3 Tasting Notes

99

Ooooh, yeah!
This tea is still pungent and fragrant and has a lot of punch to it, yet it is made from already aged material (from 2008 if I recall correctly). The tea is very tightly compressed, which may explain why it still tastes quite ‘young’. This cake is so tightly packed you could probably send this to the moon and back.
This tea smells beautifully, I mean when you open the wrapper, the smell of nice sheng literally fills the room.
A litlle goes a long way with this fella, though you need to wait till the leaves open up. So maybe a flash steep just to get things going, and then you’re in for a very nice experience (6+ steeps).
Taste is 100% Xia guan to me: a little bitter, a very long aftertaste, round, balanced, yet with quite a lot of punch. Slightly raspy in the throat. So you would probably better start with a smallish leaves/water ratio (like around 4 g. for a 70 ml gaiwan).
Buy it while you can: this will probably age beautifully in an adequate setting. But you can definitely drink this now.

Flavors: Almond, Apricot, Astringent, Bitter, Dried Fruit, Herbaceous, Smoke, Tannic, Thick

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 0 min, 30 sec 4 g 2 OZ / 70 ML

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89

One of my favorites.
This tea is good to have around. The soup is relatively thick, taste is mellow, creamy, and pretty consistent throughout the sessions. My preferred brewing method in general, and specifically for this tea: gongfu style, relatively little water, in order to sip small amounts each time.
The base notes are pretty consistent throughout the sessions: cream, caramel, brown sugar, some cocoa, tobacco notes.
It’s hard to drive this too hard: from the moment the tea opens, I generally keep steeps at 30 seconds, maybe closer to 1 min. by the end. You can oversteep it and it will still be drinkable. It will just bring the nori-like notes at the forefront. Some dried fruit notes: plums, cherry. Not much astringency, though it develops with the last sessions. You can easily get 6 good sessions with this tea without being a gongfu expert. You might get a little more out of it if you keep the gaiwan very warm, or if you let it simmer in a pan (yes, I’ve tried it).
This tea is not as creamy as other references, such as Hong Yun or 7572. It’s a little drier too: less red fruit-like, more bark or even hints of leather/tobacco.

Definitely a good ripe pu er tea. Since this is from 2009, I would say it’s a “drink now”, but it comes in a pretty compact brick, so you can probably store this for a few more years. This is something I will definitely order on a regular basis.

Flavors: Blackberry, Brown Sugar, Cacao, Caramel, Cream, Dried Fruit, Pleasantly Sour, Plum

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 0 min, 30 sec 6 g 2 OZ / 60 ML

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86

This tea is from the first batch of 2016 (hence 1601). I bought this from moylor.com, just to see how they operate, and I must say I’m impressed: speedy delivery, nice packaging, no nonsense. I was more of a raw pu er fan till now, but I am becoming addicted to ripe pu er too. My references are Hong Yun and 7562, both from Menghai. This tea comes fairly close to either of these references: creamy, with hints of red berries, no astringency to speak of, no bitterness even when you drive it a little too hard. And this is from 2016!
It is a little less sweet and red berries-like than Hong Yun. It’s a little rounder, sweeter and creamier than 7562. A very nice tea for the price (I got this for 27 euros, it’s cheaper now). Some hints of camphor can be found, but I’m not sure whether they come from the tea itself or if they are due to how moylor store their tea. I’ve noticed incense on other tea cakes from the same vendor, but it might not be their fault, since they probably acquired a lot of tea from many different operators. No wet pile taste at all. Hints of sticky rice or purple rice.
The good thing is that you can still find 7572 cakes at affordable prices, though Hong Yun is hard to come by, and 7562 seems generally more expensive.
My brewing method of reference is gongfu style, with a smallish gaiwan, 6g to 60 ml. I like to sip this tea, not gulp down a whole mug of it. This tea is pretty easy going: you can get away with sloppy timing of the steeps and just concentrate on enjoying the whole thing.

I would highly recommend this tea. I’m not sure storage will really improve this tea, therefore I would classify this as a “drink now”, though it could probably be stored for some time, in a proper environment. But why go through all the trouble?

Flavors: Autumn Leaf Pile, Berries, Chocolate, Creamy, Dried Fruit, Molasses

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 0 min, 30 sec 6 g 2 OZ / 60 ML
mrmopar

Welcome! You will fit in well with us puerh heads.

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