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“As I’ve found little info on this apparent house brand I will supply a bit myself. Many brands have cakes marked 7542, suggesting similarity to the famous Dayi production. I’ve bought what should...” Read full tasting note
Spring raw (sheng) pu erh tea cake from wild arbor tree (qiao mu) in Menghai.
Company description not available.
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Bana Tea CompanyAs I’ve found little info on this apparent house brand I will supply a bit myself.
Many brands have cakes marked 7542, suggesting similarity to the famous Dayi production. I’ve bought what should be a true 7542 to contrast, but I can’t give you a comparison yet, as the Dayi is 4 years younger and I decided to take them on in drinking order.
I tried something different for a change and attacked from the beeng hole, as I’ve seen others do, so going around the backside, and it was hard to push a prick through, and stop sniggering, and ohh that’s so childish.
As I’ve apparently pried off and put aside 6g, I’m having a slightly more serious ratio than normal.
The brew is a darker shade of orange, closer to a light black tea. The first infusion is soft, with some character that I hoped to explore in the following (flash) infusions, but there it quickly turns into bitterness. It’s a cleaner and less coarse bitter than with many, but also much greener still. Honestly it’s quite like paracetamol, and so says the stomach.
So, a dense, clean and green cake. Perfect for further aging they’d say. As my cupboard has managed to smoothen out some other teas in the past, I guess I’ll have to give in to what “they” say here.
Dang, now I have to properly re-wrap it. And find out if the nominally 4 years younger cake tastes, well, older.
Flavors: Bitter
On further introspection I come to believe this thing spent its entire life in an airco unit, up to the point where it’s now sterile. So I’m considering donating it to science. Options are:
1) Stick it in one of my beehives for a year. Moist and 37c conditions and a 100% chance of an authentic bug bitten wrapper, but also of added propolis and bug nests. More things live in a beehive than bees alone.
2) Stick it into my compost heap for a year. Requires uncompostable packaging in order to find it back later, which may void the exercise. Plus my compost heap is garbage anyway, I don’t think it reaches any impressive temperatures.
3) Wrap it in a wet towel for a bit, then expose it to healthy pu again. Probably the wisest move of the three. Downside: not as spectacular, so if it doesn’t work out I might still feel shortchanged.
Whether this is tongue-in-cheek or not, please do all 3 plus a control! I have what was at first try a flavorless sample that’s been ‘aging’ in a compartment in my truck for going on 2 years.
I’m afraid that this tea is far from flavorless. Recently I’ve heard the descriptor “battery acid” being used for another tea but I start to understand what they meant. Another apt description would be ice cubes tasting of fridge.
I’m getting more and more miffed about this, esp. since the Dayi cake apparently wasn’t treated much better. I’m unsure whether any of my wild ideas, or yours for that matter, would make any difference.