u/veromia24

This tea is a gift from a Redditor friend of mine and honestly...for a boutique Pu'er it is really nice and very interesting. I did a rough "eh just cover the bottom of the gaiwan lah. Agak-agak (just guess-timate) only" amount into the gaiwan and only found out that I actually got it to 8g sharp. LMAOOOOO. Hey that measurement helps. It's 150g gaiwan by the way. Standard of the mill cheap porcelain one. Nothing fancy there.

But the tea itself, after rinse and first infusion onwards - woah. The oil coating, the tiny bitterness and astringency that swifts goes away and what followed are thick honey nectary sweetness with hints of rose syrup and other floral stuff. Truly a light Bai Yin Shan aged sheng puer tea. Light it is yes but the last pic..is at the 10th or 11th infusion.

This tea is easy to drink due to its sweet lightness and yet damn persistent. I can imagine this tea reaching 30–40 infusions without much trouble. The thickness of the 10th or 11th infusion still feels like its around the 3rd or 4th infusion. To put it as an analogy, if a typical pu'er tea tends to peak at a mountain and the gradually fall rather fast by the 5th infusion onwards like well...a pile of rocks...this one works more like a tumbleweed falling over a huge mountain but with gentle slopes. Very cowboy movie imagery I know - yeehaw~

Nonetheless would recommend to those who can get Hojo's teas somewhere. It's a boutique Pu'er thing, some variety to have other than the usual "me being happy" Big factory puer teas that I have (earlier I had 2018 Xiao Fa/7663 Xiaguan shu pu'er tuocha). Hey - variety is truly the spice of life. Cheerio.

I'm going old school. 2021 8592 shu + 2003 mystery Zhongcha 8582-ish sheng.

I did a blend. 5g (roughly) of 8592 + 3g of that mystery aged sheng = damn that's really nice.

I also think this can be pulled off with fresh sheng provided we keep the ratio lower for it. Like if 2g of shu : 1.5g of fresh sheng ratio. So 5g of shu : 2.5g of fresh sheng.

And the taste? Like a really really old grear sheng. Damn. Would definitely recommend.

Source - I read that Hong Kong folks tend to do this to stretch out their puer tea stock while still giving that "old sheng" general taste for Yamcha.

P. S - mystery Zhongcha CNNP sheng because apart from the wrapper, the neifei, the neipiao and the age of the tea cake, the provenance is known only to God. It can be made by a random Yunnanese guy pressing tea cakes at the back of his house for all I care. Tastes amazing though.

Okey this is my 7542 from Dayi. Bought it literally at the very Malaysia branch HQ of Dayi itself. Want more authentic provenance than this? Actually going to the Menghai Tea Factory itself in Xishuangbanna, Yunnan, China haha. 2024 batch here.

I don't know what others say to be honest on young sheng apart from some folks dislike this but...this is where I have to respectfully differ with them and agree with the Yunnanese take on young sheng - they love it fresh and for them - dry fresh sheng even when aged is a plus. Heck they consider it the feature, not a negative. I actually deeply enjoy young sheng. They occupy the green-yellow teas territory for me without being technically green and yellow teas. They make me enjoy the best of those two tea types without facing the madness of chasing the pre Qingming fest spring green teas and all, nor paradoxically enough chasing the older aged shengs that would make my wallet and bank account wail and mourn.

The bitterness swiftly turned to plum and flowery honeyed sweetness, the huigan, the mouthfeel, the thirdt quenching properties...all the good stuff. It's already well and happily available on my (relatively fresh) 2024 batch of 7542. And it has all the bones and stamina needed to go all out aging over the years and decades....if I wanted to.

If.

Because frankly - I actually enjoy this tea absolutely as it is right now. It's amazing! Really. Heck I admit that I actually feel reluctant to age it because I know it would somehow lose what makes it an excellent fresh sheng as it evolves and ages. Yet I understand why lots of folks, even especially in my place that is Malaysia, actually prefer them well aged and mellowed out, going to the familiar and deeply homely taste of well aged sheng and shu puers. Of course. I drink shu pu'ers daily. 7572s, 8592s, 7262s, V93s, Xiaguan's Xiao Fas, Zhongcha's 7581s, Liu Baos galore (Malaysia is crazy for this)...I got them thank God. Yet there is something about fresh young sheng that makes me deeply gravitate towards it and enjoy it immensely.

Been at work and this is my regular setup - a simple travel set for gongfu - porcelain-lined wide, almost gaiwan-like clay teapot and two big cups, all contained inside a bag to bring everywhere. Yes this is inspired from Jesse's Teahouse though me being Malaysian means I bought it elsewhere at much cheaper price via online shopping apps straight from China.

Though have to say, this Yuyan's roasted Tieguanyin (part of a bundle set I bought at a nearby physical tea store) is pretty expensive (around MYR 180 for a whole set of 15 satchets of various kinds of Wuyi Rock teas and its derivatives = that's like 45 USD total). The tea set itself is comparatively much cheaper, around MYR 35.70 including shipping cost - so that's USD 9. And yes - Chaozhou style.

I covered beneath them with my old bamboo mat (originally meant for my calligraphy brushes) and my usual tea cloth.

Also it's great to have gongfu tea especially casually outside.