2007 Bo Nan Mountain Yun Wu Yuan Cha Raw Pu-erh Tea Cake

So good! I don’t review very many teas because the flavors are so subjective. But, this is one of my favorites at this price point. I recommend this tea to be drank from a snifter or nosing glass. It’s aged well, not too wet or dry. It’s crisp and clean, but with the richness of an aged pu’erh. Complex, but not muddy. It’s a thinker…which allows the pallet to explore and study in a dark-wooded, leather furnished, old library.

Received as a sample from Togo. Thanks :)

Dry leaf has some good age on it and smells as such, with other notes of dirt, dates, faint florals and apricot. Warming and rinsing releases aromas of ash, light dried apricot, bitter black olives, sawdust, clay and old dry dark wood.

The taste of the liquor is distinctly different from the smell of the leaves. It’s light-bodied and very clean with mostly minerals, grass, herbs, green wood and light dried apricot. The flavors and some astringency peak in the first few steeps and slowly fade from there. Toward the middle of the session some complementary bitterness comes in, adding some depth to the liquor and then fades away. Sweetness was never present for me.

I really enjoyed the clean character of this puerh. It would be a great daily drinker, especially for green tea lovers looking for an aging sheng.

The last of the four cakes I bought from boychik is this budget semi-aged sheng. Today’s session was very nice, with a bit more body and more pungent character than when I tried it a few weeks ago. Apart from having acclimatized by now, I think that preparing it in a larger gaiwan also helped. Even though this particular cake has been stored by boychik for a few years, the notes are very similar to the ones from the sample I got from YS more than a year ago. Nevertheless, I do detect some more tartness. In the aroma, it’s an alcohol like scent of fermented fruits, while in the taste it manifests itself through a grape skin flavour. Forest notes like moss and tree bark are also quite present, as is the camphor in the aftertaste. Apart from being cooling, mouthfeel is also slightly numbing I’d say.

I am very happy that this tea expanded my tiny collection of aged sheng, and I have no doubt I will be drinking quite a bit of it in the near future.

A nice aged-ish orange liquor from this one, I’ve aired it for a couple months now and all but a hint of those wet humid storage flavors have lifted, leaving mainly the aged flavor behind. A good relaxing vibe from this tea, it is a bit rough while opening up, but smooths into a more creamy texture and a distinct sweetness by the fifth or sixth steep. Not super complex or deep, but not boring either, and the more mellow woody background of a few years of aging present. Went for a respectable 11 or 12 steeps if I recall correctly and the energy is nice and relaxing.

This was a quite good mid aged tea for the price and would make a good daily drinker, in my opinion if the flavor appeals to you. Nothing outstanding, but very solid and enjoyable. There also seems to be some evolution in store for this tea to go as well, based on the astringent ‘bite’ still going strong in the first four or five steeps. I can also definitely see certain flavors in this evolving into a strong date sweetness with time as it’s currently flirting with that as it is.

This cake is complicated. I like it. A lot.
The completely conflicting reviews I’ve read are interesting. Some say due to wet storage this cake is very aged for only being a 2007, others state a lack of any wet storage notes. I’d have to agree with….. both. This cake is very interesting, especially for the price.
Not overly aromatic sitting in the wrapper, but upon steeping this up I immediately noticed a lot of green left in the leaves and a noticeable flowery fragrance. While still being fairly green, I did get a hint of wet storage flavor in various steeps. Early on there was definite bitterness, but the age/wet storage was there as well. Around steep number 5 or 6 this cake hit a beautiful balance of sharp young sheng flavors I enjoy and a slight aged profile to smooth it out.
I would definitely recommend this cake to several people:
-Anyone just starting to get into aged cakes, as it’s not overly aggresive with the aged or wet storage profile
-Someone who doesn’t completely favor young or aged sheng, as this has enjoyable qualitaties of both
-Anyone on a budget, it’s stupidly affordable for what’s being offered
-Someone looking for a cheap cake to continually drink and follow the aging process without worrying too much about it

From the Pu TTB

A nice slightly aged sheng thats lost most of its greenness. Sweet and herbaceous with notes of sugarcane, basil, and moss. Slightly vegetal and mineral with a floral rose quality. I liked this one quite a bit and decided to pick up a cake, it’s a good price for a tea with a little age behind its back.

Started alittle bitter for me but then 5 steepings in, a sweet almost sugarcane note hit the tip of my tongue and surrounded my upper mouth, then 4 more steepings later a floral smell to the nose was quite pleasant. Sadly i had to go to work so i didnt get to continue, I believe it was only going to get better

I brewed up about 5 1/2 to 6 grams in a 100ml gaiwan at 210f. I started this off at about 205 but due to the light nature of this tea I bumped it up to 210. This is my first encounter with a humid stored sheng but I detected no “mustiness” etc. and other reviews reflect the same sentiment. This has a very interesting nose. In the beginning, the wet leaf smells of apricot/fruit and a medicinal quality/antique store. This is a really smooth tea almost too smooth for me but maybe I should abuse it a little bit more and see how it gives. It starts off thin and with a nice fruity and floral taste with a bit of the medicinal quality. After pushing it a bit and getting into the heart of the steeps (about number 4) this tea started to show itself. A nice sweet taste with lots of floral tones in the nose and taste. At about steep 4 a really nice returning sweetness starts to come into play on the back of the tongue. A very nice sweet/floral sheng with some age. I like this tea and plan to revisit it again soon. For me the only thing to get a bit more acquainted with would be the medicinal taste. Its not off-putting in any way but definitely different for me. Not sure if its because of the humid storage or just the area/leaf/processing although I have heard of this taste in many different shengs. All in all I would recommend this tea. It is very smooth and sweet. Don’t be afraid to push it a bit. Lastly I shall speak on my favorite quality of this tea: The Qi. This tea is so calming that I actually feel a bit stoned from it. So that said, it makes a great calming cup for when you want to relax. Enjoy.

I just grabbed a sample of this from YS. It tastes considerably older than a 2007 due to the humid storage, but it’s really clean. Has a little of that ‘old house’ smell which I love. It’s smooth, floral (rose-y), and sweet. Hardly any bitterness at all. If I have any complaints it’s that it might be a little too smooth. But overall this tea is an absolute bargain!

This tea is really quite good. There is little bitterness. A sweet character to this tea. Like the Yunnan Sourcing description says it has a light floral character and is slightly astringent. This cake was a bargain at only $24. Despite the description saying this was wet stored, I didn’t taste any notes of wet wood or mustiness at all. It was certainly cleanly stored if it was wet stored.

I steeped this ten times in a 120ml gaiwan with 8g leaf and boiling water. I gave it a 10 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, 30 sec, 45 sec, and 1 min. The tea was not finished at ten steeps. I’m sure I could have gotten another five or six steeps out of the tea had I wanted to continue.