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Decent cake that brews up clean no, bits to cloud the cup and it. This tea has a real viscosity to it, almost whipped cream like. It very much reminds me of some of the more popular/famous DaYi offerings like say a 7572. This tea gives a real sense of calmness, contemplative and almost sleepy feel to it. Actual size of the leaves are quite small and leaves are heavily processed and machine harvested. I have nothign bad to say about this tea. There are teas that I like better but it’s a good solid choice to explore puer.

Maybe it’s just today but this tea makes me sleepy. It is interesting to consider how long ago this tea was picked and processed, America had Pac-man Fever and John Lennon was shot in New York and I was in 1st grade. Now to the tea: the leaves are large and a chocolate brown color until they are infused at which point they actually turn greenish brown. Initial infusions are just plain smooth at least at first then, the the mouth feels coated with earthy goodness, and a bit of Unami. The mouth coating feel ends yet a distinct drying sensation is left in the throat, drying, almost desert like, i get the same sensation when getting into a car that has been sitting in the sun on a 100 degree F day. It makes me thirsty. And it reminds me of the scent of my first car which ironically was a 1980 Ford it has that aged pleather and dried out car feeling. As strange as this description is I really enjoyed this tea.

This tea on the first infusion was completely unexpected. The flavor I tasted was initially just smooth and mouthing fillingly viscous, almost a buttery texture and . But what happened next was completely unexpected, sweetness came in and then a distinct flavor of dried pineapple. And the empty cup smells of sweet clover honey. A second shorter infusion was less than stellar and had a bitter and astringent quality to it, though the sweetness and pineapple flavor came back, but not as intensely. The mouth feel now is similar to the mouth coating quality of artichokes. Third infusion still has some of the fine white hairs from the leaves floating at the top of the cup. Third infusion was also less bitter and a almost as good as the first.

This is my first aged sheng that I have purchased. I’ve been drinking it every few days for about the last month and the initial rinse smell comes across as the flavor of hominy or maize which I find odd because I don’t know that corn is a component of Asian cuisine. In fact I’m quite certain it is strictly “new world”. At any rate the tea has a good number of sticks in it but as mentioned the leaves are huge and seem to be rolled length wise so that even the leaves take on the appearance of sticks until infused and they open up. The wet leaves even after a few infusions seem to feel dry, and not supple which is likely because of the the age of the leaves. The liquor of the tea is very smooth and mouth filling, and almost crystal clear amber to a darker more stout like color depending on the amount of liquid in a white cup.

I bought this cake as just an experiment to see how similar it was to other 75xx recipes I’ve had and at $10 for the 5 YO beng I thought I’ve bought crappy tea before. I’ve now brewed this tea two or three times and I have to say it is indeed excellent. Todays brewing struck me as being creamy… I did a brief rinse infusion and drank the second infusion. I was amazed when I perceived a thick and creamy with a distinct flavor and texture of sweetened whipped cream in the first infusion. This continued through the second as well though the color of the liquor was a much deeper darker red. I would not call this a complex tea but I would call it a very good to excellent tea and just as enjoyable as the more traditional (and pricier) Da Yi 75xx offerings.

I found what appears to be the exact same tea locally at an Asian Market here in Salt Lake. The Beng has the same wrapping but the exterior gift box is different. The color and generally leave size, and general look of the material is consistent between the two cakes as is the scent of the cake. What is different though is that the level of compression of the two cakes… the one that I bought in So Cal was a hard mass of near mortar like material while the local cake was so loosely packed I was able to break off whole leaves by hand without a pick.

I am going to attempt to compare the two more than anything just because I think it is an interesting experiment. First off let me start by saying I have no idea if these teas are the same tea, just because they have the same beng wrapping and came in similar boxes for a similar price. This is a first for me as far as side by side tasting notes so should be fun and that’s what it’s all about.

I will call the Pu from Salt Lake SLC and the one from San Gabriel SG. SLC was purchased last week, and SG was purchased in January Both are brewed in a gaiwan. After the initial flash rinse the scent SLC is creamy while the scent of SG is more forest with a bit of pine and cedar Initial infusion of the both give nearly identical colors and clarity but the taste is different, almost incredibly so. SLC gives a very vanilla creamy thick mouth filling brew very similar to the 2010 Menghai 7582 I had yesterday. While the one from SG is more of a compost and cedar with sweetness but not as full both are pleasant but I will say SLC wins this round.

Second infusion has the flavors of both evening out. SLC still has a hint of the creaminess but it is less pronounced there is a bit of leather and the flavor of those Alfalfa vitamin supplements. Notes of leather also appear with the SG brew. Both colors of the brew are consistent and honestly much more pleasing to look at than my initial brew of the SG about 3 weeks ago. I have started to use less leaf so perhaps that helps a bit with the color of the brew the color is very similar to one of my orange hue yixing. And as I experienced with SG previously the liquor is extremely clear no bits to cloud the cup, you can see the bottom of the white cup with a bare minimum of bits.

3rd infusion the wet leaves are virtually identical in scent, size and texture the scent is not exactly the same but so similar it is had to differentiate the exactly what is different… And it is the same deal with flavor and color. I am trying so very hard to pinpoint the differences but ultimately I’m going to bet that this is exactly the same tea. The same leather notes exist in both I will also add that the tea is about finished by the third infusion and I attribute that to the lesser amount of leaf I’ve been trending toward but I believe that this tea may need more leaf to get

I attribute the difference in the initial infusions and scent to be a difference in the compression and likely storage conditions but there no appreciable difference between the two by the 3rd infusion, and the forth infusion was basically colored water.

I will honestly say that SLC wins over all the vanilla creaminess of the initial infusion was awesome. This has been a fun hour sampling both of these teas… what a way to start the day.

When I ordered this tea I also ordered the lower grade “premium” and indeed there is no comparison. In all ways this is the absolute best TKY I have ever had. The scent is of the dry leaves is incredible, floral, buttery, not at all like any other TKY I’ve ever had. tea was prepared in 200ml yixing(like) pot using just enough of the tightly rolled leaf to cover the bottom of the pot. I make a habit of drinking even the initial flash infusion of expensive teas and even a 10 second initial cleansing infusion the intensity of the tea is more pronounced than most teas get from much longer infusions… After the second infusion an intense awareness of everything going on around me subsequent infusions up to and including the final infusion after allowing the leaves to sit overnight was still enjoyable. I easily got a liter plus of tea of tea through 15 infusions from the yixing out of these leaves making the tea, while seemingly expensive, a great value in my book. I will be getting more of this. It’s hard for me to think about a better tea. But there’s always tomorrow…

I bought this for price only and to give it a try. I am not a big fan of young sheng but I can see this tea being something really good in the future. Theres no question that this is a high quality tea. The brick itself is a loosely compacted brick with huge leaves. The dry leaf had just about zero scent even after the initial rinse still no appreciable scent. But after a couple of rinses I finally got a around to drinking and the first infusion had some pretty strong astringency and a bit of bitterness and made my tongue numb. Not entirely pleasant. The next few infusions brought in citrus and stone fruit… not really a apricot or a peach flavor at least not a ripe peach or ’cot but more of a tart less ripe cot. Neither pleasant nor unpleasant. Third infusion brought sweetness and bitterness both, though the latter was much less than the second infusion the flavor which seems to be typical younger sheng completely engulfs the mouth… the flavor is intense and complex with the numbness still present but less. I can see where this tea will improve with age becasue even with my general aversion to young sheng i still look forward to drinking this in a year or so and giving it more time and consideration. No question thought with the sheer intensity and complexity that this tea will be excellent in the future.

To say a bit more about the leaf composition the brick is prettied up with some large leaves (one is about 4 inched long. but that covers up bits of chopped up material) but even the chopped up material is 3/4 to one inch in size. The brew color is yellow (at least under the florescent light of my desk. I’ll be picking up some more of this for my next order.

This was a tea I picked up on a trip to So Cal at the San Gabriel Square Mall in you guessed it San Gabriel. When you buy tea at an Asian Market you usually have no idea what you are going to get and more often than not you’ll end up with undrinkable fannings or tea that is not fresh or low quality. I had had enough Puerh to know that CNNP products are pretty consistent so I picked up a Beng and I’m glad I did and honestly I wished I had pick up a couple more at $8 a piece. Now don’t get me wrong there’s no question this is a mass produced big label shu but for the price it has a lot of the characteristics of other quality shus… As far as flavor I describe it as “leathery”. The liquid is really clean not a lots of bits to cloud your cup, but the color is not all that attractive. Initial infusions are really dark, almost like a black coffee, but again very clean no fannings no bits to have to strain out. But by the 10th or 12th infusion the color of the liquor is a pretty blah beige brown not the red of higher quality shu.

This tea pretty much underwhelms me. Basically it tastes like a run of the mill black tea with very little of the characteristics one might expect from a shu. The leaf material consists of smaller leaves that smell like I mentioned before, black tea. I will give this tea cudos for brewing up a wonderfully clean, clear and reddish beautiful cup. But here’s the thing if I want a cup of black tea I’ll brew some black tea… If I want some shu I won’t brew this tea.