2005 Banzhang Macau Hualian Small Buds: Powerful Tiny Buds!

This was sample of Lao Ban Zhang from Paolo’s personal journey has not yet been offered on puerh.uk…

Dry leaves are very sweet and fruity smelling pure dry stored smells much younger than 2005.

First infusion has a creamy malty sweet almost caramel and sort of licorice sweetness.  It’s a bit thick and rich already in a sweet and oily broth.  Sweet tastes dominate with a layering and thickness to them.  There is a cooling slightly in the throat.  Tastes like 10-13 years material.

The second infusion has a rich caramel woody oily sweet dense taste.  Mouth salivating.  The cup cools down and there is a dense rich sweet creamy caramel that has a dense sweet presentation almost licorice finish.  The layers of sweet taste remind me of a Lincang.

The third infusion has a caramel dense oily sweetness with a soft cooling throat.  The cool cup is really very sweet and layered.  Licorice and caramel very sweet finish.

The fourth infusion has a thick dense caramel, licorice taste, faint bitterness, nice full mouthfeeling with a coating that makes the gums and roof of the mouthfeel squeaky when the tongue runs across it.  Qi is very enlivening and very happy feeling.  A burst of happy energy.  There is some faint face tingles.

The fifth is densely caramel sweet.  The flavor comes all at one in one thick sip but underneath is a subtle bitter woody taste that is barely discernable under the thick sweetness a faint almost metallic taste in there as well.  Very delicious tasting tippy leaves with no astringency and feels really nice in the body but without any crazy bodyfeelings.  Nice enlivening Qi.

6^th has a caramel dense sweetness with slight metallic tones and subtle menthol like taste that lingers in the mouth. 

7^th has is still caramel but is becoming more metallic bitter menthol as well.  The menthol bitter sweetness stretches into the aftertaste.  Nice strong uplifting and enlivening feeling.  The mouthfeel is a full unwavering slight dry feeling that feels really nice with this sort of tea giving it something for the sweet tastes to grab on to.

8^th pot clogged! Must have been in there for a good minute… stronger infusion… strong menthol with caramel and lesser bitter full strong taste. 

9^th is more strong caramel menthol with faint bitterness.  This is a pretty satisfying tippy puerh!

10^th is a bitter woody a bit menthol in the finish with a sweet underlying caramel throughout.

Obvious single origin likely plantation material.  Changes slowly from sweet to more bitter over the course of the session.  Strong taste and decent mouthfeel throughout.  Not much bodyfeeling at all really but nice uplifting plantation feel to it.  Seems younger than 2005 likely 2010 ish… dry storage which feels like Kunming.  I really like the experience with this one.

Peace

2005 Greatful Tea Factory Zhengshan Banzhang: Very Laobanzhang!

 

Dry leaves smell of vibrant smooth creamy sweet fruity odours.

The first infusion has a blank watery dry almost pond and peat drier natural Taiwanese storage taste onset with a bit of wood that finishes very very faintly creamy fruity sweet that trails on the breath.  Right off the bat it is believably 2005 aged material.  As the liquid cools there is a more significant long creamy sweetness left behind.

Second infusion has a blank almost faint pond/ marsh taste with a returning throat coolness and creamy sweetness.  The creamy sweetness has a sugar sweet edge to it as well and comes with some nice saliva returning in the mouth.  There is some lesser woody, bark, and even sour notes.  Nice tingling sensation in the limbs and scalp and some relaxing qi.

The third infusion has a faint pondy marsh onset with sour, woody, fruity notes that have a nice saliva producing with a returning coolness with creamy sweet bready aftertaste.  Some fuzzy head Qi sensations.

The fourth infusion has a slight bitter woody and lesser fruity taste.  There is some cooling with a creamy sweet returning taste with a bit of coco in the finish.  Tastier infusion here.  Stronger stuffy head feeling now.

The fifth infusion is a bit bitter coco woody onset with some creamy sugar sweetness that comes after a soft cooling.  The mouthfeeling is really soft so I hadn’t really mentioned it.  There is some sort of peat and creamy sweetness in the aftertaste.  Some nice salivating.  Stuffy strong heady Qi.  Heavy head feeling.  The cooled down cup of tea tastes like a bit bitter wine coco woody with a faint coolness and returning creamy sweetness.  This infusion has an unmistakably Lao Ban Zhang taste and feeling to it.

The sixth infusion has a bitter woody wine onset with some creamy sweet and coco in the finish.  Strong stuffy head Qi.  Some saliva producing.  Nice taste her.

The seventh infusion has a soft velvety mouthfeeling with watery wine woody onset and some cooling in the mouth then a creamy sugar finish.  Nice sugar sweetness in the mouth a few minutes later.

The eighth infusion is left to cool… it gives off creamy sweet almost but not quite banana sweetness with woody sugar sweetness.  It tastes pretty good with stuffy head Qi.

My day gets too busy and I’m let with no choice but to abandon my tea session…

I resume the next day…

And more deliciousness gets pushes out… really yummy and obvious Lao Ban Zhang Taste and Qi with this one.  It has that classic bitter-wine-coco then creamy sweet taste that I highly value and is very Lao Ban Zhang.  I push the spent leaves hard in the mug and these tastes and feelings have lots of depth and stamina in them.  This has enough of the Laobanzhang character in it that it has me interested…

This 2005 Greatful Tea Factory Ban Zhang Zhongshan was initially only offered in the In Search of Real Lao Ban Zhang tasting set but has since been offered at Puerh.uk in quarter cakes and full cakes at approx. $470.00 for 357 g cake or $1.34/g.

Peace

2005 Lao Banzhang Sheng Tai Tuo Cha: Old School, Clear Storage, LaoBanZhang

This is the first in a series of free Laobanzhang samples giftedfrom Paolo of Puerh.uk in my first order and offered for review.  Some of these are from the “In Search of RealLao Ban Zhang” series that he offers.  Its kind of a cool idea that has been overlooked by Western vendors as of late.  Its name implies that maybe they are not 100% or pure LaoBanZhang but some kind of search or journey with some LaoBanZhang-ness to them…. Sounds pretty fun… most of these samples are for sale at Puerh.uk but others are not yet offered.  I sampled these without reading the descriptions… after finishing them I will put a ranking together…

Dry leaves smell of smoky meaty BBQ odours.

First infusion has a light buttery clear and clean floral taste with some very faint smoky mesquite BBQ nose in the finish.  Elegant and clear with nice mind focusing energy right off the bat.  There is a subtle creamy sweetness.  Nice oily mouthwatering effect.

Second infusion has a pure creamy floral taste that builds the oils in the mouth it has a super faint BBQ finish but is primarily elegant and pure creamy sweetness with a very soft mild velvety texture.  Nice soft velvet-chalky fine feeling in the mouth.  Deep mild mind euphoria… this type of Qi certainly feels a bit like Lao Banzhang to me.

The third infusion is left to cool and gives off a pure sweet creamy oily taste that is really clear and nice.  There is a fine full velvety-chalky mouthfeeling.  Nice floral almost tropical fruity taste.  Creamy oily sweet taste.  Nice dry storage on this one gives the tastes a clear pure feeling.  The oily saliva returning taste holds the creamy sweetness in the aftertaste.  Very faint fleeting background smoke.

The 4^th has a very very faint smoke and watery creamy sweet taste upfront.  It is subtle and elegant and pairs nicely with the oily expanding textures of creamy sweet pure tastes.  Strong-ish deep euphoria type of Qi that you would expect from Laobanzhang.  Deep sighs and good uplifting.

The 5^th infusion has a watery juicy creamy sweet onset with an oily mouthfeeling there is a subtle smokiness to it in the aftertaste.  Nice saliva returning creamy sweetness.  Nice pure taste and feeling overall with some faint face, jaw sensations.

6^th is left to cool and gives off a creamy sweet subtle faint smoke creamy oily sweetness.  There is a nice saliva returning. 

7^th has a creamy lubricating oily simple sweet onset with a background late emerging smoke.  The Qi is becoming less strong and has more of a mind slowing relaxation now.

8^th has a buttery creamy taste with faint smoke.  Still oily and saliva returning but less so and coarser mouthfeeling.  Relaxing more than euphoric Qi now.

9^th has a longer 30 second infusion and is a subtle caramel creaminess still really nice clean pure tastes the smoke seems to fade as the infusions go on.  Nice creamy solid sweetness with still nice oily textures.  Pretty satisfying with the subtle faint background smoke.

10^th 60 second infusion then left to cool is a bit smoke, a bit bitter, a bit woody, a bit melon rind but mainly smoky in this longer infusion.  Not much sweetness left.

11^th is a long few minutes long infusion but is mainly just watery smoke now with lesser sweetness coming out in the aftertaste.

It’s a pure and even simple feeling puerh but has nice elements of clear pure taste with the creamy sweetness and subtle background smoke with a decent oily mouth salivating and lingering oily creamy buttery sweetness.  Its Qi has a bit of euphoria to it but not much at all of the Lao Ban Zhang bodyfeeling.  By the sixth infusion the Qi is more of a generic relaxation with a bit of euphoria.  Tastes like an older school processed factory tea at its core.  I like this tea for what it is… I wonder about the price?  Might be just paying for the location here.  Dry storage is nice on this and does it well.  I would have guessed this to be 2007-2009 Kunming or other drier storage… still possibly 2005 but a longer shot for me.

Peace

The Lao Ban Zhang Journey

This is a warning…

If you drink puerh long enough it is inevitable that you will one day go on this journey… This is especially true if you aim to try and own or collect “the best puerh”… then it will be your destiny!  There will be no avoiding it… you will at some time in your puerh drinking go on a quest to understand why Laobanzhang is considered the best puerh producing area.  Even if you disagree with the argument that it is the best of the best the only way to know for certain is to actually immerse yourself in it….. and yes the journey is not cheap… and often you must luck out, or it must come from friends in high places.  You have to wade through the stuff that is faked or only partly blended and also the vendor’s wink-wink nudge nudge descriptions of things that are not really or not as, or only a little bit Laobanzhang.

The journey at its core is a journey to understand Laobanzhang but to do do you must also sample enough to become familiar with the profile.  Although, it is possible, if the sample is right, to understand it in one glorious sampling!

Understanding Laobanzhang is one of two opposite journeys that every long term puerh drinker will usually eventually undertake.  The other complete polar opposite yet complimentary journey is to understand and appreciate the classic Menghai Tea Factory 7542.  To understand both is to grasp at the Yin and Yang of puerh appreciation at its purest.  With the strong factory plantation 7542 being the Yang and the refined bliss of the Laobanzhang being the Yin.  At its highest state the Yin being old arbour single estate Laobanzhang the Yang being the 88 Qingbing.  To ask a hypothetical Question: if gifted only one which would you choose?  In my everyday life I would choose the 88 Qingbing but in a “trapped on a dessert island” scenario it would be hands down old arbour Laobanzhang!  I digress…

Anyways, I have been down the Laobanzhang journey before long ago when prices were more sane without ever touching the highest of the highest stuff… and thankfully it was mainly with the help of friends in high places.  Even back then I thought the price of Laobanzhang was too rich for my blood and not worth the price to enjoyment trade off.  Recently I mused how back in the day lots of people used to send you a bit of Laobanzhang but nowadays it’s too expensive so nobody does (But someone has!?!?).

MarshalN-  he’s been on that journey before… same for Hobbes of the Half-Dipper… and Liquid Proust back in his Steepster days… it’s an amazing journey actually…

Consider yourself warned… 

Peace

A Beautiful Aged Puerh Experience - “1960s Loose Leaf”

This is the other controversial offering from Enlightenment Tea/ Puerh.uk.   It is now sold out.  I must admit I was going in very very skeptical with this one and basically went in with the thought that it must not be true to the description … but then the tasting experience really surprised me…

Dry leaves smell of sour musky dusty odours.  They do in fact smell quite old at least 90s… or even older…

First infusion pours quite reddish.. there is a creamy sweet talc cherry taste that comes with dry storage for some time.  It is quite light and creamy sweet subtle peat notes with an old dusty book taste.  The mouthfeeling is tighter feeling.

Second infusion has a creamy sweet onset with a tight quick moving mouthfeeling that kind of chokes away the sweetness rather quickly and leaves an old musty taste lingering in the mouth.  Faint cooling at the back of the throat.  Subtle mild relaxing.  The tugging dryness of the mouthfeeling sneaks down the throat a bit and seems to cause some salivation that pulls an old book and creamy sweet cherry taste even minutes later.  The cooled cup is creamy rich sweetness with strong old musk peat with some throat cooling.  Very nice experience here.  Even 10 mintues later there is this creamy sweet and old musty taste.

Third infusion has creamy milky shu puerh tastes with creamy sweet base taste.  Nice lubricating mouthfeeling and old musty underneath taste.  The gripping feeling of the first few infusions is gone and so is the longer aftertastes with just faint glimpses now you can almost tastes subtle BBQ notes in the aftertaste now and less cooling and much less sweetness.  I’m thinking this is a 90s shu puerh production from the refinement, old taste, and hinting towards shu profile rather than Hongkong Traditional.  Nice relaxing feeling with some scalp tinging Qi.

The fourth infusion has a creamy milky sweet onset of shu puerh tastes there is a smooth mouthfeeling with the faintest cooling with old tastes mainly disappearing and a very faint BBQ and milky finish.  Smooth older school but refined aged shu suggestions here.  Really nice relaxing feeling Qi.

5^th Has a simple straightforward shu puerh creamy milky taste with faint cooling, even more faint smoky meaty taste and some creamy milky sweetness.  There is a woody BBQ faint finish with not much old musty taste left.  Some scalp tingles, mild relaxing vibe with an emerging warming energy.

6^th has a creamy milky woody taste with edges of woody BBq smoke.  The meaty, woody, BBQ smoky almost mesquite taste is now the dominant one.  Reminds me a bit of the 2005 Yuannan SourcingHuangyin but not at all harsh… quite smooth actually.  Strong warming Qi now that is really nice.  There is a very faint mild dry feeling with a thick textured lubricating feeling.  Nice deeply relaxing feeling now.  It seems to me now that these might have some aged sheng leaves in a blend of mainly 90s shu leaves.  It is common that vendors clean up their cakes and remove the loose leaves from the tongs and wrappers and collect the leaves together.  That’s what I suspect this is… how knows maybe some 60s leaves are in here? But the leaf quality is very high- no dust or fannings but this is primarily 90s shu with some aged sheng that is more apparent in the 6^th infusion here? Maybe?  You can see some olive green leaves and some darker brown and even some brown black leaves in the pot.

7^th infusion has cooled down and now offers up a creamy milky shu taste with an emerging fainter woody bbq under taste.  Some slight oily texture over a slight dry tongue.  A warming focusing energy.  Woody BBQ faint taste minutes later.

8^th Oops I left the water in the pot for a few minutes now… this will be a stronger infusion here… nice thick creamy smokey woody taste very oily texture with nice warming and calming feelng.  Slightly more drying and full.  Relaxing Qi, calming not as warming.   A bit of astringency felt in the body.

9^th another really minutes long push gives off a woody creamy bbq sweet oily texture taste.  Nice calming and warming.  Very woody finish less sweet.  Smokey ash taste in mouth minutes later.  Calm but less warming now.  A nice calm.

10^th is another long infusion left to cool nice milky sweet shu taste with a slight woody BBQ smoke finish.   Nice oily texture.  Smoke finish minutes later.  Calming Qi.

11^th is left in the pot over night… night rich milky shu sweet taste upfront with a thick oily mouthfeeling… a touch of faint smoke wood in the finish but milky creamy aged shu tastes throughout.

I mug steep this one hard for the next few days and the wet leaves give off the most pleasant camphor sweet odour… inciting….

The infusions are super sweet oily and camphor with a dusty aged feel to them… taste like really nice aged sheng here.  There are all these super interesting super old tasting notes of talc floral, old paper books, camphor woody… the floral taste in here is super interesting to me…

I have never quite tried an aged tea like this before and I am really appreciative for the opportunity!  I wonder if this is a blend of loose sheng and shu with the material likely being 90s but could contain older material in the blend but I’m not completely sure.  It most definitely tastes blended and there is both shu and sheng, I believe, and it is old but doesn’t taste like the super old puerh I’ve tired before- there are very old features in the leaves though.  It actually tastes really unique to me.  Maybe it’s the result of a shop keeper cleaning up his bings, bricks, and tongs and collecting the nicer leaves?  That’s one theory I’m thinking of.  It reminds me of the selection of loose agedpuerh at Teamasters and would be a good reference.  The result is delicious and I really enjoyed it.  The first handful infusions remind me of 90s shu then after the more shu tastes starts to drop off you are left with the depth of aged sheng with really camphor-like sometimes even floral-like aged sheng notes, must have had some long dry storage on it after the more humid stage of its storage?.  I have never quite had a puerh like this and really enjoyed it.  It would be too hard for me to imagine this as 60s puerh but rather enjoyable and complex aged loose puerh blend which is really satisfying to me!  Paolo thanks for sending me this interesting experience a very nice aged puerh one if that!

Much Peace

The Truth About “2003 Wangong 300 Year Old Trees”

 I have mentioned before that it is one of the vendors most serious tasks to confirm the producing area and age of a puerh cake.  Claims on tree age are much harder to confirm and I always disregard this information anyways.  However, it is the vendors most serious task to do their due diligence to ensure the authenticity of the puerh they sell.  If they cannot do that, they loose trust.  If they loose trust, buying their offerings involves taking on more risk for the customer.  Others who drink puerh also will go out of their way to warn others about this risk- as they should.  Some get even pretty militant, rude, or take to simply trolling to get their point across warning others that so and so a vendor should not be trusted. 

It takes a long time, for a puerh drinker and even a puerh vendor, to be able to get enough experience in drinking puerh to be confident enough to authenticate puerh.  I’m sure many of the puerh vendors we now trust and love have a few early offerings that they now quietly question.  They now know how to write a description on their website that both casts doubt on their sources claims and offers insight into what the materials actually contain.

Vendors also have to trust their sources.  It takes time to for them to established trusted sources as well.  They have to have enough experience drinking puerh to be able to confidently say that what their source tells them about a puerh is true.  If the vendor simply puts whatever the source tells them (the name, age, location,etc) on their site without personally authenticating it, it shows a dangerous disregard for their customer (and eventually their reputation). It also shows a lack of experience of the puerh vendor.  If many, probably more experienced puerh drinkers, independently come to a very different experience than the description and they are completely disregarded and the original untrue description remains on the site and is defended by the vendor for sometime before being removed, it can fuel animosity.  This not only shows inexperience, but also disrespect to others in the puerh community, and an inability to accept constructive criticism.

And what if the original puerh age and description was so unbelievable that it was actually impossible??!?!?

Anyone who does their due diligence on Wangong puerh area can even find this information in English…  It is my understanding that the Wangong puerh producing area was not really discovered by vendors and producers and exploited as such until the mid-late 2000s- 2008/2009ish..  Before this time Wangong was most likely picked by locals and/or passed off as other areas in Yiwu, likely used for blending.  So all though it is theoretically possible that there could be a 2003 Wanggong single origin cake, it would be very unlikely and impossible to verify.  I have never even heard of 2007-2003 Wanggong… never…. because it likely doesn’t exist.  So you now can imagine the backlash with this offering can you???

On top of that there is the breaking of the Vendor Code and others who can’t tolerate the tea as a spiritual quest…. It’s really the perfect storm with Paolo and his projects Enlightenment Tea and now Puerh.uk. … a storm that usually doesn’t end well… but I have a gut feeling that he means well… and so far the samples that he sent me are pretty enjoyable, engaging, and fun puerh (which I will review in the coming days here) so here we are…. 

Did I mention that there is lots of baggage with this sample which goes for approx $305.00 for 357g cake or $0.85/g???? Hahaha… but Paolo did send it anyways knowing that I would likely see it what it is.  He also did change the name and description listed on his site and apparently it is still a decently good tea… Let’s try it out and find out what this monster really is all about… 

Dry leaves smell of gamey barnyard odours, a bit meaty fainter licorice candy sweetness subtle smoke.  Lincang, Border Tea, less likely Yiwu type odours.  But nice complex nose…

First infusion has a smoky watery onset that contains a faint pop of sweetness then slowly turns into a sweet watery licorice taste in the mouth with slow moving cool throat subtle candy.  Has a nice warming energy.

The second infusion has a smoky licorice onset with these subtle layering of candy that come out.   The mouthfeel is sort of gritty and there is a soft dry chalkiness to the mouthfeeling.  The candy taste comes out minutes later in the aftertaste.  Nice cozy feeling Qi. 

The third infusion has a sweet licorice onset with some fruity layers that kind of pop and fade there are some bread notes and some smoke.  The mouthfeeling is a not that dry but chalky feeling.  The Qi is a deeper relaxation now with some mind slowly and shoulder heaviness.  Aftertaste is a smoke almost tropical fruit finish with some very faint candy breath.  The smoke and sweetness is a nice balance here.  Kind of a dreamy feeling Qi.  Not the spaciness of Qi, nor taste profile nor the oily mouthfeeling of Wangong area at all.  I think this area has already been ruled out.  Tastes like a bit Lincang or even more likely a blend of Menghai. 

The fourth has a thick creamy sweet taste with smoke.  Nice balance of smoke and creamy sweetness here.  There is an emerging licorice taste and some candy breath.  You can almost sense the tropical fruity taste underneath but not quite.  Nice chalky full slight puckering mouthfeeling. Strong feeling overall between the taste, mouthfeeling, and Qi.  There is a chestiness to the Qi with a strong feeling.  This infusion has a certain intensity to it that reminds me of Menghai but where not sure feels also like a blend to me not single origin.  Reminds me a bit of the Menghai blend of semi aged maocha the 2018 Bao He Xiang Wu Jin Hao sold at Yunnan Sourcing (see below).

The fifth infusion is left to cool and has a caramel creamy sweetness with finish of smoke.  The caramel creamy with smoke pairing is always very satisfying to me.  There is a layer of candy that comes out in the breath.  There is a full kind of pucker chalky feeling.  Nice deeply relaxing Qi with some chest sensations and subtle heavy shoulders.

6^th is left to cool and gives off a smooth creamy caramel sweetness with a chalky full mouthfeeling and suggestions of faint candy with smoke on the finish.  There is a bit of salivating in the back of the throat now.  Nice relaxing feeling with some chest opening and strength and deeper relaxing.  Some brow twitches.

7^th has a smoky onset with a flat smoke taste in the aftertaste emerges subtle caramel and faint candy sweetness.  There is a shinny pop of sweet candy in there over a smoke onset.  In the last few infusions there is this blob of salivation in the throat that has a creamy sweet taste.  There is lots going on which indicates a blend to me.  Pretty enjoyable stuff.  Feel good Qi now.

8^th left to cool.  Has a smoke and sweet balance with a creamy sweet finish that has a faint creamy candy taste.  Nice dry stored talc finish with candy.  Relaxing feel good sensation.

9^th has a watery smoke with subtle sweetness in there.  Nice slow to expand but not that sweet sweetness with some faint on the breath tropical fruity taste that is hiding in there.  Some relaxing effect.

10^th 30 second infusion is left to cool it is mainly a smoke with a sweet finish of caramel feels full has an edge of almost candy almost tropical sweetness to it enough to keep me engaged.  The mouthfeeling is an almost pucker thin full chalkiness.  Tastes 2008-2010 material and a nice dry storage.

11^th 60 second steeping… has a smoke woody pucker mouthfeeling not much sweetness left in here so I put it into the mug infusions… a bit of sweetness breaks away in the ll th.

Vs 2018 Bao He Xiang Wu Jin Hao (pictured bottom)-  These puerh are very much alike in taste, blend and region.  Both Menghai blends.  The Bao He Xiang Wu Jin Hao has a bit more flavor and depth to it and I like that one the better of the two ..

The puerh.uk cake is way too expensive for what it is- a maybe older tree 2010 ish Menghai blend and is still priced like it is 2003 material.  The description has changed but not the price!  Whereas the preferred 2018 Bai He Xiang is priced about right… these taste and feel surprisingly similar when comparing these two… was an awesome day drinking these two back to back!

Peace

Introducing Puerh.uk: Enlightenment & Controversy

 I unwittingly stumbled into the controversy of Puerh.uk when I rather hastily took the proprietor Paolo up on the sale of the famous 2005 ChenYuan Hao Shanzhong Chuanqi in the comments of this post.  I simply had a quick look at the site and, despite having some reservations about it, I went all in with a cake.

For those that don’t know I don’t follow any puerh social media, or YouTube, or belong to any chats or discord.  I enjoy some puerh blogs, Shah8’s Sheng of  the Day, an occasional binge of TeaDB, and sometimes a rare stop in at Tea Forum… I have some email subscriptions from some vendors but mostly if I want to read something puerh related I have to actively search it out.  Being bombarded with puerh marketing via social media makes the mind weak (thanks for reading eh?) I am old school indeed and almost as much a puerh hermit online than in real life. So from this insular place of mine I didn’t (and maybe still don’t) understand the full controversy of puerh.uk, a new rebranding of Enlightenment Tea.  Even at the time of purchase some of the issues of their limited offerings were quite obvious to me. But how much does all this matter to me? … certainly I care a bit about this or why would I keep rambling on about it?

However, in the end, I’m most interested in the tea.  That is why we are reading this post isn’t it???  So with my first order that I placed I told Paolo to send any samples (and he sent many free samples) and I’ll try to post them for all readers to read and be the judge.  Specifically, I was interested in the following: 1- like all new vendors I sample from I want to get a feel for their brand through sampling a range of their puerh, 2- I want to compare Puerh.uk’s dry Taiwanese home storage on their ChenYuan Hao cake source to the preferred drier Natural Taiwanese storage of TeasWeLike., 3- I want to try some of their controversial offerings to see what exactly they actually are, 4- I want to ensure that the brand is legit and the cakes sold are not fakes nor are they overpriced, 5- I want to try some samples of things they have not yet offered but might bring in to get an idea of the direction the brand is going. 6- I wanted to have some fun and drink some damn good puerh! Hahaha..

So far puer.uk focus seems to be on drier stored Chen Yuan Hao productions, ZhiXi Hao productions, and Lao Ban Zhang… they seem to be distancing themselves from marketing to those who see puerh as a spiritual quest, they seem to have very quick shipping and good customer service, they seem to be offering some direct competition to Taiwanese based Teas We Like and they seem to be positioning themselves as a vendor who sells higher end puerh.

If you are as curious about controversial Puerh.uk as I am, please join me as I post these reviews and thoughts over the next days and weeks… or don’t and just boycott these posts completely! Haha

Peace