Friday, July 17, 2015

2004 Yiwu Sheng






I had purchased this puerh cake from Sin Fook Tea House in 2013.  Sin Fook Tea House is in Hong Kong and is located at 83 Tak Ku Ling Rd, Kowloon City.  This tea shop was formerly operating at Kowloon City Shopping Mall but have moved into a shophouse unit (2 streets away from their former shop) few years back.  Kowloon City is primarily a housing estate comprising of many apartment blocks, and shops there like Sin Fook mainly cater to the local residents.  

This 2004 Yiwu Puerh cake is dry stored.  This tea was not stored in the traditional Hong Kong 'higher humidity' warehouses where pu erh tea are characterized by a slightly more aged taste and aroma and a hint of dampness in the tea.  Many serious tea drinkers in Hong Kong I know are now preferring their pu erh to be dry stored.  

I like this tea cake.  This tea has nice floral and honey notes  that is characteristic of yiwu.  The nice long lingering fragrance of the tea stays in the mouth after I had downed a cup of tea.  There was a nice warming sensation after a few cups.  Being a 11 year old pu erh, the tea is smooth without any harshness seen in many newer pu erh offerings.  

New Yiwu cakes are getting very expensive.  I have seen many new YIwu cakes retailing at over US$100 per cake.  With the many economies of the world including China experiencing slower growth, I am hopeful the speculative element for Chinese tea will be reduced and prices will be lower for tea drinkers like us.  

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