I threw in a cake of this one to sample in my order of 2008Wild Arbour King cakes from Yunnan Sourcing a few months back. It was (and still is) selling for $40.00 for a 400g ($0.10/gram)cake but was included in the 12% sale at the time (by pure coincidence a 10% off sale is on now). This cake is a popular, cheap everyday drinker
in the West. It is certified organic,
iron pressed, composed of Wuliang/Lincang materials. This cake has been stored in
Guangdong most of its life before heading to Yunnan Sourcing’s drier Kunming
storage.
I am a fan of iron bings.
I like how the aged and semi-aged iron bings taste. They seem to age slower and have a mix of
aged taste as well as some retained youthful qualities from the tight
compression. They also give an old
school kind of feeling to them and are often slightly stronger tasting cakes
that are often a touch bitter. It would
be interesting to see one of the newer trendier producers offer an iron bing
cake. This cake was stored in wetter
storage so I’m expecting more of a noticeable dichotomy than usual here.
I have developed a method to remove the leaves of iron bing
cakes without hassle. Basically, I just
angle the whole bing at a 45 degree angle on a very hard surface and apply
force. The leaves come off pretty easily.
Personally, I am not always convinced that tea will get
better with more age. I remember Mr. Kim
telling me that sometimes aged tea is best after 8-10 years. Then will decline. I think this is especially true for puerh
that tends to be more fragrant with a mellow flavor. I feel that Wuliang puerh fits this
description. I have very nice full tasting and vibrant Wuliang from 2011 but I
have been drinking it lately not aging it further for this reason. I believe it should only be aged long enough
so the rawness and ill effects of fresh sheng are reduced- then it is best
consumed. I guess only time will
tell. Let’s try out this Wuliang/Lincang from
probably the most famous of Wuliang factories- Nan Jian Tulin Tea Factory…
Dry leaves smell of old wetter storage- a meatier smell with
very little in the way of fragrant high notes.
The first infusion has a watery, bland, not quite sweet and
juicy, taste in the mouth. There is some
suggestions of melon fruit before quickly disappearing in the mouth. There is a faint, almost floral, mild cooling
aftertaste.
The second infusion starts with a stronger profile of mild
tobacco and leather over a slight bitter astringent vegetal taste. There is a bean taste in there as well then a
slight suggestion of sweet fruit before a soft/ mild cooling appears. This infusion is over a thin, slightly dry
mouthfeel.
The third has slight melon fruity taste over a significant
slight tobacco, leather and slight bitter vegetal taste. The cooling aftertaste
is just slight. Minutes later nice rock
sugar tastes well as distant floral mildly present themselves. There is very little throat feel but rather a
thin, slightly drying astringent mouthfeel which coats the mouth and makes the
teeth feel sticky.
The fourth infusion is much the same as the second. The long tobacco/ leather and slight bitter vegetal
tastes dominate the profile of this tea over only mild suggestions of something
more complex and subtle.
The fifth infusion has more of a watery slight juicy fruit
feel but it is still dominated but tobacco, leather and slight bitter astringent
vegetal taste. The mild cool aftertaste
remains.
The sixth and seventh and eighth infusions are more subtle
in taste with a slight crisper cooling sweetness trying to unsuccessfully push
through the deeper base tastes. The
taste remains very stable. This tea can
be steeped for many more infusions and yield basically the same simple
tastes. It has durability on its side. The
qi of this tea is mild alerting and slightly relaxing- very standard qi. It is totally uncomplicated and changes very
little from infusion to infusion. Its
taste and feel is simple, reliable, and predictable. It is totally drinkable and there is no off
taste or chemical feeling but it just isn’t that interesting. There is a simple honesty about this cake and
for those who like the flavors and this type of storage I can see how it could
be an everyday drinker for them. For
$40.00 you are mainly paying for the storage and age of this cake. I can’t see myself buying another.
Peace
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