I thought there was some light bitterness on the 5th steep, maybe? (5x5sec), light barley tea, slight vegetal sweetness on the 6th steep, it just keeps going, lightly on. This was one of two samples with a cake of 2025 Lào Cai white tea. From Viet Sun.
2005 Liming 7540 Raw Pu-erh
Light flavour with a growing bitterness with each sip. Some smokiness thats not over powering. The light bitterness already creating a lot of saliva with a little sweetness/cooling?. 4th plus steeps it feels settled out, bitterness isnt increasing but becomes broader, theres is a tanin dryness. This is a very enjoyable daily drinker. Bigger brews really bring out the smoke.
I break up my tea, trying to keep as much leaf shape as possible, leaving any “chunks” that will only result in flakes, and store it in containers for use on my counter. I do this to half of a cake and then store the other still intact half in a mylar bag with a boveda in a container in a location with relatively stable temperature, this keeps the tea at approx 72%RH and approx 23-26C. If the tea is good for aging and I like it enough I’ll rebuy it for long term storage to replace the half.
Yunnan Sourcing 2024 “Autumn Suan Zao Shu” Old Arbor Raw Pu-erh.
Image is the 4th or 5th ~5 second steep.
Nice floral aroma, strong encompassing mouthfeel. There is initially some light sourness which matches nice with the aroma. The bitterness builds creating a lot of returning sweetness.