About a year and a half ago an old staple of the Western Puerh scene started to re-release some of the puerh that they once sold years and even decades before. It turns out the Huston storage from Houde was quite favourable. I ended up sampling maybe half ? of their re-releases and below is a ranking of the ones I enjoyed the most:
1- 2006 Xi Zhi Hao Lao Ban Zhang Yin “Black Wrapper”- Obvious Lao Ban Zhang Gushu with really good storage gives us the pure unadulterated power of Gushu Lao Ban Zhang! This was a great deal for those who picked some up.
2- 2001 Xiaguan 8653 Huang Yin- It has an insane strong alerting and really overwhelming energy to it, as well as a strong bitterness but not any astringency really. I use only ¼ to ½ of the dry leaves I normally use and its still insanely strong. Love it. Easily drank through my sample. I passed on a cake a few years ago but obviously would have been pretty happy with one.
3- 2001 Jinyehao (Green Sun)- I actually only tried the Yang Stored cake of this and you could expect Houde storage to do this one better. There is intense wood character that sometimes occurs in semiaged autumn cakes that I’ve tried before. What impressed me the most about this sample was the deep penetrating warmth cozy feeling of the Qi here which is really satisfying and pretty intense. This kind of Intensely warming Qi is really satisfying!
4- 2007 Xi Zhi Hao Diangu- is a deep sweet resin incense taste with this very sweet initial pop of flavour. More of a deep complex lurking bitterness underneath. There is this deep penetrating perfume taste that just lingers for a long time on the breath. Nice strong Qi and bodyfeelings and very intense unique tastes and long stamina.
5- 2005 Shuangjiang Mengku Mu Shu Cha- this is a nice early, example of Mu Shu Cha that has optimal storage for such a thing. Still quite strong with the power influence of Mu Shu Cha stoner Qi and a more factory-like production. To me this tastes less like Bing Dao and has much more in common with other Mu Shu Cha- Fruity bitter Qi powerhouse.
6- 2001Menghai 7542 Fake- This is believable 2001-2004 material but it doesn’t taste at all like Menghai Factory. To me it tastes good with Qi sensation and bodyfeeling which drops off quickly. There is also interesting complex flavours in the first handful of infusions. Some of the flavours are a bit weird like a strange hay but others are quite tasty. There are also nice signs of good dry storage aging of a marshmallow, cherry talc taste. Something old school factory like this that is also dry stored gives it some inherent value as it would be rarer to find. Is on the whole a dry stored old school blended fake. I recently have been really enjoying the nice Ginseng taste which can be had from the right puerh with the right wearhousing. Blindly picked up some of these cakes. Shah8 and Marco would likely rate this one higher than me.
7- 2005 Yang Qing Hao Yiwu Chawang- nice clean well stored Yiwu Gushu, enjoyable cherry tastes, slight warming Qi with relaxing mind and sometimes a bit of buzzy body feeling. The simple delicious Yiwu that was hard for me to pass up.
8- 2003 Xiaguan Special Grade- this is a bit better than average Xiaguan with a nice dry storage but still is very much typical classic Xiaguan in taste and fee. The stamina is good with nice condensed tastes.
9- 2001 Mengku “Yuan Yieh Xian” of Mengsa Thick Paper- This is the first Traditional HK stored cake with a distinct floral taste to it which is interesting to me. I’m always of the thought that Yiwu and Mengku areas are much better dry stored. This one is no exception but nicely enjoyable either way!
Peace
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