Same cake owned by DigniTea from ChaWangShop, and reviewed by Hobbes as follows
http://half-dipper.blogspot.com/2007/10/2003-manluo-yiwu-zhengshan.html
Anyone who knows both the above fellows, I’d be intensely curious to see what the difference is in all the storage conditions this cake is available from – not that this is likely to occur.
The posting at Puerhshop notes that this cake takes a while to get going. I had incorrectly presumed this meant due to tight compression, or reticent leaf. It was thus to my surprise that the first few steeps were incredibly earthy, fairly bitter, and not terribly enjoyable.
If you push through that, however, you are rewarded with a very enjoyable brew, closer to the light and sweet Yiwu taste but punchy enough to keep it interesting. I suspect ChawangShop’s storage would be wetter, and minimize the early unpleasantness – bit at this writing Puerhshop is half the price, so it’s a value proposition everyone has to consider for themselves.
The material does not lead me to suspect the claims of ancient tree are necessarily above board – but at $50 per ten-year-old cake, did anyone really expect them to be?