May 27th, '09, 18:13
Posts: 529
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Location: The Isle of Malta
by tony shlongini » May 27th, '09, 18:13
bearsbearsbears wrote:tony shlongini wrote:Their '08 Star of Bulang damn near poisoned me. It had a very strong taste of pesticide. Godawful!
Glad I'm not the only one who thought that cake was bad.
Here's someone else who didn't like it-
http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showpost.p ... count=1449
May 27th, '09, 19:37
Posts: 5151
Joined: Dec 20th, '06, 23:33
Location: Gainesville, Florida
by Salsero » May 27th, '09, 19:37
I didn't notice anything awful about the Star of Bethlehem cake ... except those three wise guys who kept hanging around offering frankincense and myrrh.
OK, now I suppose I have to go back and give it the old "OK, what's it reaaaaaaally taste like" test. Dang, I hate that test.
May 28th, '09, 00:19
Posts: 5151
Joined: Dec 20th, '06, 23:33
Location: Gainesville, Florida
by Salsero » May 28th, '09, 00:19
Well, I have subjected the cake in question to the ultimate test and declare it potable. I have other things I like more, but I have more that I like less. As always, I am hoping it will age gracefully.
I brewed it pretty strong (6 gr to 100 ml in gaiwan) and found a pretty strong but pleasant punch in the first couple short, hot infusions. After a bit it mellowed out to a gratifying plum and saddle leather with a clear golden color. No hong cha tastes here. Actually, pretty nice stuff, the sort of thing I would expect Tony S to like!
I'm almost wondering if some of these cakes have been subjected to other than ideal conditions somewhere in their journey to our homes.
May 28th, '09, 03:47
Posts: 9
Joined: May 4th, '09, 06:45
by zloVkvetinaci » May 28th, '09, 03:47
Salsero wrote:Well, I have subjected the cake in question to the ultimate test and declare it potable. I have other things I like more, but I have more that I like less. As always, I am hoping it will age gracefully.
I brewed it pretty strong (6 gr to 100 ml in gaiwan) and found a pretty strong but pleasant punch in the first couple short, hot infusions. After a bit it mellowed out to a gratifying plum and saddle leather with a clear golden color. No hong cha tastes here. Actually, pretty nice stuff, the sort of thing I would expect Tony S to like!
I'm almost wondering if some of these cakes have been subjected to other than ideal conditions somewhere in their journey to our homes.
I cant find anything particularly bad about it either..besides, from what I was able to find, pesticides dont have any taste..so how does one taste them then?:)
(but this made me wondering about my mu ye chun, will make a new thread..)
May 28th, '09, 18:41
Posts: 155
Joined: Dec 21st, '08, 19:43
Location: Burke, VA
by JAS-eTea Guy » May 28th, '09, 18:41
So, I talked to Scott at YSLLC about this. Here is what he replied:
"This years Da Yi is a long long story... it will come out, but not sure when. Da Yi is forcing a new fixed pricing structure on its re-sellers. Nobody is buying and so the re-sellers are basically telling the factory to not ship the new the 3rd round of new cakes.... "
There were no further words in our email exchange. Seem that Scott was a bit disgusted with the current state of affairs and did not want to elaborate in further detail. Well, you now know as much as I know!
Best regards,
Steve
Good tea drinking,
Steve
May 28th, '09, 19:50
Posts: 688
Joined: Jul 7th, '08, 19:06
Location: ostensible universe
by puerhking » May 28th, '09, 19:50
netsurfr wrote:So, I talked to Scott at YSLLC about this. Here is what he replied:
"This years Da Yi is a long long story... it will come out, but not sure when. Da Yi is forcing a new fixed pricing structure on its re-sellers. Nobody is buying and so the re-sellers are basically telling the factory to not ship the new the 3rd round of new cakes.... "
There were no further words in our email exchange. Seem that Scott was a bit disgusted with the current state of affairs and did not want to elaborate in further detail. Well, you now know as much as I know!
Best regards,
Steve
Thanks for the info Steve. Based on the three at Dragon Tea House I wondered if they weren't trying to repackage and remarket themselves. This should be interesting.
May 29th, '09, 01:51
Posts: 316
Joined: Sep 12th, '08, 01:14
Location: Philippines
by odarwin » May 29th, '09, 01:51
the most interesting question really is the quality of the cakes.
it seems like its going to be a whole loads of different kinds of cakes out there from menghai, with that much quantity, how are you going to be sure that after a few years down the road that the cakes would transform into beautiful cakes like "they used to"
i would really love to see a review of a very well respected tea expert or maybe a blender who would care to comment on the quality of the 09 menghai teas so far. i hear a lot of people say that its close to impossible to judge a young cake (probably less than 3 years) because its simply just too young. and people also say that when you've had so many experience with aged and young cakes that you start to see the "shadow" of the tea on young ones and eventually would be able to tell the good young ones from the bad.
all in all, no one wants to end up with bad tea after years of storage right.
-darwin
May 29th, '09, 02:17
Posts: 434
Joined: Mar 31st, '08, 21:46
by thanks » May 29th, '09, 02:17
Besides the new "top shelf" (probably not the best translation) line that's available at DTH, I've only seen one of their traditional recipe cakes available on a Chinese pu'er reseller website which is the 7572. A shu cake, no less! Very strange.
May 29th, '09, 14:32
Posts: 330
Joined: Feb 27th, '08, 11:03
Location: Portland, OR
by Dizzwave » May 29th, '09, 14:32
Salsero wrote:Well, I have subjected the cake in question to the ultimate test and declare it potable.
I also am just now revisiting this cake after a few months' rest.
Actually, this is the first pot I've brewed off the cake -- my previous tastings were from the sample that I'd previously received from Scott.
I'm not enjoying this one as much as the bits from the sample... but then, my parameters are different today. (gaiwan, instead of yixing.) It seems a bit... thinner? more acidic? But still pleasant.
Oh well... I can rest assured that even the crappiest of my tea will be AWESOME in 20 years.
</sarcasm>
May 29th, '09, 15:36
Posts: 5151
Joined: Dec 20th, '06, 23:33
Location: Gainesville, Florida
by Salsero » May 29th, '09, 15:36
Dizzwave wrote: Oh well... I can rest assured that even the crappiest of my tea will be AWESOME in 20 years.
That assurance has kept a sort of dimwitted smile on my face through many questionable sessions! It may be the best thing about sheng.
It is not impossible that I am still on a sample of this cake.
May 29th, '09, 15:54
Posts: 434
Joined: Mar 31st, '08, 21:46
by thanks » May 29th, '09, 15:54
Dizzwave wrote:Oh well... I can rest assured that even the crappiest of my tea will be AWESOME in 20 years.
</sarcasm>
Now I don't have first hand experience on this as I haven't aged anything past three years, but everything I've heard says otherwise. A bad tea now that lacks age-able qualities will be even worse years later.
May 30th, '09, 17:28
Posts: 155
Joined: Dec 21st, '08, 19:43
Location: Burke, VA
by JAS-eTea Guy » May 30th, '09, 17:28
Dizzwave wrote:Salsero wrote:
Oh well... I can rest assured that even the crappiest of my tea will be AWESOME in 20 years.
</sarcasm>
Way to keep a positive perspective!
Jun 24th, '09, 11:01
Posts: 152
Joined: Sep 11th, '08, 17:15
Location: PA, USA
by pb2q » Jun 24th, '09, 11:01
The 7542 dropped this morning.
Jul 9th, '09, 17:19
Posts: 637
Joined: Apr 11th, '09, 12:39
Location: UK
by apache » Jul 9th, '09, 17:19
pb2q wrote:The 7542 dropped this morning.
I wonder has anyone tried this year 7542 901? I like to know is it similar to last year 7542 801?
Jul 9th, '09, 17:24
Posts: 434
Joined: Mar 31st, '08, 21:46
by thanks » Jul 9th, '09, 17:24
apache wrote:pb2q wrote:The 7542 dropped this morning.
I wonder has anyone tried this year 7542 901? I like to know is it similar to last year 7542 801?
The recipe cakes (especially 7542) taste a lot different when fresh from the factory as opposed to airing out for a couple months. I wish 7542 always tasted and smelled like it did fresh from Dayi.
