TGFOP Tea Reviews (c) Silverneedles est.2005

2006 Changtai 339 Pu-erh Tea Cake .Puerhshop.com

Puerhshop.com(review) (product link). was 17.99/368g(13oz) = ~ 22.5$/lb (sweet price)

received with an order, its a 6.6g sample.

Leaf: looks mixed?/different colors (… no idea)

Method: not in my usual setup, I laid out the little teacups from the gaiwan set for their first time usage in ~ 2years.
3.6g in 4oz gaiwan but in batches of different unrecorded times most >25 sec <1min.
Photoed in natural light to avoid unpleasant colors of incandescent/fluorescent bulbs.

First of all a superb smoky smell quickly emanated from the liquor, it immediately drew my attention. (I am a fan of low smokiness especially in yunnan blacks, but i dislike lapsangs.)

Taste:

first little teacup was 30sec and the unfurled leaf did not release enough flavor =  watery on my tongue, though the smoky smell was nice and strong. follows: tannin greenish, tannin/astringency, 4oz later cant feel tannin much anymore, last oz was longer and felt green astringency. smokyness still going.
1-2 min after drinking, a mild sweet sensation felt in the back of throat but also tip of tongue?! I think i was also feeling the smokyness on my tongue ! (in my opinion the smokyness is nicely balanced, its not strong overpowering).
about after 8oz total the wet leaf smells of green pu 🙂 aside of smoky.
more green now 🙂
a little longer infusion and green tannin/astringency stands out but still “smoky”

Overall: the 1st green pu (of not that many) I am excited to drink !

Update: 2 days later this gives me as too much smokyness, and the smoky i feel now as rather on the chemical side as well just like lapsang…

2006 Arbor Yinhao Tuocha .Puerhshop.com

Puerhshop.com (review) from the Year of Green Tasting Kit (store link).
Year of Green review: 2006 Arbor tuo, 2004 CNNP Old Tree, 2007 Mengsa, 2007 Old Banzhang, 2007 Menghai Crab.

Dry leaf: very tightly compressed. I don’t have a puer knife so i tried to stab it with my sharpest tip food knife …that didn’t work… it would just cut-break into the area it was penetrating- so i didn’t go on with that and just put muscle to work and used my hands to break off some better pieces from the tuocha. It took a minute or two and broke some.

the color was pretty dark when infused, and got darker quick if left around, but
these pics seem a bit more saturated and maybe a tad darker than i remember.

Method:
200F filtered water, wash 30s, then drank the next 30,30,30s (pictured).

Taste:

some interesting flavors, some similar to King of Pu-Erh,

but then its hard to infuse & enjoy because the “astringency” comes on pretty quick and strong.

one plus is sometimes it goes into a sweet-tingly? feeling aftertaste on the tongue, but also frequent dry-throat sensation if astringency reaches strength. there’s a very distant medicinal feeling(to me), also something like aged? no pond/fishy.

all these flavors show up (so far) when astringency/tannin is also high.

i’ve infused it shorter or more water, but it comes out watery = the flavors and astringency are diluted.

Wet leaf: chopped up, also seems like alot of young leaf which probably contribute to the high astringency/strong tannin. theres a couple real black pieces which look like burned leaf.

Overall: this tuocha has something interesting in there…but there’s lots of astringency. Not sure what aging does to it. not for me in current form.

2007 Mengsa Arbor Pu-erh Tea Cake .Puerhshop.com

Puerhshop.com (review) from the Year of Green Tasting Kit (store link).
Year of Green review: 2006 Arbor tuo, 2004 CNNP Old Tree, 2007 Mengsa, 2007 Old Banzhang, 2007 Menghai Crab.

who am i ?             i’m very dry…        and thirsty…         30s                                                    30s

…                          40s                         1m                     1m…                                          …     le fin

Method: hotten wasser @ 200F…

30s: wash thrown via sink.
30s: watery kinda yunnan green tea taste, but this is 1 week later and doesn’t seem as much yunnan as i had it 1 week ago…
30s: still watery (not enough leaf?) but not much astringency/tannin = not harsh…
there’s some interesting flavors in here, can’t describe other than something plant? vegetable?
definitely not as smoky sensation as 1st time i opened it…
40s: same maybe more intense flavors, still not much astringency
1m: same, getting some sweet in the aftertaste (drink, wait 1-2min, you’ll feel it on the tongue)
1m: same

Overall: the 2006 Arbor tuocha is next, but sofar the Mengsa is the only one i like from the Year of green. Even tho the flavor is not as i tasted it the 1st time, this one is a maybe for me.

2007 Old Banzhang Arbor Pu-erh Tea Cake .Puerhshop.com

Puerhshop.com (review) from the Year of Green Tasting Kit (store link).
Year of Green review: 2006 Arbor tuo, 2004 CNNP Old Tree, 2007 Mengsa, 2007 Old Banzhang, 2007 Menghai Crab.

pkg                 dry                  ………. 35     …      40s

30s                  30s                   30s

Method: wery wery hawt 200F filtad warrrer (wah wah me soo silleee…

30s wash 1 oz water, no pic.
40s some twig astringent green
30s same
30s same
30s same
1m same but more of the same, no picture of this1.

Overall: same. same of the same more times at the same time. seemingly i donn like it.

here is
the leaf

almost
forgot

2007 Menghai Feet of Crab Pu-erh Tea Cake .Puerhshop.com

Puerhshop.com (review) from the Year of Green Tasting Kit (store link).
Year of Green review: 2006 Arbor tuo, 2004 CNNP Old Tree, 2007 Mengsa, 2007 Old Banzhang, 2007 Menghai Crab.

Dry leaf looks nice, with the orange stems poking around here and there,

seems well compressed, there are marks on the bottom of the cake piece.

one little piece seemed the right size for this trial, so lets get tea-ing…

Methodman: 4oz gaiwan but using 2-3-4oz depending on leaf volume. 200F, times follow:

30                                            30                                        35

40                       30                                        40                scary crab         leaf tree

30s wash discarded

30s: (1st pic) watery faded “metallic” green
30s: green astringent, “apricot skins”, less watery, some astringent aftertaste.
35s: 4oz: more astringent, some harshness, at end tastebuds seem “numbed” (=cant taste much, due to  tannins coating mouth or whatever), no sweet aftertaste or anything else i can describe or detect.
40s: still numbed, but can still feel more astringency, maybe now a little bit sweet in the aftertaste.
30s: same…………
40s: *rolleyes* meh…same…

Wet leaf: got bored, played with my food…

Overall: meh. not me. i cant feel anything.

2004 CNNP Old Tree Green Pu-erh Tea Cake .Puerhshop.com

Puerhshop.com (review) from the Year of Green Tasting Kit (store link).
Year of Green review: 2006 Arbor tuo, 2004 CNNP Old Tree, 2007 Mengsa, 2007 Old Banzhang, 2007 Menghai Crab.

Dry: smell nothing. Leaf looks more orange, not much green…

Method: approx 2x2x0.5cm piece in 4oz gaiwan + 3-4oz filtered h2o @ 200F

Taste:

20sec wash = watery wash
the next 20,20,30 secs tasted watery + a very distant tannin/astringent in the back of the mouth, giving sort of a metallic mouthfeel.

got pissed at no flavor so dunked it for 2 minutes… hello? …nope, same ol’ watery stuff with more concentration of the astringency.

so…ok buddy, you think yore tuff? ehhh? HUH?
w h a t did you just say to me ?
right, nuthin. you best keep it zipped ore imma slap you like yo mama did…
and in it went for about 4min…coulda been 5 :P…= a more concentrated tannin/astringency now gives it a harsh feel in teh mouthes but after that…not much flavor of anything…

20sec                20sec               30sec               2min                 4min               end.
(had a dark, cloudy day, some pics are blurry, but color looks very close on my screen, hope yours too.)

Overall: i feel nothing. i have no feelings toward this piece of tree. leaf. bush. tea.

Yunnan Arbor Puerh Tea Cake 2005 .Puerhshop.com

Puerhshop.com cake sample $3.99. Sheng (raw,green) puerh, 2005. (no more on their website)

Dry leaf: looks like pieces & broken. Some full leaf which seem thick… mmmm…

Dry smell: green, very small ‘tobacco-ish’…

Method: ~2cm x 2cm x .5cm piece in 4oz @200F, filtered water.

Taste:
#0 wash 20sec
#1 1min (oops, my bad) = strong sharp astringency of green vegetal plant/some twig.
#2 30sec = strong astringency same ‘sharp’ quality, vegetal, kinda feels remotely/memory trigger to me: mint plant
#3 30sec = the same, + the astringency/tannins coat the mouth and then –> minty after-taste feel !
there is a very very distant ‘aged’ feel.
none of tobaccoish that is still a little present in the wet leaf smell.
if left some minutes until drank, little particles settle on the bottom. Now the liquor tastes less astringent. If you reach the bottom and drink the liquor with particles the astringency/tannin is stronger.(tho this happens with most looseleaf teas).
Even if i’d remove the astringency/tannin strength got in the infusions(supposing i overinfused) there isn’t much flavor left around to taste on my tongue.

not sure if my first 1min might have burned for the subsequent infusions, but still have leaf left for more trys 🙂

Wet leaf: see the pic, its all the leaf i infused. but there’s alot of tiny bits and chopped up stuff. any pieces of leaf are large…but pieces. stems are thick(from the big leaf).
(warning: large picture:700 KB)

Overall: to me the main flavor is mild-low (it reminds me of gunpowder green tea), astringency is enough-high. minty aftertaste is ok. not bad for my first green pu 🙂 = i ain’t scared no mo’ … BRING IT ON !!!!