Raw/cooked mix

[MarshalN]

Just had one today as a sample -- terrible, terrible. Why does anyone make crap like this?

[AdamMY]

How old was it, I have only had one puerh labeled as Raw/Cooked blend, and that was from the Mandarins tea room. I believe it was dated to sometime in the 80's and it was quite nice.

[MarshalN]

Dunno exactly how old, I think late 90s, but it sucked

[bearsbearsbears]

This is a mix of completely raw sheng and some shu, no?

I have tasted shu pu bricks in China called "half sheng half shu" ("一半生的, 一半熟的") where they really meant a blend of short fermentation shu and long fermentation shu. The "Purple Sky" cake was often described as a sheng/shu blend amongst western vendors, but that seems to have stopped. The Grand Tea company of Hong Kong still labels it as "~60% Green ~40% Black".

I remember having the "Fu Yuan Chang" cake from Grand Tea and thinking it was a blend of sheng & shu, because some of the leaves were very dark compared to the others, and it didn't have a storage smell. It was a sample from a friend, so I don't have any more to try. It wasn't terrible, though, just kind of boring.

[wyardley]

There is also the 9062 brick, which, if memory and a bit of recent research serves, is supposed to be a short-lived experimental sheng / shu mix. I don't think it's horrible, but it's definitely odd tasting - the sharpness from the sheng still cuts through a little bit.

bears - I remember you expressing skepticism in the past that such a thing was possible - have you changed your tune, or am I remembering wrong?

[bearsbearsbears]

bears - I remember you expressing skepticism in the past that such a thing was possible - have you changed your tune, or am I remembering wrong?

I remain skeptical that any manufacturer would be crazy enough to blend fresh sheng pu into shu pu and press it into a cake for immediate sale. I certainly think big factories know better.

Hong Kong tea vendors, however, have been blending traditional stored sheng and shu together in loose blends for a long time.

With the Fu Yuan Chang and MarshalN's weird "90s" tea, I wonder if those teas are essentially:

• Those aforementioned HK tea vendor blends pressed with a neifei and wrapped up
• A blend of fresh sheng and shu that's pressed and put into traditional storage for some time before retail.
• A blend of very wet stored loose sheng with fresher sheng

All conjecture on my part, of course. Nobody knows but the mysterious people who made these cakes and those who bought them first hand!

[MarshalN]

This is a sample from an alleged 9062 brick, and BBB, it sucks, so your instincts are correct.

[TIM]

This is a sample from an alleged 9062 brick, and BBB, it sucks, so your instincts are correct.

You sure its tea? Could be chopsticks....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJ4oINvq0kc

[bearsbearsbears]

This is a sample from an alleged 9062 brick, and BBB, it sucks, so your instincts are correct.

A quick search of taobao shows what appear to be many fakes of this tea, including sheng-only bricks.

[MarshalN]

Hmmm, wait a sec, just re-read the email, no, it's 8972, which shouldn't be cooked, methinks

[TomVerlain]

This is a mid 90's mixed tea I got from Best Tea House HK, and I found it was very nice. You can see in the spent leaves the two teas clearly. Some leaves retain the dull jade green of sheng, while others are the black/brown shriveled shu type. It has a long brewing life, it does not give it self up very quickly and fade completely like a lot of shu does. In terms of price, it was not as expensive as if it were 100% sheng.I am happy with the blend.

I can't post pictures, so there won't be any pictures.

[Dass]

Just had one today as a sample -- terrible, terrible. Why does anyone make crap like this?

Actually what you can do is,take 3g of RAW new tea and 5g of Cooked tea and mix it and brew.You can get some good taste.You have to try a few times as the tea you are using might be different than mine.For me 5/3g works.But for my friend he uses 6/2g.

[chrl42]

In fact, many Dayi shus are half-shu/half-sheng.

[bearsbearsbears]

In fact, many Dayi shus are half-shu/half-sheng.

Light fermentation is not the same as sheng in the blend...

[MarshalN]

In fact, many Dayi shus are half-shu/half-sheng.

If you see a new Dayi shu cake that has lots of green leaves in it, let me know.