Chicago chinatown score

[grimbasement]

I was in Chicago for a business trip for the last few days and I'm pretty happy with what I found. I alway smake a point in searching out the chinese grovceries to see what I can find and usually its nothing (allthough I have found some pretty good shu in some of the places.
But here's what I found in Chicago...

2009 7542 $20


I have never seen Dayi products in stores here in the states and I have never found sheng in any form , ever. They only had one out on display because, I probably would have bought a tong at this price. As near as I can tell its legit the hologram and all that stuff looks right. This is a $40 cake every place I looked so I'm pretty happy.

Second is this one:



This one was a complete blind... they had a pile of these. I'm guessing its from 2013 because the wrapper is marked as 2008 but then there is a stamp that says 2013 but its a little bit hard to read. This is also a sheng.

I took a pic with my phone of the leaves and the dark spot in the lower right looks like someone broke off part of the beeng, but it doesn't look like that. IT was funny I took the picture but didn't really look at the leas and I see the picture and thought... wtf someone had a sample of my cake?

]

So what do you think? I'm pretty happy with the Dayi, but I have no idea bout the other one.

Can anyone tell me about the second one?

[shah82]

Be aware of just how intensely faked Dayi is.

[Drax]

Hmmm, do the leaves in the second one smell different? That is, the "normal" section versus the "darker" section? It almost looks like part of the cake was exposed to a different type of storage... like that part was sticking out in a more humid environment. Dunno... I haven't seen anything like that before. Interesting!

[Tead Off]

It might be a shadow in the photo that is making the cake look darker in one area.

[jayinhk]

Does it look like that in real life?

[gasninja]

Iwould be interested in seeing pics of the cake of,the 7542 . I have few of those myself. If they are real I will be in chicago in july. Did they have anything other cakes?

[grimbasement]

I opened up the alleged 7542 and I have to say I'm leaning toward it being fake. But it tastes good so I dunno.



Some things that cause concern... There's a hair, maybe it still happens even to Dayi but I don't think I've ever seen it in and of the Dayi shu I had over the years. Never seen a hair in a Dayi product... and it seems REALLY green for a 2008 .

The nefiti is almost completely obscured covered.



With that said though, the tea is really good though so It's not a loss. I believe I have the same cake at home in my sheng stash from Puerh shop from years ago, but with some of the issues that vendor may have had I'm not sure its a solid comparison either. Worst case I another cake to add to my pile of beengs, So from the pics anything that sticks out?

I don't recall having Dayi with one of these in it either, but maybe I did and just threw them away.

[JeffMI]

What was the name of the shop in Chicago that you bought these from?

[Emmett]

That shop has all fake raw puerh cakes. I tried one and I couldnt even keep it down because of the chemical taste and mouthfeel I had to spit it out.
They purchased all the inventory from Ten Ren which closed down. And brought in there own fake and stale teas.

[Emmett]

Only place that has legit sheng in chicago area is Dream About tea in Evanston, they have a decent selection but prices are over market value. and Tea Harbor Cafe in Vernon Hills has a few xiaguan and dayi but very little selection. No good teas in chinatown anymore.