Aged Sheng Pu-erh (15+ years) (老生普)
archetype: Old hermit in the cave
An old hermit in a mountain cave: a fine wisdom, a dry camphorous air, a warm woody depth, a time gone by.
History
Lao Sheng Pu (aged sheng puer, 15+ years) is the summit of a puer collection. With the years the rough catechins in the leaf break down, and 'secondary' aromas come through: camphor (from ageing in a dry environment), cedar, fig, dark persimmon. It keeps well only in a dry, lightly ventilated room; wet storage gives the 'Hong Kong' style with a mushroom note. The benchmarks are cakes from the 1980s and earlier.
Terroir
What matters in Lao Sheng Pu is not the place of picking but 20–40 years of correct storage. The store's humidity must be below 70%, the temperature 20–28 °C, free of foreign odours.
Leaf
camphor, dark persimmon, cedar wood, fig, a very long calm very long, velvety; the aftertaste lasts an hour and more, leaving in the chest 'an ancient silence'
Properties
rich in 'secondary' polyphenols of ageing, low catechins; considered one of the most 'healing' teas for the elderly dense, slow, descending; felt as 'time settling in the belly' low to moderate (20–35 mg)
Brewing ritual
an Yixing pot of 110 ml in zhu ni; 100 °C; 7 g / 110 ml. 6s — camphor, cedar, dark persimmon; 8s — the peak of wisdom: a woody depth, fig; 10s — a thin sweetness, a very long calm; 14s — a deep trail — the cave; 22s — the slow settling of time; 35s — a far echo — long-vanished years; 55s — a very late note — the finale in the chest; 90s — a warm deep water — the tea does not end.
When to drink
day and evening. autumn and winter. for solitude, for a camphorous clarity, on a day of remembrance, for the insomnia of heavy thoughts