285 Tasting Notes
What a fruity tea. Think apricots, the most apricoty pu that I’ve tasted. It’s a nice tea that has very little bitterness, fairly strong cha qi, and medium body. Seems like high quality leaves. I like this one quite a bit.
Sounds like a good one! I love apricot pu.
+1 on the apricot pu.
the most apriot I have had so far was 2005 you le jnnou shan red sun drum, an out of stock $35 bargain also from ys. after the rinse, the leaves often smell intensely like apricot jam. unfortunately, this does not always make it into the flavor of the tea.
So today I tried this famous tea from Menghai Dayi, one I’ve wanted to sample for quite a while. I think it has the reputation of being the best quality ripe pu erh by this factory. It certainly commands what seems to be an unreasonably high price. This 2012 version sells for about $90 right now, and the 2008 version is a whopping $130! That seems outlandish. But hey, maybe it’s that good?!
Well, it’s good, but not $90 good. It is quite smooth and rich, tasty, and is a high quality tea to be sure. No off flavors. But I’ve had others this good for quite a bit less. I’d pay maybe $40. These inflated prices are crazy.
I reviewed this tea a while back. My old review is below. I think I got a bad sample because it was bad. It was a strange experience at that time. My body told me ‘no way’ and to immediately instructed me to throw it in the garbage. But when the TTB box had a sample of this tea in it, I decided to give it another try since so many people seemed to love it. So I tried it today, and this time around, I found it to be one of the best Dayi ripes I have tasted. It is sweet and deeply fruity. I really loved the first few steeps. I got quite hopped up, so this is a good one if you are looking for caffeine. Later steeps were not quite as smooth, more bitterness came through. Then, it turned into that yeasty bread dough flavor. This is a great tea, and at around $40, it is one of the few semi-aged Dayi teas that are reasonably priced. I guess this particular tea does not have a hype factor built in. Both Berryleb and Dragon Tea House sell it.
OLD REVIEW
So I gave this try due to Allan’s very positive review. I found that it was not for me. It is kind of mushroomy, which I personally don’t care for. Otherwise it was earthy and deep. Very strong caffeine and cha qi, probably the highest kick factor I’ve ever experienced from a ripe pu erh.
I’ve wanted to try this one for a while. Thank you Steepster trading friend. This is supposedly one of the upper tier Dayi cakes. This one fetches $90 right now. My how prices have skyrocketed for some of these Dayi teas. Is it hype or is it that good? Hype. It’s really not bad, but far from the best dayi I’ve tasted. It basically is an average Dayi ripe, though it did not hold up that well. Not terribly interesting nor smooth, but good flavor. It is certainly fine, and would be a decent pick if it were, say, $30.
A nice fairly easy to drink young sheng. It brews a pale gold, the liquor is very nice, thick and hearty through numerous infusions. The flavor is good, basic, a little floral and sweet, but some sourness is pervasive. This is a nice quality tea, good but not great, and is priced fairly at $28.
This is an interesting tea. If you like Special Dark, you should give this one a try. It’s the same style. To me it tastes like a cross between a shu and a yunnan black. It’s got that golden bud shu flavor, coupled with some sweet notes typically found in yunnan black teas. Pretty smooth, though it is definitely somewhat bitter.
