Spoiler Alert: Mystery Group Buy, Slack Exclusive'ish * Answers Posted 6/29

I’ll just start dropping stuff info each week :P

Dark ball sample: http://www.puerhshop.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=9_11&products_id=1778

Light ball sample: http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Iceland-Dragon-Ball-Puer-Tea-200g-Yunann-Antique-Raw-Pu-erh-Tuo-Tea-Organic-Compress-Puerh/32556847369.html

The green circle is a green tea; not a sheng.
The purple circle is a wild purple sheng.

I suppose that info will help you brew them :)

Once I get at least four opinions on 1,2,&3, and A&C, I will post what they are below :)

I think I’ll try 1,2,3,A,and C over the weekend.

So far I’ve tried 3 and 2. I’ll edit this as I go along tasting 123AC

I think 2 is the 2015 fake cake. Seems to have the most er.. Funk to it.

I really liked 3 but I can’t say if I think it’s the 2010 or 2007 until I taste sample 1 (leaning towards 2010 though.

I’ve started drinking 1 and my final guess is going to be:
1 = 2010 GNWL
2 = 2015 Fake
3 = 2007 GNWL

Reasoning: The #2 sample started out so funky to me that it reminded me of the 2015 V93. This alone makes me think it’s the 2015 because I can’t imagine a 6-9 year old cake having cleared so little. Now 1 and 3 are way less clear cut since with 3 years difference storage can make a significant difference in aging/clearing.. on top of that sample 1 was pretty broken up already while sample 3 was more chunky so they probably brewed differently. They have similar characters though and both went to my head to some degree. 3 seemed to brew more clear with less dust at the bottom of the cup. The leaf on 1 also seemed to have lighter bits but I’m having a hard time remembering what 3’s brewed leaf looked like. I guess it’s more of a hunch than a well reasoned guess for 1 and 3.

This was insanely fun! I had so many people making guesses and the results were so varied.

So…
Sheng:
A http://www.aliexpress.com/item/The-First-Village-Lao-Ban-Zhang-Menghai-Pu-erh-Tea-Cake-2008-357g-Raw/32407514982.html?spm=2114.13010608.0.152.5miULJ
C http://www.puerhshop.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1_114&products_id=1111
This was very simple… I hope everyone figured out A sucked and C was pleasant.

As for the shou… this was a fun little experiment!!!
1 http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Gold-needle-white-lotus-250g-ripe-puer-tea-Excellent-taste-Yunnan-shu-puerh-tea-cake-Bulang/32257960192.html?spm=2114.13010608.0.160.5miULJ
I had to find something that was clearly not a real GNWL… this was an easy pick!
2 http://www.ebay.com/itm/2010-Yunnan-Menghai-Golden-Needle-White-Lotus-High-Grade-Ripe-Pu-er-Tea-/221907550142?var=&hash=item79421db43d
Clearly not the Dayi quality we are all wanting, but something to test out because at the price it’s a solid purchase.
3 https://world.taobao.com/item/527814873990.htm?fromSite=main
It’s sold out now, which isn’t a surprise. This was a really good bargain; with shipping and fees, I paid roughly $67’ish for it.

As for the others, which there are many:
The ripe egg: http://www.puerhshop.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=9_11&products_id=1778
The 200g ball: http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Iceland-Dragon-Ball-Puer-Tea-200g-Yunann-Antique-Raw-Pu-erh-Tuo-Tea-Organic-Compress-Puerh/32556847369.html?spm=2114.13010608.0.65.EDF3B4
James’ pick: http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Authentic-Hainan-Wuzhishan-Wild-Old-Tree-bone-of-the-dead-Big-Leaf-Kudingcha-Sweet-Natural-Health/1990502139.html?spm=2114.13010608.0.73.EDF3B4

As for the wonderfully tasting white tea cake, that’s a secret I’m keeping :)
The green mini was a Chinese green tea. The mini purple was a mini pressed wild purple sheng. That white ball was clearly a shou mei ball.
The Japanese smoked black tea: http://www.yunomi.life/products/kaneroku-matsumoto-tea-garden-smoked-black-tea

The large caked pieces: DAN CONG BABYYYYYY https://world.tmall.com/item/521758747182.htm?spm=a312a.7700824.w4011-5260461153.32.vC2V9j&id=521758747182&rn=cb44171451e32244f37f262430d6dd5d&abbucket=3

The best part, a $1 tea bag, 1993 raw pu’erh: https://world.taobao.com/item/18149221109.htm?fromSite=main

Question for everyone: Was this an enjoyable experience?

I have been spotting some crazy stuff lately that makes me want to do another one… but I couldn’t get a real feel for how people felt about this.

It’s okay if you didn’t like the little detail or you thought the teas sucked, I just want some feedback because I’ve been offered and founds some weird stuff like white tea made from Wuyi mountains, 1980s white tea, and then some other odd things like really dry stored 90s raw, aged bored raw tea, Jingmai oolongs, and then whatever you all want to see : )

I’d be interested as I missed the first one of these.

I’m curious now. How much was it last time?