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my first “real” Bulang cake to try. Stepping softly on this. This cake is very tightly compressed aka the “Iron Cake” designation. The leaves seem to be chopped a bit some may be a product of the compression. Gave a 5 second rinse to wake the leaf. This one hits pretty good. Astringency and drying but not too much. It gives the pleasant “bitterness” that many desire in a sheng. Citrusy and puckery akin to the squeeze of a raw lemon in your mouth. This is a pretty strong head on whap you sheng. I think the tightness of this cake will cause it to age slower than a traditional beeng. I think this will interesting in another 5 years or so. Prepared in the Gaiwan 13 grams 3 steeps to fill the first cup.

Going to brew this a different way today. I don’t think “Traditional” preparation i.e. gong fu is suited to this tea. It looks like a compressed puerh cake but I think that is the only similarity. The cake is almost sticky when breaking apart. The aroma is a sweet woody scent. I left the chunk I pried off whole as I think it contains many blossoms in it. I prepared this in a clear glass mug with water right at boiling. The flowers open up some. Aroma a sweetish metallic scent. The brew is cloudier this time, darker honey color. Taste is similar to scent. Added some sugar to sweeten it up. Leaves a drying on the front sides of the tongue. I believe this should be steeped a little longer than i did. I think it would classfy as being an herbal tea. A little more bitter as it cools that sweetens at the back of the tongue. It has a bit of grit to me (may be tea pollen). Drinkable in the current state maybe more if brewed properly.

This tea is very similar to the “Handmade Plait” tea I possess. This whole cake is made the same way just pressed into a beeng. It chips off in whole plait peices if you break it carefully. It seems more like a light green tea when brewing. It is not strong but very light in brew strength and color. It has the familiar grassy and tobacco of many young shengs. I think the manufacture style on this would deem aging longer than most others as these “plaits” really take about 5 or 6 infusions to fully unfurl. Personal note is you could take a strand or two to work drop into a cup of hot water and instant tea. It does hold together well and I found almost no need to run this through a strainer.

This one has promise on it. Not bitter or astringent almost a saltiness to the brew with a hit of honey and lemon. I have been 9 steeps now and it has faded some. It brews golden light orange in color. I used 15 grams in the Gaiwan and steeped away. The first infusions were pretty strong with the good throat feeling. You could feel this a minute or so after drinking. The later steeps give a touch of soap maybe? Hard to tell for sure. A good sheng for $20.00.

Got this as a sample and was thoroughly impressed. This is a very smooth sheng no harshness or bitterness. It does have the usual touch of camphor as many Dayi cakes do but it is not overpowering. It has good body and it turns very quickly to the honey taste of many fine shengs. This is a “hidden” gem from the Dayi Factory.

Had this one last night. It has gotten a little darker than some of the others I have this age. It starts off with a light golden brew. It has a faint vegetal aroma. It give a good mouth feel with a slight bitter edge in there. A touch of smoke up front that disappears giving an effect you can feel way down. It is not an overpowering brew but a rather nice light one. I brewed this in advance of the arctic front heading our way as I will have this after work tonight to warm up with.

tried this tonight, brewing like a puerh. using the gaiwan with about 9 grams. Gave it a rinse and off i go. This tea has a "musky’ aroma and a slight honey taste. It is very interesting and the “tea flowers” have unfolded a bit. it does have a small bit of “cloudy” bits and I suppose this is pollen from the flowers. Not too bad a nice change of pace for me. I just did one steep and I am sure to re-brew again. I will amend this if it changes significantly.

This has just been added to Berrylleb king Tea on Ebay. Yay!

Brewed this one up for the first time yesterday. It looks like any other Dayi sheng with typical compression to it. I pulled out 15 grams did a wash and was like well where is it. It brewed very light for the first 3 infusions. Some bitterness and some hints of greenness. I let the leaves stay in the Gaiwan overnight and went back to it today. The tea has opened up quite a bit. just a touch of smoke to it. It still has some bitterness, muted down the green and follows with a good sweetness to it. The only downside is this still doesn’t have the “legs” some other shengs do to carry it on. Got about 6 more today and it is much lighter. I will experiment with much longer steeps tomorrow.