This cake, not to be confused with 2008 Yunnan Yunxian Huimin Chachang Chupin High Mountain Semi Wild Puerh, is a regular offering from this company. It doesn't boost of any 'wild' or 'high mountain' claims and is about half the price its bigger brother.
Its dry leaf shows no resemblance to its snazzy sibling. These leaves are a nice mix of fresh light coloured leaves that smell of creamy, sour tobacco puerh.
When prepared in a modest yixing pot this tea is a bit sweet like melon with a creamy mild tobacco finish. These flavours fight to be noticed over a smoky, common puerh taste that seems to dominate throughout the session.
The mouthfeel is wonderfully oily. It becomes slightly gritty which only acts to compliment the oily viscosity in later infusions.
The energy of this little guy is a killer. It stagnates in the lower abdomen- a perfect recipe for an upset stomach, especially in such a newly minted shang puerh.
And it did just that, sending one's stomach churning and getting one up and running to the bathroom. This tea caused one to stay away from young sheng for the last month or so.
One can't entirely blame this tea as it could have just been the have been the accumulation of drinking so much young sheng, something that one fully knows the dire consequences of, or other uncontrolled factors. Either way it prompted one to drink up some of the older sheng and some shu puerh that's been hanging around for a while. It also allowed one to enjoy the many wonderful yellow Korean teas that one has been posting about lately.
A few days ago, craving the sunny freshness that only an infant puerh can offer, one tried some 2007 sheng and things went well. Feeling confident, and curious whither this tea actually caused one's upset stomach, one decided to test these waters out again. Even with considerably less leaf this tea gave the stomach a good whoppin' not nearly as bad as before but, none the less, uncomfortably noticeable.
If you're lookin' for a fight this tea is for you, otherwise consider this a warning.
Peace
Very nice review. Where can this cake be purchased?
ReplyDeleteOne obtained a healthy sample at a local tea shop. After putting it through a serch engine, no results popped up.
ReplyDeletePeace
What a great blogg !
ReplyDeleteFortunato
Fortunato,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your illuminating enthusiasm!
Peace
I have had the same stomach problem with a 1998 A Shou (ripe (!?)) puerh, bought from a really good tea house which I thrust. What is that a sign of? To young? The quality is too low?
ReplyDeleteDo you think that this particularity would become less "effective" with age?
Thanks a lot.
Antoine,
ReplyDeleteMany factors could be involved. Individual physiology, tea quality, or even the amount of tea used can cause stomach problems.
Try giving it another go a week or two from now. If it still causes problems shelve it for a while because the cake may grow out of the problem as the microbes evolve and the tea changes.
Sometimes some people can drink one tea and have a stomach ache, while another person tries the exact same tea and there's no problem and they love it. Perhaps call a friend over that you don't particularly like and test it out on the poor soul (just jokes).
;)
Peace