Essence of Tea 2010 Manmai

I do not have an entire cake of this tea, I got this sample through the Official Teachat Tasting Initiative #5 Young Puerh.

The Dry leaves have a wonderful sweet aroma of dried fruits and leather.

I've actually had a hard time getting through the samples, due to the fact that I go through times of craving young puerh, and when I do not crave it, it often feels rather uninspiring. As I may cause a bit of uproar with this statement, but even the best young puerh teas are somewhat secondary in quality due to the very nature of production and the variety of tea plants growing in Yunnan. I mean think about it, the bitterness in puerh, which often gets praised, would be considered a mortal flaw in Long Jing or just about any other Chinese Green tea.

That being said this tea has a pleasing color, with a nice mellow aroma of straw and wildflowers. But as I was saying the taste has a distinct bitterness which is praise worthy in young puerh, and the flavors lying beneath are strong tropical flavors (which in my theory would probably taste drastically different if the bitterness was not there).

I think I will reiterate here what I said in the Teachat post.... While this tea is a definite cut above the big factory Puerhs, today I can not identify anything of particular note, which screams out and attracts me to this cake.

That being said it while this is not a positive mark for this tea as a drink now tea. If you subscribe to the belief that a very bitter cake with a good bit of underlying complexity makes for a puerh that will age wonderfully. Then this tea would be a great tea to check out in ten or more years.

The Mandarins Tea Room 2006 Yiwu

I have only tried one Yiwu tea prior to this, and after trying this one, I have decided I am rather fond of Yiwu teas, though I still have no clue what a young one tastes like as the only two I have tried are at least 4 years old.

This tea has been a major lesson in the effects even a few degrees in water temperature can make. This tea was acquired as a sample through a Teachat Tasting Initiative on Young Puerh. It included enough to give me two tries at this tea. The first was with water in my Lins kettle boiled on the stove, and reboiled every 10-15 minutes until the session was over. But Tim insisted when I had postive remarks but not spectacular ones that this tea really needs really hot water, just off boil for each infusion. Something I find no longer feasible with my Lins kettle solely because I am now operating without an Electric hot plate as in the past 2-3 months I have had two of them break on me, and my current set up is more friendly to the option of boiling on the stove.

But for this I took out my old trust electric kettle, reboiling just prior to each infusion. I also amped up a little bit the Leaf to water ratio doing 4.9 grams to 60 ml of water.

The first infusion was full of wonderful aromas such as camphor and wood, mixed with a plethora of herbs. It had a slightly bitter but incredibly potent blend of herbs with a nice touch of camphor.

The second infusion was lighter almost borderline floral, and reminded me of an early fall in the woods, with the taste becoming slightly more spicy and the sweetness starts to come out.

Sadly I stopped taking notes after that, as I was fully immersed in the tea.

2010 Essence of Tea Nannou

First off I should note that the fact that I acquired this cake this early is a bit of luck, I was a bit late in placing preorders, and as I have a minor love affair with puerh from Nannou-shan, when I saw the list of cakes available and did not see a Nannou I was worried, so I placed my order but inquired if he pressed any cakes from Nannou.

He said he did, but he was a little concerned about them as the cake did not taste quite like the maocha that he selected, although he did say that the taste tends to change when pressed, and continues to change for a few months after the pressing. But at the time I inquired about it (probably a month after the preorder email went out) he said he thought the cake had improved from where it was when he first tasted it. So that is the background on this cake, now onto my impressions.

So basically I got the cake and my initial impressions were not so good, so I put it away for a month. After a brief conversation with Nada a few days ago, he thinks this tea is starting to become a bit more of what he expected. My impressions of it are still "brew strong."

When brewed strong it becomes very much like puerh we come to know and love, deeply astringent, with that quality that keeps you wanting and desiring another sip. I used to think Nannou was the mountain I had the best chance of picking out of a line up of unmarked cakes. I honestly do not know about that any more, especially after trying a bunch of different mountains in mini series.

But puerh absolutely amazes me in its ability to pull out tropical fruit flavors underneath its "bad tea" initial impressions. All in all if the cake continues to progess like this in the next month or so, I think I will be rather happy.

Essence of Tea 2010 Bangwai

So I currently have posts stacked up quite a few days a head of schedule. Starting in August I am going to go from a post every two days to a post every three just because I am unsure how things are going to work out with grad school time wise. I will definitely try to post at least once a week after the posts I have lined up expire.

Bangwai is a village near the Jingmai area, and area I am not too familiar with. But the appearance of the cake and smell of the first infusion are quite promising.

The color of the first infusion is a golden yellow with a bit of a reddish tinge to it, but the leaves look a nice fresh green.

The aroma is incredibly enticing, with a fresh boiled corn, with banana and other tropical fruits. And wow, this is strong, even with a rather short first infusion. The flavors are amazing though, it seems to have just about anything you can want from a fresh young puerh.

I hate to say this but I am a bit distracted with this, playing with a brand new Electric hot plate after my old one died, and trying to figure out optimal settings. But the great thing about this tea, is while it is strong and always demands your attention when drinking it, it is hard to make it overly bitter, even with slightly distracted brewing. Mind you this is still a very young raw puerh, so do not get too distracted.

That being said, After 8 or so infusions I am not as fond of this tea any more. It was a great ride through those 8 infusions but the 6th 7th and 8th, while they had an incredible mouth and throat feel, they were a bit insipid otherwise. I know a lot of people talking about having a tea last for 20 or so infusions of a tea, but I usually call it quits after my kettle runs very low, but that being said I feel with puerh which people say they get that huge number of infusions, I tend to abuse a bit more than some, often steeping most except the very early infusions for double the others quote.

Essence of Tea 2010 Mansai

For those of you that happened to catch an earlier post on an Essence of Tea cake, I apologize. I always consider myself a supporter of Tea vendors, especially smaller tea vendors that really take the time to talk to their clientele. And the truth is I happened to get that cake because I asked specifically for it, but the owner David (Nada), is still not entirely sure if he is even going to be selling them due to their current condition. So him and I talked and I agreed I would pull the post currently, it was not a bad review, but it did little to inspire confidence as it was one of the first 2010 Essence of tea Reviews I've seen out on blogs.

But the current stance on that cake is that it is sick from processing, and we are eagerly waiting for it to recover.

Now onto the Mansai, it is from a region debated as to whether it belongs to China or Myanmar, and the leaves actually take quite a trek, which amounts in more broken leaves than you typically see from these types of cakes. But the compression was good, not to loose, but loose enough that you can work pieces free gently with your hands.

The first infusion shows what I thought I saw in the cake, either the long trip back to the village, or processing resulted int his tea being slightly more oxidized, the leaves still look fresh and green when brewed with just the slightest touches of reddish brown around some tips.

So while the brew is a touch more golden than the very picturesque yellow, the aroma sure is amazing, camphore and tobacco smoke, with a nice layer of fresh fruit behind that, but it is one of those aroma's that gives hope to the fact that this tea may just be very powerful.

It really does not disappoint if you are looking for power, I actually am using less leaves than I typically do and it is just as strong if not possibly stronger. The flavor is slightly spicy, and smoky, but it is a taste that I just want more and more and more. The finish is incredibly long, with a lasting bite, but everything in my mouth is feeling rather sweet just after drinking that first cup.

I was just checking his site, and he did post this cake for sale today, and I will stick to my usual way of trying this cake a few more times, but I might just order another to hold onto for a bit.

I will admit I have never tried a tobacco item in my life, but having had several cakes that people say has a strong influence of tobacco, I am thinking this cake might just have the strongest tobacco flavor I have ever encountered. And I haven't even sipped from the third infusion yet, and I am feeling a very strong effect from this tea. Wow!

Granted my teadrunken-ness might just be enhanced by my brand new Michael Coffee Cup complete with display stand, that I feel is the perfect size for puerh. I love new teaware!

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

2009 Nannou Old Plantation Revisit

So I am really confused in terms of Puerh, I do not drink it as often as I feel I should (common with most teas), but at the same time puerh even though much more expensive now than I hear it was many years ago still offers some of the best deals on a gram per gram basis (at least for young sheng puerh).

But what really inspired this post is I hope The Essence of Tea (formally Nadacha) will soon be posting their 2010 cakes, which I personally can not really wait to try some. As his cakes are coming out soon, it also means that it has been roughly a year since I last reviewed this.

So Lets head to that post for the new comments.

Nannou, He Kai, and Mengsong

I'm doing a bit of a Tasting of all my young puerh, if for no other reason try and make sense of it. I have most the Zhi Ming du line a long with a few other things thrown in here and there. So the first two parts are going to focus on Single area's. While one post will be dedicated to the 3 Dayi Menghai cakes I have.

I am not going to post detailed notes, or probably posts many pictures if any.

The Essence of Tea (Nadacha) 2009 Nannou Old Plantation

What actually started this out is Hobbes over at the Half dipper posted a review today the 28th on a Nannou cake he had acquired. SoI felt quite the urge to try this cake again, as viewing it you can tell I have spent not nearly enough time with it for its quality. After two sessions averaging 7 infusions each, my stomach is starting to protest slightly.

This is going to be my first post published ahead. As I realized I tend to waver on and off between a lot of free time for tea and writing, and hardly any, I am going to try and mediate that by staggering my posts. I hope to aim for a post every couple of days.



The alluded to Namby Pamby nature of Nannou is apparent in this cake especially in the aroma. But it is oh so intoxicating.


Zhi Ming Du He Kai

The idea for the Groupings of these tea's came from Bears Bears Bears over at Bears blog, who definitely knows much more about puerh than I do, and has an idea of how teas should be grouped/ what they really are.

I am actually quite amazed at how close this is to the Nannou, same light and spring/summery smell, though a hint more grass. The flavor is a bit harsher and seemingly less complex, but still enjoyable.

Probably my favorite thing about Puerh is even the 'subtle' ones are far from subtle. Puerh is the tea that will demand your attention even if you are not paying close attention to it.

Zhi Ming Du Mengsong

This tea is my last today, and while I feel I have a better stomach for young sheng than some, I definitely am not one of those people that can drink it all day.

This tea is much more floral tasting, rather round and soft taste, but Bears really knows what he is doing when he told me to group these three cakes together.



General thoughts....

Each taste was unique, but I definitely do not know nearly enough to pick them out blind. Tim always talks about a Granny face powder for Nannou cakes, and I have been trained to look for that in puerh, as I think I understand what he is referring to.

That being said the Nannou seemed to be a perfect balance of other flavors and the powder. The He Kai while harsher was also riddled with the powder flavor almost exceedingly much. And the Mengsong had basically no sign of it.

Zhi Ming Du He Kai

I was flipping through a list of Puerh samples I have yet to try, and I came across He Kai, which intrigued me simply because I knew nothing about it, Most the other mountains or places I have heard of and red reviews of teas from there. This one is completely new to me.

So as my usual brewing parameters 5 grams in my 60 ml gaiwan. The rinse smells amazing, lots of tropical fruit, and possibly some berry like aromas also.

The aroma of the first infusion is similar, but the real shock, is the flavor is reminiscent of well done toast with butter. As weird as that sounds its strangely inviting. Its slightly acidic, slightly bitter, and buttery.

The second infusion has a much more grain like aroma, possibly because I am really looking for it now. Wow apparently this tea is just starting to wake up, this time its full on orange peels, almost too bitter and acidic.

It really slowly settles down after the second infusion, possibly because I pulled back on steep times, but it seems to be slowly working its way back to the well done buttered toast.

Zhi Ming Du Lao Man Er

Yet another one of the Zhi Ming Du offerings, and again I'm using my 60 ml Gaiwan and 5.7 grams of leaf. It is a rather snowy day here, and I'd like to say this tasting is being brought to you by the snow outside. As I have been so busy running around I rarely have occasion to knock myself down and write up one of these reviews.

I must say the aroma present in the rinse quite interests me. and I decided to use a small blue and white porcelain cup gifted to me in a swap of tea with a friend.

As the rinse smelled rather potent I decided to do a 5 second infusion for the first steep. The aroma definitely is potent bamboo and citrus rinds, and possibly the slightest hint of pineapple. Upon first taste I realize a bit longer wouldn't hurt, but if you like your young puerh tasty but mild about 5 seconds would be the right length. Its got that characteristic grassy astringency with a nice round burnt buttery taste full of all sorts of tropical fruits.

This is certainly a welcome tea, and this is coming form someone that has had quite enough tea today (but I'll keep on drinking ;-) ).

Today seems to be an entire economics lesson for me... in the sense that I'm being reminded how supply and demand are rarely ever wrong on most commodities. This 100g cake comes in at 10 dollars before shipping, and with a slightly stronger brewed 2nd infusion, I'm realizing its certainly better than standard Dayi fair coming in at around 10 dollars for 357g.

The big flaw I have with this is while it has strength it seems to have a strong bitter component that is not the good type of bitter I look for in puerh, this is rather drying and is just not meshing with what I want right now.

That being said so far through three infusions I rather like this tea, it certain isn't one dimensional, and has a bit of character. But most of it is in the aroma, and the taste I could take or leave, but I find that it really sticks in the mouth, a bit too well in fact. I'm taking longer breaks between infusions, and I even got a cup of water to drink from between infusions. That being said if you like the after taste, you will be in heaven cause it lasts.

This tea has a persistent quality to it that I must give it credit, though young puerh can be like this, but this tea has held constant flavor and taste for the past 6 infusions, with only minor increases in time, and honestly show no signs of relenting.



A gift of tea is a gift of profound and thoughtless mind.
With it one can see as though on top of worldly mountains,
but in truth we ascend into the zen mirror in us.
--Adam Yusko

First Retaste. Douji Shangdou Mini brick 2008

So this is my first retaste, I only have a little over half of one of the Shangdou bricks left. It has been stored in Pennsylvania most of the time but rather inconsistent storage I must say, and not sure I know all the types of storage this went through, but for the past 6 months it has been sitting in a Metal Drawer, supposed to be used for Files, and no added humidity. But I like to think the humidity and temp have been kept reasonable as it is in my room and I make most of my tea in my room (a.k.a kettle boiling and issuing steam for 1-4 hours a day typically).

Both notes can be found here.

Zhi Ming Du Ba Da Mountain

Some of these mountain series put my knowledge of Yunnan Geography to the test, and as I'm very poor in my knowlege of that area I often end up stumped, and resorting back to certain guides put together to help people like me. Some good photos were shown here.

So as promised I'm going to start posting weights. I had 5.7g of leaf in my 60 ml gaiwan. The rinse smells promising and is actually a very nice looking pale gold color. Though the overwhelming characterisic of the rinse aroma is a tobacco like smoke aroma.

The aroma is interesting, I'm having a hard time describing the main aroma as its seems like a chocolate/gelatine like aroma, something that is sweet but satisfying. But besides that there are quite a few good notes of melons and cucumbers.

Well this is interesting, though I am not sure if I can say I am thrilled with it, the initial taste is uninteresting but nothing to complain about, but the finish occurs in the front of the mouth. As in all in front of your back molars, it starts with a bitter/sourness then fades into like a sour apple, then fades into the sweetness. But mind you, I like those finish you can feel down your entire throat, you feel like you are still able to taste it right before it enters your stomach. But as for the intial taste its rather like Brussels sprouts.


In all reality there is not much wrong with this tea, it might partially be that I am not in the mood for a young puerh (I keep thinking of how its been awhile since I have had any aged puerh). Though I feel like this tea is not pulling on my heartstings, while the aroma is good, the taste seems to be not what I am looking for, though possibly not lacking for a young puerh. In fact I find it somewhat intriguing, though ultimately I am not interested. And though the many infusions I have done the finish has stayed the same as I have detailed, certainly interesting, just not what I was looking for.

It is a cold day outside, and somehow perhaps due to the nature of young puerh, I feel the warmth from this tea though its very warm in my mouth, seems to vanish the second it hits my throat.

So sorry for one of the shorter puerh reviews I have done in some time. Verdict on this tea, "Interesting, but not for me right now".

Zhi Ming Du, Lao Banzhang

***
Disclaimer: I was not going to do this as I expected this cake to be a typical young puerh cake, and warrant the typical comments with highlights of its unique features, but as I am absolutely in love with this cake, and I feel I am giving it too many good comments. I want it to be known that I received this cake on good will of giving this vendor good press, and business. I have had several discussions with the owner and he wanted me to also review it on the site.
***



The only vendor I know that sells Zhi ming Du cakes is Kung Fu Asian art, but I must admit I have not searched through the large amount offered at Yunnan sourcing.

Zhi Ming Du is a newer company and they are doing a series on several mountains this one being the Lao Banzhang area.

Going off of instinct as the rinse smelled quite potent, I did a flash brew for the first infusion.

This is potent, its highly floral, with hints of smokiness and a slight hint of something minty. While it is not a smell I would like to smell all day as its quite strong, I feel you could smell this for quite some time and still find new notes, its a hodgepodge of all sorts of fresh aromas.

I know this cake carries a hefty price tag, and I must tell you I can see why Lao Banzhang is quite well known if this is what it offers. The taste is a strong bitterness that is extremely nice. I know bitter is not a flavor usually liked, but something about this bitterness with orange and mint, and a cream, is just so satisfying.

The second infusion smells a little less powerful, but full fledged orchids and other florals. Its been quite some time since I've had a young puerh that I did not want to stop drinking, and that I found completely intriguing on so many levels. this infusion of focused on the finish and its like an orange cream lingering finish that just lasts and lasts.

I will say this, this cake requires an attentive brewer to be honest. I tried to push the 3rd infusion a bit, and let it go 10 seconds longer then the 20 I was going to give it, and its so strong that it is borderline unpleasant.

Its strength starts to fail around infusion 8, and I'm giving it a very long 10th infusion to see if it recovers the things I loved about it. With the long infusion it gains back some of its former glory, but its changed quite a bit.



A new experience
comes with the sips of each tea.
So, what will yours be? --Adam Yusko.

American Hao 901

This tea is a blend of Three types of Menghai, and one of Lincang and is also referred to as Peacock Tribute. Of course with the name American Hao is is one of the Puerh Shop Custom pressed cakes, and this being 901 is the first in the run of 2009.

I fear I am loosing my ability to describe smells, as while this is completely different than the other 2009 puerhs I have had I want to describe it in a similar way, a sweet aroma, this time more of a melon like cantaloupe, with Tobacco and banana's. In terms of aging potential this is the closest to my understanding of what I've heard leads to the possibility of it aging well. It is distinctly bitter, in a hops kind of way (think IPA), but it is rather soothing, with a lingering finish that lasts and changes bit by bit.


The second infusion is rather surprising in how it smells somewhat similar to cigarette smoke, but not as harsh. I very much feel that the people I talk about tea with the most, when paying attention can get a really good idea of my tastes, especially after swapping a few samples. The person who sent me this told me that he thought this would be my favorite, and its looking like he may be right, this coats the mouth very well, and has a lingering finish which is quite nice.


This tea progresses nicely, but I would not increase the steep time drastically, as it has quite a bit of staying power, in the sense that the leaves don't give up everything they have that quickly.

2006 King of Puerh

First off I would like to say last week was rough, but I am now at school, and things are starting to seem a bit more under control. So I'm going to resume my puerh tea reviews with this sample sent from a friend.

Now admittedly I have not experienced a huge wealth of puerh, but the chuck of cake I got was full of long slender twisted leaves, nothing like the smaller and more chopped up bits I typically see in the Menghai blends.

This tea is said to come from Wild arbor leaves in Xishuangbanna.

The leaves after the rinse smell like a potent honey, with a strong tobacco smell in there also. The first infusion smells similar, but there is a strong aroma of what I want to call granny smith apple.

This definitely has a tobacco late flavor to it with perhaps a bit of anise, and the aftertaste in this short infusion seems almost empty, just a hallow shell of what is typically seen there, a slightly sour hint, and a warm sensation from the hot tea.

Second infusion is much stronger in smell, and has a distinctive orange aroma, with a sweetness of candy along with it. Its flavor is stronger, its orange rinds, and banana, with a hint of coconut.



This tea is on the bland side, as in nothing grabs your attention, but it has lots of good and interesting flavors, and seeing as how its 3-4 years old it could just be it having mellowed out in age.


Anxiety stays
clotted in the center self,
'til tea touches lips.
-Adam Yusko

American Hao 903

The Source of this cake is said to be from the Menghai area, and just to reiterate my views on custom pressings, I feel that they probably are not the absolute best material from these locations (as the best material is probably taken up by very long term contracts, or big buyers in China). But while it may not be the best material on the mountain it usually isn't bad, and it is probably most likely to be from the specified area.

To resort to fairness, and I may redo my reviews since the Latest of the Menghai Recipe cakes, as I was breaking in a new yixing pot I received for christmas and am still getting used to its size and whats needed for brew strength. So I am brewing this in my 60 ml gaiwan, at the strength I'm used to.

The dry leaves smell sweet and honey like.

The aroma of the first infusion is quite interesting, It is orange rinds and honey with a slightly grain like characteristic. This tea is quite nice as a drink now, it has a bit of a bite that quickly fades into a syrup like coating of the mouth with a sweetness that is fruity.

The second steep I also did for 30 seconds, and it produced a similar but more tropical fruit smelling brew. But the leaves are still opening up and definitely did not give it their all in the first steep even with the rinse, as this one definitely is a bit more bitter.

But in my mind the more bitter the tea is the better the sweet aftertaste. So as long as its a bitter that is not over done or just taste plain bad, I like it when my teas are rather bitter.

It honestly seems as the further it goes into the infusions the more pineapple seems to emerge.

I've been pleased with these American hao offerings, and I'm thinking about ordering some of them myself. Though this one seems to become flat and redundant after the 7th infusion or so, I feel that is typical for young stuff.

Longer days ease tension,

While the cold still bites and burns,

but tea warms my heart.

--Adam yusko

American Hao 906

In a tea swap with a friend, where we were swapping young puerh, he included some of the American Hao series from puerh shop. This one really peaked my interest as I feel with these more custom small batch pressings, it is almost the only way you can assure you are getting what they advertise as being in the cake.

Which with this tea is supposed to be Spring Yiwu and Fall Bulang material.

The color is nice, a bit dark in color, but its clear which is aesthetically pleasing to me with puerh tea. While the aroma is great, hints of anise, with bacon fat. And a fair bit of tropical flowers and fruits.

This tea, is a solid drink now, I usually infusion strong as in 10-15 second first infusions as opposed to flash often needed with young sheng. And this tea's liqour is thick and coating, and has a sensation like honey. With a pretty good Sweet aftertaste, thats common in puerh.


This tea is not strong at all, which is somewhat baffling and confusing the little I thought I've heard about bulang and Yiwu material, though it is a great tea to drink now.

To tell you the truth I have been trying to get used to a new pot, and as I let this steep infuse for 30 seconds, and it is now "powerful" I think I've been less leaves then I probably should.

This tea seems incredibly durable, and yet incredibly resilient, I couldn't really brew a sub par brew with this tea, when pushed it is strong but not overpowering.

Menghai 7532 801

Another Puerh review, and there will be a few more coming soon. I don't have much to say on this cake, other than its from Batch 1 in 2008 of the classic recipe 7532.


The liquor smells warm and welcoming, and its surprisingly dark in color. But it has that tobacco like aroma laced with honey and the distinctive orange peel I tend to notice in young puerh. This tea I've had a few times before, and I will have to say that this one has no redeeming factor. Sure its bitter, but it feels like its power was attempted to be subdued. And while it has hints of honey and orange, but then there is just the flavor of bitterness like I'm chewing on a citrus peel.



I may be wrong about this but I think the "power" in Nadacha's Bulang the very strong but still pleasing "Ku" is what may be needed for a cake to age well, and possibly become a classic cake. This tea I feel if it were an alcoholic spirit being "tasted" by a Nose as they are called would get pretty good marks. There is nothing wrong with the aroma at all, in fact its rather spectacular, but the taste just fails most of the time. I feel like this is an unpleasant cake now, and in 10 years is will probably only be merely passable.

Menghai 8582 batch 801

So I received a box I've been hoping for for awhile today, it included some young puerh, as I realize I have yet to try some of these classic recipes at a younger age. Though I've been warned by many that the quality of many of the classic recipes was compromised during the puerh bubble. So with the 8582 first thing I notice is the leaves are already on the browner side, not rusty as in aged, but sorta that greyish brown, much different than the 2009 Nada cake. I'm wondering if a year can really make that much of a difference? Though this cake comes from Hong Kong, which is notorious for wet storage, so that could very easily explain why it looks slightly older than it possibly should (Mind you I am on the new side with puerh from many different years, so I am unsure what a cake should look like at any age).

Is color is on the more orange side, but it definitely smells fresh. Its aroma is like grass, pineapple and bananas. Its got a bit of a malty character but its quite strong, though compared to other young cakes the year might have helped a bit, and it could be the compromising of the recipes towards drink now. But it still has a bit of that banana like tropical feel to it that I picked up in the aroma.

Actually it bares its fangs in the second infusion, much more potent and stronger, with a distinct nutty aroma.

In the third infusion its almost like a bitter rose water, with a slightly candy like characteristic.

This is proving to be quite interesting.

2009 Nadacha Naka cake

This tea comes from the Menghai region, from Naka mountain. This tea to put it lightly is bold, a very strong ku. I would not go as far as to say it was as strong as the Bulang, but this one didn't have some of the redeeming qualities that the Bulang had. This is still a solid tea, which I wish I had a cake to forget about for decade or two. This tea is said to come from ~400 year old trees, and as you'll notice while brewing this tea, it is not the usual Large leaves you see in most puerh teas. As Naka is famous for its small leaf tea bushes, of which this tea is made.

Though I must say in the early infusions there was a hint of Licorice and incense wafting from the faircup. The chaqi is very light but still there. The color was a nice bright pale gold throughout 7 infusions.


And now that I have tried all 4 of the Nadacha custom pressed cakes, I have to say the two standouts where the Nannuo Qiao Mu, and the Bulang, but the other two cakes are still very solid and great cakes.