Tuo Cha 1990

I’ve been searching for a decent aged puerh to stock up on, so that I can have something to sip on and relax with. However, this will not be the one. The leaf is incredibly compressed and very dark with tones of intense spiced wood, dry, tobacco, and faint antique furniture. I grabbed my zini and warmed it up and placed a few crumbly pebbles inside. The aroma opens into some dry pipe tobacco, leather, petricor, and wood. I washed the leaves once and preparred for brewing. The taste begins sweet and smooth with some dustiness and earthy tones. The brew continues in the same manner and pronounced dryness arises later on. The body is medium thick and the brew is mostly clean. The qi is present, but I wouldn’t call it particularly involved with the tea. The brew continues in this manner and it doesn’t develop any further. My problem with this tea is that I believe the high price is only due to its age; which I don’t think is fair. The brew is very dusty, the taste is bit unclear, and there is no prominent complexity, and the qi is quite lacking. If this was lower, than I think this would be a fair lil tuocha, but at just under a dollar/g plus high shipping; this is not a good buy for me.

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I got 7g sample with my recent order.
I havent had many aged sheng due to it usually very expensive. So glad i got a chance to try.
Let me just say i enjoyed it a lot. Dark burgundy soup, no funky smell, tastes clean,almost like shou but not quite. still slight bitterness on a background showing true raw nature.
It is sweet, has notes of good quality leather and dried persimmons. some beet root but not overpowering.
i expect to brew it at least 3 days. this kind of tea usually is very durable. will see.
If i ever win a lottery ticket i know exactly what im going to buy after giving some portion to a charity of course ;D

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Day3. Still strong

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Got a sample of this with a recent order, it is the oldest pu erh I think I’ve tried. I found it very similar to the 1997 CNNP I got from Streetshop88 that may well have been a fake. The tea was cola colored, with notes of medicine, mushroom, and a bit of earthiness. It had a long huigan. The soup was medium bodied and the leaves were not terribly long lived. In fact, I like the 1997 fake a little better.

I am finding it educational to taste teas of this age. This one was pretty good, and I was surprised how much it tasted like the other tea I mentioned. Though the 1997 was probably fake, it seems to me it was probably similarly aged. This 1990 was very likely not fake given the reliability of the seller. I have yet to try a real quality aged pu erh from gushu material, I wonder how that would taste.

Dry leaf: Small chunks, lots of dust/tiny bits of leaves. The aroma is earthy and light raw beetroot
In a rinsed Gaiwan: Burning wood; very dusty; toasty.
Wet leaf: Pigeon loft / Chicken shed; church; some bright notes like subdued polish (Mr Sheen in UK). I know the aroma of polish as I just polished an hour ago.

Summary: A tea with an aged flavour, well controlled; some peppery smoke develops; an Islay whisky finish develops.

5s – Light brown liquor. Very bright on the first sip; it feels like it sizzles in my mouth. Flavour has some pigeon loft / chicken shed, but it has dry fruit and has cinnamon on the swallow. Soft and almost chalky mouth-feel. The finish lingers with some chicken shed, and the feeling I get is peaceful. Snow has landed softly on the ground to rest.
10s – Medium brown liquor. Not a thick mouth feel. Perhaps the chicken shed is the storage flavour? This reminds me of 1980’s Tong Qing Hao Tea Cake by SampleTea. There is a little bitterness on the swallow, which adds a nice finish to the body which is smooth, chicken shed and remarkably controlled. This differs from younger shengs in that there is no harsh bitterness and is not as bright; this tea is very mellow in tone. I can still taste the chicken shed when finishing the cup, when swallowing and when breathing out.
15s – Darker brown liquor. It’s interesting that I seem to feel the effect of the tea while it is in my mouth and before I swallow, almost as if swallowing is superfluous. It makes me feel relaxed.

Reboiled kettle.

20s – Darkish brown liquor. Some spice and peppery smoke give it a kick. Chicken shed faintly, but still in the background. Thin liquor. It is fruity, rather than woody; wet rather than dry, and fresh more than stale. The finish is slightly drying, spicy and has some similarities to an Islay whisky finish: that being slightly smoky, strong, some tobacco and complex.
25s – Medium/dark brown liquor. Definitely some dark chocolate, even glimpses of 100 cocoa. The smoke is fairly dry, but not overwhelming, though it does give some heat.
35s – Some sharpness appearing.
40s – Almost raw beetroot. The spiciness reminds me of 2005 Wild Tree “Ye Sheng Cha” Raw Puerh Tea Brick of Dehong by Yunnan.

After initially sampling this last year I was so impressed that I had to get a whole 250 gram Tuo. My review score may seem very high, however I only reserve this score for what I consider to be the better puerhs I have tasted. A day off from work today and I decided to chip away a big 14 gram chunk and steep it in my 250ml teapot. Here are my notes.

I use boiling water throughout…this tuo breaks up quicker than the Wild Quarter brick I recently reviewed. I sniff the wet leaves…deeply rich aged aroma, sweetness but there is a robust strength there too. I already have a good feeling about this tea session.

After the quick rinse I do my first proper steep at about 15 seconds. Already the liquid has become a lovely dark red/orange. I let it cool down for a minute or two and slowly sip the brew. Clean, smooth, clear and precise. Liquid is already thickening up very nicely, a trait that I always enjoy in my puerh. Rich, robust aged taste. Numbing sensation already beginning to develop on my tongue…I take a deep breath in maximising the cooling affect.

Second steep I decide to push the puerh at 30 seconds. Colour of the liquid is now basically dark red. The same rich, robust aged taste. Noticing some pleasant sweetness at the back of the throat, however there is a pleasant tartness there as well, probably due to the slightly longer steep. The tartness is not bitter or unpleasant, it complements the sweetness and creates a rather interesting taste sensation at the back of the throat. Liquid has now starting to become really thick creating a lovely coating in my whole mouth. Bursts of sweetness, tartness and deeply aged flavour=YUM.

I continue to steep this with varying times past a litre and am rewarded with the same great taste. I honestly have nothing negative to say about this puerh. It is exactly what I expect a good quality aged puerh to taste like. It is an old puerh, but still has the tamed strength of youth. You can do what you want with it…if you want a milder brew 10 seconds is good, if you want a more powerful, flavourful brew 30 seconds or more.

I personally think the leaves are not particularly high grade, however my feeling is that the storage was impeccable. There is not too much to say except I think this is an excellent example of drier stored puerh, that is ready to drink right now. I could attempt to age it a bit more but I don’t really see the point. It has the perfect balance of aged and youth.

Price wise it is not inexpensive at a cost of 165 euros per 250 grams, however it is a fair price for a puerh of this age. I consider this to be one of the best aged examples I have tried, only being beaten slightly by EOT 1991 Private Order. I would love to keep this and save it for special times but the reality is it does not stay on my shelf too long before I want more of it. Definitely worth at least one sample to try. I have a feeling that the price will shoot up at some point and I will kick myself for not getting another Tuo. Anyway I have said enough…for me this is puerh heaven.

Many thanks to Peter at pu-erh.sk for this excellent example of dried storage puerh.