2016 Yunnan Sourcing "Man Zhuan" Ancient Arbor Raw Pu-erh Tea Cake

Tea type
Pu'erh Tea
Ingredients
Not available
Flavors
Astringent, Bitter Melon, Cocoa, Custard, Drying, Floral, Grapefruit, Nectar, Olive Oil, Paper, Peach, Perfume, Roasted Nuts, Sour, Umami, Vegetal, Walnut, Wet Earth, Yeast
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Bulk
Caffeine
Not available
Certification
Not available
Edit tea info Last updated by Togo
Average preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 0 min, 15 sec 6 g 3 oz / 100 ml

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  • “After a lengthy hiatus, I am back to reviewing teas on Steepster, now that I am finally in a new house :) Hopefully I won’t have to move too soon again! I wrote in some other note that I am not...” Read full tasting note
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From Yunnan Sourcing

Entirely Ancient Arbor tea from Spring 2016 Harvest from Man Zhuan in Yi Wu mountain range. Man Zhuan is one of the six famous tea mountains in Banna and is just north of Yi Wu. This is our fourth production of tea from this area is from the same family as 2011 and 2010! We have selected spring harvest (第一波春茶) wild arbor material from the area of “Man Zhuan” (蛮砖), a higher mountain areas in the Yi Wu mountain. Man Zhuan area teas are known for their special thick aroma and a taste that with age becomes stronger and more textured. This tea comes from wild arbor trees between 200 and 300 years old growing on a sunny south facing slope. When brewing the tea you will notice the tea soup is a bright yellow-gold and clear, the aroma is penetrating and the tea is full in the mouth. The flavor is textured and thick with a strong almost chocolate-like after-taste. This is one of the more smooth and aromatic of the Yi Wu area teas. The brewed leaves are thick and stout with a dark olive-green color, attesting to their wild arbor origin. This tea was compressed in a small tea factory in Yi Wu town where unusually large 40 kilogam stone presses were used. Low temperature (35C) “baking” was used to dry these cakes after the compression process thus preserving their integrity!

In total just 30 kilograms of this tea has been produced. We have delayed sales of this cake for more than 4 weeks to allow the water vapor from pressing to dissipate. Further aging will only improve this wonderful tea!

https://yunnansourcing.com/collections/pu-erh-cakes/products/2016-yunnan-sourcing-man-zhuan-ancient-arbor-raw-pu-erh-tea-cake?variant=35046183366

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1 Tasting Note

79
999 tasting notes

After a lengthy hiatus, I am back to reviewing teas on Steepster, now that I am finally in a new house :) Hopefully I won’t have to move too soon again!

I wrote in some other note that I am not that fond of Man Zhuan teas, and this one definitely doesn’t change that. The profile of these teas just doesn’t suit me.

The aroma is sweet and perfumy with notes of custard, peach, and grapefruit early on and complemented by roasted walnuts and wet earth in later stages. I’d say that, for me, the aroma is the most agreeable aspect of the tea, maybe with the exception of the qi.

The taste is very floral (reminiscent of Lishan oolongs), vegetal, and sour. It has notes of bitter melon, yeast, and a decent umami. Consequently, the aftertaste presents new flavours such as nectar, cocoa beans, olive oil, and paper. It is quite drying and cooling in the throat, while the liquor itself is fairly mouth-watering, silky, and thick.

I do like the body sensations from this sheng, but it is too expensive to buy based on that alone. It has a creeping chest energy and induces shivering sensation down my spine coupled with numbness at the back of my neck. Overall, it is quite a calming tea.

Flavors: Astringent, Bitter Melon, Cocoa, Custard, Drying, Floral, Grapefruit, Nectar, Olive Oil, Paper, Peach, Perfume, Roasted Nuts, Sour, Umami, Vegetal, Walnut, Wet Earth, Yeast

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 0 min, 15 sec 6 g 3 OZ / 100 ML
Roswell Strange

Welcome back!

mrmopar

New house! Awesome. I have a hard time with YiWu teas too. I just can’t seem to wrap my head around them for some reason.

eastkyteaguy

mrmopar, thank you. I’m glad to see I’m not the only one who just doesn’t get the appeal of Yi Wu teas. Personally, I find them boring, predictable, and kind of flat in the way they come across. The Yi Wu profile does not excite me at all. Every time I have mentioned my distaste for Yi Wu tea to others, I either get told that I just don’t understand and don’t appreciate what they have to offer or that I’m crazy. I don’t even feel any lingering effects when I drink Yi Wu stuff. Teas from every other Yunnan terroir give me some kind of body effect, but with Yi Wu teas, I get nothing. They leave no impression on me whatsoever. It’s almost like I’m immune to them.

mrmopar

eastkyteaguy, I don’t know why but I just don’t get the region. I have a hard time with some JingMai stuff too. Maybe they don’t have the kick of other regions. I guess I am in favor of stuff that kicks back. Can’t say I haven’t tried to figure it out though. Oh well, maybe one day.

Togo

I have a suspicion that I much prefer the Assamica varietals over small leaf and mixed leaf varieties occurring in large parts of Mengla county. As such, I find that Yi Wu hosts both some of my favourite shengs (mostly coming from the eastern part and natural forests) and also some that I can’t get into (mostly from the central part around Yi Bang and Man Zhuan). I have lots more to explore there and I haven’t really sampled much from the western Yi Wu and Jinghong areas.

tea-sipper

Congrats on the new house!

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