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“This is a very young raw pu-erh cake with good potential for aging. This note was done on 12/25/2011 and I echo the comments made by Yunnan Sourcing about the orchid fragrance. It has a well...” Read full tasting note
“I think that it’s one of the best-valued YS offers. Very potent and thick cake with hints of vegetables and mushrooms. Little bit of tobacco, strong qi, but no bitterness at all. Definetely great...” Read full tasting note
2011 Yunnan Sourcing “Wu Liang Mountain” Wild Arbor Raw Pu-erh Tea cake
This tea is made entirely from first flush of spring 2011 high altitude Wu Liang mountain tea. The Wu Liang mountains peak out at about 3300 meters, making them the highest mountains in Simao prefecture. The Wu Liang mountain range is in the county of Jingdong which borders both Lincang and Dali prefectures. This tea is grown in the area of Wu Liang known as Zhong Cang village (中仓村) at an altitude of 2300 meters making this some of the highest altitude pu-erh in existance. The trees are healthy 200 year old trees growing naturally on steep hillsides and ridges. These tea gardens are arguably some of the remotest tea gardens in all of Yunnan. Lack of roads and access has kept the environment of this area in good condition, mao cha prices are significantly lower than comparable Banna teas, making this an affordable yet.
The tea itself is aromatic with hints of orchid aroma (兰香), and a strong mouth-feel. Even when young this tea is full in the mouth giving the drinker a persistent warmth and lubricated mouth feel. It brews evenly across 10 to 15 infusions never too harsh and neither dropping off suddenly, thus revealing the healthy characteristics of the trees and environment from which it came. This tea will develop gracefully through years building its character and providing the drinker with ever more complex textures.
Our 2011 is unique from previous productions. Higher level of aroma and more tippy. Nice and prolonged mouthfeel couple with pungent cha qi and aroma. Very infusable!
This tea was compressed in a small tea factory near Kunming where stone presses were used. Low temperature drying (about 35C) was used to dry these cakes after the compression process thus preserving their integrity! The cakes are wrapped in Dai Minority hand-made paper and then bundled into bamboo leaf “tongs” with seven cakes per tong.
In total just 100 kilograms of this tea has been produced
Net Weight: 400 grams per cake (7 cakes per bamboo leaf tong)
Harvest time: Late March 2011
Harvest Area: Zhong Cang village of Wu Liang mountains, Jingdong county of Simao
Company description not available.
2012 Yunnan Sourcing "Wu Liang Mountain" Wild Arbor Raw Pu-erh Tea cake
Yunnan Sourcing2019 Yunnan Sourcing "Wu Liang Mountain" Wild Arbor Raw Pu-erh Tea Cake
Yunnan Sourcing2013 Yunnan Sourcing "Wu Liang Mountain" Wild Arbor Raw Pu-erh Tea Cake (duplicate)
Yunnan Sourcing2015 Yunnan Sourcing Wu Liang Mountain Wild Arbor Raw Pu-erh Tea cake
Yunnan Sourcing2020 Yunnan Sourcing "Wu Liang Mountain" Wild Arbor Raw Pu-erh Tea Cake
Yunnan Sourcing2013 Yunnan Sourcing "Wu Liang Mountain" Wild Arbor Raw Pu-erh Tea cake
Yunnan SourcingThis is a very young raw pu-erh cake with good potential for aging. This note was done on 12/25/2011 and I echo the comments made by Yunnan Sourcing about the orchid fragrance. It has a well balanced taste which has changed over the steepings done in my yixing teapot, and it does have a penetrating taste/aroma. I bought a sample of this tea from which this pot is derived, and will purchase a cake for medium to long term aging.
I think that it’s one of the best-valued YS offers.
Very potent and thick cake with hints of vegetables and mushrooms. Little bit of tobacco, strong qi, but no bitterness at all. Definetely great aging potencial! It’s a pity that so good cake is gone!
I’m hoping they’ve yanked it for aging. In January, there were something like 79 of these available, then suddenly a few weeks ago ALL of them vanished from the international website. ALL OF THEM. Even the samples.
I smell trickery. Delicious, delicious trickery.
Even more than 79 cakes. I remember approx. 80 separate cakes and more than 10 tongs in stock. I guess that some reseller or tea collector bought all the stock. Maybe because of “Hobbes effect” :)
Anyway this pu is great, but…. there is a lot of great offers and bargains from other areas and vendors.
“Hobbes effect.” I like that. Especially since that’s how I found out about this cake myself. Smart guy, that Hobbes…
I hope you’re right and the tea’s been bought by someone who intents to resell it in a few years. Until it does, do you know of anything of similar quality for the price? I’ve got about 15 samples of sheng sitting in my tea cabinet at the moment, but nothing has knocked my socks off like this bad boy except an aged cake I bought from Verdant a while back.
Last year I tasted a lot of YS offers and yes, 11 WuLiang was the the best-valued YS offer. But there are some similar shengs in terms of quality and price from other shops.
I.e. great Mengku pu from ChawangShop:
2011 Mengku Wild Arbor Raw Puerh Cake – i reviewed this cake already and I really love it (thick, beautiful leaves, flavourful).
2009 Ba Hu Cun Qiao Mu Raw Puerh Tea Brick 250g – extremely flavourful and tasty, I’ll review this brick later. It’s the best young pu brick I’d ever tested.
Both offers are much cheaper than YS Wu Liang because of Lincang raw materials, but have excellent quality for the price! I was happy to buy several cakes and ten bricks. Very pleasant shop with lots of inexpensive young and aged shengs.
Or try MGH puerh from Puerhshop. Cakes are pretty expensive but the quality is awesome. The best-valued offer from Puerhshop is MGH 1105 Mangfei – thick, complex and very sweet. Almost all MGH offers are very tasty but not cheap. But cheaper than similar quality shengs from YS (i.e very tasty and unique 2011 MGH 1106 Autumn Mangzhi costs $39/400g and 2011 YS Autumn Mangzhi costs $36/250g)
Best regards
Thanks for the suggestions! I haven’t been to ChawangShop yet. Can’t wait to check them out.
I walked into a tea shop here in NYC a while ago and laughed at how much they wanted for their pu. I feel like there are two distinct markets – one for folks who have a little patience to research and age their own teas, and one for folks who don’t want to think about it. A friend of mine let me try some tea from a bing he bought in one of the aforementioned shops and it was passable, but when I asked him how much he paid for it he said (proudly) “Under two hundred.” Sheesh! Slap me silly with a wad of cash. I can’t imagine ever spending that much for a single cake.
You are welcome.
That’s why there are forums/blogs/steepster where you can share your thoughts about the most favorite pu. I.e I like to hunt for bargains and I rate not only the taste and flavour notes, but the price too.
