One of a few sheng samples I picked up from BTT a little while ago. I have heard that some of their stuff is really dank, so I was sort of prepared for that going in. The dry leaf definitely does smell a little bit humid, and also has a slightly sweet woody character. After a rinse, the aroma was much more musty/humid.
The flavor, unsurprisingly, started off pretty dank. It was only really up front about it for the first 2-3 steeps though. After that, it was a much more mellow woody, earthy flavor. It’s evident this tea wasn’t super-humidly stored, as it still has some youth to it. The steeped out leaves still show a bit of a green hue, and the tea can definitely get astringent (even a little sour) if oversteeped. The tea brews out for a decent while as well. Texture is pleasantly thick. I didn’t pick up much of any qi off of the tea.
Potentially a good daily drinker type of cake for somebody who prefers aged sheng. It’s not complex, but it’s pleasant and at $79 for a full-sized cake, is a pretty good value for decent (not amazing) 15 year old tea.
Flavors: Earth, Musty, Sweet, Wood
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Hey, @Matu, have you steeped this since your review from 8 yr ago? I have a cake of it and find it has remarkably improved! I also find (using the wayback machine) that BTTC’s provenance claims have evolved over the years that they sold it, at one point explaining: This one is probably made by a smaller factory in the Menghai area as a copy of the famous 7542 recipe in the early 2000’s (we have the date as 2002).
And yet, by the time I bought it (in 2022) they had shortened the description to flat out claimed it as older: “Zhong Cha Kunming Tea Factory Green Stamp 7542 blend. Natural dry storage. 1990’s.” They also added “Aged raw pu-erh with a nice camphor fragrance, not bitter and on the sweeter side. Won’t foam. Good tea worth collecting.” I find other variations, too, but the pictures of the cake, wrapper, and printed insert always are the same, and match the cake I have.
Whether it’s from 2002 or the prior decade, and whether it’s genuine 7542 or a reproduction, I agree with the latter statements on the camphor fragrance and about it now being a good tea!
Hey, @Matu, have you steeped this since your review from 8 yr ago? I have a cake of it and find it has remarkably improved! I also find (using the wayback machine) that BTTC’s provenance claims have evolved over the years that they sold it, at one point explaining: This one is probably made by a smaller factory in the Menghai area as a copy of the famous 7542 recipe in the early 2000’s (we have the date as 2002).
And yet, by the time I bought it (in 2022) they had shortened the description to flat out claimed it as older: “Zhong Cha Kunming Tea Factory Green Stamp 7542 blend. Natural dry storage. 1990’s.” They also added “Aged raw pu-erh with a nice camphor fragrance, not bitter and on the sweeter side. Won’t foam. Good tea worth collecting.” I find other variations, too, but the pictures of the cake, wrapper, and printed insert always are the same, and match the cake I have.
Whether it’s from 2002 or the prior decade, and whether it’s genuine 7542 or a reproduction, I agree with the latter statements on the camphor fragrance and about it now being a good tea!