This Raw Pu-erh Cake Teavivre choose is from the representative Pu-erh production area Fengqing. Fengqing is the original place of the world-wide famous Dian Hong Tea. And it is also a classic place of Yunnan Pu-erh. It is a place in Lingcang which is one of the four famous Pu-erh production areas. The taste of Fengqing Pu-erh is mellow and sweet, deeper than Pu-erh in other production area. And it usually has the flowery flavor of Dian Hong Tea.
This Raw Puerh Cake is special for the two seasons resource from the same Arbor Tea Trees. Some are picked on March which we called “Ming Qian” or “Chun Jian” leaves. This is the best tea leaves in Spring Tea because it contains more nutrition and tastes mellow. Some are picked on September which we called “Gu Hua” or “Paddy Flower”. This is the best leaves for Autumn Tea because the aroma is stronger lasting longer. The Autumn Tea (Paddy Flower Tea) also has special flower fragrance. This Raw Puerh Cake is made by the two kinds of tea resource which were carefully blended by certain proportion.
So this kind of Raw Puerh Cake Tea 2006 has both the advantage of Spring Tea and Autumn Tea. It has soft taste for the immediate sip, at the middle taste it is a little bitter, but then immediately comes a smooth sweet taste and long lasting. You can get the flower fragrance at the first taste, middle taste and after taster. This kind of Raw Puerh Cake Tea is suitable for the Puerh enthusiasts who like the flower fragrance and not the heavy taste Raw Puerh Cake. Meanwhile, it is also suitable for people who just begin to try Raw Puerh.
After picking the fresh leaves, Raw Puerh is made through the following steps: Indoor Withering – Sha Qing ("Kill The Green”) – Rolling – Sun Drying. Then the loose puerh (or called mao cha 晒青毛茶) is produced. Then the mao cha is put into the model to make the puerh cake shape and then sun dried to compressed raw Puerh cake.
Where is this tea produced
This Raw Pu-erh Cake is from the representative Pu-erh production area Fengqing. Fengqing is a place in Lingcang which is one of the four famous Pu-erh production areas (Xishuangbanna, Pu’er (Simao), Lincang and Baoshan). Fengqing located in the northwest of Lincang, east longitude 99°31′～100°13′, northern latitude 24°13′～25°03′. It has a distance of 580 kilometers from Yunnan province Kunming. Fengqing is also the original place of the world-wide famous Dian Hong Tea and also one of the original habitats of planting tea all over the world. Fengqing is also an important place of the north part of Ancient Tea Route. There’s a biggest old tea tree named “Jing Xiu Cha Wang” found in Xiang Zhuqing village in Fengqing. It is a representative tea tree cultivated in Fengqing which is more than 3200 years old with 1.84 meter in diameter.
The highest altitude is 3098 meters while the lowest is 919 meters. It is subtropical monsoon climate with average 13-15℃ temperature. The lowest temperature is -5℃. The annual precipitation is 1200mm. The relative humidity is 70%. The soil is red. The raining is synchronous with the high temperature. The temperature is warm and sunshine is sufficient. The rainfall is concentrated.
Fengqing Scene
Introduction of the tea tree and tea leaves
The tea trees in Fengqing belongs to Fengqing Large-leaf vaviety, a kind of Sexual variety, Arbor, quite large. Original in Fengqing, tea tress very big, some even up to 6 meters high, the leaves 12.6 to 20.5 cm length, width 5.2 to 8.1 cm. In 1984 China identified the Fengqing Large-leaf as national improved variety, named “Hua Cha No. 13 (GsCTl3)”. It contains high content of the tea polyphenols and catechin. Usually the spring one bud and two leaves contains amino acid 2.9%, polyphenols 30.2%, caffeine 3.2% and catechin 13.4%.
The tea leaves used to make this Puerh cake tea Teavivre carefully selected are picked from 30 to 40 years old Large-leaf Arbor Tea Trees. The trees are naturally growth without any fertilizer and pesticides, only need manually loosen the oil and trim branches and leaves. The tea leaves are hand-picked on September, 2005 and March, 2006. It contains many golden buds which ensure the high quality of this Puerh cake.
Characteristics of this piece of Puerh tea cake:
Introduction of the tea farmer
The founder of Yunnan Sanning Tea Factory Mr Zhou Zhirong, who is an authentic Yunnan people, has been in tea business for more than 20 years. He established Sanning tea in 1998 which was authorized famous brand by Yunnan province. We deeply felt his insist of traditional tea process by communicating with him. He said: “Most of my time is spent on tea mountain. I think the most important is the essential quality inside the tea.” “There’s the best tea trees and best environment in Fengqing. What we need to do is to bring the natural of tea to all the tea lovers”.
Mr Zhou in his tea garden
The big tea trees in Mr Zhou’s mountain, they are over 60 years old
The most important things decide the Puerh quality:
1 Place: The high quality Puerh should use the Yunan Large-leaf variety. The main traditional Puerh production areas are Xishuangbanna, Pu’er (Simao), Lincang and Baoshan. The tea from different area has different characteristic. And each place also has their own representative places, for example, the representative places in Lingcang are: Fengqing and Mengku.
2 The quality of tea tress: Although all the Puerh tea trees are Yunnan Large-leaf tea trees variety, this variety also has many subcategories. There are many ways to distinguish the tea trees. In order to understand easily, we can judge the quality by the age of the trees. The older the tea tree is, the deeper the root is, so it can absorb more nutrient and mineral substance which can ensure the high quality of the tea. Generally speaking, the 60 years old tea tree (also called big tea tree 大树茶) is better than the 30 years old tea tree (also called arbor tea tree 乔木茶) which is better than 10 years old or less than 10 years old tea tree (also called tableland tea tree 台地茶). Of course, there are also some tea trees more than hundred years old which is quite rare.
3 Picking time: For big tea tree, the Spring tea and Autumn tea both have their own characteristic which are better than Summer tea. For tableland tea tree, the Spring tea is the best, then Autumn tea, Summer tea is the worst
4 The grade of tea leaves: The thick branches and big leaves don’t mean it is bad quality. Usually the grade only means the tenderness of the maocha. It can be divided into ten grades by the tenderness. The super grade is the most tender which contains tiny buds with golden tips. The worst is the tenth grade which contains big leaves with stalk. The appearance of higher grade maocha is elegant and the also contains more inclusions. But the higher grade also has bitter taste. The lower grade taste roughly and clearly, and also contains much fragrant which make the tea rich taste. So it is better to choose puerh by the taste you like but not only focus on the grade.
5 Storage time: Under the condition of dry storage, the taste changes with the length of time it stored; the longer it stored, the better it tastes. With fine Pu-erh tea, the longer it is stored and aged, as long as it is stored properly, the more complex the flavor and the more valuable the tea gets. But it need to note that it is under the condition of good place, tea tree and proper picking time, it can’t be only emphasis the storage time but ignore the tea inner quality.
Additionally, compare with Ripe Puerh, the Raw Puerh doesn’t have the wet piling process so it should be more focus on the tea resource quality.
You can get more useful Puerh information from the following articles:
This is my 2nd review. Previously, I brewed this Western style, but this time, I used the Gaiwan instructions, and it was completely different. I liked it both ways, but if you like a milder tea, I recommend the shorter steeps with the Gaiwan.
By Kayleighon 12/31/12
Rating :
The raw tea looks amazing, the same colour as chocolate and in large pieces of wood looking sticks that smell earthy.
Not sure if it’s because I just had the Jasmine Phoenix Pearls but this is super strong. It could be the Paddy flavour (whatever that is, all I can imagine is ground up Irish leprechauns).
A few steeps in and I can taste flowers and earth, it’s very strong and a little ear waxy( don’t ask me how I know that). I would think that I brewed it too strong as it tastes that way but I used 10g which is a sample pack as recommended by Teavivre. I am also following their steeping rules on website.
The liquid is dark honey in colour and looks a little cloudy. Perhaps when I mentioned flowery earlier it should have said perfumey, the strong floral tang that reminds one of perfume but in the mouth…I’m picking that up.
By Donna Aon 8/26/12
Rating :
Another very good pu-erh cake from Teavivre. See my review on steepster.
By Sasameyukion 7/15/12
Rating :
I liked this sheng pu-erh a lot. It tastes rather smooth and yet has a lot of 'body'. I drank it for several steeps in a row and it continued to taste great for a long time. It has a good balance of inherent sweetness versus bitterness; its fragrance and taste sometimes reminded me of peach.
I also loved its Cha Qi; it made me feel refreshed and vigorous without the nervousness that coffee often gives me.
Last but not least I also appreciated the effort Teavivre has put in the careful packaging of their teas.
By Hobbeson 5/8/12
Rating :
An excellent cake. The full review is available at the Half-Dipper.
By Tea_is_wisdomon 2/13/12
Rating :
Dry Leaf: I get a wet cut grass smell I can even see someone saying hay too. Their is also some sweetness in the smell too. I also get a very faint floral smell way in the back.
Wet Leaf: I get a nice sweet vegetal aroma.
Liquor: The color I got was like a maple color.
Taste: I get a very mellow earthiness with a vegetal flavor like a green bean but their is a sweetness that is also there. As the tea cools the floral aspect of this tea comes out to play.
Gaiwan 3oz
Tea:10g
14steeps: 2 rinses,10s,20s,25s,30s,35s,40s,50s...
Teapot 8oz
100ºC/212ºF
Fengqing Scene
Mr Zhou in his tea garden
Rating :
This is my 2nd review. Previously, I brewed this Western style, but this time, I used the Gaiwan instructions, and it was completely different. I liked it both ways, but if you like a milder tea, I recommend the shorter steeps with the Gaiwan.
Rating :
The raw tea looks amazing, the same colour as chocolate and in large pieces of wood looking sticks that smell earthy.
Not sure if it’s because I just had the Jasmine Phoenix Pearls but this is super strong. It could be the Paddy flavour (whatever that is, all I can imagine is ground up Irish leprechauns).
A few steeps in and I can taste flowers and earth, it’s very strong and a little ear waxy( don’t ask me how I know that). I would think that I brewed it too strong as it tastes that way but I used 10g which is a sample pack as recommended by Teavivre. I am also following their steeping rules on website.
The liquid is dark honey in colour and looks a little cloudy. Perhaps when I mentioned flowery earlier it should have said perfumey, the strong floral tang that reminds one of perfume but in the mouth…I’m picking that up.
Rating :
Another very good pu-erh cake from Teavivre. See my review on steepster.
Rating :
I liked this sheng pu-erh a lot. It tastes rather smooth and yet has a lot of 'body'. I drank it for several steeps in a row and it continued to taste great for a long time. It has a good balance of inherent sweetness versus bitterness; its fragrance and taste sometimes reminded me of peach.
I also loved its Cha Qi; it made me feel refreshed and vigorous without the nervousness that coffee often gives me.
Last but not least I also appreciated the effort Teavivre has put in the careful packaging of their teas.
Rating :
An excellent cake. The full review is available at the Half-Dipper.
Rating :
Dry Leaf: I get a wet cut grass smell I can even see someone saying hay too. Their is also some sweetness in the smell too. I also get a very faint floral smell way in the back.
Wet Leaf: I get a nice sweet vegetal aroma.
Liquor: The color I got was like a maple color.
Taste: I get a very mellow earthiness with a vegetal flavor like a green bean but their is a sweetness that is also there. As the tea cools the floral aspect of this tea comes out to play.