Hello hello!

Pu-Erh.Sk is an online tea shop that specializes mainly in puer tea, and also carries a wide variety of pottery. Pu-Erh.Sk is ran by a guy named Peter, and last year, won the Best of 2016 for best puer production (meaning, his spring 2016 production was the best production cycle that year). In 2017, they’ve been hard at work bringing new teas to their shop, and this week, released his 2017 productions. One of these productions included 2017 GuShu Laomane - which is a region know for is strength. So how does this tea hold up to their others? Lets find out!

Steeps 1 - 4

Starting out, I used 6.6g of tea for a 100ml vessel, and used water at a temp of 185ºf. Anyways, this session started out with the base sweetness of freshly cut grass tasting notes, and a spring leaf pile note. The body was vegetal, and heavily resembled spinach along with the freshly cut grass. After a few more steeps, a medicinal undertone made itself known as its texture was creamy and smooth. This tea left a room-filling aftertaste of a leaf pile, which seemed to last for a lengthy amount of time.

Steeps 5 - 8

GuShu Laomane’s medicinal undertone took center stage, as it possessed a tequila/gin like aftertaste in the back of the throat. This tea’s power kept growing as its broth resembled more like alcohol than tea. After another steep, a faint aftertaste of spinach lingered in the mouth as the alcohol and medicinal base left a lasting impression on the tongue.

Steeps 9 - 12

This tea’s medicinal body began to calm down a bit as the alcohol notes mellowed out. As the steeps continued, the faint aftertaste of spinach from earlier became more notable, and left a good combination of sweet and bitter on the base of the tongue. The vegetal and medicinal body seemed to balance well with a faint bitterness, which was harmonious to the tastebuds. As the steeps continued, the tea kept fading out until the very last steep.

Conclusion

GuShu Laomane is the first of Pu-Erh.Sk’s 2017 productions that I tried, and honestly, it’s a great way to start tasting their line-up. This tea presented a boldness and strength that isn’t possessed by too many teas this fresh after being pressed. Another aspect of this tea I liked was its complex tasting notes that seemed to change continuously throughout the session. However, a beeng of this tea will set you back quite a bit. Despite the high price point, I think that GuShu LaoMane was a great experience, and is one that I highly recommend to puer hobbyists alike…