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77
drank Twelve Cent Brick by CNNP
9 tasting notes

I have gone through multiple bricks of this one in the last 2 years. I opened one up today as it has been a long while since I had tried it. This is a very in expensive brick coming in at $30 at TWL. The red sticker was applied to hide a misprint on the wrapper. As stated on their webpage “It has been stored entirely in Taiwan and has a relatively dry natural Taiwan storage” and is a lightly compressed brick which easily breaks apart with some prodding of a tool. I always smell light pipe tobacco when smelling the brick dry. Material is a blend with large twisted leaves, stems and possible some huangpian. TWl is correct in pointing out you may run into seed pods in this brick.

Started out at 10 seconds after fast rinse. Easily 6-7 infusions at 180 degrees.

Nice throat/mouth feel and last mouth taste. This is a low priced moderately aged daily drinker with medium thickness and clear/clean liquor. Lasting after tastes of resin and pine.

Flavors: Honey, Pine, Resin, Smoke, Tobacco, Wood

Preparation
185 °F / 85 °C 0 min, 15 sec

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77
drank Twelve Cent Brick by CNNP
9 tasting notes

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drank Twelve Cent Brick by CNNP
244 tasting notes

6.5g:120-ish pot. boiling Brita tap. Rinse was a lot longer than I meant, since slow pour.

woody taste and slight bitter initially, along with some florals. some warmth. aftertaste is a crisp sugar, shifting to an almost acidic, dry fruitiness. Some mint. unfortunately, died very quickly after (like two, maybe three steeps in…), and so will definitely not rinse in this pot next time when I’ve already broken up the leaves.

On an unrelated note, I tried my first very dry red this past summer, and subsequently struggle now to apply the term astringency to any teas, but maybe dry reds are on an entirely different level. Then, I accidentally had a not fully ripened Hachiya persimmon the other day, and that really redefined astringency for me. Truly awful.

derk

Astringency and dryness are different concepts to me but sometimes experienced together. I can handle one or the other and see neither in itself as a flaw, but when both appear in the same cup, the experience is often jarring.

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drank Twelve Cent Brick by CNNP
244 tasting notes

5.5g, 90mL gaiwan. brita filtered tap. boiling.

wet leaf is smoke and old TCM herbal medicines. light in taste initially. slight minty/vegetal edge along w bright fruitiness. slight warmth. TCM taste, and something both sandalwood and floral like about it. Agreed with Marco’s note of honey on empty cup aroma.

overall: not too durable, but tastes good. there’s a ton of seeds and sticks in my cake, and weight after rehydrating was ~239g, and after factoring in shipping was ~16c/g but I’m certain this is the best bang for buck sheng you can get from any western vendor, period. I’ve learned somewhat now to prioritize purchasing good and not necessarily “value” teas for the long term, but i wish starting out someone had just told me for value sheng to purchase twelve cent brick and for value shou, Yee on Purple mark. Or maybe someone has mentioned it somewhere and I missed it, because I was too focused on chasing value… anyway, a work in progress.

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32

But this tea from Aliexpress. Good looking cake, with medium aged look and little pressed leaves, but with poor fragance . I taste it two times with 6 and 7 g, little astringency and thin body..Infused leaves have a very soft scent to camphor and looks broken, with lot of stems. I think could be a fake cake or a authentic low quality blend. Overall taste is flat with little complexity.

Tim Lane

I just got a 2004 ripe cnnp pu erh from Aliexpress that taste just like your describing not complex not earthy and lots of twigs and a few chunks of something white that’s what I get for$8

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32

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Preparation
Boiling 7 g 3 OZ / 100 ML

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This tea has a stable, warming character. Most often I gravitate toward puer of the smooth and mellow variety – this particular aged sheng is best described as smooth and heavy so I have learned to lighten up on the leaf. Seems to be made with high grade material. It is clean with good body and the sweetness is of the deep meaty variety. Nice mouthfeel with a little tongue-tickling and a light cooling sensation. Dark brown leaves with a few tips and twigs. Clear and bright orange liquor with a nutty sweet aroma. Good durability (I’ve steeped it 12 times). Age has served this tuo well.

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 0 min, 15 sec 4 g 3 OZ / 80 ML

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The qi… the qi… the qi…

https://www.instagram.com/p/_8D7S2xYI6/
Talk about being tea drunk. This guy ended up being dark amber throughout the session and I had no idea what I was getting myself into. Such a lovely tea to have a session with that changes taste within 10 seconds of steep time and about every third steep it tends to be somewhat different.
Going to drink the other 90’s stuff I have an make the hard decision on which would be the one to buy… hard choices.

Kirkoneill1988

sheng or shou?

DharmaTea

What’s the decision?

Liquid Proust

W2T’s 90’ HK Style is very similar for me. I have some 1980’s stuff as well, but my wallet is telling me to be careful with it because if I like it we will have to talk about our relationship.

I truly think this 99’ cake that RoyalTeaBay sold me is legit, but just not stored as well as others. The taste profile fits everything correct. The difference is the qi from the tea.

Overall I am looking at Tea Classico for their older stuff, W2T for their newer products, and other places for hidden gems (which I’ve only found one and it was a Mengku so it’s not very hidden)

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Okay, so here we go! I deleted the last note of this one and will write my full one now!

1st steep (5sec): Light amber in colour with a light taste. It’s slightly sweet. Yum!! Smells very earthy but doesn’t taste strong of earthiness yet.
2nd (6sec): Slightly darker with some earthiness hinting through.

At this point, I pulled some of the leaves apart as they were really sticking together. Next time I wouldn’t do that and just see what the taste is when left as is.

3rd (7sec): Colour is going slightly red. Earthiness is most predominant. Not noticing the sweetness anymore.
Steeps 4-7 were still very earthy.

8th (9sec): Roasted hickory smell! Yummy! Reminded me of campfires but in a light way. It is earthy but very good. Tastes slightly woody with some of that roasted almost hickory taste! LOVING this steep! So delicious! I’m loving the hickory taste.

9 & 10: Same as above. Loved the last three steeps especially. Finished on 10 as I just felt done.

So, in conclusion, I am really enjoying this tea so far. I love using a gaiwan. I love using a tea pick. I love noticing changes in the tea as I steep it. I love how it actually does change as time goes on. I love how it brings me to a place where I stop and relax. I know to a lot of family and friends that don’t get it, that I probably seem crazy, but I love this tea journey that I seem to be on right now and how I’m really trying to find the ways I love tea the most.

boychik

Congrats and welcome to a Dark Side of Pu!

TheKesser

Thanks! :)

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Here I am drinking this tea again, only this time I think I really am drinking CNNP Yunnan Chitsu Pingcha. I think. The other time I reviewed this tea, it was a shou; this time, it’s a white pu’er, or so I’m told. And based on some of the other reviews, I think I wasn’t drinking what I thought I was drinking. OR maybe I’m not now. Anyway, this is what you get when the only local tea shop in your area specializes in flavored teas served by folks dressed as pirates (read: coastal tourist trap) and their employees wouldn’t know pu from poo if a dog (or a 2dog) bite ‘em in the ass. Anyway, unlike the other block of doorstop I purchased the last time, this one isn’t bad, but it’s not something I’d go out of my way to purchase again. The flavor is very mild and floral. The leaves are like chopped spinach, not a trace of a whole leaf anywhere. But that might have been the pirate’s fault; he used his hook and no small amount of brute force to pry a piece of the cake off for me. No, not making that up, and not a pu’er pick in sight. Blimey!

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I stopped by my local tea shop and this was the only pu’er they had, so I thought what the heck, it was about 5 dollars for the last bit of the cake they had left (about 30 grams) so I went for it. I used about 8 grams tea, water just about boiling, gongfu, 2 short rinses. I started with very short steeps (5-10 secs) b/c that’s what I do with shou, but the tea was weak and terrible so I upped it to 30 secs and then one really long steep, which didn’t help much. The cake was very, very dry so it may not have been stored well. The aroma is decent enough, not fishy or anything, but It tastes like weak, funky old black tea. A flat zero on the sweet meter. I think I’ve been spoiled by better quality shous, so I’m going to chalk this one up as a loss of five bucks and move on.

boychik

Break up the chunk and put it some small ceramic or porcelain sugar bowl or teapot to air out. Some water in a bowl near may help to rehydrate it. Sample it in a few weeks or month. Read Cwyn’s storing experiments on her blog.

curlygc

Thanks, I will do that. The more pu’er I buy, the more I’m thinking I need to learn a bit about storage or I may risk ending up with a lot of undrinkable tea after a few months!

boychik

we all worry about it. Mrmopar can guide you about pumidor setup. Cwyn does different storage with ceramic crocks. im planning some setup,but for now its carton boxes ;(

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80
drank 2011 7581 by CNNP
1758 tasting notes

Purchased this tea from Mr Mopar. It was in the end tasty. It started out with what I would describe as a woodsy note for lack of a better description. This evolved into a fruity note. I gave this tea eight steeps and think it would have gone a few more.

I brewed this eight times in a 180ml teapot with 10.1g leaf and boiling water. I gave it a ten second rinse and a 10 minute rest. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, and 30 sec.

Preparation
Boiling 0 min, 15 sec 10 g 6 OZ / 180 ML

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drank 2015 CNNP Ran Wu Bie Yi by CNNP
63 tasting notes

Still smells like it needs to breath a bit. Will rate later.

mrmopar

Agreed the young ones need the still period before getting into.

JC

Amen, I got too eager/anxious yesterday with a 2015… it wasn’t that bad, but id definitely wasn’t good. Self-control -1

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75
drank CNNP Yunnan Chitsu Pingcha by CNNP
14 tasting notes

At first, I was unsure of the quality due to the low price tag. Yet after having my first cup, I found it very enjoyable and this tea got me hooked on pu’er teas. After reusing the leaves for a second cup, its flavour only gets more smooth without tasting watered down. I do not have very large experience with tasting pu’er teas, yet I thoroughly enjoyed this one and now I drink it every morning. I do not know how aged it is, but judging by the affordable price tag (~$10), I’d say probably not very long. My verdict is that this is a very tasty and affordable tea for someone new to pu’er teas.

Flavors: Earth, Smooth

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 5 min, 0 sec

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This is a nice looking cake full of large whole leaves – there is some serious content locked into these leaves. Age has darkened the color to a deep brown. Two quick rinses to wash and awaken the tea leaves and we’re ready to be impressed……. The soup color is a mature orange tone and both floral and wood fragrances come forward. A smooth thick tea soup that presents a gentle rather complex mix of fruit (berry-like), honey, nuts and camphor. This mix of flavor sensations feels quite refined and pure and light with a lingering rich mouth feel. This is an enjoyable tea and it has it all - taste, mouthfeel, lingering aftertaste, energy and endurance. The discovery of a well aged cake such as this makes me very happy!

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 0 min, 15 sec 5 g 3 OZ / 90 ML
Peter

Classic stuff, sounds good. One quick rinse would do for me, too precious to throw away :)

tea123

Where may one purchase this?

DigniTea

I picked up this cake at The Chinese Tea Shop in Vancouver.

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56

Let’s review some grocery store Puer cake! This is fun simply because you can find these at most Asian grocers, so depending on where you live, this may be the only Puer cake you’ll be able to purchase in person and not online. They’re usually only 10-15 bucks a cake, and because of that, I’ve avoided them, thinking they’d probably be poor quality tea. Let’s find out!

After a rinse, there are some really warm aromas of roasted nuts, sweet tobacco, and leather. The flavor is mellow and round, slightly sweet… earthy, nutty, and with an aftertaste of leather. This is surprisingly non-offensive for a cheap and likely mass-produced tea. There’s a tiny hint of mustard in the taste.

There’s nothing particularly outstanding about this Puer, but as ripe Puer goes, so many of them have very similar flavors to me. I’ve only had one or two where I thought “Hey, this is unique!” Otherwise, they most often seem to just have a similar mellow, enjoyable taste, granted they aren’t too musty. This one isn’t, so no worries there.

So, my verdict is… if you just want a nice everyday kind of Puer cake for helping to get you familiar with Puer brewing, or just to have some tea that you can shamelessly brew without breaking the bank… this isn’t a bad choice! Even if you’re just curious about using a compressed tea cake and aging it, why not give one of these a go? It may not be the most remarkable tea out there, but it’s worth its price for the quantity you get.

Flavors: Earth, Leather, Roasted Nuts, Tobacco

Preparation
Boiling 0 min, 15 sec 5 g 3 OZ / 100 ML

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drank CNNP Yunnan Chitsu Pingcha by CNNP
518 tasting notes

Advent Calendar Tea, Day 8

http://instagram.com/p/wWZ4kiAyVJ/

A relatively generic shou, I don’t know what year, or anything about it.

There was only right about 3.5g. I normally do my shou with right around 5g, so it was underleafed for my gaiwan. I don’t know if that’s why I felt this was weak, or if it really just didn’t have much flavor.

http://instagram.com/p/wWc9nxgyaB/
http://instagram.com/p/wWjkHlgyRK/

I only got a few infusions out of it. Then I gave up and tried for one long infusion. It didn’t improve.

Ah well.

I think it would be a good complete beginner shou. It’s not overly strong or too earthy, and it doesn’t have any off flavors. I’m still a beginner to pu’erh, but I think that I’ve advanced beyond this one.

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Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 0 sec

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This tea offers a smooth texture with a simple cedar wood flavor. Earthy with an interesting mouthfeel – spicy, sweet, nutty and leathery. Medium compression. Mostly whole leaf with a reasonable amount of stems. Initial scent of dry and wet leaves is reminiscent of walking through a damp forest. Not as much depth and complexity as I prefer but all in all a rather enjoyable tea session.

Preparation
Boiling 0 min, 15 sec 6 g 4 OZ / 125 ML

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93

4.25g in 4.5oz water.

Mellow and earthy with a rich, dark liquor. This makes me think of hiking in the woods: towering old trees, leaves from past autumns moldering into loam on the forest floor, moss-covered stones, gurgling brooks plunging down the hillside, scattered sunlight sparkling on their cold, clear depths. In short, it reminds me of home.

This is definitely worthy of seasoning my new yixing pot with.

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 0 min, 15 sec 4 g 4 OZ / 133 ML

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Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 0 min, 30 sec

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drank 2006 CNNP Yellow Label by CNNP
880 tasting notes

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Love this Pu Erh. It took me a while to get the preparation just wright (for my taste buds), but once I did this tea became one of my favorite pu erhs out there. Now, I must say that I prefer my pu erh strong, full of aroma and body. So if you are new to pu erh this might not be the best one to start with.
The first time I tried it I gave it a very quick rinse. The first steeping was quite weak and had a bit of a stale musky taste to it.
I sipped it for a bit … then went to check the cake for any signs of staleness, fungus or mold. I scraped it and I pealed it, and smelled it all over, it was healthy beautiful cake:) So I poured the tea out and made the next steeping, now this time the liquor was darker, thicker and richer. It lost most of the stale note and now was on the sweet side, earthy, rich, with mushroom notes but so much smoother. The more I steep this tea the smother it become and the more flavors and aromas it develops, from woody to sweet and spicy. It also lasts for ever, I’ve made up to 8 steepings and it was still going strong. So my backwards steeping process on this one is: Do a longer rinse, basically steep for up to over a minute and discard. Then make another longer steep at like 50sec, or when you see the liquor color rich amber. And after that I do short steepings at like 20-30sec. I also enjoy it with milk.

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