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85
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drank 2004 "Millenial Old Tree" Big Snow Mountain Mengku Raw Pu-erh Tea Cake by Yunnan Sourcing
261 tasting notes

5g in 100ml gaiwan

- Dry leaves smell slightly musty like an old room, but no fishiness, can tell it’s cleanly aged.
- Rinsed once. Wet leaves strong whiff of tobacco, someone just lit up a cigarette next to me. Like being at Gong Gong’s house. Upon further smelling, heavy sweetness like dried longans or red jujubes.

- First infusion (91˚C, 0:15)
- Liquor is the colour of brown citrine, reminds me of cheng tng. Tastes sweet, slight fruitiness, slight smokiness and some mushrooms and umami. But texture is thin and not much body or aftertaste.
- Rating: 80
- Second infusion (96˚C, 0:20)
- I’m very impressed by how intact and unbroken the leaves are, no small pieces.
- Darker orange colour, a bit more full-bodied, with a sweet-sour aftertaste on tongue.
- Rating: 83
- Third infusion (99˚C, 0:20)
- Whoa mushrooms! And more dried fruit and pleasant light smokey flavour. A tingling sensation on the tongue like menthol (similar to what I experienced with the 2018 He Tao Di yesterday). Now I feel like I’m getting the full flavour of the tea.
- Rating: 90
- Fourth infusion (100˚C, 0:20)
- Very drinkable, a bit bitter but although the thought popped into my head: do I really want to drink such a smokey-tasting raw pu-erh all day? I like the sweet aftertaste though.
- Rating: 85
- Fifth infusion (96˚C, 0:25)
- No sweetness in the liquor but some lingers faintly in the aftertaste. Quite a bit of astringency dryness on tongue afterwards but still decently pleasant. Cha qi is not strong for this one, which is fine for me.
- Rating: 83
- Sixth infusion (100˚C, 0:25)
- Rating: 86
- Seventh infusion (100˚C, 0:30)
- This is very enjoyable drunk with my quinoa salad lunch which is a bit dry.
- Rating: 87
- 8th to 10th infusions: Did not rate, but this powered through the afternoon to pair with my 6pm snack

Verdict: At $95 for a 357g cake this seems like good value for an aged sheng. I wanna taste the other aged raw pu-ers I bought in upcoming order before deciding whether to purchase a full cake.
Rating: 85

Flavors: Dried Fruit, Mushrooms, Musty, Smoke, Tobacco

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 0 min, 15 sec 5 g 3 OZ / 100 ML
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Bio

Amateur tea enthusiast here. I told myself I would start with studying Chinese teas when I first encountered good tea at Song Tea in San Francisco in 2016, and it’s now 2023 and I feel like I’m still just beginning to scratch the surface of Chinese teas.

Maybe someday I will move on to Indian, Japanese, Korean, etc. teas…

For my day job I work in tech as well as write some fiction on the side.

The next step in my tea journey is to start training my nose with an aroma kit to get a more precise handle on floral notes.

My Tea Rating Scale: (adapted from @benmw)
100 : Unforgettable, life-changing tea experience.
95–99: Extraordinary – Beyond impressive.
90–94: Impressive – Deep complexity, extreme clarity, or unexpected discovery of wonderful flavor. Made me reconsider the category. Would always want to drink this if I had the chance.
80–89: Delicious – Nuanced, balanced, clear, and complex layering of flavors. Would probably buy this tea again.
70–79: Very Good – Nuanced flavors, perhaps not as balanced or complex as the next step up, but clear and very enjoyable. Would consider buying again if the price was right.
60–69: Good – Clear flavors, representative of the category, but doesn’t set a standard. Good as an everyday tea. Would not buy unless desperate (e.g. when travelling without access to better tea).
50–59: Average. Would not pay money for this, but would drink if it was provided FOC.
30–49: Below Average. Would not drink this again even if it were free.
0–29: Undrinkable. Could not even finish the cup.

Location

Singapore

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