Hello fellow sheng-heads.. Allow me to hereby kick off the Yiwu thread.
My first review is forthcoming!
-dave
May 8th, '08, 15:43
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Dizzwave
May 8th, '08, 16:01
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2007 Yongpinhao Yiwu Zheng Shan Pu-erh Tea Cake
2007 Yongpinhao Yiwu Zheng Shan Pu-erh Tea Cake
I like this tea. It's a fairly middle-of-the-road, good enjoyable sheng. Interestingly, the steep times for this one seem to be almost twice the average for shengs that I'm used to. I'm guessing that's not a great sign for aging... but for enjoying it now, no biggie, just steep it longer and enjoy. I started off with fewer leaves than I should've and added a few more after the first steep.
my notes:
dry leaves smell nice in warm pot. wet leaves do too. leaves are big and whole, very inviting.
1: came out very light in color.. kind of tan-green. taste is ok, also light, a tad buttery. a "round" sourness that isn't unpleasant.. as if a squeeze of lemon were added to my cup.
(adding a few more leaves...)
2: ahh, this is better.. now has some more "tea" taste to go with the lemonyness. but -- still light and a little watery. wet leaves smell ok, but not giving off as much odor as I'm used to in a good green pu.
3: better still. more sheng-y flavor coming out. (when will I be able to identify what I think of as the good "sheng" flavor? is it hay and citrus?)
4: quite nice.
5: still going.
6: starting to fade. color is there, but not flavor as much -- getting watery again.
i don't feel as jittery as I sometimes do when drinking a whole pot of sheng. i don't know if it's this tea, or other factors.
7:,8: interesting, now that the tea flavor is fading, the lemonyness is back
Overall, I think I'd give it 3 stars. (but leaning towards 3.5 stars.. I dunno, gotta re-think this whole scale!) At $18/cake, there are others I know of that are at least as enjoyable in the same price range, and with probably better age-ability. But don't get me wrong -- this is a very nice drinkable tea, and I look forward to gobbling up the rest of the hefty 2oz sample!
I like this tea. It's a fairly middle-of-the-road, good enjoyable sheng. Interestingly, the steep times for this one seem to be almost twice the average for shengs that I'm used to. I'm guessing that's not a great sign for aging... but for enjoying it now, no biggie, just steep it longer and enjoy. I started off with fewer leaves than I should've and added a few more after the first steep.
my notes:
dry leaves smell nice in warm pot. wet leaves do too. leaves are big and whole, very inviting.
1: came out very light in color.. kind of tan-green. taste is ok, also light, a tad buttery. a "round" sourness that isn't unpleasant.. as if a squeeze of lemon were added to my cup.
(adding a few more leaves...)
2: ahh, this is better.. now has some more "tea" taste to go with the lemonyness. but -- still light and a little watery. wet leaves smell ok, but not giving off as much odor as I'm used to in a good green pu.
3: better still. more sheng-y flavor coming out. (when will I be able to identify what I think of as the good "sheng" flavor? is it hay and citrus?)
4: quite nice.
5: still going.
6: starting to fade. color is there, but not flavor as much -- getting watery again.
i don't feel as jittery as I sometimes do when drinking a whole pot of sheng. i don't know if it's this tea, or other factors.
7:,8: interesting, now that the tea flavor is fading, the lemonyness is back
Overall, I think I'd give it 3 stars. (but leaning towards 3.5 stars.. I dunno, gotta re-think this whole scale!) At $18/cake, there are others I know of that are at least as enjoyable in the same price range, and with probably better age-ability. But don't get me wrong -- this is a very nice drinkable tea, and I look forward to gobbling up the rest of the hefty 2oz sample!
May 13th, '08, 17:31
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Dizzwave
2003 Keyixing Yiwu Pu-erh Tea Cake
2003 Keyixing Yiwu Pu-erh Tea Cake
This is an interesting tea. At first, I was in love. But then, it left a little to be desired. At first, I thought I'd buy a couple of cakes, but then changed my mind. My notes follow:
dry leaves in warm pot smell amazing.. really mellow and sweet, similar to the Haiwan Lao Tong Zhi of the same age that I've tried. wet rinsed leaves smell great also. I already think I might have to pick up one of these, despite the $36 tag.......!
1: brew came out a little light.. maybe wrong water/leaf ratio, or not enough time? anyway, taste is delicious -- buttery, with a sweet aftertaste that attacked the back of my mouth and made my eyes pop open. $36, who cares! I'm getting one... or two.
...taking a break between cups, the aftertaste lingers for minutes... A pu newbie who has mostly drunk very young teas, I'm kind of stunned by this one.
2: even more intensely sweet. like there's honey in it. but I kind of want more deep flavors in there beside the sweetness. it's almost like just water and honey.
3: ok, reconsidering buying a cake. will have to try this again.. anyway, used too much water for one thing. -- probably my fault. but also read other people's not-so-hot reviews online. anyway, it's decent, but not "strong" enough.
4: used less water - that's better. nice stuff... but I'm still reconsidering buying that cake.
5,6: still nice... definitely not as good as the others of that age I've tried, I'm thinkin. It's kind of light and thin. I'll just buy some young ones with lotsa flavor and hope they age well.. I can wait 5 years.
My rating: 4 stars. My price-weighted rating: 3 stars.
This is a tasty tea, and probably a good example of what can happen when a tea mellows over a few years. I'll certainly enjoy the rest of the sample, but would rather buy 2 cakes of some 2008 tea (for the same price) that will be better than this in 5 years.
If I change my thoughts after trying it a couple more times, I'll update this post!
This is an interesting tea. At first, I was in love. But then, it left a little to be desired. At first, I thought I'd buy a couple of cakes, but then changed my mind. My notes follow:
dry leaves in warm pot smell amazing.. really mellow and sweet, similar to the Haiwan Lao Tong Zhi of the same age that I've tried. wet rinsed leaves smell great also. I already think I might have to pick up one of these, despite the $36 tag.......!
1: brew came out a little light.. maybe wrong water/leaf ratio, or not enough time? anyway, taste is delicious -- buttery, with a sweet aftertaste that attacked the back of my mouth and made my eyes pop open. $36, who cares! I'm getting one... or two.
...taking a break between cups, the aftertaste lingers for minutes... A pu newbie who has mostly drunk very young teas, I'm kind of stunned by this one.
2: even more intensely sweet. like there's honey in it. but I kind of want more deep flavors in there beside the sweetness. it's almost like just water and honey.
3: ok, reconsidering buying a cake. will have to try this again.. anyway, used too much water for one thing. -- probably my fault. but also read other people's not-so-hot reviews online. anyway, it's decent, but not "strong" enough.
4: used less water - that's better. nice stuff... but I'm still reconsidering buying that cake.
5,6: still nice... definitely not as good as the others of that age I've tried, I'm thinkin. It's kind of light and thin. I'll just buy some young ones with lotsa flavor and hope they age well.. I can wait 5 years.
My rating: 4 stars. My price-weighted rating: 3 stars.
This is a tasty tea, and probably a good example of what can happen when a tea mellows over a few years. I'll certainly enjoy the rest of the sample, but would rather buy 2 cakes of some 2008 tea (for the same price) that will be better than this in 5 years.
If I change my thoughts after trying it a couple more times, I'll update this post!
May 13th, '08, 17:34
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Dizzwave
2001 Yiwu Zhengshan Old Tree Pu-erh Tea Cake
2001 Yiwu Zhengshan Old Tree Pu-erh Tea Cake
wet leaves smell nice, but much younger than 7 years.
1: tastes like a younger sheng, but a decent one. maybe it was stored very dry?
2: meh.. it's fine, tastes like plenty of other shengs that are much younger (and cheaper!). BUT -- it IS good, has all the nice things about good sheng that I like, and I will enjoy this sampler fo sho. I just expected more from a 7-year-old tea.
3: oversteeped really quickly. a tad bitter.
4: good, same ol'.. nice tang, nice energy. up, but not buzzy.
5,6,7,.. enjoying.
$38 for a cake -- nope.
My overall rating: 3.5 stars. It's a tasty tea, but not worth the price, and doesn't taste as old as it is said to be. *IMHO* of course -- I haven't tried more than a handful of shengs that are more than 2-3 years old.
-dave
EDIT: The final 3-4 steeps (which I drank after posting the above), each brewed for at least 5-10 minutes, were quite delicious, and perhaps the best of the pot!
wet leaves smell nice, but much younger than 7 years.
1: tastes like a younger sheng, but a decent one. maybe it was stored very dry?
2: meh.. it's fine, tastes like plenty of other shengs that are much younger (and cheaper!). BUT -- it IS good, has all the nice things about good sheng that I like, and I will enjoy this sampler fo sho. I just expected more from a 7-year-old tea.
3: oversteeped really quickly. a tad bitter.
4: good, same ol'.. nice tang, nice energy. up, but not buzzy.
5,6,7,.. enjoying.
$38 for a cake -- nope.
My overall rating: 3.5 stars. It's a tasty tea, but not worth the price, and doesn't taste as old as it is said to be. *IMHO* of course -- I haven't tried more than a handful of shengs that are more than 2-3 years old.
-dave
EDIT: The final 3-4 steeps (which I drank after posting the above), each brewed for at least 5-10 minutes, were quite delicious, and perhaps the best of the pot!
Last edited by Dizzwave on May 13th, '08, 18:42, edited 1 time in total.
2001 Yiwu Zhengshan Old Tree Pu-erh Tea Cake
I tried this tea today, using my regular set up, small yixing pot, 5 grams of tea, 15 sec rinse, rest, then 15s first infusion.
The leaves were in tight layers on the piece of cake I had, and seemed fairly large. They came apart fairly easily, indicating the cake was not packed super tight. (Which I like better than some concrete like cakes)
It is funny that I looked at the leaves after I was done, and was a bit astonished by the size of some of the "twigs", but then I looked at the pic on the website, and saw the cake pictured there has the same. (look in center of picture, it is a brighter tan than the surrounding)
http://www.puerhshop.com/index.php?main ... cts_id=328
Most of the leaves were fairly largish, and not too broken up. They seemd a bit curled, more like oloong, than I expected. A fairly uniform olive drab color.
The tea brewed up nicer than some of my previous samplings from the the tasting kit. Being the oldest tea in the sampler, this is not surprising.
I found the color more appealing than the other Yiwu's, golden rather than brown. I did not see it as reddish, but the relationship between amount of tea and ratio of water combined with brew time might change this. It did appear "clearer" than some others.
Taste was not strident, rather a nice "round" mouth feel and slight sweetness.
The most telling thing was the Qi, it seemed subtler and more tingling than a caffine buzz. To me, this was the best point about it.
Third and fourth infusion were the best, and 5th at a minute was perhaps too long, but only hinted at a bit of bitterness. 6th was longer (about 2 minutes), and showed this has life still. I did not continue past here, but it would still be able to deliver.
Overall, not distinctive, but has an elusive quality of the Qi which is subtle and makes it a worthwile addition to my sample drawer. I look forward to next session.
Sometimes, the prospect of sampling is not fun, as I just want an enjoyable cuppa tea. In this case, it was an enjoyable experiment.
The leaves were in tight layers on the piece of cake I had, and seemed fairly large. They came apart fairly easily, indicating the cake was not packed super tight. (Which I like better than some concrete like cakes)
It is funny that I looked at the leaves after I was done, and was a bit astonished by the size of some of the "twigs", but then I looked at the pic on the website, and saw the cake pictured there has the same. (look in center of picture, it is a brighter tan than the surrounding)
http://www.puerhshop.com/index.php?main ... cts_id=328
Most of the leaves were fairly largish, and not too broken up. They seemd a bit curled, more like oloong, than I expected. A fairly uniform olive drab color.
The tea brewed up nicer than some of my previous samplings from the the tasting kit. Being the oldest tea in the sampler, this is not surprising.
I found the color more appealing than the other Yiwu's, golden rather than brown. I did not see it as reddish, but the relationship between amount of tea and ratio of water combined with brew time might change this. It did appear "clearer" than some others.
Taste was not strident, rather a nice "round" mouth feel and slight sweetness.
The most telling thing was the Qi, it seemed subtler and more tingling than a caffine buzz. To me, this was the best point about it.
Third and fourth infusion were the best, and 5th at a minute was perhaps too long, but only hinted at a bit of bitterness. 6th was longer (about 2 minutes), and showed this has life still. I did not continue past here, but it would still be able to deliver.
Overall, not distinctive, but has an elusive quality of the Qi which is subtle and makes it a worthwile addition to my sample drawer. I look forward to next session.
Sometimes, the prospect of sampling is not fun, as I just want an enjoyable cuppa tea. In this case, it was an enjoyable experiment.
2003 Keiyixing Yiwu Pu-Erh Tea Cake
2003 Keiyixing Yiwu Pu-Erh
Note: I am a complete newbie to Pu-Erh, so take any opinions of mine lightly.
Let me start out by saying that I actually really liked this tea. I have very limited experience with Pu-Erh tea and just got my first yixing yesterday and some samples from Puerhshop.com. I read other opinions and decided to try this one first.
The very fist Pu-Erh teas I tried were from a sampler I got from Rishi some time ago, and I know I made them incorrectly, so I thought maybe Pu-Erh wasn't for me. But, I decided to try again, because it seemed like something I really wanted to like.
So! I made this with a 150 mL Yixing, so maybe I didn't get a right amount of leaf or water, but it tasted good to me. Did two rinsings then started.
1st - Seemed kind of light. Light color and light taste. Really sweet, too. Not like other Pu-Erh I've tried.
2nd - Stronger taste. Very sweet. More sweet than I expected Pu-Erh to be, actually.
3rd - 6th - All tasted mostly the same to me, with varying degrees of intensity, but still that sweet taste. Partly because I'm so new to this kind of tea, partly because I was experimenting with water amounts and temperature.
I liked the smell of the tea a lot, but can't explain it for sure. Didn't smell bad or anything to me, just nice. (Really doesn't tell you a lot, though, does it? )
Overall, I thought it was a pretty good "introduction" to Pu-Erh. I guess being aged helps it some. For me it definitely didn't turn me off and make me give up on Pu-Erh. Coming from a newbie to all this Pu-Erh stuff, I think I'd recommend this to get started.
My review is pretty redundant I think, but I think this was a good choice to start exploring Pu-Erh with, although I could be completely wrong as I have little to nothing to base quality off of. I'm sure with more experience I will find better tea than this, though.
Note: I am a complete newbie to Pu-Erh, so take any opinions of mine lightly.
Let me start out by saying that I actually really liked this tea. I have very limited experience with Pu-Erh tea and just got my first yixing yesterday and some samples from Puerhshop.com. I read other opinions and decided to try this one first.
The very fist Pu-Erh teas I tried were from a sampler I got from Rishi some time ago, and I know I made them incorrectly, so I thought maybe Pu-Erh wasn't for me. But, I decided to try again, because it seemed like something I really wanted to like.
So! I made this with a 150 mL Yixing, so maybe I didn't get a right amount of leaf or water, but it tasted good to me. Did two rinsings then started.
1st - Seemed kind of light. Light color and light taste. Really sweet, too. Not like other Pu-Erh I've tried.
2nd - Stronger taste. Very sweet. More sweet than I expected Pu-Erh to be, actually.
3rd - 6th - All tasted mostly the same to me, with varying degrees of intensity, but still that sweet taste. Partly because I'm so new to this kind of tea, partly because I was experimenting with water amounts and temperature.
I liked the smell of the tea a lot, but can't explain it for sure. Didn't smell bad or anything to me, just nice. (Really doesn't tell you a lot, though, does it?
)Overall, I thought it was a pretty good "introduction" to Pu-Erh. I guess being aged helps it some. For me it definitely didn't turn me off and make me give up on Pu-Erh.
Coming from a newbie to all this Pu-Erh stuff, I think I'd recommend this to get started.My review is pretty redundant I think, but I think this was a good choice to start exploring Pu-Erh with, although I could be completely wrong as I have little to nothing to base quality off of. I'm sure with more experience I will find better tea than this, though.
May 29th, '08, 09:58
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hop_goblin
Re: 2003 Keiyixing Yiwu Pu-Erh Tea Cake
For a newbie, you sure did well describing your experience.BonBon wrote:2003 Keiyixing Yiwu Pu-Erh
Note: I am a complete newbie to Pu-Erh, so take any opinions of mine lightly.
Let me start out by saying that I actually really liked this tea. I have very limited experience with Pu-Erh tea and just got my first yixing yesterday and some samples from Puerhshop.com. I read other opinions and decided to try this one first.
The very fist Pu-Erh teas I tried were from a sampler I got from Rishi some time ago, and I know I made them incorrectly, so I thought maybe Pu-Erh wasn't for me. But, I decided to try again, because it seemed like something I really wanted to like.
So! I made this with a 150 mL Yixing, so maybe I didn't get a right amount of leaf or water, but it tasted good to me. Did two rinsings then started.
1st - Seemed kind of light. Light color and light taste. Really sweet, too. Not like other Pu-Erh I've tried.
2nd - Stronger taste. Very sweet. More sweet than I expected Pu-Erh to be, actually.
3rd - 6th - All tasted mostly the same to me, with varying degrees of intensity, but still that sweet taste. Partly because I'm so new to this kind of tea, partly because I was experimenting with water amounts and temperature.
I liked the smell of the tea a lot, but can't explain it for sure. Didn't smell bad or anything to me, just nice. (Really doesn't tell you a lot, though, does it?
Overall, I thought it was a pretty good "introduction" to Pu-Erh. I guess being aged helps it some. For me it definitely didn't turn me off and make me give up on Pu-Erh.
My review is pretty redundant I think, but I think this was a good choice to start exploring Pu-Erh with, although I could be completely wrong as I have little to nothing to base quality off of. I'm sure with more experience I will find better tea than this, though.
Don't always believe what you think!
http://www.ancientteahorseroad.blogspot.com
http://englishtea.us/
http://www.ancientteahorseroad.blogspot.com
http://englishtea.us/
May 29th, '08, 14:23
Posts: 1936
Joined: May 22nd, '06, 11:28
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hop_goblin
Sal, I think newbies' reviews are more unbiased as they are not swayed by popular opinnion. What they taste is what they taste.Salsero wrote:I agree. There's an advantage to having a fresh perspective.
Don't always believe what you think!
http://www.ancientteahorseroad.blogspot.com
http://englishtea.us/
http://www.ancientteahorseroad.blogspot.com
http://englishtea.us/
