1999 CNNP Zong Cha

17/06/2011, posted by Cha in journal

This is one of the teas that has been part of my puerh learning process. I don’t remember it clearly,  because such a long time has passed since then, but I had the photos in a draft for a while now.

The tea itself it is not as important as the process. For every tea that I wrote there are probably 10 for which I didn’t.  All the teas have shaped me into what I am today . All the teas that I have tried formed  some kind of knowledge which is only a basis for further learning. That knowledge is not a scholastic knowledge. It is a practical one.  I know what to expect and how to handle a tea when I see it, or at least, I have a general idea. Learning never stops.

Thinking over shou, I do believe that shou puerh is the most easy category to learn from.  Much more forgiving than any other tea ,  with the biggest key factor being high temperature.

Now I am more focused on oolongs, and I have  pouring , proportion as  key factors.  What I find it most important for all the teas is to drink them at the right moment. Drink it at a wrong time a day, and it doesn’t show all it’s potential. For example, great teas at home become poor teas at the office , and leftovers from home , become great tea at the office.

2003 CNNP Yi Wu High Mountain Wild Arbor

14/05/2011, posted by Cha in tea

It has been a while since my last blog post. Life kept me busy, but I never stopped drinking tea. In fact,  almost every morning starts with a tea session.

This is a tea sample I got from one of my readers, which probably has it from Yunnan Sourcing. As soon as I saw the tea i knew I will like it.  I really enjoy Yi Wu sheng  teas . In my case, they  produce a particular sensation when brewed with care.

I have found that I  almost never remember the taste of the teas I enjoy, but I do remember the sensations.  I brew and choose teas according to what  sensation or effect I require.   I never brew special teas to guests because I want to maximize that effect, and I never brew a tea that I haven’t tried to guests. This is because I don’t want to make a tea look bad because of my inability.  This is the same reason for keeping some samples until my brewing ability reaches a certain point.

Now back to this puerh. I have found that I prefer to help the cake loosen, especially if it is loose pressed.  That is why the leaves in the pic look like they are not pressed.  After that, I don’t pour directly on the leaves and i rinse it once. The tea releases much faster than I do it this way.

How do I brew shu puerh using a gaiwan

31/03/2011, posted by Cha in journal,video

This is part of the Blog Carnival of Association of Tea Bloggers hosted this month by  Cinnabar .

The following video says it all.  Some prefer not to touch the tea,  but I find that the liquor releases much sooner if I ‘loosen’ the tea  prior brewing. Do give me your feedback .

Breaking a puerh cake

28/11/2010, posted by Cha in journal,video

I decided to break this cake in half , then store half in a earthen ware and half in it’s (almost) original form. I’ll check in time the differences between those two.

This was my oldest cake of shu puerh.  The knife I used is not your regular puerh knife. It’s actually a somehow more dangerous item. I also like knives and I have quite a set at my home.  The bladed weapon passion comes from my martial arts passion.    If you would think that tea defines me, you are wrong. In my journey of defining myself, tea is one of the tools. Same as martial arts.  My blog is called chadao not because I’m an expert, but because I am a scholar.  I honestly want to learn more about tea,  every day. But in the sane way.

I sadly see so many (western) people taking tea for what (I believe ) is not.  Drinking a cup of tea will not make you understand zen, or tao or anything . Trying to make your best cup of tea for several decades may do that. And it will probably happen with a cup of tea.  That is kung fu.   If one drinks tea for a year or two and starts to understand the universe, I would called that person tea possessed.  I think that it’s important to learn, but it’s also important to take away the mysticism.

Oh , but let’s get back to the video. If you have any other suggestions about breaking the cake or storing the puerh, don’t hesitate to tell me.

1999 yiwu shu puerh

26/11/2010, posted by Cha in tea

Definitely a shu I like . I’m writing this post 10 minutes after, and the aftertaste is still pleasant. I can’t define the taste, but some keywords that I can come up with: sharp , clear.    Drinking this tea feels like erasing a  whiteboard, where my head represents the whiteboard.   Without considering the warming effect, I think there are few shu puerh that had such an effect on me , effect that goes beyond taste .

There were more than seven infusions, but this is where I stopped with photos. I had another ’round’ of tea later.  The photos were made in a different tea session. For any tea that I write of, I’m trying to have at least two sessions. One to take the photos and one for the complete experience.

This tea is a sample i received from Canton Tea. Too bad I can’t afford one right now, but If you can, I highly recommend it.

2006 Nan Qiao Factory Cooked Puerh

02/10/2010, posted by Cha in tea

I have received a generous sample of this tea from Canton Tea Co.  I must say, this is one of the teas that shows me just how green I am  when it comes to tea.   This tea is a cooked puerh, but If I wouldn’t knew, I would say it’s a raw puerh. Leaf, liquor , taste, everything is like for a raw puerh. Why is then this tea a cooked puerh?  That will be my research topic in the following  weeks.

I used my  shu puerh teapot to brew this tea and some cups that I usually use for that type of puerh .  In the near future  I will   try to brew this tea again  with another teapot and a different set of cups.

This tea is great, but I found out that If I shower my teapot at the early infusions, the liquor has an accentuated note of bitterness . So in order to avoid that, I used  short infusions, and I showered the teapot only on the last infusions.  Even when the tea had notes of bitterness, I could feel the sweet aftertaste immediately after.

There are eight infusions in the pics, but they were not the only infusions. I left the leaves in the teapot to have a session of tea later.   It was simply to much tea to drink in a single session.   The guys from Canton recommend 10-15 infusions, and I strongly agree. In conclusion, a very nice  (confusing ) tea.

This tea is available for purchasing here .

Update:

Here is a pic with the  wet leaves:

2003 Yiwu Raw Puerh

28/09/2010, posted by Cha in tea

This tea goes in the “I shouldn’t drink this tea alone” category.  The taste was wonderful from the first infusion, when the leaves weren’t even unfolded completely. It had a somehow fruity taste and in effect it was chilling. I can still feel the aftertaste even now after 1 hour since my last cup.  It was one of the teas that go on the back of the mouth by itself.   Stéphane has a better description here ( You can also acquire it on his blog ) . I had only one sample, but I  am considering to save some money so that I can acquire a full cake  .

This post also has two little side stories.

The three photos depicting tea  are from the same infusion.  The main reason why I posted them is to show the effect of cup color on tea color.  You may not believe it immediately, but besides the color, the taste also gets affected. Keep in mind that the cups are made of same material and have the same dimensions. Only the color differs.  The green cup had a somehow ‘fresh’ feeling while the brown one made the tea ‘stronger’ and some (forest-autumn ) notes were distinctive .  Interesting.

The teapot was initially intended to be used for green tea ( gasp) . I have read that many successfully use yixing teapots  to brew green tea (with extra care), but I failed. I was not satisfied, the results did not compare to a gaiwan. Now , this teapot is used for raw puerh.

2008 Jing Mai

05/09/2010, posted by Cha in tea

A nice shu puerh from @cantontea .  Following is the description from their site:

An outstanding cooked puerh that already demonstrates the complex notes sought after in a young puerh which indicates it will continue to mellow and improve with age. The raw nutty notes are softened by the dry, ripe fruit hints and the lingering sweet aftertaste.

I have to say,  the tea is very nice.   I believe I will buy one or two cakes ( one for immediate consumption, and one for aging, as Canton Tea recommends ) . It has the look and taste older cakes. The taste is unexpected for a cake this young. However,  it doesn’t have that  yang ”heating’ effect as the older cakes. Perhaps, that develops in time. I’ll double check the next time . Keep in mind that this yang effect I am talking about is a subjective feeling,  related to the energetic effect of the tea.  I may be wrong and it’s certainly not something you would ask  your tea merchant.

Upon investigating the name, I have found that JingMai is short for JingMaiShan ,  which is a Langang County mountain of whose slopes leaves for Puer are harvested ( via Babelcarp).

To brew this kind of tea (shu puerh) I am using my dragon egg.  Unfortunately, my camera batteries went out so I could not take  pics with all the infusions, nor with my new cups.   I’ll present them in another post.    Making pictures for all the infusions take a lot of time and I can only do it when decent light is available. I am thinking to start to reduce the number of photos on my posts, or at least, for some of the teas.

Sheng Puerh, 2003

30/08/2010, posted by Cha in tea

I wonder why my best teas have no provenience information.  I know only the age of this cake, and that is not sure either. What is sure however is that this tea is great. More than great.

It was pretty expensive and I have been told it is a ‘family cake’, meaning that a certain family somewhere in China builds these kind of cakes using local tea trees.  Also, the cake was manufactured using traditional methods. I don’t know if that is true.  And I don’t care. I am glad to have this tea.

This tea actually has a fruity smell as soon as you add water over the leaves.  It’s taste is similar to green apple. But turns sweet after several infusions.  However brewed, it remains transparent and feels ‘alive’ .  I don’t know if this is the correct description (alive), but I can’t find any other relevant word to describe that feeling.

In the main picture the tea was brewed using a yixing teapot.  In the main gallery, with a gaiwan (as you can see). Notice the leaves, they look really really nice.

2006 Guang Lin Fu Shu puerh

20/08/2010, posted by Cha in journal,tea

I didn’t investigated too much on Guang Lin and I never had a cake from this factory before. It does share some characteristics with some shu puerh cakes of a similar age so I will not bother you with details regarding its taste (I actually forgot my impressions, I plan to age the cake , I brewed a sample).

I want to talk about other details.  Lately, I studied water, pouring, heating, teaware  and began experimenting with them. I noticed major improvements on most of the teas, so some things, especially related to softness or their effect could be related to that or my awareness and not to the tea itself. In addition,  by using the cups I recently acquired, practically any shu puerh becomes more attractive in an instant.

At some point I will update this post with more information about that factory. Right now it is not important, I am glad I have the opportunity to appreciate tea.  I feel at peace when I match the tea with my mood and sometimes I wonder If I should write about it at all.  I do hope that this information is useful and will help some people, and at a very least, it’s a form of diary to notice my progress.   But most important, what I would like more, is to receive feedback on whatever I can do better from those that are more experienced than me.  I am always thankful to anybody who reads my blog.