Breaking apart a raw tea cake: faster aging?

[entropyembrace]

if you want to drink aged tea now, buy aged tea.

+1

I don´t have the patience to wait years for tea to age so I buy aged puerh and oolongs.

I do have some tea aging but I´m not going to wait for it to be ready before I drink aged tea!

also medium term you can buy cakes that are 5-10 years old and they´ll cost less than 20+ year old cakes and you don´t need to keep them as many years to reach that level of age. (or just drink them now, they´re usually good)

[thanks]

I'm not so sure about the outside aging more quickly than the inside, just because of the compression. We're talking about microscopic activity with tea, and even on a tight tiebing there is plenty of room for microbial activity to travel throughout a whole cake. I've personally never tried an aged tea where the inside part of the chunk was less aged than the outside one, and if there is a difference it's most likely minute. Unfortunately, the only shortcut to aged pu'er is to pay the premium for cakes that have already aged. Recipe cakes are meant to be broken apart eventually, when they are matured breaking them apart and mixing the leaves together to be stored in a yixing container for immediate consumption helps make the blend consistent as it was originally intended. This is why we see lower grade leaf on the inside of a cake of 7542 compared to the outside which is tippy with smaller leaf.

I have a small bing of tea that I broke up when I first purchased it back in 06 that I've just stored in a zip lock bag mostly closed for the last four years. My reasoning was to get rid of the intense smokiness found in the tea. I'll give it a try tomorrow and let you know how it's coming along after just four short years.

[debunix]

I'm quite happily drinking sheng puerh from 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009.

It is possible to find nice stuff and to find ways to brew it to tame the young sheng bitterness. Today I brewed up a lovely thermos full of my 2009 Lao Mansa from Norbu, and shared it widely--it was enjoyed by a group of casual tea drinkers who are not pu-heads.

[brose]

I have a small bing of tea that I broke up when I first purchased it back in 06 that I've just stored in a zip lock bag mostly closed for the last four years. My reasoning was to get rid of the intense smokiness found in the tea. I'll give it a try tomorrow and let you know how it's coming along after just four short years.

That will be interesting to hear about, I'm not sure about the amount or rate of O2 consumption for aging, but it seems like it would be majorly hindered by the lack of O2.

[chittychat]

I understand some cakes are made of different layers, that is the outer layer has different leaves from the inner. Now if one will peel away one layer it will be a different tea then the whole cake would be.

I found when I steam a cake and let it sit I for some time I get a much tastier tea than using pieces from the same cake just broken off.

[thanks]

I must say, I'm pretty surprised with the results. Then again, it's only been four years. Quite a bit of the smokiness is gone, but it's still definitely there. Overall though, I can't believe the difference in the tea in general. It's much much sweeter, thicker, and has a very nice huigan. The qi is quite potent, but it's always been that way.

[betta]

That will be interesting to hear about, I'm not sure about the amount or rate of O2 consumption for aging, but it seems like it would be majorly hindered by the lack of O2.

Oxygen deficiency occurs only if one stores the tea in a sealed container. Believe me or not, if you put a cup of water in a sealed container along with tongs of puerh, after a couple of weeks the water takes on some organics on its surface. Further storage doesn't really result in siginificantly more organic, which means from my POV the aging occurs faster in aerobic (open air) condition. But again, as I always say, faster doesn't always mean better.

[tenuki]

The only time I break up a cake is if it's been wet stored or has some off flavors but is more or less ready to drink otherwise. I break it up then store it in a yixing jar for a couple months or however long it's gonna take to start tasting good. then drink it till it's gone.

[puerhking]

I have broken up a whole cake that was very astringent and let it set for about a year. It was fantastic and I drank it up in about two months. I didn't have much puerh at the time so I was impatient. I have no reason to do it now.

[spinmail]

I just broke apart a 2009 Menghai "7542 Batch 901" Raw Pu-erh cake, but it was a bit too "green," and the drink was only barely satisfactory when steeped at around 110 degrees F; at 140 degrees F to boiling, I got that unpleasant taste of over-steeped green tea. Several users judged the same tea as outstanding, but I have to assume it was judged by unexperienced or over-zealous tasters. I know what good tea tastes like, and this wasn't it.

I've decided to follow the advice of fellow tasters by getting aged leaf puerh, though I reserved a few tea cakes for long-term use. I'm getting more enjoyment, with fewer hassles, by concentrating on (gasp!) non-puerh tea.

[shogun89]

I just broke apart a 2009 Menghai "7542 Batch 901" Raw Pu-erh cake, but it was a bit too "green," and the drink was only barely satisfactory when steeped at around 110 degrees F; at 140 degrees F to boiling, I got that unpleasant taste of over-steeped green tea.

Its a 2009 recipe cake. Especially since its a 7542, its supposed to be very astringent and bitter, thats why they are aged.

[spinmail]

I just broke apart a 2009 Menghai "7542 Batch 901" Raw Pu-erh cake, but it was a bit too "green," and the drink was only barely satisfactory when steeped at around 110 degrees F; at 140 degrees F to boiling, I got that unpleasant taste of over-steeped green tea.

Its a 2009 recipe cake. Especially since its a 7542, its supposed to be very astringent and bitter, thats why they are aged.

A further story about this same tea.

I brewed the Menghai 7542 at boiling - and sure enough, the tea was bitter and astringent - as reported above; but my experience with green tea make me realize that the main faults with its taste had to do with the fact that the temperature was too high.

Using a further test, I took 5.8 grams of the same tea, and soaked the leaves in room temperature water (about 70 degrees F) for about a day. The liquor had the hue of a 2nd flush Darjeeling; after heating the tea to about 110 degrees F, there was no astringency or bitterness at all. (!)

However, as noted, the tea to me was still unappealing.

In a consumer review, two people claimed the tea was wonderful, and gave it their highest rating. I can't guess what criteria they used to make their judgements.

[TIM]

I just broke apart a 2009 Menghai "7542 Batch 901" Raw Pu-erh cake, but it was a bit too "green," and the drink was only barely satisfactory when steeped at around 110 degrees F; at 140 degrees F to boiling, I got that unpleasant taste of over-steeped green tea.

Its a 2009 recipe cake. Especially since its a 7542, its supposed to be very astringent and bitter, thats why they are aged.

....In a consumer review, two people claimed the tea was wonderful, and gave it their highest rating. I can't guess what criteria they used to make their judgements.

These are the main difference between an experience Tea consumer and a newbie. The changes from bitter to sweet after taste is what most puerh drinkers seeking for: How fast is the changes, how long the changes last and the effect of the changes. If there is no change, just bitterness, then it's a lesser tea. Cold brewing will not bring out anything from a 09 raw. On the other hand, cold brewing a reg. tea bag could still result an acceptable sweet short finish.

[debunix]

What changed the Lao Ban Zhang 2009 mao cha for me from unbearably bitter to delicious was a 2 20-second boiling water rinses, and then I could do a series of 10-30 second boiling water steeps that were quite delicious.

With my 2009 Lao Mansa, I did a boiling water rinse, then most of the steeps with water at 180-190 degrees, and short.

Two different ways to tame bitter but delicious young sheng.

[zeusmta]

I just broke apart a 2009 Menghai "7542 Batch 901" Raw Pu-erh cake, but it was a bit too "green," and the drink was only barely satisfactory when steeped at around 110 degrees F; at 140 degrees F to boiling, I got that unpleasant taste of over-steeped green tea. Several users judged the same tea as outstanding, but I have to assume it was judged by unexperienced or over-zealous tasters. I know what good tea tastes like, and this wasn't it.

I've decided to follow the advice of fellow tasters by getting aged leaf puerh, though I reserved a few tea cakes for long-term use. I'm getting more enjoyment, with fewer hassles, by concentrating on (gasp!) non-puerh tea.

I do not think that "good tea" is the same for everybody. My wife can't even smell the pu that I drink and I'm not interested at all in many of her black and green teas. I've only been drinking pu for a couple years, so I'm no expert, but I can say that I really like the 7542(901) and I could drink it all day long. I would suggest using less tea for your pot or using shorter infusion times. If you still don't like it, this tea may not be for you. I would not make any assumptions about other tasters simply because you don't like this tea. BTW, this tea has been described by one reviewer as "agressive, sharp and uncompromising." So I suppose it should not be surprising that many will not find it appealing.