Menghai Palace Ripened Pu-erh Cake Tea 2008

I am not a pu-erh drinker, let me say that right out. I have one or two I like, but overall I don’t reach for it. So read this review with a grain of salt, because I really don’t know what I’m doing.

The directions on the sample said to brew for 3-10 minutes in 17 ounces of water. So I got out my 16 ounce nordic mug and brewed it for 2 minutes, but first I let it brew for 30 seconds and threw that out as a rinse.

The smell of the brewed tea is very earthy. Reminds me of when I’ve just opened up Pao’s cage and the smell of the wet soil hits me. Not a bad thing, just different. I smell hay too.

Now, don’t shoot me. I added two teaspoons of sugar because that is how I take every tea I drink. Without the sugar, I am guaranteed not to like it, so I’d rather add sugar for a tasting note so I’m not just sipping it, thinking “this needs sugar, I don’t like it”.

I don’t really know how to describe what I’m tasting. It’s earthy and nutty and sweet. I…I’m enjoying, but I’ve not become a convert by any means. It’s alright, but not something I could ever see myself reaching for. I’m not rating it because it’s not fair for me to negatively rate something I knew I wouldn’t enjoy.

Thank you, TeaVivre, for letting me try this tea, you are extremely generous!

I’m finding this tea quite bitter, first and second infusions. I thought I let the first infusion go too long, so I reduced the time, but the bitterness is still there. It’s still drinkable, and I’ll keep going as long as the leaves keep giving.

Both infusions brew up really dark, like coffee, and it is strong. The first infusion was earthy and bitter. I did pick up dates too.

Infusion two is earthy and bitter, with a bit of nuttiness.

Because of the bitterness, it’s not really a favourite of mine, but for now it’s keeping me warm on this really cold day.

Thanks for sharing Cameron B!

This is an excellent tea. I received a free sample of this from Angel at Teavivre some time ago. I reviewed the tea then. I finally got around to buying a cake of this tea. This is one tasty puerh. It has partially cleared as far as fermentation flavor. There is still some but it is not too dominant. The first notes I got from this tea were sweet notes. Around the third infusion some bitterness crept in. This did not last long and it was back to a sweet flavor. There were some notes that could be called caramel and others that were fruity, perhaps dates is an appropriate description. I steeped the hell out of this tea this time, giving it twelve steeps. It was pretty much finished at twelve but I think I could have gotten about two more steeps out of it with longer times. There were basically no negative notes to this tea. I don’t consider the mild bitterness to be a negative note. In particular there were no sour notes and no notes of wet storage. This tea has probably been dry stored. I am not sure about the storage climate where Teavivre is located but I would be very surprised if this had been wet stored.

I steeped this twelve times in a 120ml gaiwan with 8.6g leaf and boiling water. I gave it a 10 second rinse and a 10 minute rest. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, 30 sec, 45 sec, 1 min, 1.5 min, and 2 min. The tea was not entirely played out at twelve steeps but it was close. Overall I still really like this tea. The cake matches up to the sample sent to me months ago.

I’ve been drinking this with my mum over the last couple of days, and she found it very nice, quite light, and calming.

I didn’t enjoy it as much, but I’m not sure why – it has a lovely earthy-leather scent, and the early steeps were nicely sweet – a little syrup-ish (in a nice, caramel way). It wasn’t too overpowering (very strong puerhs aren’t to my taste much), but it didn’t quite come together for me; the shous I’ve enjoyed the most have a woody or woodsmoke undertone, so maybe I’m just missing that darker note.

Again my thanks to Angel and Teavivre for this sample!

Unlike some (or many), I happen to enjoy the Pu-erh teas a lot, particularly in the morning. The strong leathery/earthy smell and taste seem to help my brain kick into gear as I start my day. Maybe this species acts as a form of smelling salts for me. Whatever it is, I like it!

When I opened the sample package, the ol’ trusty leathery smell jumped from within. I steeped the “cake” (which resembled matted brown grass and sticks) for nine minutes. The recommended maximum steep time was 10 minutes so I decided to push the envelope today.

With nine minutes of steeping under its belt, the brewed liquor was a very dark brown that almost approached the black end of the color spectrum. The brewed aroma had Pu-erh written all over it: leathery, earthy, robust.

The taste of this tea, even after almost maximum steeping time, was amazingly smooth and delicious. The expected leather and earth flavors were strong and enunciated. But, there was also a slightly sweet characteristic in the taste. My taste buds detected no astringency whatsoever. The aftertaste was surprisingly smooth and did not linger more than a few moments.

This is a greatly satisfying new tea offering from Teavivre. 2008 must have been a superb year for Pu-erh. Folks seem to either love or hate this tea type. If you already love Pu-erh, you will love LOVE this Pu-erh!

I’m glad I only had one sample packet of this. It is drinkable, but not my favorite shu ever.

First steep was a little musty…subsequent steeps are a little more open, with a sweetness and nuttiness. Not bad, but not something I’d purchase :)

Well! this was a bold move, but one I have made successfully before!

A lady was coming over whom I met over 25 years ago, but our interaction has been a once a year email to confirm her address and the occasional “Hi! How are you?” in the grocery store.

I invited her for tea and she accepted. I asked about preferences and she said she liked hot tea but drinks a few herbals and some things from the grocery in bags that she wasn’t really sure what exactly they were. She described a bitter black tea that someone gave her and she hated.

I chose to open with a second steep pot of this puerh! So many people, including myself and some of my friends here, were afraid of puerh at first. I am finding it to be a great opening tea for newbies, though.

Bottom line – we sniffed it, commented on the aroma, I said barn, she said horse manure, we laughed, she drank, she…..LIKED it! A LOT!

It was paired with toasted bread, crusts off, topped with diced German Johnson tomatoes from my garden with Brie melted on top and Sunny Paris seasoning which has the most delicious bits of purple shallots. It was really nice together because the pu held its own with the food. She refilled her cup several times before moving on to the next two teas. One of which totally won her heart….

I am really determined to be a pu person. It reminds me a lot of when I started drinking wine, and I thought the Moscatos and Masvasias were the end-all, be-all of wines. Then as I got further along my wine spectrum, I started appreciating the heartier, heavier ones that tasted awful to me at the beginning. Instinct tells me that that will happen with tea too, and I’m pushing ahead to get there.

So, this tea. I used all of the envelope, because it looked like a single serving. Now I know it was probably WAY overleafed, which explains a lot. It was crazy dark. I didn’t even let it steep, because as soon as I put the water in, it was dark like tobacco juice (ever have a grasshopper spit on you?)

I remember back when I was just getting weaned from tea bags, the thought of a tea tasting like sweet potatoes made me go “yeah, right” – and now I drink teas like that just about daily. So I was a bit “yeah right”-y about the whole leather, barnyard, tobacco, etc. profile. But it’s there. No fishy smell or flavor, which was nice.

Anyway, I drank it until I gave out. It didn’t. So I set the gaiwan in the fridge and will play with it again today.

The funny part was, my 18-year-old daughter came by and tried it, and liked it right away.

Looks like tonight is a night of pu. This has the typical wet earth/pond water smell that I associate with puerh. I used the big chunk (maybe 8-9g) with 7-8 oz of boiling water. I started with 2 20 second rinses, and then did 20,20,25,25,30,35 second steeps. The tea liquor is the deepest darkest red tinged brown, it almost looks squishy and inky.

Taste wise, this is earthy but sort of nutty and caramel like. Deep and dark and mysterious, but smooth and creamy and sweet. I don’t get the cocoa notes that I sometimes get from puerh, but it’s still good.

While listen to Amon Amarth, I decided to have some of this one. It has that dark, earthy scent I like about ripened pu-erh, and a bit of nut. The flavour is nicely on the sweet side. I get some hints of molasses. So far, I prefer ripened pu-erh.