These two Six Famous Tea Mountain puerh arrived in my first
order from Awazon. I remember seeing
lots of 6FTM cakes in the puerh tea shops in Korea in the mid-2000. I know that I have tried many 6FTM puerh
before at these tea tables but I have no memory or recollection of how they
tasted. This seems to be a theme of the
literature online about 6FTM- unmemorable.
Third you can really start feeling the qi of this tea- again
a very classic puerh tea feel. The body
feels energized and refreshed while the mind feels relaxed and clear. The sweeter plumb notes are more developed in
this infusion and taste nice with leather and tobacco. There is a very slight sour note indicating
its age. The sweet tastes are the
dominant now and the flatter vegetal note is all but gone.
The fourth the light sweet flavours start to fade and the
base notes start to take over. The
mushroom taste is now more prominent.
The cooling aftertaste now has more of a light woody suggestion. The throat feel improves a bit as a glob of
saliva is pulled into the throat expanding on simple flavours.
But it wasn’t always like that. Even the western online vendors used to be
full of these cakes. Six Famous Tea
Mountain puerh factory offered puerh that was very different than the factory
puerh that was mainstream at the time.
It was a response to the overly bitter and strong cakes produced by
Menghai and other tea factories which were the most popular at that time.
A few years ago Hobbes of the Half-Dipper re-discovered 6FTM
cakes and many are reviewed on his blog at this time. These two were either discussed positively in
the comment section or favorably reviewed by Hobbes. However, because of differences in the names of these teas, tasting notes, differing wrappers, coming from different vendors, I am unsure if these are the same positively reviewed teas. This is what makes purchasing puerh online in the West such a gamble.
2006 6FMT Yesheng Banzhang
There is a bit of ambiguity on the Half-Dipper whether this cake is undrinkable or excellent value. It is possible that it is even the exact same
cake wrapper with one cake being a fake and other real or perhaps it is the
same cake but one with off storage. Only
one way to know which one this is similar to…
Dry leaves smells of sweat sugar cane and faint plumb.
In the first infusion flatter vegetal notes comes first with
a nice leathery taste. A soft cresting
malty caramel sweetness ensues finished by a tobacco taste which stays in the
mouth. The mouthfeel is decent and feels
full enough to carry the aftertastes forward.
The mouthfeel has a mild stickiness to it as well.
The second carries more sweet notes of slight plumb in the
mix of leathery tobacco. There are only
suggestions of cool menthol on the breath.
This tea tastes is very much good, if not very typical puerh tea. It has a mild thickness and viscous feel to
it in the mouth and carries these standard puerh tastes nicely in the
mouth. The bubbles formed in the liquor
stick stubbornly to the cups and pots. The sensation of this tea doesn’t make
it into the throat limiting the depth of taste but what it has, it does quite
good with.
This tea is through and through good, typical, unpretentious
big factory tea. There is nothing
amazing about this tea but there is also nothing negative about it either. Its
strength is in its better than average mouthfeeling which make simple tastes
stick and is limited by not really touching the throat.
The fourth shows signs of starting to level off with less of
the evolving layers and gravitating to more of a nice singular note. There is a nice cohesive leathery and creamy
malty date fruit sweetness to the tea here.
The fifth shows more of the mild barely fruity sweat note
riding itself into the aftertaste over leathery and even slightly woody notes. There is some menthol returning in the mouth. A very stable tea. For the cheap price this tea, it is very
drinkable and I am happy with it for what it is.
The sixth is much the same and I am still not adding any
steeping time to the infusions just the 20 second pour of the pot. Simple, yummy, puerh tastes are delivered. A soft smokiness is detected in this
infusion.
The seventh is extended another 10 seconds but remains
simple yummy tea. The nice part here is
the nice simple plumb fruit note. The
aftertaste carries this note for a while.
The eighth and ninth infusions become much flatter with a
gummy slight fruit and wood note. A very
mild cool fruit aftertaste is apparent.
2006 6FTM Banzhang Organic Raw
I paid $36.20 for this 357g bing ($0.10/gram). It was also the last in stock at Awazon and is no longer listed. There seems to be two different wrappers of
the 2006 Banzhang Organic, one has a the Chinese organic certification labelclearly displayed on the wrapper like this one still available for purchase atThe Chinese Tea Shop, and another without such labeling that was for
sale at Awazon. I imagine they are
different teas.
Dry leaves are of smoky, almost salty, with a suggestion of pungent
deep creamy florals.
The first infusion boasts creamy sweet and more fragrant
than expected floral tastes with a nice thin creamy mouthfeel. There is a significant smokiness to this
first infusion that coats the mouth if steeped quickly. A slightly sweet floral creamy coolness is
left in the throat. The profile of this
tea is over a light mild base of creamy, sweet, slightly medicinal tastes. The smokiness dominates this first infusion.
In the second infusion the same flavours become more bold
especially the sweet, creamy, medicinal base holding them together. There is a soft but noticeable bitter
astringency to this tea when steeped with more leaf. The sweet cooling in the throat lasts longer
and is more noticeable now. Even very soft
smoky notes linger in the mouth.
In the third infusion the mouthfeel becomes stronger and the
taste develops a soft wood base note along with the sweet medicinal note. The initial taste is of mild creamy sweet
florals. Another note that reveals itself is a mushroom taste as well. This infusion loses a bit to the higher notes
as deeper, aged tastes emerge. The
smokiness is still apparent. The qi of
this tea is weak and gives off a quite unnoticeable and very standard mild
alertness.
The fifth becomes more monotone in its initial taste- a
sweet woody barely mushroom taste. The
cooling returning sweetness is somewhat more enjoyable and more pronounced
here. A smokiness lingers in the
aftertaste.
The sixth is pushed harder but still offers very little in
the initial taste with still some enjoyable aftertastes to be enjoyed. A monotone wood taste now gently cloaks the
whole profile of this tea when pushed like this. A faint flat floral and slight melon taste can
still barely be grasped.
In the seventh and eighth this tea is a bit tapped out with
mainly a monotone dry wood with barely suggestions of melon and floral over a
still smoky base.
The ninth, tenth and eleventh holds these tastes nicely. It is mild but still has some enjoyable
flavor. Long steeps push out much the
same.
It is interesting what the name of a tea does to your
mind. It is possible that this tea could
have at least some Banzhang or Nannuo material inside. But if this was a blind sample and someone
asked me to guess where this is tea from I would probably never guess the Banzhang
area. Interesting, how the brain works.
Overall, I am happy with these two 6FTM cakes. These cakes were both the very last cakes at
Awazon which is really too bad. Out of
the two, I wouldn’t hesitate at purchasing a few more cakes, maybe even a tong,
of the Yesheng for that price. It really
displays a character and feel in what I look for and love in factory puerh. The Organic Banzhang is too mild with very
little depth. However, it still has
something enjoyable in it and I can see why some people have enjoyed this one
as a daily drinker for years now.
Overall, I’m not expecting alchemy with these 6FTM cakes just
solid everyday drinkers which is fair value for what I paid.
Peace
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