2003 Menghai 7542?

[Tead Off]

I bought this beng in Bangkok the other day. The dealer had 4 bengs left still in the tong. The tong had 7542 marked on it. However, the wrapper has no date or #. He said in 2003, they did not print this info. He showed me the info sheet that came with the shipment and stated it was a 2003 7542.

In conversations with oldmanteapot in Penang, the possibility it might be counterfeit came up but he is not sure. Having tried the tea but not being familiar with Puerhs at all, it was the best Puerh I've had so far, but, for a pu head who knows his stuff, it might be crap.

Here are the links to the photos of the wrapper and the unwrapped beng itself. I found an exact copy of the wrapper on a 2003 Purple dayi 7542 except mine is not purple. Maybe mine faded? Any help would be fine.

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_Ig5JW2vCr8I/ShV2A ... 0beeng.jpg

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_Ig5JW2vCr8I/ShV2A ... 202003.jpg[/img]

[hop_goblin]

It would be almost impossible authenticating the beeng simply from viewing a photo. You need to examine the leaves for grade and simply compare it to others you have tasted of the same recipe. One thing that I will say however is that I don't like the blotches on the wrapper. They do not seem random but strategically in place. Do you see how the blotches miss the Dayi symbol? Does the Nei Fei have similar blotching? I would find it hard to believe that a beeng would obtain this level of blotch being in a tong. I do have some blotchy pu but not to this extent and generally the blotch is inside the wrapper.

[Tead Off]

hop,

Paranoia is good. Seems like the world of Puerh has its fair share of it and rightfully so from everything I've read. I have no personal reference point for tasting this Puerh and determining its veracity. But, it is better than everything else I've tried.

I don't know where you live but in Bangkok, possibly the hottest city in the world in its average yearly temp, with high humidity, anything can happen to paper especially when it comes into contact with tea and its oils. It doesn't surprise me to see the blotching or its pattern. I see nothing purposeful in its placement. The logo also has blotching but is less visible because of its color. In fact, a closer look, which I am attaching, the wrappers ink is purple which answers the question that this is a purple Dayi 7542 which oldmanteapot guessed it was. I couldn't see the purple in the light that I had originally looked at it in, flourescent. This is a daylight shot of it.

I'm also including the nei fei which is also quite stained.





btw, how do I insert images directly into these posts?

[Salsero]

btw, how do I insert images directly into these posts?

1) Highlight the link and press the "Img" button at the top of the "Post a reply" page (this will automatically do what option 2 below does manually)

OR

2) Type %20immediately%20before%20the%20link%20and%20[/img] immediately after the link (no spaces).

If you press the "Quote" button for this entry of mine, you can see how I did it.

[oldmanteapot]

It would be almost impossible authenticating the beeng simply from viewing a photo. You need to examine the leaves for grade and simply compare it to others you have tasted of the same recipe.

It is still possible to authenticate a beng by looking at the structure of the compressed leaves and also the size of the leaves. But this takes years of learning and exposure to many types of pu'erh. Then you can further verify by brewing the tea and examining the spent leaves.

One thing that I will say however is that I don't like the blotches on the wrapper. They do not seem random but strategically in place. Do you see how the blotches miss the Dayi symbol? Does the Nei Fei have similar blotching? I would find it hard to believe that a beeng would obtain this level of blotch being in a tong. I do have some blotchy pu but not to this extent and generally the blotch is inside the wrapper.

It is possible for the wrapper to obtain such blotches, even in the tong under the hot and humid Asian weather.... but it's extremely rare to see blotches on such a young tea. Although Pu'erh ages faster under hot and humid weather where both Tead_Off and myself are located, but it still doesn't explain the extend of blotching that's on the paper.

Cheers!

[oldmanteapot]

Looking at both photos raises some concerns. When such blotching occurs, common sense will tell us that the piece closest to the source (pu'erh beng) would be stained the most and also the color of the blotch would be darker. But this seems to show otherwise. This could possibly also reinforce Hop's prognosis that the blotching could have been intensionally made.

My 2 cents worth.

Cheers!

[Tead Off]

Salsero, thanks.

[thanks]

Pictures of the front of the beeng, dry leaves before brew, and wet spent leaves please. I had a fake from this year that looked a lot like this.

[hop_goblin]

hop,

Paranoia is good. Seems like the world of Puerh has its fair share of it and rightfully so from everything I've read. I have no personal reference point for tasting this Puerh and determining its veracity. But, it is better than everything else I've tried.

I don't know where you live but in Bangkok, possibly the hottest city in the world in its average yearly temp, with high humidity, anything can happen to paper especially when it comes into contact with tea and its oils. It doesn't surprise me to see the blotching or its pattern. I see nothing purposeful in its placement. The logo also has blotching but is less visible because of its color. In fact, a closer look, which I am attaching, the wrappers ink is purple which answers the question that this is a purple Dayi 7542 which oldmanteapot guessed it was. I couldn't see the purple in the light that I had originally looked at it in, flourescent. This is a daylight shot of it.

I'm also including the nei fei which is also quite stained.





btw, how do I insert images directly into these posts?

I Tead,

Certainly, tea stains can and do often occur. However, I have personally never seen a beeng with such a degree of tea blotches as in the picture. Even my wet stored beengs (some very wet) do not have such staining. The tea stains that I have seen generally are never perfectly round either as some of the staining appears to be. They are for the most part generated over time and are soaked up as smears. The perfect roundness suggests to me that they were dribbeled. Additionally, now that I see the Nei Fei, my assumptions are still leaning towards a counterfiet - The stains just do not correspond to the wrapper. Again, look at the DaYi symbol, there are stains everywhere but not on the symbol. I have seen this before. My assuption is that counterfeitors don't want to detract from the identifing marks. But this is all speculation as I have not tasted it. Would it be possible to show us the leaves?

[TIM]

+1

the packaging look all wrong.... how is the taste and smell of it?

[Tead Off]

I think in cases like this, it does come down to the leaves. The beng I have has mostly broken leaves when I spread them out after brewing. There are some larger leaves but I couldn't find one whole leaf in my search. Is it possbile that some bengs from a 7542 can have more inferior quality leaves than others?

The tea is smooth and not particularly drying to the mouth. There are notes of tobacco and a menthol/camphor taste at times. Slight, slight bitterness that is not unpleasant.

I saw the dealer today and mentioned the skepticism some people had. I'm sure he's not lying when he said he bought it in 2003. The shop is 100 years old started by his grandfather. It has tons of tea in it but very little Puerh. He said Puerh is not something that is popular in Thailand as most of the Chinese are Zhao Zhou and prefer different tea. I have no reference point for any of this.

[pb2q]

mostly broken leaves when I spread them out after brewing. There are some larger leaves but I couldn't find one whole leaf in my search.

Chopped leaves are expected in a factory blend. The leaves are processed to guarantee flavor/texture consistency throughout the beeng.

I also don't like the look of the packaging. And the Menghai DaYi symbol seems poorly printed.

[tenuki]

The beng I have has mostly broken leaves when I spread them out after brewing. There are some larger leaves but I couldn't find one whole leaf in my search. Is it possbile that some bengs from a 7542 can have more inferior quality leaves than others?

What you describe about the leaves is spot on for 7542, I would be suspicious if I found a full leaf in 7542 frankly. Just my opinion. The recipe cakes are blended to hit the consistent taste so expect both chopped and mixed leaves. Some of the most divine puerh I've had the leaves were in tiny chopped bits and mixed with twigs and other crap, worse looking beeng ever, but drink it... omg.

Proof is in the cup, the rest is vanity.

[hop_goblin]

The beng I have has mostly broken leaves when I spread them out after brewing. There are some larger leaves but I couldn't find one whole leaf in my search. Is it possbile that some bengs from a 7542 can have more inferior quality leaves than others?

What you describe about the leaves is spot on for 7542, I would be suspicious if I found a full leaf in 7542 frankly. Just my opinion. The recipe cakes are blended to hit the consistent taste so expect both chopped and mixed leaves. Some of the most divine puerh I've had the leaves were in tiny chopped bits and mixed with twigs and other crap, worse looking beeng ever, but drink it... omg.

Proof is in the cup, the rest is vanity.

Yep, all big factory recipe fare is minced.