Wednesday, June 8, 2022

Optimal: 2003 Chen Yuan Hao Yiwu: Puerh.uk Old Man storage vs Teas We Like



I was really over the moon with my purchase of 2004 ChenyuanHao Song Pin Hao Commemorative Cake.  Specifically, I mention how stellar the storage was on it.  Currently, Puerh.uk has two sources for the Chenyuan Hao cakes they bring in.  This one is my preferred storage over both Puerh.uk’s other source and Teas We Like source.  Apparently, it was stored quite warm but also quite dry.  It was enough for me to re-order another one of these after sampling.  This 2003 ChenYuan Hao Yiwu from Teas We Like is winning the speed test of my Chen Yuan Hao quarter cakes… so good enough excuse to pick up another 2003 ChenYuan Hao Yiwu from Puerh.uk (approx $148.00 for 1/4 at $1.72/g)and compare the different storage on the two.  Paolo still had a few of these quarters left at the time of posting…

Dry leaves have a very vibrant sweet current and blackberry notes.  Sweet Fruity delicious.

First infusion has a watery creamy sweet taste that and a talc creamy chalkiness to it.  The taste is really silky and creamy and sweet.  There is some nice salivating as well.   Nice slow silky smooth creamy release deep in the throat.  Chalky sweet creamy tastes and chalky sort of mouth salivating.  Nice focusing feeling.

The second infusion has a creamy chalky woody sweet with a layer of berry blend underneath.  There is this creamy silky mouthfeeling with a deep and slower throat opening and long evolving berry jam tastes.  There is a sort of vegetal woody sort of layer, and jam mixed berries, and a creamy silky sweet as well.  Nice deep relaxing with heavy limbs.

The third infusion has a milky soapy raisin prune sweetness that has this sort of resin like body and creamy slowly expanding sweetness that reaches slowly and deeply into the throat.  There is a faint taste of berries and jam over deeper prunes and raisons.  With a mild relaxing focus and heavy limbs feeling.  Nice long creamy resin sweetness.



The fourth infusion has a brassy fruity vibrancy that is a bit prune and current and a bit fresher berry melon.  Very taste with a caramel layer as well.  It turns into a resin-like taste and has a long deep creamy sweet reach.  Depth of the layered sweetness really expands.  There is a subtle tart taste in there as well.  Nice slow mild saliva release with long creamy sweet fruity caramel aftertaste.  Nice focusing energy with chest and limb heaviness.

The 5th has a malty brassy sweet raison and prune sweetness to it.  Nice long creamy layered with dry fruits and faint hints of fresher or jam like fruits.  Very subtle deep coolness in the throat.  Nice lubricating mildly oily texture with resin layers.  Nice full and expanding and long resin, caramel, and creamy sweet taste.  Very tasty puerh.  Nice focusing with some Chest and limb heaviness and tingling face. 

The sixth was left to cool and has a deep caramel layered with prunes, currents as well as hints at jam.  There is this full medium thick chalky silky mouthfeeling with deep throat opening.  Just a faint subtle coolness with resin creamy sweetness with hints of currents and prune.  Very delicious slow moving long fade.  Nice mild slow mouthwatering.

7th is a watery resin creamy evolving sweetness with current and raisin.  The silky chalky feeling is really lovely.  With a nice focusing feeling some chest beats with heavy and open chest and limbs.  Nice long sweet creamy resin current.  Faint jams.  Really nice.

8th is left to cool and has an oily mouthwatering creamy dried current taste with a faint incense resin.  The mouthfeel is silky in the mouth and the throat opening is deep with a not really noticeable coolness on the breath and long creamy resin taste.  There are pops of fruity tastes as well. Nice focusing energy.

9th has a resin onset with a faint emerging sugar sweet taste that slowly trails off on the breath.  It combines with a faint breath coolness and develops a creamy sweet edge.  Nice focusing.

10th is left to cool and has an almost fruity oily resin taste with subtle hints of fruity sweetness.  There is a long slight sweet resin taste with faint cool deep throat. Nice focusing.

11 has an almost spicy resin with faint fruity taste and incense.  The resin like incense notes are becoming stronger but there is no bitterness at all and no astringency so there is still this resin taste but backed by a lingering sweetness still which is quite nice with nice mind focusing, subtle face tingles and heavy chest and limbs.

12 has a fast moving pop of dried current sweetness almost raisin with a stronger incense resin.  Still lots of body to this puerh with a deep throat and slow release creamy sweetness with more resin in there in these later infusions.  The mouthfeeling is a bit chalky now.  Still some oily viscus feeling.  Focused mind and some chest beats with subtle face tingles.

13 has a pop of sweetness and resin and a long deep sweet breath taste with edges of caramel and resin woody.  Still very delicious.  Nice continued focusing mind with chest beast and face tingles.  The mouthfeeling is almost chalky and sticky especially the lips with a deep open throat.

I put the rest of the wet leaves (pictured above)into a long mug infusion and out comes sweet plum and dried currants with a resin base.  Very sweet with a long juicy plum finish deep in the throat.  There are suggestions of incense with a silky chalky mouthfeeling and strong focusing Qi.



VS Teas We Like storage- the Puerh.uk old man storage is much superior with that talc storage nuance and rich vibrant deep sweet rich taste. The resin nuances are much more savored in the Puerh.uk storage here.

Peace

2 comments:

Paolo said...

Thanks for the review Matt,
just a note to say that we now run out of "old man storage" 03 CYH yiwu and are now selling the CYH Yiwu with "standard" taiwanese storage (similar to 05 Shanzhong chuanqi, 03 Youle, 03 Manzhuan, 03 Tong Qing Hao)

Old man only has one tong of the tea he has (04 Song Pin Hao, 03 Yibang, 03 Yiwu, 05 Jing Chang and a 07 Yiwu that hasn't been on sale yet), this is the only tea I kept two cakes of for ourselves, a favourite for both me and my wife.

~ Paolo

Matt said...

Paolo,

I ordered another 1/4 with the Yibang that I will post next here on May 17th. I haven’t sampled it yet. I wonder which storage that one came from? Must be your standard storage? I should sample these together and find out for myself:)

That would mean I own 3 similar but not exact 1/4 cakes of this nice puerh!

Peace