1999 HUA YUAN "JING BRAND" RAW PU-ERH TEA CAKE

a very yummy tea if not the best semi aged sheng ever. i love the mix of flavors. i will do a full review around the 15th

just a note: at a little over 140$ CAD i dont think ill buy a cake soon even the sample is a little over 14$ CAD. but slightly better than 2003 cnnp mengsong iron cake which can be found here —→ https://yunnansourcing.com/products/2003-cnnp-mengsong-qiao-mu-iron-cake-raw-pu-erh-tea-cake

i love both

I did not have high expectations regarding the taste, but as soon as I took a sip of the brew, I was amazed. The taste is clear, sweet, well defined, fruity, and in every aspect quite ‘sheng-like’. The taste covers the mouth and leaves and aftertaste of old wood, which changes to bubbling and almost minty fruitiness when I inhale. Very complex and high quality!

After the early morning stint with a young sheng I have now moved to the opposite extreme. I am now sipping a 1999 sheng that is trying to be shou. It is a half fermented raw pu’er with around 17 years of age: 1999 Hua Yuan “Jing Brand” raw pu’er from Yunnan Sourcing. A very clean and pleasant tea that was very well stored with the only light wet piling aspect coming through from the wet leaves and not transpiring to the liquor. Next week I am buying a cake for further storage.

2.9gms 100 degrees C 55ml pot

Pu’erh TTB 2015 Tea #18

This was one smooth tea. The liquid was rather dark leading me to think I’d pick up a strong taste, but it’s a calm/weak tea. While I enjoyed the multiple steeps of liquid that didn’t disrupt my tastebuds or awaken them to something new, this isn’t something I would see myself buying. If it was a bit stronger and kept the smoothness I would actually consider it because it was very close to having a silk like texture along with the finish it was overall clean.

From the Sheng&Shou TTB2:

This tea was an interesting journey. It started out with medium body; rich with depth of flavor. Not much aroma. Not sure how to describe the flavor. By the third, steep it was still rich and smooth with different flavor: wood, tobacco, and a little straw. Still very nice. 4th (30s): Rich and sweet and fruity. good texture in the mouth. Bumped my rating up a couple of notches. 5th (40s): Still full: tobacco and wood. Never had much in the way of nose: the one drawback. 5th (60s): Woody and slightly bitter. no longer special.

I’m now at the 7th steep and there is a bit of tar entering the flavor. At its best this was a very enjoyable tea. It was always pleasant and I liked the different faces it showed me as I steeped it. I"m not giving a rating, partly because I have a hard time rating puerh and partly because it was very good at its best, but only average for several steeps.

1999 HUA YUAN “JING BRAND” RAW PU-ERH TEA CAKE

7g used.
Summary: This tea is highly compressed, and I found I had to break it up (with a spoon) to allow the full flavours to come out. With this tea being a mixture of raw (half fermented) and ripe pu-erh, it gives an interesting mix swaying between two teas but also combines together at other times. Highlights include a metallic taste and the depth and creaminess it develops in later steeps.
Dry leaf: Looks like cooked purer, only slightly lighter. The aroma is hay.
Wet leaf: It smells like a ripe purer with some raw pu-erh; it is lightly floral and herby. However once it cools, it smells quite different: it is creamy and smooth with some wood shavings.
My thoughts are: will dark creamy cooked pu-erh go together well with bright, sharp raw pu-erh or will it be like putting milk in green tea? (I did that once and couldn’t drink it)
5s – The aroma is mostly of ripe pu-erh, although with the rawness, it smells like hot raspberries/rhubarb crumble (dark fruit contrasting with sweet sugariness). Liquor is pale brown. It taste like sheng towards the end of a session when the full body has gone. There are hints of the raw, but only faintly. I wouldn’t describe this as complex.
10s – Slightly darker, pale brown. Aroma has soil and warm pastry. Tastes like a mild ripe pu-erh with some fruit.
1 minute – I brewed it for longer as it wasn’t giving much flavour. Darker browny red. Still mild ripe with a bit of fruit.
20s – (Stabbed it with a spoon and found it was quite hard). Liquor is dark brown and looks ready for drinking. It is refreshing, creamy, but not warm milk creamy. It has a metallic taste that makes it interesting.
30s – Now it’s there. A marriage of ripe and raw pu-erh; concentrated herbyness takes on a dark, complex direction I’ve not tasted before. The raw pu-erh now dominates.
40s – Back to ripe pu-erh again. Will it make it’s mind up? A fruity ripe, with bite and some complexity. (I stabbed it with a spoon some more) Dark brown now – darkest yet. There is friction between the ripe and raw; there is depth, boldness and bite. Stimulating.
60s – Hints of White2Teas 90s Hong Kong, but more mellow. This tea is still going strong.