Aged Puer

Made in 1998, this 8582 recipe raw puer cake is just as good as contemporaries produced by the famous Menghai tea factory, but is available at a much lower price. A cake for drinkers, not just collectors. Aged in Taiwan, it is neither dry nor wet but somewhere in between.

This 2001 CNNP cake is colloquially known to pu'er collectors as "Ba Zhong" because it has eight "中“ characters around the central, green "茶" character. Aged in Taiwan and acquired by Tea Urchin in 2014. It has an aroma of camphor and fermented fruit. A manly tea, with a touch of smoke and some bitterness, suggesting Bulang leaves in the source material. Thick mouthfeel, even a little silt-grain at the finish.

This 2004 CNNP "he xiang" raw cake is famous for its fine aroma reminiscent of lotus leaf. Aged in Malaysia for 10 years and acquired by Tea Urchin in 2014.

"Yu Pin" is a 400g ripe puer cake, produced by 郎河 Lang He tea factory under their private label 老茶坊 "Lao Cha Fang." Ripe puerh is Lang He's specialty, the founder Mr. Yang believes there's more artistry in making ripe versus raw, and he always supervises the fermentation process himself. Lang He's lighter fermentation process results in a lighter, sweeter liquor that is free of that fishy wo dui flavour common in heavily fermented shu. The proof is in the pudding. This Yu Pin won the bronze award at the 2010 Yunnan tea expo for best shu puer.

This pu'er cake was produced in the Spring of 2010 by the Rongshi tea factory in Mengku, from tea leaves grown in DaXueShan 大雪山, which translates as "Great Snow Mountain." Aged in Shanghai since release, the aroma is of smokey aged wood, musty old books, dried mushrooms & Chinese herbal medicines, finishing with forest floor, and sweet brown sugar. The tea brews a viscous, dark amber, which can be very thick and pulpy if oversteeped. The tea flavour is of aged camphor, mushroom soup, smoke, potsticker char with a syrupy nectar note that binds it throughout. There is very little bitterness or astringency, it's so easy & fun to drink. The aftertaste is slightly silty, there is some bitterness and smoke, but it turns sweet quickly. A sweet toffee note lingers in the empty cup, and in later steeps, sweet huigan appears at the back of your throat. It has some giddy chaqi to it too. Overall, very good price to performance and makes for an attractive gift with a large huangpian pressed into the top of each 500g cake.

Aged in Yunnan this is a tasty, well balanced cake, very enjoyable to drink today. A great example of clean humid aging, not too wet, not too dry. A good value everyday drinker for those who like a bit of age on their sheng.