2005 Changtai Yiwu Zheng Pin

This cake is borderline mythical to me in several ways, and I have not even had it yet. Though I can not find the review Hobbes over at the half dipper reviewed a similar cake quite some time ago, and recently he has reviewed quite a bit of Changtai productions. But this is also mythical as it is also labeled "Yiwu!" Whether it is actually from Yiwu or not I have no guess but it is such a well known Puerh region that many fanatics go wild over.

So Sad to say that only upon close inspection of the wrapper can you notice that despite the overall appearance of this wrapper being hand stamped it is in fact printed by a printer (a rather crude resolution one at that). But opening up the cake and it reveals a cake that is so loosely compressed its a miracle it hasn't completely fallen apart. I easily scraped off 5 grams just by rubbing my thumb up against the edge like I was trying to turn a page. The dry leaves smell a bit dull but amazingly sweet. While I have little experience with Puerh this age, somehow I feel this will yield a rather interesting broth.



The soup is a bit darker than I thought a 5 year old tea would produce as an amber orange. It actually smells a bit like oranges, but mostly Camphor, and bananas.

This is rather interesting, I have never had a tea that tasted such a perfect balance between young and aged. Its earthy, but sweet, and while it lets your mouth no it is there, there is no biting bitterness.

The soup in later infusions becomes incredibly syrupy, and almost like syrup as it just tastes sweeter and sweeter.

This tea was provided by China Cha Dao (formally Chinese Kung Fu Tea Art store), as payment for me writing some product descriptions for his site.

A thick cooling soup
The heat vanishes inside
A hot tea brings chills
--Adam Yusko