DirkWolters Send Message

I couldn’t help but order a cake at a random Ebay store. It’s quite cheap, and on TaoBao it is even a lot cheaper in the Shudaizi flagship store (about 5 euro for a 200g cake… ). With around 14.000 items of it sold (and thousands of reviews for just this cake) on their TaoBao store this must be produced on a pretty large scale.

The wrapped cake smells strongly of puer, it’s a nice deep tobaccoish smell. The cake looks good with mostly fairly large dark grey leaves, not so many unopened buds.

After the rinse the smell of the leaves is very fresh, deep and citrusy and really sweet. The liquor has that nice yellow, almost greenish color of very young pu-erh. The liquor is smooth and without any bitterness or astringency, but also doesn’t have much strength in taste or aftertaste. It feels clean, but boring as well. Could be that it is still a bit subdued because it is only a few months old. The brewed leaves are quite variable, with a few that have some local oxidation and a couple that are much greener than the rest. There is a noticeable cha chi.

Not sure if I would recommend this tea to anyone. I guess it’s refreshing but I’m not sure if I will enjoy it enough as a daily drinker at work. [edit after a week: yes, I actually enjoy this as a daily drinker. It seems to have improved after its arrival.]

I have heard quite a few times that this would a malicious brand that produces ‘tuition tea’ that is not worth buying, but my general impression is still that they seem to offer a really good price/quality ratio, especially when you buy on TB.

I really like it. It is sweet and there is a peaty kind of fullness to the afternaste. No bitterness, nice coating astringency that isn’t drying.

Nice strong tea. Smokey and spice-like, piney actually. Good bitterness. It actually reminds me quite much of the 2006 CNNP 8891.

It is a smooth, sweet tea with pronounced notes of dried fruits. Very pleasant. I recall that the 2012 version that I had around 2018 was even better, with a thicker mouthfeel and stronger aromas. Perhaps that can be accounted to the age difference of 6 versus 2 years?

This tea is also really, really cheap.

I bought this tea (together with a 2010 7572) I think in 2018 from someone who had bought it on a trip to China. The price was good for me, around 35$ for the two cakes.

I don’t really know what to think of it. It has some nice fruity aspects and some smoke and bitterness. Also it seems to be acquiring some warming basement-like aromas, which I like. Not sure if those were already there when I bought it. But this tea isn’t really sweet and also the texture is pretty thin. The brew has a typical orange color of semi-aged pu-erh.

Smooth and full sheng pu-erh, well-balanced with some fruity and some smokey notes. Not very refined or complex but really enjoyable.

This is quite nice. It has the typical Xiaguan sweet and smoky profile. It seems a little less pungent and a little easier on the palate than the 2006 Te Ji that is my main Xiaguan reference. Very cheap and great value.

Very aromatic and floral black tea. I get a lot of cinnamon. I do think though that I won’t be byuing a lot of black tea from outside of Yunnan in the future. This just doesn’t have the body and substance and ‘feel’ of a good dianhong. Aromas feel more and more like a secondary thing for me. I need some of that Assamica punch in a black tea.

This is a very aromatic and enjoyable Dian Hong. The aromas are indeed quite complex, with notes of dried fruits and honey. It feels a little harsh and somewhat less smooth and more astringent than most Dian Hongs but maybe that’s also because it’s only 5 months old?