2008 "Taste of Hong Kong"

So much wasted potential. This cake wasn’t really a let down given how infamous it is, but I was still hoping it would be a little better than it was. I got this cake to compare with the Rye stored version that LP sells and I’ll just start by saying I don’t see any reason to get this over the rye one. This cake needs something to help balance itself out. I’m going to hang on to it for a while, but I might end up breaking it up and mixing it with some cheap smokey puerh and see if I can get a better balance going.

This cake is wet and sour. It has so much of this bitter grassy taste that I’d expect from a young cake, but this thing has spent 14 years in storage. YOT shipped it loose in a box without a mylar or bag, so maybe mine got a little abused on it’s trip here. I let it sit for a month with a boveda before trying it and noted that it still felt dry. I left it for a few more months and it improved, but I still wouldn’t recommend it. The price is the only thing keeping my rating this high.

6g – 100ml – 15+ seconds – 100C
Smell: Wet, Sour, Less than expected
Taste: Grassy, Bitter, Wet, Earthy, Almost Charred like taste

So THIS is camphor. Never smelled camphor before, but this MUST be it. A very cooling vibe in the back of the throat. Hmmmm. Not at all what I was expecting. After trying the HK stored 1985 maocha from LP and loving it, I wanted to try other examples of HK storage. Naturally, I was led to Yee On Tea. Caked this tea because it was so cheap. Hard for me to put a number to it at this point. I need to sit through a couple more sessions with it as I’m really just trying to work through this camphor thing in my mind.

Sweet, absolutely no bitterness or astringency. Tolerated boiling water perfectly well. Would last 15+ infusions I’m sure, but I stopped early.

Dry leaf: Cardboard
Wet leaf: Cardboard, camphor
Flavor: Camphor, wood chips, sweet, cooling, thin.