About half didnt show up on Valentines Day for another puer tasting.
They were guys who probably were tethered to girlfriends. The two shu
gals showed up. One brought a puer sampler they got from the PuerShop
(?). It was Menghai products, 3 shu, 1 sheng. I know that online
store wasnt mentioned in the last tasting so I was impressed she took
something away and knew what to order and how to get it. Lets say she
didnt walk away with any samplers. I had a left over sliver of silver
tip from tasting I gave her in appreciation. Im just about ready to
admit I am impressed with the gongfu taste of tea. Its a modified
version, ceramic infuser in small glass pot but gongfu technique. I
woke up in the middle of the night thinking whats wrong with that
picture. Ill follow up on that the next time. Maybe that shops
version of a sawed off tea press plunger. I brought a bamboo shell
QiZi tong which nobody had seen before even the owner. That might be
going the way of the dinosaur. On my last visit to SF I notice the
Seven Sons are now in decorative baskets in the hundreds of dollars
range. Mine cost $18 in 2005. We had a sheng Menghai 2000 from HouDe
which the owner described as being his absolute favorite. It won some
kind of magazine award somewhere for short term aging or something
like that. I casually mentioned it tasted like my Yunnan Black Gold.
I can see how someone might be impressed if they werent familiar with
other Yunnan tea taste. The only other guy there is on a budget and
he mentioned some commercial puer he bought in our Chinatown. I
encouraged him to bring it. Ah the good ole days, cheap puer. We
never got around to my QiZi shu. Next time.

Jim

PS The owers command of PinYin puer is excellent. His sheng is
slightly different than mine.