2000 CNNP "Yi Wu Chen Xiang" Ripe Pu-erh Tea Brick

Date drunk: 2023 Jan 16

- First opened this sample in Dec 2020, when I gave it a rating of 98 with little explanation :( “Wet storage” in Singapore for the past 2-3 years hehe.
- 5g in 100ml porcelain gaiwan
- Dry leaf smells clean and very little odour. But there were a couple of single nylon? paper? fibres/hairs stuck into the leaves which was a little gross.
- Rinsed once and wet leaves bloomed with strong aroma of old wooden furniture, almost rotting wood. Rinsed second time and leaves still smelled bad.
- 1st infusion (100˚C, 0:15)
- Musty smell is gone, or has faded into background as pleasant aged smell. Still getting old furniture. Liquor tastes flavourful, mostly mushrooms, slight sweetness like jasmine rice / dried jujubes, slight woody astringency.
- Rating: 85
- 2nd infusion (100˚C, 0:20)
- Liquor is a clear dark reddish-brown with a purplish hue (as Togo puts it so poetically). Still has musty smell.
- More woody astringency than before, and liquor tastes earthy, dirt, old furniture, mushroom notes. Tastes sharp and I’m not detecting any sweetness in the liquor. Full-bodied, tongue-coating texture and leaves an aftertaste of that aged flavour + slight sweetness on tongue. This infusion I will drink together with my breakfast because I don’t like the flavour on its own. Damn, I think the cha qi is pretty strong I felt it giddy me when I stood up…
- Rating: 60
- 3rd infusion (100˚C, 0:15)
- Aroma: sweet rotting wood and steamed jasmine rice, musty. Liquor tastes of wet dirt and wood, but fragrant and sweet – sandalwood, bamboo shoots. Long sweet aftertaste on tongue. Fascinating how similar it tastes to the previous infusion, like it has the same DNA but just some notes were dialed up or down on the equalizer and it tastes less sharp, far more mellow and balanced. Mmm now we’re talking.
- Rating: 90
- 4th infusion (100˚C, 0:25)
- Reminds me more and more of that tea that Gong Gong’s relatives gifted to us, that tastes like dry rotted wood… But with a sweet and mellow roundedness.
- Rating: 75
- 5th infusion (100˚C, 0:30)
- Rating: 85
- 6th infusion (100˚C, 0:50)
- Combined with 5th
- Rating: 85
- 7th & 8th infusion (100˚C, 0:40)
- Gave to Mum.
- Rating:

Verdict: Will not purchase. Want to try this again in Jianshui teapot.
Rating: 79

I am finishing my sample of this tea, but I might actually order the brick this weekend. It’s a lovely aged tea unlike any other one I have in my stash. I love its strong and invigorating aroma as well as how smooth it is. It brews up a super clear and dark liquor with a purplish hue, a beautiful tea visually too.

The aroma reminds me of old books, wood, upholstery, and brown sugar. It has a sort of “dungeon” feel to it. The taste is hard to describe, but it seems to have more umami and vegetal notes than your average ripe. There are flavours of pine wood, tea tree oil, later on also fava beans, conifer forest and a sort of woody sweetness. The aftertaste is strong and somewhat sweet, displaying a distinctive dark cherry note at times.

Mouthfeel is definitely among the highlights of the tea. It is lubricating and creamy with a slight dry chalkiness and a throat cooling quality. I also found the cha qi to be fairly uplifting.

This tea seems to evolve slowly but with resolution, it’s like a conversation with an elderly wise person. It doesn’t seem to express everything it has in one go, a lot of its qualities are subtle and take a while to uncover. But it’s not like a super complex tea that just throws all the complexity at you, which can be overwhelming as you try to make sense of it. Rather, I would describe this tea as having a sort of a muted clarity.

Song pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzIFbTKMYHw