1990's Hong Kong Style Storage Raw Puer

Tea type
Pu'erh Tea
Ingredients
Pu Erh Tea
Flavors
Smooth, Wet Earth, Wet Wood, Wood, Camphor, Musty, Sweet, Thick, Leather, Pepper, Dates, Medicinal, Earth, Mineral, Cedar
Sold in
Not available
Caffeine
High
Certification
Not available
Edit tea info Last updated by Cameron B.
Average preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 0 min, 15 sec 8 g 18 oz / 535 ml

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From Our Community

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17 Tasting Notes View all

  • “Drinking a 90s HK stored puer. It’s not labeled ripe or raw, but I’m pretty sure it’s a ripe because of it’s amazing creaminess. School has been extrememly busy lately, I come home at 7 everyday...” Read full tasting note
    100
  • “WHOA dirt! or is that ‘earth’…Either way, not much sweetness. 95ml F1 shuiping yixing, 6g is not sweet, but totally earthy, nearly dirt. A bit of wet wood, wet leather. The leaves are very brown...” Read full tasting note
  • “Warm, super smooth and slightly woody without the basement note of some traditional stored Shengs. Images and more at https://puerh.blog/teanotes/1990-hong-kong-style-sheng-w2t” Read full tasting note
    100
  • “Been looking forward to trying this one. Was glad to be able to get some of this from JWhisk’s stash. Steeped it at work to produce a nice, dark, thick smooth liquor and I had to come back to this...” Read full tasting note

From white2tea

This aged raw puer cake was produced in the 1990′s, but the exact production date is unclear. The cakes are originally unmarked, unwrapped, and in broken bamboo tongs. This is both a blessing and a curse, since the lack of wrappers and rough condition are what contribute to the low price for such an old tea, but the lack of information makes for an unclear origin. The soup is a deep red color and smooth enough to drink right away, with a lingering sweetness and soft mouthfeel. The tea has very little of the traditional storage flavor (wetness, humidity) left in the cup. It is very difficult to find other teas of this age and quality at this price point.

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17 Tasting Notes

80
17 tasting notes

First real aged sample, so take this with a grain of salt or two. Liquor was quite dark, slightly clearer and lighter than a typical shu. Deep, earthy, mineral flavors with a wonderful spiciness and a slight coating effect on the mouth. Another reviewer mentioned beetroot, which was definitely present too. A few pleasant little pinpricks on the tongue, probably from the slight bitterness this is still holding onto. Qi was less intense than from some younger teas I’ve had, but very deep and warm-feeling and not debilitating in the slightest. I was a little disappointed with the endurance — only got around 2 mugs out of it. Usual parameters, though I found myself extending steep times in the second mug. While it could be more complex and dynamic and lacks some endurance, I am very happy with this tea. One more sample from my order left to try, but I think I’ll put it off until the weekend (it’s the yexiangwang naka).

jschergen

Sounds like a good experience with more mature pu’erh! I think this is a very decent one.

I’m surprised at the lack of longevity, as I usually get this to at least 12-15 steeps. You might want to try giving this tea an hour or two break and revisiting it.

eyitsrichard

I have a cake of this. I agree with your opinion that it could be more complex, but for what it is, it is good tea!

I too am surprised at the lack of longevity. What are your brewing parameters?

Z_LAMP

5g leaf, 100ml gaiwan, 10s steep, boiling water.

jschergen

That’s slightly less leaf than I use, but I don’t think it’d make too much of a difference.

Wouldn’t surprise me if there’s a bit of variance in the leaves. I’ve been mainly poking around the edges of my cake.

Z_LAMP

I’ll have to try as you suggested with 7g leaf next time. I have more tea than I want per session usually, so stretching it out would probably be a good idea anyway.

eyitsrichard

I tend to use closer to 8-9g/100ml when I brew aged raw puerh, although that is just because I really like a strong, thick cup of tea.

To each their own, but you should definitely be getting more than 2 steeps :)

Z_LAMP

Oh, I suppose “mug” was a little ambiguous. When I say “mug” I mean 10+ oz coffee mug. I have to steep somewhere in the neighborhood of 7 times to fill it. I don’t have a full gongfu setup as I don’t really have the money or see anything to be gained flavorwise from gongfu implements that aren’t brewing tools anyway.

Z_LAMP

I’ll just list steep # in the future for easier comparison.

eyitsrichard

Oh that’s interesting, so you mix successive steeps together? I never thought about trying that; that would give a very interesting flavor profile I would think.

Anyhow, 14 steeps is pretty darn good I would think!

Z_LAMP

I guess that is a downside… Maybe I’ll grab some proper gongfu cups and a gongbei eventually.

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1113 tasting notes

Aged sheng appears to be growing on me! That or I’m starting to find styles I actually enjoy.

I stole this sample from Marzipan when I went to her house a few weeks back :D Ok I didn’t steal it, she was very generous and willing to split some of her White2Tea samples with me!

I am drinking it today because Cheri was drinking it yesterday and the day before and talking about how awesome it is on Steepster chat! I agree, this is a very nice one :)
Still having trouble describing aged flavors. This one is sweeter and “cleaner” tasting than some of the others I’ve had. I guess some aged sheng tastes like raw, green lumber to me and this woody taste is more of a ripe, almost fruity wood with a more complex taste. Like the difference between the smell of a cheap piece of plywood and a fancy piece of apple or cherry wood maybe? I’m getting a little abstract here, sorry!

Cheri

Yes!!! these are words I was trying to think of! It’s almost fruity with a complex sweetness to it. It just was so….WOW!

boychik

i loved this one. A lot. Sarcy didnt like it and shared a sample with me. Cheri, i hope you wont change your mind !

boychik

also i want to add that i have a problem with some wet aged sheng or shou. They make my throat dry and scratchy. some flavors just dont work for me. but this one is beautiful. Fruity !

Cheri

I’m totally down with splitting a cake with you, boychik. Working my way through the rest of the w2t that I have so I can decide if I want anything else.

boychik

yay. Me too. i made it my priority samples. want to break Often now.

Cheri

I think I’ll probably just get some more samples of other things again…which will probably lead me to asking if someone wants to split a $250 cake….

Stephanie

Weird, now that you mention it boychik I may have experienced that dry scratchy throat thing! Cheri is trying to tempt me to get in on this order…not sure yet ;)

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92
26 tasting notes

Puerh is a subjective experience. As such my review is personally from subjective thoughts, feelings and tastes. I have been itching to try out this puerh. It would appear that this puerh is like the spread “marmite”. Some people love it, some people not so. The deciding factor in purchasing a sample was basically because I needed a new yixing. I have a really decent lao zhuni yixing that I use for younger puerh, but have been on the lookout for a decent quality zini yixing for aged puerh. My eyes lit up when white2tea announced they had some lao zini yixings for sale…I ended up getting one of these teapots which I have decided to dedicate to aged puerh. Whilst ordering the yixing I thought this would be a good time to order some of the 90’s Hong Kong stored puerh as well, to perhaps get the yixing off to a good start. I ended up having two tea sessions yesterday…one before work and one after work. Here are my notes…

This is my first every wetter storage puerh, so I was a little apprehensive to begin with. Many thoughts were racing through my head “Would I even enjoy wetter storage?” was the main question. My parcel arrives and I immediately open it with much anticipation. Despite a healthy post office bump on the package, the yixing is fortunately fully intact and it looks like really good quality. Off to a good start. I ordered 25 grams, so according to my logic that would be 8 grams per two session, and then one 9 gram session. I smell the dry leaves in the foil bag…yes there is definitely humid storage as it smells musty compared to my other dry stored. aged puerhs. Two, quick three second rinses and already the liquid is becoming very dark in colour…reminds me of shou to be honest. I smell the wet leaves and I get a big whiff of earthy minerals, rich, balmy and spicy aromas. Wetter storage sure don’t smell that bad.

First proper steep at 7 seconds using boiled water. Liquid comes out looking almost a blood red, bordering on black. Again I think to myself “this reminds me of shou”. I take a nice long sip…earthy minerals, very smooth and clean yet rich, reasonable thickness, dense complexity, muskiness, some pleasant sourness, sweetness in the finish. My verdict=Yum!. I devour the rest of the steep.

I take a second and third steep and the results are very similar except the resulting liquid is almost black. Again I am reminded of shou..rather very good quality shou. Now the camphor notes are beginning to shine and come through, spicy notes are also prominent. Sour notes also kicking in a bit more, however not obtrusive in my opinion. Regarding QI I did not feel that much, however this puerh put me in a very positive mood before a long slog at work. I steeped this to roughly 8 times before I left for work…by this time I was getting more sweetness and camphor, spicy notes. I go to work…just to add the finish is so long….I still had the taste in my mouth 5 hours after beginning my shift.

I decide to have another 8 gram session with this puerh after work, just in case my first tasting was a fluke. Again I am hit with all the taste sensations from my earlier session…this certainly was not a fluke. My final thoughts are “This is really good, but it reminds me so much of a decent quality shou”.

So, overall in my humble opinion, this is a stellar example of aged, wetter storage puerh. If you are used to the taste of dry stored sheng, like me, you will immediately taste the difference. For me the perfect blend would be a mix of dry and humid stored. For example the one tea I reviewed, Big Green Tea Yiwu 2001, is a perfect example of drier storage. However after tasting this puerh I am thinking “Imagine how it would taste with a bit of wetter storage added to the mix?”. My conclusion after tasting wetter storage vs drier storage is that there is no winner. It would be impossible to calculate the odds…drier storage for me means more youth, sense of adventure and of more things to comes, wetter storage comes out more mature and complex initially but I ponder upon its future. I am tempted to purchase a couple of cakes from white2tea…one for immediate drinking, and one to sit down for a while. I live in a European climate which is drier than the likes of Hong Kong…perhaps with a bit of dry storage we can balance things out a bit? Perhaps come to some mutual understanding?

Having said the above all that is left to say is that this is an excellent puerh. I love the mineral earthiness, the wetter storage, the spicy camphor notes, the sweetness and the ultra long finish. Weird thing is I still think this would make an excellent shou…mainly because of how dark the texture of the soup becomes, and also because of its later steeps. If you are into wetter store puerh I would guess this one is a no brainer…if you like dry storage this will take you out of your comfort zone, which is never a bad thing. As I said in the beginning of the review puerh is subjective, and this would be a classic example of that statement. Many thanks to white2tea for the great yixing and great tea! I am left to ponder on these lyrics from one of my favourite bands..

“Words can never justify
That I have never spoken
Communication broken
I try to understand
My wordless, little language
Is all you’ll ever need
To reach the bottom of my basement

She’ll guide you through her midnight hall
And offer you a place on the
Gallery wall
Perhaps you’ll hear ’bout our history
She quotes from texts on papyrus
You gladly follow when she takes
Your hand and lead you further down
The corridor

You peeled the fruit but threw away
The stones
did it taste sweet?"

Flavors: Earth, Mineral, Sweet

Preparation
0 min, 15 sec 8 g 5 OZ / 150 ML
DigniTea

Anxiously waiting for my cake to arrive. Thanks for writing a nice tasting note to fuel my excitement!

DarkStar

I feel your anxiety and excitement DigniTea :) I am waiting for payday so I can get more of this. Would be good to to read your review on it too once you get it. Hope you enjoy!

boychik

Having a sample since last night. i did know im gonna like it that much.

tea123

@DignitTea I’m now anxiously waiting for my cake to arrive. Do you think you will review this one day?

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75
92 tasting notes

I could discount this tea tea as not very good because it is unlike a dry-stored raw pu-erh but then I decided to take some notes anyway.

7g used. Mid/tight compression.

The dry leaf aroma is raw beetroot; an earthy sweet smell. Liquid is deep red/brown, like a cooked pu-erh after a few steeps. The aroma of the liquid is earthy and not as sweet as the dry aroma.

5s – It is unlike a dry stored pu-erh: instead of being green and herby, and concentrated, it is purple (like a mellow taste of beetroot), sweet and open. It has a lingering soilyness which is not simple, unlike another wet-stored pu-erh I’ve had. To hope it to be like dry-stored pu-erh, you are disappointed. This has a different flavour profile.

12s – The soil taste is not unpleasant as it is accompanied by a warm, raw beetroot (or how I imagine the skin to taste) flavour. There is dust. The flavour does linger.
The dark wet leaves do not have the concentrated, complex aroma of raw pu-erh but instead is much simpler, being between raw beetroot and mustyness.

20s – The liquid is darker; the flavour is stronger. It has a sour taste when swallowing. The beetroot, earthy aroma sparkles on top of a dark earthy base.

22s – More sourness in the swallow. Flavour has dark fruits.

Preparation
7 g 100 OZ / 2957 ML

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278 tasting notes

Oh my. Potting soil.

But it does have a very sweet start, and a sweet aftertaste. It’s what is in the middle that’s just not working for me.

I guess this makes me a dry storage kind of girl!

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 0 min, 15 sec 5 g 5 OZ / 147 ML
boychik

It’s on my wish list;)

SarsyPie

Boychik – have you tried it????

Stephanie

Potting soil. Ick.

Cwyn

Have tried it too, both at home and brewed by TwoDog at his tea tasting in June. Definitely heavy on the wet storage. I have a theory that people in really humid climates don’t taste or smell musty odors the way dry climate people do. I like some wet storage taste but I like to taste other things too.

boychik

No, that’s why I want to try. I liked JC review. I do live in a humid climate;)

SarsyPie

That seems like a sound theory to me, cwyn :)

Boychik – I’ll send you the rest of mine, if you want it. It was a 25 g sample and I think I used 5 g

boychik

Omg. I can’t say no. Let me know what would you like fr my cupboard.

Terri HarpLady

Life is teacup offers 2 samples of the same tea, except one had wet storage & the other dry, so people can try the difference. I bought the sample, but haven’t really had the time to try them…yet.

apt

Terri: Have you ordered from them in the last month and a half or so? Gingko seems to have dropped off of the planet, she doesn’t respond to emails anymore.

Terri HarpLady

Oh really? I’d say it’s been at least a couple of months since I ordered.

SarsyPie

I’d be interested in trying something like that, to see the difference!

DarkStar

Had some this afternoon before work and now another session after work. Highly enjoyable. My first time trying “wetter” storage…results remind me of good shou. Got to get a cake or two :) But I can understand how this is kinda a “marmite” puerh. Would be interesting to see how/if the puerh changes in a few years in a European climate.

SarsyPie

Yeah, that sounds like a good experiment, DarkStar. I wonder if it will “air out” in another climate.

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54
149 tasting notes

Reading White 2 Tea’s blurb about the tea, it stresses the price/quality ratio. While I understand that is important…sometimes I just want to drink a good tea regardless of the price.

While this is supposed to be a raw, it certainly reminded me more of a cooked pu-erh. I think this is the Hong Kong Style coming out. I got the cedar, but more than that I got camphor and fish.

I still have a couple infusions to go on this, but so far this has been my least favorite of the three teas.

With my new ranking system I would give it

70 for the taste
16 for the price
75 for the representation

53.66 new ranking (70 old ranking)

Cwyn

Cooked puerh was invented to resembled real aged sheng, which is what this tea is, aged sheng. This tea is an example of wet storage, very humid conditions, hence the musty odor. The field of puerh drinkers are divided into wet vs. dry storage preference. Hong Kong drinkers prefer aged sheng this way. I am coming around to wet stored tea but I want the musty integrated with other tastes, not to overpower the tea. This one seems like all I taste is storage. I sent it as a sample so you can tell what wet storage tastes like, as a way to evaluate it in the future when you taste this flavor again,

SFTGFOP

Yep :) I’m thankful for all of the diverse teas you sent me. Pu-Erhs are something I know so little about this has been a great learning experience for me. I’m really looking forward to the Yunnan Sourcing tea’s as I have heard such good things about them

tea123

Good review.

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187 tasting notes

Dry – Abandoned old wood cabin in the tropics, spice-wood.
Wet – Thick earth notes, spicy-wood notes, bitter wood notes and sweetness.
Liquor – Burgundy.

Gonfu Style — 2 rinses (first 3 secs and 2 secs rest and second just a quick wash)

The tea started with very assertive spicy-wood notes, earth notes with very apparent sweetness and feels smooth going down. Some astringency was present, but it only helped the spicy notes and later the camphor sensation.

The second and third steeps (partly 4th as well), were smoother but maintaining the earthy and wood notes with spicy background. Allowing time between cups allowed me to appreciate the lasting sweetness and perhaps notice some very faint notes I have yet to identify.

Later steeps were gentler that previously, but still assertive to its storage background. No musky notes, just plain wood and earth, with a a sweet finish and lots of camphor.

Final Notes
First sip was confusing and puzzling since I’ve never had a wet storage Sheng like this, I’ve had the occasional ‘oh, there are some floral notes, honey… and ughh, there you are, moist rotting wood note, bitter and saddening’. By the second steep I was beginning to enjoy the sweetness but was still puzzled/bothered by the deep wood notes. By the third,…. I told myself “This Sheng makes a great Shou!” LOL.

Bottom line, if you are all about dry storage… stay away, you’ll just have a bad day. If you are into wood and somewhat spicy notes Shou, I’d try this one.

Flavors: Cedar, Earth, Sweet, Wood

Preparation
Boiling
boychik

I really need to try this!

awilsondc

Nice review! I’ve been craving an earthy sheng… I’ll put this one on the list!

JC

You both should try it! If you like Shou/Earthy Sheng this is it. No musty/wet wood scent, just old scent.

Sammerz314

I sort of enjoyed this tea. Nice example of wet storage.

JC

Agreed! I’ve had two types of wet storage before this one. The first type is weak sheng, like the wetter storage sucked the life away from the Sheng. The second is ‘dirty’ Sheng, the one that tastes like mulch and has the scent of rotting leaves on partially dried mud. This one to me resembled a clean Shou. I’m glad I got a sample, I would otherwise avoided because of those experiences.

boychik

JC, i finally tried it last night today morning. Love it. Who knew after such mixed reviews. Wet/soil notes are faint and didnt bother me at all. maybe because i got lots of plants and like to play with soil lol. really not strong soil and soo sweet and smooth

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