2008 Xiaguan "Baoyan Ripe Cake" Ripe Puerh Tea

Yunnan Sourcing says this shou has notes of whiskey, smoke, and peat, but in the first few steeps I get what I can only describe as the smell of an abandoned warehouse full of lumber or disused whiskey casks. It’s old, decaying wood, but it’s not earthy and organic, like a fallen tree on the forest floor; it’s more musty than that. Takes me back to my urban-exploration days, of all things, when a friend and I would find ourselves exploring PA’s odd little ghost towns, poking into the stale interiors of forgotten houses weakened by summer rain and sun.

Not sure whether that note comes from the fermentation or storage, but it’s not something I’ve experienced yet in a shou. Tasting it, I do notice some old smoke, along with a faint sour cherry note. The wood and smoke linger through most of the session, but start to diminish about halfway through and reveal a thin stevia-like sweetness in the middle. By the end, this puerh’s distinctive flavors have faded into a more “generic” shou profile. The body remains pretty thick throughout — I’ll be honest, the combination of viscosity plus the wood/smoke flavors was a bit off-putting at first, but it’s starting to grow on me.

My experience with shou is still limited, but this one stands apart from other, more typical examples, like Xiaguan’s own Xiao Fa tuocha. A learning experience for me — and an unexpected bit of nostalgia.

This is a tasty ripe cake with a fair amount of fermentation flavor left. For those with an aversion to fermentation flavor it was initially somewhat unpleasant even if I wouldn’t say fishy. It was sweet with little bitterness to it. The Yunnan Sourcing description says notes of Whisky/Smoke/Peat. That was not my initial interpretation of this tea but I think it is an alternate description of the notes. This is not really a chocolaty shou. It did develop a nice sweetness in later steeps and was dark and rich in the initial infusions. This was a very strong tea. It was quite enjoyable in the end and the price was right at only $25.

I steeped this tea ten times in a 120ml gaiwan with 10g 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, and 1 min. Judging by the color of the tenth steep I’d say I could get four or five more steeps out of this if I had a desire for that much caffeine.