You’ve got to enjoy this wrapper! Also known as The Wild Elephant King cake, this is a blend of Naka and Bulang material. At the price I paid, it was a great bargain purchase given the high quality. The visual appeal of the cake is acceptable, not beautiful by any means, but pleasant looking. The level of compression makes it fairly easy to pick apart and produce a mixture of whole leaves and pieces. The dry leaf offers a pleasant smell which became sweeter as the leaves steeped. The liquor is dark brass in color. The sip conveys what I would term power with a definite sweetness – clean, strong and smooth with a very nice cooling effect. The activity in the mouth is strong and clean offering a swelling sensation with nice huigan. The leaf has good endurance and remained strong and flavorful through ten resteeps. At the end of the tea session I was left in a very thoughtful meditative state which persisted for about two hours.
Purchased from White2Tea in June for $34.50 (quite a bargain). Unfortunately the current price is $115 (a true indication of the escalating price of Naka tea products during the past 12-18 months).
Preparation
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that Naka :)
This tea sounds really good
oh my god. I would kill for this, based on the elephant alone…
Sil – I agree with you. That’s what caught my eye anyway and at the time I bought it, there were really no Steepster notes (only one very old one from someone I did not know) but the low price for an “aged” cake and I trust Paul so I added it to an order of YiWu teas. Now I am glad I did it.
Boychik – yes Naka teas are very interesting. I am trying to round out my puerh collection with teas representing different tea growing areas and this week and next I hope to taste from Naka, Mengsong, and Hekai. I think they are each special in their own way.
I think I need to explore Naka a bit.I have some Mengsong fro mDayi and some Hekai from White2tea I looked at that cake a while back also. I got to learn to buy faster..
Is this the cake that is a Naka/Bulang blend?
Cwyn – yes it is.
I may have to talk someone out of a sample of this. That blend sounds good as I know I like Bulang already.
the cake more tripled?!?!? I just bought a sample at 11.5/oz damn wish I had discovered this site sooner
Jiang Luo – He bought the first cakes before Naka products started to soar in price. I was fortunate for I just bought it to have my first taste of leaf from Naka. The prices for Naka cakes are now ridiculously high!
would you say the cake is worth the $115 price tag?
I tried this tea after a year and it gave a pretty good session. I bought 2 cakes for 34.50, probably one of the best investments I did :)
I agree – this was a steal at $34 (now $115)! Mine was at that lower price as well.
that Naka :)
This tea sounds really good
oh my god. I would kill for this, based on the elephant alone…
Sil – I agree with you. That’s what caught my eye anyway and at the time I bought it, there were really no Steepster notes (only one very old one from someone I did not know) but the low price for an “aged” cake and I trust Paul so I added it to an order of YiWu teas. Now I am glad I did it.
Boychik – yes Naka teas are very interesting. I am trying to round out my puerh collection with teas representing different tea growing areas and this week and next I hope to taste from Naka, Mengsong, and Hekai. I think they are each special in their own way.
I think I need to explore Naka a bit.I have some Mengsong fro mDayi and some Hekai from White2tea I looked at that cake a while back also. I got to learn to buy faster..
Is this the cake that is a Naka/Bulang blend?
Cwyn – yes it is.
I may have to talk someone out of a sample of this. That blend sounds good as I know I like Bulang already.
the cake more tripled?!?!? I just bought a sample at 11.5/oz damn wish I had discovered this site sooner
Jiang Luo – He bought the first cakes before Naka products started to soar in price. I was fortunate for I just bought it to have my first taste of leaf from Naka. The prices for Naka cakes are now ridiculously high!
would you say the cake is worth the $115 price tag?
I tried this tea after a year and it gave a pretty good session. I bought 2 cakes for 34.50, probably one of the best investments I did :)
I agree – this was a steal at $34 (now $115)! Mine was at that lower price as well.