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2010 Rongzhen Reserve Ripen Pu-erh Tea Cake (荣珍特级熟饼)
Every year I paid a few visits to Rongzhen teas for their no frills, yet above average teas. In 2010 Fall I found this cake hidden behind the counter as their reserve. They had selected the best ripen materials they had made so far, made them into this superb Pu-erh tea cake, as a reserve for a closed circle, not for open market.
The proprietor confirmed that the materials were from Menghai area, and fermented at Menghai with its ‘white sand water’, less than 300 cakes were made.
Pu-erh tea cake
Typical weight: 357gram
Vintage: 2010
Cooked or fermented
Loose tea leaves
Caffeine: Moderate
Smell: This tea smells very doughy. It is like a raw tube of puff biscuit right after it is popped. It has a slightly salty and peppery scent but the thick doughy scent is the most noticeable.
Taste: This tea is a lot fruitier than I expected. The doughy scent is a lot lighter than it smelled. The flavor is like fresh baked wheat bread.
★★★★★
Wow… Another hit!
I’ll return later to review this tea in detail after I’ve spent more time with it.
But as far as quality vs. price goes… It doesn’t get much better than this. This could easily be in a much higher price bracket. Way to go Rongzhen :)
According to the PuerhShop.com, only 300 of these puerh cakes were made. So I guess I need to grab a few more of these eh?
My Ratings…
★ = Didn’t Hate It.
★★ = Not Bad.
★★★ = Me Likey.
★★★★ = Impressive!
★★★★★ = AwesomeSauce!
I’ll admit that going into this that I had a slight bias against the cake as my experience with Rongzhen has been mixed. Sure their ripe puerh cakes were not bad but they were not really that good compared to others that I had either, just a safe midrange cake. The brew of this one was different as it is the best Rongzhen puerh that I’ve had yet. It has a sweet mellow taste as one would expect from a Menghai area ripe puerh. Yet what impresses me the most with this sample is that despite being under a year old for a ripe puerh there is not even a trace of any off factory odors or flavors. I just looked up the price for a whole cake and it was $12.98 which makes it a rare gem among the cheaper ripe puerh cakes in my opinion.
