Fairly confused
When the cake arrived I couldn’t help but smell it and I was greeted with a light plum-esque fruity sweetness, which I again smelled from the warmed leaves in a gaiwan. Unfortunately I never got to taste it through all the infusions. The liquor brewed up a clear yellow orange which I did not expect given it’s age. By comparison the white whale and yangpinhao brewed up deep murky red. Clarity is a term I see tossed around not sure what the supposed implications are but this tea had a clarity in every brew from the start that I usually only see at the end of a session when a tea is dyeing out. The only flavors I tasted where generic menghai county no aged flavor or plum sweetness I smelt. Other unique features were the teeth cleaning/coating effect almost like I just ate a salad of raw bitter greens.
Not experience enough to know the implications of the clarity or teeth coating but at the moment I won’t be drinking this tea any time soon which is a shame because I was hoping it would be drinkable as well as an investment.
Preparation
People who liked this
Comments
Good honest review. This is one of my favorites. Try a piece from a different side.
Nice notes! Yeah basically this is is in what I call the ‘ugly teens’ lol You are still developing and you don’t know which way things are going. The best part of this cake is that it hold a lot of promise for future aging.
I think you can get some fruit notes out of it but they are all going to be closer to very faded dried plum and more reminiscent of raisins with both sweetness and woods notes together with that bitter greens that you get at the end. :)
I broke up an oz off the cake and placed it into a jar as this method helped get the funk off white whale and yangpinhao, while I do have faith in this aging potential I will try breaking off a chunk from another place again before I resort to treating it like a leper fro a few years. When you say different side do you mean literally as in the “face” of the cake where the neifei is or do you mean the same side but different “hour” of the clock face( not sure if those options make a difference as I am unfamiliar with cakes blending procedure )
JC is right, this one is an ager and only needs 2-4 years depending upon your climate, but it is in the middle of another change. Hopefully you have enough to hang onto for awhile.
Also, I don’t know if you are airing your teas, but they need 2 weeks to 2 months in my opinion, after I get them. The teas are stored in a warehouse. Air out anything from W2T for at least a couple of weeks and then you’ll start to taste the tea, even better a couple months from now.Thanks cwyn it has taken a decent amount restraint to wait the week or two that I have but I will make the effort to extend that period. Also I believe I am at the point of making a long term storage solution given my amount of cakes and desire for more. At the moment I have a few tins, covered vases, and plastic Tupperware bins with Boveda cigar humidity packs (75% rh). The teas are fragrant but these packs are expensive and one time use so my current set up clear is not sustainable.
You all could just send anything you want aged to me, minus my storage commission..
funny enough I was actually considering that the other day, I think when I get around to ordering a new amerykah cake i will seriously consider that option
Good honest review. This is one of my favorites. Try a piece from a different side.
Nice notes! Yeah basically this is is in what I call the ‘ugly teens’ lol You are still developing and you don’t know which way things are going. The best part of this cake is that it hold a lot of promise for future aging.
I think you can get some fruit notes out of it but they are all going to be closer to very faded dried plum and more reminiscent of raisins with both sweetness and woods notes together with that bitter greens that you get at the end. :)
I broke up an oz off the cake and placed it into a jar as this method helped get the funk off white whale and yangpinhao, while I do have faith in this aging potential I will try breaking off a chunk from another place again before I resort to treating it like a leper fro a few years. When you say different side do you mean literally as in the “face” of the cake where the neifei is or do you mean the same side but different “hour” of the clock face( not sure if those options make a difference as I am unfamiliar with cakes blending procedure )
JC is right, this one is an ager and only needs 2-4 years depending upon your climate, but it is in the middle of another change. Hopefully you have enough to hang onto for awhile.
Also, I don’t know if you are airing your teas, but they need 2 weeks to 2 months in my opinion, after I get them. The teas are stored in a warehouse. Air out anything from W2T for at least a couple of weeks and then you’ll start to taste the tea, even better a couple months from now.Thanks cwyn it has taken a decent amount restraint to wait the week or two that I have but I will make the effort to extend that period. Also I believe I am at the point of making a long term storage solution given my amount of cakes and desire for more. At the moment I have a few tins, covered vases, and plastic Tupperware bins with Boveda cigar humidity packs (75% rh). The teas are fragrant but these packs are expensive and one time use so my current set up clear is not sustainable.
You all could just send anything you want aged to me, minus my storage commission..
funny enough I was actually considering that the other day, I think when I get around to ordering a new amerykah cake i will seriously consider that option