Advice for selecting puerh cakes

[betta]

I'm looking for couple of raw cakes for the incoming months and since I don't know much about puerh, I'd like to ask your opinions about it.
I won't order something vintage and expensive, since I'm still in the middle of finding cakes I like; not smoky, smooth, as low as possible astringency and sweet aftertaste. If possible also good for aging. I heard teas from Nan Nuo mountain have these characteristics, but have no first-hand experience with it.

In brief, I will choose two out of these three raw cakes (I didn't find review about them, or maybe I missed during the search):

2007 CNNP Nan Nuo

2005 Yong Pin Hao

2006 Nan Nuo of Cui Yuan Tea Factory

Which one will you recommend?
Thanks for any feedback.
PS: I have no factory preference.

[hop_goblin]

I would purchase before 2004 and after 2006.

[shogun89]

The second one should be one of your choices. If I may, I just want to suggest one thing, The description you gave pretty much sounds just like a mengku cake, they are smooth, good honey flavor, and the best part their price, YSLLC has a 400g. cake for just $8, I have 2 of those on the way. Just take a look.

[tony shlongini]

I think the single best line I've read regarding pu'er was written by Hobbes, who said "CNNP is where pu'er goes to die."


I like to focus on producers who hardly ever fail me, and from there it's a matter of eeney, meeney....

[betta]

I would purchase before 2004 and after 2006.

Hop, is there any particular reason for this time interval?

The second one should be one of your choices. If I may, I just want to suggest one thing, The description you gave pretty much sounds just like a mengku cake, they are smooth, good honey flavor, and the best part their price, YSLLC has a 400g. cake for just $8, I have 2 of those on the way. Just take a look.

Thanks for the input, Shogun. I found the cake you meant, looks very nice!
I've read couple of post from other teachatter about mengku's king arbor and it seems the teas from that area are very strong. How's your experience? Are they relatively "aggressive"?
This one seems to be the higher end; I must admit very tempted to try it as well, but there's no sample of it.

[shogun89]

I myself have not had the arbor king but I beleive it is supposed to be quite vicious. I have tried a few of the 2008 Mu Ye Chuns and have been very impressed by them, a great tea for the price. I dont know how they will age because they dont have the power of say a menghai cake but for a nice drink now cake they are most enjoyable. The cake you posted looks good but also look at these as they are cheaper.
This one here looks very good.
http://cgi.ebay.de/2009-Mu-Ye-Chun-Earl ... 1|294%3A30

And I think the reason Hop gave you that time interval is because that was at the top of the puerh hype, where everyone was making cakes out of whatever they could get thus having many low quality cakes on the market, I would also stay away from 2007, I enjoyed 2008 much more. I have high hopes for 2009, cant wait to get my order!

[Rich Perry]

I like the 2003 Yong Pin Hao Yi Wu Zheng Shan. It's light, sweet, and refreshing.

[tony shlongini]

I would purchase before 2004 and after 2006.

Hop, is there any particular reason for this time interval?

I read this as "avoid products from the boom years".

[betta]

Thank you very much for your advices. I found myself really "green" in this puerh world and I don't really have first-hand experience with characteristics of teas produced from different areas and factories. The most logic way now I decide to order more samples and try it by myself. Then I will be able to decide which one to stock. It takes time, but I guess it worth. What I'm afraid is finding myself get "punished" to finish up cakes that I don't really like.

@ Shogun: Thanks for sharing your experience. I might order that one after testing the samples. The leaf is incredibly nice!

[Seeker]

Hey Betta,
I have just had experience ordering from NadaCha - and he has samples!
I've ordered a few cakes, and they are wonderful.
Seems like a very reliable and credible source.
I think the link to his site is http://www.nadacha.co.uk .
Enjoy the journey!
And may you find some truly splendid puer.
Peace.

[betta]

Hi Seeker. You're right, Nada is a reliably source of puerh.
Nada's new raw cakes this year sold at a relatively short time. I don't know whether he'll obtain some more of those in the incoming soon.
Meanwhile I just try to educate myself by ordering products from several factories and areas.
Which cakes have you ordered from Nada, if I may ask?

[wyardley]

I have had good experiences with the Yong Pin Hao cakes I've tried (the main one I have is actually manufactured by Guang Zi Zai, I believe; according to Scott, there's a family connection between the two). The one I have is this one:
http://cgi.ebay.com/2008-Yong-Pin-Hao-S ... ltDomain_0

as far as Scott's stuff, the storage of most of his stuff is so dry that I doubt you will notice much difference between a 2-4 year old cake and one from this year.

Keep in mind that most of the smoky flavor will generally go away eventually, as will astringency, so if you're ordering cakes for aging, I don't know if it's a huge concern, even if you don't like those features now. If you are brewing to enjoy (rather than to stress the tea and determine if it's good), you can back off on temperature and quantity of leaf while the tea is young so that the bitterness and astringency won't be so strong. Some people do this; others don't.

In my very non-expert opinion, this cake is pretty good, though pricier than the other ones you're looking at:
http://www.houdeasianart.com/index.php? ... b0a51a6ad1

You might also want to pick up some Menghai 7542 or 7532...

[shogun89]

You might also want to pick up some Menghai 7542 or 7532...

Absolutely! some of my favorite cakes at a bangin price! I have 4 901 7542's on the way, cant wait!

[betta]

I have had good experiences with the Yong Pin Hao cakes I've tried (the main one I have is actually manufactured by Guang Zi Zai, I believe; according to Scott, there's a family connection between the two). The one I have is this one:
http://cgi.ebay.com/2008-Yong-Pin-Hao-S ... ltDomain_0

as far as Scott's stuff, the storage of most of his stuff is so dry that I doubt you will notice much difference between a 2-4 year old cake and one from this year.

Hi Wyardley, I also took a sample of that cake and have high hopes of it. Nice to hear a positive news about it from you.
I've ordered couple of samples from CNNP, yong pin hao as well as a mengku's private lao ban chang cake. Couple of other experience puerh drinkers here don't recommend cakes from small factories due to sanitary issue (or may be other additional issues); I have no idea how serious it is, so I limit ordering only one cake from private work.
I can tolerate the smoky flavor, but not up to the intensity of a cigar. I recalled ordering an aged roasted TGY, which tastes and smells similar to a cigar.
Thanks for your advice .

[wyardley]

Couple of other experience puerh drinkers here don't recommend cakes from small factories due to sanitary issue (or may be other additional issues); I have no idea how serious it is, so I limit ordering only one cake from private work.

I can't speak for anyone else, but I think most of the people I've seen making this suggestion (off the top of my head, I can think of several forum members who would all agree with that statement) are talking mostly about shú puer (at least I am pretty sure that all 3 of them have sheng from a number of smaller factories). Not to say that all sheng from small factories is produced in a perfectly sanitary environment, but I don't think the issues are as great, and really, most of the really high end pu'er cakes are from smaller factories.

Keep in mind also that some of the smaller producers have the actual manufacturing taken care of by medium or larger sized factories.