2014 Baiying Shan Crimson Lotus Tea Raw Pu’erh [Episode 59]


Again joined by Crimson Lotus Tea. This episode we take a look at a tea hot off the presses. A recently pressed 2014 Baiying Shan Raw Pu’erh from Crimson Lotus Tea. This is a nice young raw pu’erh, it will be interesting to see how this evolves.


15 responses to “2014 Baiying Shan Crimson Lotus Tea Raw Pu’erh [Episode 59]”

  1. Thanks for all the great content on Pu’ erh. I would find it very helpful to have a good map of the various Pu erh regions. I found a few floating around on the internet but I don’t think any of them are great. Each helped a bit but was not exhaustive or somewhat confusing. Could I convince you guys to create one? Or point us to some good resources? Thanks again
    John

    • Hi John, Thanks for the kind words! I totally agree. Maps are extremely important for anyone that is seriously studying new school pu’erh and the individual regional terroir of the major areas.

      We’re going to be deeper regional breakdowns of the major pu’erh regions in a couple months, so stay tuned. I definitely plan to poke around and find some sort of resource, whether it’s someone else’s map or whatever else. It’d be nice to at least have them all in one place and somewhat uniform.

      Cheers!
      -James

    • Hi Peter!

      Sweetness in new shengs isn’t actually all that odd. This sweetness in young raw pu’erh is especially present when there is proper processing and high quality base material (legitimate gushu). Also, sweet in this case does not mean it’s not bitter, as they will often be quite present in the same tea. Next episode is another great example of this with White2Tea’s 2014 Manzhuan. A tea that is both bitter, but quite sweet as well!

      Cheers!
      -James

      • Thanks for the reply, James. All the sheng that I have had so far has been as bitter as heck — no sweetness in sight. However, I will admit that my palate for the stuff is still quite undeveloped, and I haven’t had that many samples. So maybe I will experience this sweetness sometime after all.

        • I think your experiences are quite typical. I had a similar experience with my first foray into pu’erh, associating young sheng with just a bitter taste! Alot of it depends on the region and base material.

  2. In a rough estimate, How long does it take a raw/green/sheng to be aged and, taste like it?

    Always great videos and articles from the two of you.

    • Hi Larry, Sorry to be vague but it varies significantly depending on what you would consider aged and the storage.

      Traditional Storage (see http://www.marshaln.com/2011/01/traditional-not-wet/) involves a few years of hot and humid storage before a long much drier storage. This type of storage will result in a much quicker aging process than dry storage or most home storages (climate/humidity pending). The amount of compression can also significantly affect the amount of aging that occurs. Iron Cakes will be slower to age than more loosely compressed (or loose pu). I’d say the time of relative maturation can vary anywhere between 10-30 years (traditional to properly conducted dry storage).

      Hope this clarifies and cheers!
      -James

  3. A good sheng will take 10-20 years to fully develop, but the taste changes along the way. Given my age of 50, I have to consider carefully any tea I buy and drink it now or hope my son doesn’t throw it away someday. Still, this cake is intriguing for the story behind it, choosing the leaves from a farmer who has one big tea tree in his garden. Awesome! Would love to taste this!

  4. I would like to hear people’s thoughts on the following question: What do you do with your pu erh leaves if you have to end a steeping session for the day but there is still a lot of life left in the leaves? All too frequently I find myself having to prepare for bed when the leaves still have a lot to give. A quick search on the web has turned up dramatically different – at times contradictory – advice. Should I sadly throw them out. Put them in the fridge and then steep again in the morning? Leave them in the pot on the counter overnight? I hate being in this situation…especially with some special sheng.
    Cheers
    John

    • Hi John,

      Good question and something I’ve constantly contemplated, wanting to halt caffeine/liquid consumption but not waste tea. Depending on how much I think the tea has left in it, I’ll leave it in the gaiwan or yixing. I also will often leave tea in the middle of the day, for anywhere from 30 minutes to half a day. Depending on how much time has passed, the tea will usually brew up slightly differently. I’ll sometimes give the tea a quick rinse before resuming brewing, if I’ve been away for a while and am worried about mold. I do believe you will be more at risk for mold and nastiness if you live in a hotter/more humid climate.

      Marshaln has written more about it here.

    • I would say if you have gone 10+ steeps already a good sheng will have more in it, but definitely use boiling water to start up again, or you can boil the tea leaves outright.

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