The Truth About “2003 Wangong 300 Year Old Trees”

 I have mentioned before that it is one of the vendors most serious tasks to confirm the producing area and age of a puerh cake.  Claims on tree age are much harder to confirm and I always disregard this information anyways.  However, it is the vendors most serious task to do their due diligence to ensure the authenticity of the puerh they sell.  If they cannot do that, they loose trust.  If they loose trust, buying their offerings involves taking on more risk for the customer.  Others who drink puerh also will go out of their way to warn others about this risk- as they should.  Some get even pretty militant, rude, or take to simply trolling to get their point across warning others that so and so a vendor should not be trusted. 

It takes a long time, for a puerh drinker and even a puerh vendor, to be able to get enough experience in drinking puerh to be confident enough to authenticate puerh.  I’m sure many of the puerh vendors we now trust and love have a few early offerings that they now quietly question.  They now know how to write a description on their website that both casts doubt on their sources claims and offers insight into what the materials actually contain.

Vendors also have to trust their sources.  It takes time to for them to established trusted sources as well.  They have to have enough experience drinking puerh to be able to confidently say that what their source tells them about a puerh is true.  If the vendor simply puts whatever the source tells them (the name, age, location,etc) on their site without personally authenticating it, it shows a dangerous disregard for their customer (and eventually their reputation). It also shows a lack of experience of the puerh vendor.  If many, probably more experienced puerh drinkers, independently come to a very different experience than the description and they are completely disregarded and the original untrue description remains on the site and is defended by the vendor for sometime before being removed, it can fuel animosity.  This not only shows inexperience, but also disrespect to others in the puerh community, and an inability to accept constructive criticism.

And what if the original puerh age and description was so unbelievable that it was actually impossible??!?!?

Anyone who does their due diligence on Wangong puerh area can even find this information in English…  It is my understanding that the Wangong puerh producing area was not really discovered by vendors and producers and exploited as such until the mid-late 2000s- 2008/2009ish..  Before this time Wangong was most likely picked by locals and/or passed off as other areas in Yiwu, likely used for blending.  So all though it is theoretically possible that there could be a 2003 Wanggong single origin cake, it would be very unlikely and impossible to verify.  I have never even heard of 2007-2003 Wanggong… never…. because it likely doesn’t exist.  So you now can imagine the backlash with this offering can you???

On top of that there is the breaking of the Vendor Code and others who can’t tolerate the tea as a spiritual quest…. It’s really the perfect storm with Paolo and his projects Enlightenment Tea and now Puerh.uk. … a storm that usually doesn’t end well… but I have a gut feeling that he means well… and so far the samples that he sent me are pretty enjoyable, engaging, and fun puerh (which I will review in the coming days here) so here we are…. 

Did I mention that there is lots of baggage with this sample which goes for approx $305.00 for 357g cake or $0.85/g???? Hahaha… but Paolo did send it anyways knowing that I would likely see it what it is.  He also did change the name and description listed on his site and apparently it is still a decently good tea… Let’s try it out and find out what this monster really is all about… 

Dry leaves smell of gamey barnyard odours, a bit meaty fainter licorice candy sweetness subtle smoke.  Lincang, Border Tea, less likely Yiwu type odours.  But nice complex nose…

First infusion has a smoky watery onset that contains a faint pop of sweetness then slowly turns into a sweet watery licorice taste in the mouth with slow moving cool throat subtle candy.  Has a nice warming energy.

The second infusion has a smoky licorice onset with these subtle layering of candy that come out.   The mouthfeel is sort of gritty and there is a soft dry chalkiness to the mouthfeeling.  The candy taste comes out minutes later in the aftertaste.  Nice cozy feeling Qi. 

The third infusion has a sweet licorice onset with some fruity layers that kind of pop and fade there are some bread notes and some smoke.  The mouthfeeling is a not that dry but chalky feeling.  The Qi is a deeper relaxation now with some mind slowly and shoulder heaviness.  Aftertaste is a smoke almost tropical fruit finish with some very faint candy breath.  The smoke and sweetness is a nice balance here.  Kind of a dreamy feeling Qi.  Not the spaciness of Qi, nor taste profile nor the oily mouthfeeling of Wangong area at all.  I think this area has already been ruled out.  Tastes like a bit Lincang or even more likely a blend of Menghai. 

The fourth has a thick creamy sweet taste with smoke.  Nice balance of smoke and creamy sweetness here.  There is an emerging licorice taste and some candy breath.  You can almost sense the tropical fruity taste underneath but not quite.  Nice chalky full slight puckering mouthfeeling. Strong feeling overall between the taste, mouthfeeling, and Qi.  There is a chestiness to the Qi with a strong feeling.  This infusion has a certain intensity to it that reminds me of Menghai but where not sure feels also like a blend to me not single origin.  Reminds me a bit of the Menghai blend of semi aged maocha the 2018 Bao He Xiang Wu Jin Hao sold at Yunnan Sourcing (see below).

The fifth infusion is left to cool and has a caramel creamy sweetness with finish of smoke.  The caramel creamy with smoke pairing is always very satisfying to me.  There is a layer of candy that comes out in the breath.  There is a full kind of pucker chalky feeling.  Nice deeply relaxing Qi with some chest sensations and subtle heavy shoulders.

6^th is left to cool and gives off a smooth creamy caramel sweetness with a chalky full mouthfeeling and suggestions of faint candy with smoke on the finish.  There is a bit of salivating in the back of the throat now.  Nice relaxing feeling with some chest opening and strength and deeper relaxing.  Some brow twitches.

7^th has a smoky onset with a flat smoke taste in the aftertaste emerges subtle caramel and faint candy sweetness.  There is a shinny pop of sweet candy in there over a smoke onset.  In the last few infusions there is this blob of salivation in the throat that has a creamy sweet taste.  There is lots going on which indicates a blend to me.  Pretty enjoyable stuff.  Feel good Qi now.

8^th left to cool.  Has a smoke and sweet balance with a creamy sweet finish that has a faint creamy candy taste.  Nice dry stored talc finish with candy.  Relaxing feel good sensation.

9^th has a watery smoke with subtle sweetness in there.  Nice slow to expand but not that sweet sweetness with some faint on the breath tropical fruity taste that is hiding in there.  Some relaxing effect.

10^th 30 second infusion is left to cool it is mainly a smoke with a sweet finish of caramel feels full has an edge of almost candy almost tropical sweetness to it enough to keep me engaged.  The mouthfeeling is an almost pucker thin full chalkiness.  Tastes 2008-2010 material and a nice dry storage.

11^th 60 second steeping… has a smoke woody pucker mouthfeeling not much sweetness left in here so I put it into the mug infusions… a bit of sweetness breaks away in the ll th.

Vs 2018 Bao He Xiang Wu Jin Hao (pictured bottom)-  These puerh are very much alike in taste, blend and region.  Both Menghai blends.  The Bao He Xiang Wu Jin Hao has a bit more flavor and depth to it and I like that one the better of the two ..

The puerh.uk cake is way too expensive for what it is- a maybe older tree 2010 ish Menghai blend and is still priced like it is 2003 material.  The description has changed but not the price!  Whereas the preferred 2018 Bai He Xiang is priced about right… these taste and feel surprisingly similar when comparing these two… was an awesome day drinking these two back to back!

Peace