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“Finished sipping down a small sample of this tea the other day. It’s a good aged tea with an appreciable amount of dankness to it. Woody and camphorous for the most part. Easy to drink. At the...” Read full tasting note
“Backlog I had this on Sunday while drinking tea/conversing with friends on Google Hangouts. I honestly didn’t get the chance to note too much, but the opportunity to try this while spending time...” Read full tasting note
“Well, I’m going to do my best with this one. Let’s start with three things: Thing #1: This tea isn’t for me. Thing #2: I have zero experience with teas this old. No idea what I’m talking about. ...” Read full tasting note
“The tea has those qualities that I hunt for with aged sheng puerhs. Woody, camphor, humid flavor and relaxing yet stimulating qi. Meditative. Fortunate enough to grab the last two of these on sale....” Read full tasting note
Natural storage on the East Coast of Taiwan near the ocean. We’ve had this cake for a few months here state-side and we’ve let it air out a bit. There is still some humidity in the initial nose, rinse and second steep but it quickly disappears yielding to a well-textured soup tasting of old wood with notes of camphor. This tea is ready to purchase!
“Old Arbor” means that the leaves used in this production come from older plants in the Yiwu growing area. This means the roots are more established and deliver more character to the leaves (soil content, etc…).
Sourced from the original owner whose been buying pu-erh in Yunnan for more than 30 years to be stored in Taiwan. He says this is an 1990. Wrappers are nice, leaf is good quality and of course, it steeps out a good long time.
Finished sipping down a small sample of this tea the other day. It’s a good aged tea with an appreciable amount of dankness to it. Woody and camphorous for the most part. Easy to drink. At the price BTT sells most of their older sheng, it would make a good ‘daily drinker’ sort of old tea, whether it’s actually from the 1990s or not. Good storage and a good tea.
Backlog
I had this on Sunday while drinking tea/conversing with friends on Google Hangouts. I honestly didn’t get the chance to note too much, but the opportunity to try this while spending time with tea friends was well worth it. It was definitely a special to be had.
Notes: Nice wet storage with the tea. The color of the liquor was dark for the first 6-8 infusions; however, it had lightened up slightly until the 12th infusion (I stopped noting or paying attention at the time). The flavor was a strong camphor/wood note throughout the entirety of the session; which never seemed to let up. Overall, I really enjoyed the consistency of this session and the time with friends had made all the better.
Well, I’m going to do my best with this one. Let’s start with three things:
Thing #1: This tea isn’t for me.
Thing #2: I have zero experience with teas this old. No idea what I’m talking about. Inexperienced, rookie aged puerh palate right here.
Thing #3: I would recommend anyone exploring puerh to give this one a shot. No excuses with an affordable 10g sample provided by BTTC.
OK, so since this isn’t my cup of tea, let me just offer my objective notes.
The tea is incredibly earthy. Compost, wet leaves, potting soil, and fresh earthy mushroom are primary flavors. When brewed more strongly, a medicinal, slightly bitter note arrives, not unlike acetaminophen tablets. As far as the prized “camphor” note that seems so desirable, it’s there. What is camphor? Basically, mothballs: bitter, aromatic, woodsy, medicinal.
The tea does not progress much from infusion to infusion. Flavors remain consistent. When brewed more strongly, more medicinal/pharmaceutical (camphor) notes are present.
One other objective note – the label is interesting. Combining “Yiwu” with “old arbor” with “spring” with a 25+ yr. age statement should put this tea near or into the four-digit price range. Not sure why it is so inexpensive.
It is intriguing. Despite not being to my liking, I did keep on with the session because the flavors are certainly different. If you are on the hunt for your camphor fix, this seems to be a very affordable means to get it.
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Dry leaf – potting soil, fresh earthy mushroom, forest floor, compost
Smell – potting soil, mushroom, compost, old wet leaves
Taste – potting soil, mushroom, compost, camphor, medicinal/pharmaceutical, old wet leaves
TL;DR: dirt and Tylenol
The tea has those qualities that I hunt for with aged sheng puerhs. Woody, camphor, humid flavor and relaxing yet stimulating qi. Meditative.
Fortunate enough to grab the last two of these on sale. They’re gone now.
Flavors: Camphor, Wood
