Tea: Plantation puerh

Harvested: Spring 2007. Pressed on April 30th.

Origin: Kunming Tea Factory for CNNP.

Process: raw, sun dried, blended and pressed as cake. Stored 'dry' in Taipei. Weight of a cake: 357 gram

1. View

The dry leaves are dark and the buds have a golden color. They look clean, not moldy. The dark orange to brown brew has a good shine and transparency. The spent leaves open up completely (not shu) and have a dark color, sign of a good aging.

2. Scents

These cakes have just come out of their Taiwan puerh storage. We characterize it as 'dry', because no water or moisture was artificially added to speed up aging. However, due to Taiwan's hot and humid climate, I can understand that people living in dry and/or cold places would say it has humid storage scents. But what's interesting is that we are already getting these typical heavy wood, camphor and wood fire scents. In the aftertaste, I am also getting heavy yulan/jasmin perfume, because it's neither old nor young.

3. Taste

This puerh tea has a good sweetness with a slight underlying astringency and bitterness. The taste coats the palate well and long, but its main area is in the front of the mouth.

Conclusion: This cake is an excellent choice for bargain hunters and daily drinkers of aged puerh. It's not more expensive than most new raw puerhs and comes with wonderful Taipei storage scents that feel closer to 20 years than to 12! (Beware: several lots of this cake have been made. Other lots generally have later production dates and leaves of different quality.)